Screen English

Every three months as the middle school students are forced to study ridiculous amounts (I’ll write another blog on that soon), I have the fantastic opportunity to teach different and unique classes with my elementary students.  Many of these classes I have disliked, however this month I have had the fantastic opportunity to teach Screen English.  And I use the term “teach” incredibly loosely. 

Basically for seventy minutes, twice a week, for four weeks, I have around twelve students (4th-6th grade) and we watch a different American movie each week. We usually watch around 50 minutes of the video a day so one easily stretches out for both class periods. Their comprehension levels vary greatly so I tried to get movies that would appeal to all levels.

The first week I tried to be creative and get one of those terribly annoying children’s movies that they would love. Judy Moody and the Not So Bummer Summer. 

Back in Korea Update

I've been ordered to blog.  Apparently, I've been slacking.  My apologies.

In chronological order....

1.  I had the most amazing trip home.  Words cannot even begin to describe it.  I've never been so at peace in St Louis in my 30 years of life.  It was simply perfect. I had two weeks with family there and of course, that still didn't seem like enough.  I could have happily stayed a month.  Other than celebrating Christmas a few weeks early and meeting my nephew for the first time, nothing really of merit happened.  I was just able to enjoy the relaxed company of family, slept, and ate (a lot).  It was bliss.  I love my family.

The Wiener Dog Essay

It's been a year but Charles finally made his way into our weekly essays.  A few weeks ago when I met the quirky Korean man outside the Family Mart, Charlie and I also ran into a few of my students while conversing with our new friend. Mostly, Charles behaved very well around all these new faces. But, if you know my dog, you know he just can't control himself all the time.  He loves to bark and terrify people and there was one boy that got all of Charlie's ummm, "attention".  It's a little game he likes to play. I think it's probably 20% wanting to protect me and 80% (or more) a hysterical game for him.  It also doesn't help that he doesn't have the usual wiener dog "yippy" bark.  He sounds like a Rottweiler and he's awfully proud of it.  Needless to say, this does not make him super popular in a country where dogs are not the most welcome members of society.  Well, I take that back.  He's plenty popular, but not always in a good way.

Fun Kid Conversations

Me:  Why is your name Pringles?
Student:  Because Teacher Andrea brought me these snacks called Pringles one day.  I liked them very much so I changed my name to Pringles.
Me:  What was your name before Pringles?
Students:  Nazi. 
Me:  Because you like nazis?
Student:  No, because I like Hitler.  He was handsome and powerful and not violent. 
Me:  Hitler was not violent? 
Student:  No.  You are violent, Teacher.  Hitler was not.  Hitler was handsome and powerful.  I like Hitler.
Me:  I might not tell a lot of people that.

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An Essay on Disgusting Foods

Yet another exciting day with 5th graders and essays. 
Today’s fun topic: Discuss what you think are the most disgusting foods.  Why do you think they are disgusting?

Most Impressive Answer:  Foie Gras
Most Expected Answer:  Nose Dust  (ie. Boogers)
Most Appreciated Answer:  Dog Meat
Most Disgusting Answer: Cow Eyes

We had a plethora of other answers but those were the ones that stuck out for me.  The "boogers" comment even started a long (and educational) conversation about throw up, vomit and barf. Throw up and vomit can be used with anyone, specifically parents and doctors. Barf should be reserved only for friends and siblings, in my opinion. 

One Year In Korea

I have no idea where the last 52 weeks of my life have gone.  It honestly feels like last week that I left the Aflac office with cupcakes in hand, picked up Charlie from his final vet travel exam, and we road tripped our way up to Missouri for a quick visit before hopping on a plane.

5am on October 14th we boarded a plane. 11:30 pm on October 15 we walked through the front door of our new home.

Like vs Love

I was on my way to buy spam kimbap for lunch today and I met a very interesting man outside a convenience store.  It appears that he’s visited several continents, is very intelligent and had an awful lot to say.  We talked a lot about the differences in English and Korean and, after some of my students walked by, he informed me of some of the slang that they use.  And how very perverted and inappropriate it is.  I’m kind of glad that I don’t understand them 98% of the time. He also knew enough about homonyms/synonyms to make quite a few jokes.  Too and two. Well and well.  Bye and bi. Old men are perverts, too.

Notes of Love. Sorta.

Amid teaching a Free Conversation class(read: no agenda, itinerary, text book, or lesson plan),  I look up and see these two signs.

A Gift In The Park

Much to my disinterest, Charles did everything in his power to convince me to take an afternoon stroll today.  I even tried to dissuade him with left over pizza from dinner with Lee Ann last night.  It didn’t work.  He still ended up parked at the front door waiting for me to get over myself (and the extra frigid air today) and pick up the leash.

We finally made it out the door and made our way to the concrete park behind our building.  Immediately, we met two of the sweetest little girls, Amy and Erika.  They were 11 and 10, respectively. I assume that is Korean age so they are really 8 to 10-ish. They were so sweet and their English was very good for their age.  Of course our conversation was very basic but my young ones certainly could not have a similar conversation due to the anxiety of meeting a new foreigner in a public, non-school location. My students would have froze.  Maybe we should work on that….

Bad Ideas & Essays

I let some of my students call Matt last week.  That has since turned out to be a very bad idea.  All they want to do now is talk about him, make up superhero stories about him, and call him again since most of them got too embarrassed to actually talk to him the first time around.  Most recently, they like to write essays about him.

The essay topic was where do you want to go for your honeymoon?  A strange question for a group of sixth grade boys, but I don’t write the topics. I just assign them.  This was the response from one of my favorite students. 

Dear National Healthcare

Dear National Healthcare,

I think you are absolutely awesome.  Let me tell you why.  In my past 11 months in Korea, I have visited the doctor more times than I probably have in my 30 years in America combined.  Why?  Because I seldom have had to wait more than 5 minutes to see a doctor.  Because no appointment necessary for most things. Because I can actually afford to take care of myself here.  Am I going for silly cold and flu type of things?  Goodness no.  I’m going for things that need(ed) to be done.  Primarily dermatology and dental concerns that would have cost me nearly ten thousand dollars at home, even with insurance.

I’m A Good Little Patient

Every doctor I’ve had as an adult has told me that.  Well, except one, but he was not a nice doctor.

Two wisdom teeth were removed on Friday and I’ve been eating pudding galore for the past 36 hours.  It frustrates me that they would only do two at a time, but I’ll work with it.  I don’t know when I will be able to get time off work again for the other two but at this point in time, it’s at the bottom on my list. The two that most needed to be out were removed so, I consider that success.

Cracked… And Service-Uh

This is one of my new favorite things.  Cracked nail polish.

I never paint my fingernails because it’s simply requires too much upkeep.  I always have my toenails painted though because I think it’s pretty and no one can tell when it starts to chip so I can be lazy with it.  And I think toenails look gross.

I know they have this in America but its hugely popular here.  I see it on tv all the time and I finally went out and bought it this weekend.  Cracked Nail Polish.  It’s awesome. You apply it just like regular nail polish, only on top of a bright color, and it dries up like cracked glass.

Chuseok Gift Suggestions

I took as many pictures in the grocery store as I could, until I was kindly asked to not take anymore pictures.  I hate to be that rude customer.  With Chuseok gift shopping in full swing stores everywhere were set up with gift sets galore.  Here’s just a few…

This is the ginormous sign on HomePlus. Our Wal-Mart/ Target/Everything-You-Could-Ever-Want-Under-One-Roof store

We actually did our shopping at Lotte, which is a large posh department store. Floridians – think Millenia.  These pictures were taken in the grocery store located on the basement level.

Happy Chuseok!

Hello and Happy Chuseok!

Chuseok (Chew-Sock) is the Korean Thanksgiving and is the 2nd most important holiday in Korea, behind the Lunar New Year. I spent a lot of time this past week talking with my students about it trying to gain a better understanding of this holiday.  It’s the day where they celebrate the year’s harvest, as well as pay respects to their ancestors. It seems to be the one day a year when the children can be successfully pried away from their computer games.  They often travel to their grandparents house and while the ladies spend all day in the kitchen, the gentlemen play card games and similar activities.  The children sing songs, play traditional games, and they eat a ton food just like we do.  Children love Chuseok.  Oh, and they also receive gifts of “pocket money” from their elders.

My favorite part of Chuseok? I get a long weekend.  And I think that’s just wonderful. 

This blog will not be about the history and traditions of Chuseok.  If you are interested in that information you can read about it here.  My blog is more about the gifts given for Chuseok.  (hehehe)

My director asked me to stop by school on Saturday evening to receive my gift.  My friend Kate was in town from Gwangju so she came with me to pick it up and she got to see my school briefly. I already had a pretty good idea of the types of gifts given but I must say… I am in love with my gift.  Are you ready for this???

If The Sun Never Set The World Would Be a Desert

Right?

One of my students told me this in my advanced free speak class this week in response to the question “What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?”  It’s some kind of proverb, not sure if it’s Korean or of another descent. And I think she read it in a newspaper, rather than it being the wisdom of a parent or a wiser been there/done that older sibling.

3 Things I’ve Learned in 3 Days

First

Student: Teacher, are you drinking Sprite or water?
Me: Sprite.
Student: Good. You are much happier when you drink Sprite.

Second

Me:  Where do phobias come from?
Student:  Africa.

Third:

Apparently my (Korean) plants are dying because I feed them water and not beer.  My good friend, Chang Lee, told me I am doing it wrong.  I’ll have to go out and buy a beer tonight to try and revive my tree.  His plants are flourishing.  One of mine is. It’s bright and shiny and has beautiful red flowers.  But the tree… it’s brown with no leaves. It’s time for emergency tree CPR.

My Students & Their Pets

During our middle school prep period I am given an exorbitant amount of “Free Speak” classes with my elementary students. With these classes, I am expected to come up with hours of games and entertainment for these children, and ensure that they are speaking English while we are “having fun.”  I’m not that kind of teacher. However, every third month I have to be that kind of teacher so we make it work.

One of my most used exercises is that I give them a topic, they have to draw me a picture about said topic, and then they have to tell the class a story about their picture.  Depending on class size this can take only ten minutes, or you can stretch it up to the better part of an hour if you need to.  Here are my two favorite pictures.

Saturday School

Most American students would run kicking and screaming if you told them they had to attend Saturday school.  It’s quite the norm in Korea, though.  According to a quick (unofficial) survey of most of my students, most all of them attend school on Saturdays, for half days, and they are completely ok with it.  They are actually a little upset that Saturday is being taken away from them.

It’s a pretty well-known fact that the Korean president is not well liked.  One of the main reasons is that he is trying to streamline the Korean education system to make it more like the American education system. The primary reason for that is because in a recent study, Korean children were named the least happy (or second to least, I can’t remember) in the world. They spend too much time studying, and not enough time being kids. I put this statistic in the same category as the study that said that Orlando is the angriest city, and St Louis is the most dangerous. While it’s the president’s job to not dismiss such reports, I take them with a grain a salt.

The Batting Cages

This is my new favorite thing.  I know you don’t believe me. It’s okay.

While athletic ability is most definitely a recessive gene in the McCloskey gene pool, I find great joy in this.  It’s not about showing my skills with a baseball bat. It’s about aggression therapy.  And it’s awesome!