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.

I Can Breathe Again! And Other Revelations

I know longer feel like death.  That's a bonus.  The last two weeks were pretty rough.  I'm not a sick person but the last two weeks were probably about the worst sick that I've ever been. Minus that whole ruptured appendicitis thing a few years back.

Things here are getting much nicer though the weather is getting much colder.  I had a revelation last week.  A pretty major one actually.  So, homesickness (and boredom) has hit pretty intensely the last few months.  I figured out why. We used to do really cool stuff all.the.time.  Shark diving. Eric Clapton. Run around town begging random Koreans to say "Merry Christmas" for a camera.  Hiking. and Festivals.  Then I quit doing stuff.  The last major thing I did was ziplining on my birthday-which goes down as my favorite experience in Korea, by the way.  I very clearly remember after that weekend expressing how completely exhausted I was from being so busy every weekend of the last 8 months and I was calling it quits.  4 months later, I still haven't done anything exciting.  And I haven't left Daejeon since my birthday.

10 Things I Most Look Forward At Home

Being sick is making me melodramatic.  I love Korea but with all good things sometimes you need a little space.  And while Korea is hugely accommodating to the foreigner population (Americans could learn a lot from them), we're due for a little time apart right now. 

Here is what I look forward to most about going home.  Family, boyfriend and friends are intentionally left off the list though they are obviously what I miss the most. Of course meeting my new nephew trumps everything.  And spending time with my beautiful niece, Lily.  And my sisters. I'm in desperate need of some sister time. And my parents.  My God, I miss my parents.  In the words of Madea, "I'm ret-ta-go now."

This Pretty Much Sums It Up…

You can go here to see a larger version of this, including country wide statistics on student achievement, class size, blah blah blah.