I think the majority of Americans assume that Asians are a much smaller people in terms of physical stature. I know that Jess and I both figured we would be towering over most people here. While it is true that the average size of a westerner is larger, in term of height and weight, the difference is not substantial. Much to her dismay Jess would probably be considered only slightly above average height in Korea. Her dreams of being the BMOC were crushed shortly after we got here. Of course Im only kidding. What I really wanted to accomplish by this post was to show everyone a video someone just sent me today. In this video Jess is arm wrestling our friend Mi yeoun. Its obivous that Jess had completely underestimated her foe and paid the price. Perhaps she was a bit fatigued becuase she had just gotten killed by another friend, Saw-Jin, not five minutes beforehand. Regardless it wasn't a pretty sight and quite a demoralizing experience for Jess. Another blow to her ego came when Jess found out that Mi Yeoun is left handed - ouch.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Jeshika is famous teacher in Pusan!
Sometime before winter break Gi Seon told me that a camera would be coming to my story time. I had no idea what that meant. But eventually it came out that there was to be a news clip on Dong Cheon Elementary School because the school had won the best rating during the annual country wide school evaluations. The filming was on a Thursday, when I'm normally at Yong Dang, my second school, but they changed the entire school schedule around so that I could be there. So, I plan out this elaborate series of games and activities to go along with the story (usually we play one game or one activity and call it a day) and I'm all prepared for them to tape parts of my 40 minute story time.
When I walked in there were over 20 kids there - terrifying because normally I have 8 and my activities were designed for that many, but I thought the show must go on. So I sit down and start saying hello to the kids and asking them some simple questions when the librarian comes in and says "STOP STOP!". I thought it was a strange way to conduct a class, but what do I know about it? So I stopped. The camera wasn't ready and I thought maybe they really wanted to get every second of the experience on film. The sweet librarian doesn't speak much English, so when they were ready she says "Don't stop!" and motions with her hands for me to continue. In the between time one kid that's always in my story time pointed out the camera to me with a big smile on his face like he was letting me in on a secret. So sweet and cute, what a cupcake.
So into the story and I'm reading and going along wondering what I'm going to do with 20 kids when it comes to activity time when on page 3 the librarian again with the "STOP STOP!" and now I'm thinking this is kind of an awful way to have a class when she says "BYE BYE!" (she speaks really loudly to me, trying to muscle through the language barrier, thus the caps). OOOoooooohhhhhhh, it was all just for show! No one told me that part (This is a common move in Korea, not as annoying somehow as you'd think it would be. In face, it'd be worse at home because you have your expectations, but in any other country you can just write it off as a cultural difference and it's no sweat). So 3 minutes after it started it was all over. But I do have a clip with about 3 seconds of face time on Korean TV! So as our Korean teacher friends are want to say of other teachers, I now rank among the "very famous teacher(s)" of Busan. If you click the link below a pop up list will come up in Korean. Click number 11, the last one (it translates to Dong Cheon wins best ranked school, roughly) and the clip will come up. I'm only in the beginning, but the whole thing's my school.
******** 알려드립니다 ********
Jess
When I walked in there were over 20 kids there - terrifying because normally I have 8 and my activities were designed for that many, but I thought the show must go on. So I sit down and start saying hello to the kids and asking them some simple questions when the librarian comes in and says "STOP STOP!". I thought it was a strange way to conduct a class, but what do I know about it? So I stopped. The camera wasn't ready and I thought maybe they really wanted to get every second of the experience on film. The sweet librarian doesn't speak much English, so when they were ready she says "Don't stop!" and motions with her hands for me to continue. In the between time one kid that's always in my story time pointed out the camera to me with a big smile on his face like he was letting me in on a secret. So sweet and cute, what a cupcake.
So into the story and I'm reading and going along wondering what I'm going to do with 20 kids when it comes to activity time when on page 3 the librarian again with the "STOP STOP!" and now I'm thinking this is kind of an awful way to have a class when she says "BYE BYE!" (she speaks really loudly to me, trying to muscle through the language barrier, thus the caps). OOOoooooohhhhhhh, it was all just for show! No one told me that part (This is a common move in Korea, not as annoying somehow as you'd think it would be. In face, it'd be worse at home because you have your expectations, but in any other country you can just write it off as a cultural difference and it's no sweat). So 3 minutes after it started it was all over. But I do have a clip with about 3 seconds of face time on Korean TV! So as our Korean teacher friends are want to say of other teachers, I now rank among the "very famous teacher(s)" of Busan. If you click the link below a pop up list will come up in Korean. Click number 11, the last one (it translates to Dong Cheon wins best ranked school, roughly) and the clip will come up. I'm only in the beginning, but the whole thing's my school.
******** 알려드립니다 ********
Jess
Monday, February 16, 2009
Do you like the taste of our Curriculum?
Winter vacation is officially over. We all ended up getting more time off than we originally thought and for now its back to work - well barely. From February 9th to the 20th the kids are back at school even though most teachers have already finished thier lessons for the year. It seems a bit strange that the kids come back for a two week period after all grades have been reported and before spring break begins (we get another week off!). I guess its a good time for teachers to wrap up any loose ends and take a breather before the new school year begins in March. I havent had much to do because I'm finished with all of the set curriculum for the year an d many of my classes have been cancelled.
Speaking of lesson planning - the school system makes the life of an english teacher incredibly easy (in theory) by providing a daily lesson plan for every class and every grade. Unfortunately I've found that the students are typically bored to death by it. I've found that putting forth a little extra work and making/finding additional materials makes for a much more enjoyable experience for the students as well as myself. The material provided by the school system consists of a series of songs, chants, role-plays and sample dialogues that go along with a textbook. Today I stumbled across a blog called gallery of stupidity that showcases many of the videos that we are supposed to use in class. The website is very critical, but the author does raise a few good points and I think most of you will find it hilarious. The majority of the videos feature Korean kid actors with horrible out of sync dubbing done by 40 year old unskilled voice actors. It's hard not to laugh out loud in class sometimes. I'm especially fond of one character; a typical Korean kid that, with the use of a sharpie, is magically transformed into Joon - a happy go lucky freckle faced westerner. In the featured video below we learn how easy it can be to pick up chicks using english.
Brian
Speaking of lesson planning - the school system makes the life of an english teacher incredibly easy (in theory) by providing a daily lesson plan for every class and every grade. Unfortunately I've found that the students are typically bored to death by it. I've found that putting forth a little extra work and making/finding additional materials makes for a much more enjoyable experience for the students as well as myself. The material provided by the school system consists of a series of songs, chants, role-plays and sample dialogues that go along with a textbook. Today I stumbled across a blog called gallery of stupidity that showcases many of the videos that we are supposed to use in class. The website is very critical, but the author does raise a few good points and I think most of you will find it hilarious. The majority of the videos feature Korean kid actors with horrible out of sync dubbing done by 40 year old unskilled voice actors. It's hard not to laugh out loud in class sometimes. I'm especially fond of one character; a typical Korean kid that, with the use of a sharpie, is magically transformed into Joon - a happy go lucky freckle faced westerner. In the featured video below we learn how easy it can be to pick up chicks using english.
Brian
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