Last class with 6-9, 6-8, 6-1, and 6-2

Just had to let it out there that I'm going to miss my 6th graders a whole bunch. I do like some more than others; but, as a whole, these kids are so wonderful, friendly, and respectful. Today I taught four of my nine sixth grade classes for the last time before they graduate, and many of them wrote me letters to say goodbye. Of course, my interaction with them today was mostly colored by 6-2 (6th grade, room 2), otherwise known as my Miss Korea Gloria class. All the kids today were OK and I know I'm going to miss all of them, but 6-2 just makes sure I know they love me and really I can't help but love them back.

I took photos of some of the letters I received. I'll be posting those up when I have more time and when I'm not falling asleep.

In any case, these past 36 hours have been amazingly and surprisingly positive and encouraging. After such a long time of feeling stressed, feeling out a new direction, and then waiting with gradually increasing anxiety - this wave of goodness has just kept a smile on my face all day long.

I do like most of my 6th graders, and there is no 6th grader I dislike, but there are certainly students that just stand out - even if I try my best to be fair, I can't deny that to myself. And in terms of the whole lot of kids that stand out, it's 6-2. There are so many cheerful, unique, hilarious, enthusiastic, and friendly students in that class. I give a lot of credit to their homeroom teacher for bringing up this class to have such a great atmosphere and attitude, and even more for maintaining it throughout the year.

If I could adopt all the kids in 6-2, I really would. I'm pretty sad thinking about never seeing them again after they graduate.

Infected!

Blargh! I'm a zombie!

Well, no. But if a zombie pandemic broke out, I know I would have a few months before I get infected, I suppose.

I was infected with H1N1, aka The Swine Flu or 신종 플루, and I think I've recovered, on the most part.

After receiving a lot of questions about Swine Flu and whether it was actually worse than the regular flu, I decided I'll write a bit about it. For your reading pleasure, here is my needlessly detailed account of my experience:

Last Sunday, I woke up at a church retreat feeling very tired, dehydrated, and light headed. This when I had a hunch something was amiss. Of course, this doesn't mean I was infected at the church retreat. According to various sources, I could have been infected multiple days or just 12 hours prior to the manifestation of my symptoms. So, I could have been infected by my 5th grade students, who I had to teach four out of five days last week, sans co-teacher. Or I could have been infected by someone on public transportation. Or I could have been infected at my church retreat. Or... well... you get the drift.

Anyway, my condition was getting pretty bad, but me being me kept on smiling all the while. I was feeling really badly by the time we were back at church and the morning service had ended. I kept going back and forth on whether I should go to my favorite brunch place (with one of my favorite waiters) as usual on Sunday or if I should just head home. When we realized that there was a very long waiting period at Butterfinger Pancakes, I decided to opt out of going to Burger King and just head home.

First and foremost, I was parched. I wanted water or anything to drink. To my dismay, my stomach felt slightly queasy, dissipating my appetite. I felt a bit light headed and was getting the chills, while I was sweating in my coat. That was when I decided I probably had a pretty bad fever. In addition, my body was aching, down to the bones. I started getting a bit worried when I realized I was struggling just to stand up for more than a couple minutes and when my eyes started watering because of my condition.

I got home and tried to call my 3rd grade co-teacher and my head co-teacher, who is also my 5th grade co-teacher, but to no avail. I took some Tylenol (or acetaminophen) and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the bed. I woke up later in the evening, soaked in sweat, just in time for my next dose of medicine. I felt a little better because the acetaminophen had subdued my fever a little. I tried to call them again, but there was no answer. (Now I'm wondering why I re-signed for another year with these two lovely ladies who won't answer their phones.)

I don't remember much else because I think I ate some oatmeal and went to sleep.

Monday, I woke up early and tried to call my head co-teacher again, but she didn't pick up. So, I took a short nap and called again. No answer. I texted all three of my co-teachers and went back to sleep. I woke up around 8:20 and having received no reply, I called my 6th grade co-teacher, who picked up and was on his way to work. He let me know he got the text and asked if I had contacted my 3rd grade co-teacher, who I was supposed to work with. I explained that I had tried, but couldn't get in contact with her. He told me that he'll let her know when he gets to work.

With that, I was out like a light again. I also knew that I should probably get to the hospital. You see, most of the time, I'm pretty reluctant to go to the hospital; I know that I'll get better and what have you. But this thing was hitting me hard and I wasn't sure if my Tylenol was cutting it. I finally managed to take a shower and get dressed and get out of the door before 2:00pm.

Taking the bus and the subway was pretty harsh, but I tried my best not to cough on people on the way. My voice also sounded very pitiful at this point. I sounded like I was whimpering or wheezing whenever I was talking and when I was alone at home, I was making a lot of little noises because I was hurting so much. So many noises, in fact, that at some points I started laughing at how hilariously pitiful I sounded.

Anyway, I had a temperature of over 39 degrees Celsius which is somewhere between 102 and 104 degrees Fahrenheit. The doctor prescribed a bunch of medicine, as is Korean style, including a cough syrup, acetaminophen, and Tamiflu. I also got tested for a possible H1N1 infection by getting a couple long cotton swabs rubbed on the back of my throat.

Funny thing about the office where I was tested - it was located in a room that had no access from inside the hospital. We had to walk outside to get to this door in the side of one of the buildings which led to a small room with two nurses inside.

On the way home, I was in a bad state, physically and emotionally. I had texted my head co-teacher to let her know that I might be infected with Swine flu and she called me to see what was going on. She had talked with the vice principal about me taking sick leave, but when she heard that it would take until Thursday to get back the results, she started sounding very nervous and asked me if I had spoken to the vice principal. I told her that I haven't and that I don't even have her number and she began to read the number off for me.

Now, I really like Yumi. She's very nice and easy to work with on the most part, but I think she doesn't realize that as the head co-teacher, she's responsible to being the bridge between the Native English Speaking Teacher (moi) and the school (including the administration). She's a new teacher, new to teaching and new to the school, so I understand her reluctance, but she's getting paid extra to do this job. I generally don't ask her for a lot of things and I get along fine with everyone, so that gives her very little work to do on my behalf. This being said, it really irritated me that she is so unwilling to do her own job. As far as she knows, I don't know Korean and the vice principal barely understands any English; what was she thinking? Can she not just extend a hand and let the vice principal know that I'm very very very sick?

I didn't say anything out of anger or irritation to her though, but my irritability showed when I accidentally hit the leg of a gentleman on the subway and he glared at me, rubbing his leg. I didn't realize that I had hit his leg at first and glared right back at him. He backed down. I felt a little bad about the way I responded afterwards.

When I got home, I took my medicine and went right to sleep. When I woke up later, I had received text messages from some after school teachers telling me that they hoped I was OK and whatnot. In some way, I was really touched that they cared. In another way, I was saddened that the after school teachers, not the actual teachers I work with, were the ones to check on me.

Tuesday, I felt a little better, but still very crappy. Tamiflu messes with your stomach and I was having a hard time finding motivation to eat. Since Sunday, I had been sustaining myself with mostly oatmeal, but on Tuesday I ventured into the world of breakfast cereal. I think that's when I called a friend to ask for a favor, "Could you bring me some food?" After realizing that I may have Swine Flu, she decided against coming to see me, but suggested that I order in.

My address is a bit weird and hard to find, so I actually haven't ordered in at all since I've lived here. I also only have 4,000 won on me (which is less than $4). So I called my land ladies, who eventually brought me some Juk (or 죽), which is a rice porridge, often given to people who are sick. I was very grateful. However, due to my waning appetite, I had a few spoonfuls before I was finished with my meal. I saved the rest, of course... and I still have a bunch sitting in my fridge. Mmmmm.

Wednesday, my co-teacher wanted me to bring in my re-signing forms and proof that I actually went to the hospital. After my family friend came by with some soups (my 4th type of food for this week), I dropped off my forms and went back to the hospital to get a form stating my results from Monday. I was still not feeling that well, but I was much much better. I didn't have the overwhelming chills any more, for one thing. And I wasn't feeling as dehydrated and the aching was gone.

Actually, when my family friend came by, she commented on how hot it was in my apartment. I had realized that morning that it was a bit warm, but it seems I was so cold earlier that week that I really cranked up the heat. I hope my bills aren't through the roof because of that.

When I got home, I was feeling fine, but exhausted. I fell asleep again until about 8pm. When I woke up, I was feeling very energetic. I made myself some fried chicken, started some laundry, and made a list of chores I would do once I woke up.

Thursday, I woke up feeling very groggy and tired and just went back to sleep. I didn't wake up until around 3pm. I called the hospital and got the news that I was indeed infected with Swine flu. When I called my co-teacher, she was shocked and asked me (as she did on Monday and Wednesday) if I went to the hospital and if I got medicine and if I got Tamiflu and what the doctor said. I tried my best not to sound irritated as I told her, "I told you already." Oh goodness. Patience, Gloria, patience.

Then I ended up staying awake for quite a while. I played Halo 3 and went on Facebook.

One thing I do remember about sleeping late was that I had some very strange dreams. There was one dream in particular that had the title of "Happy Joshua." I have no idea what that means, nor do I have any friends named Joshua. Who is this mysterious Joshua character? Why is he happy? Perhaps the world will never know.

Friday, I slept late again, but other than the tiredness and still not feeling that hungry, I felt fine. Actually, I was very very bored.

And that brings us to today, Saturday. I went shopping for a couple winter things and watched 2012, which was entertaining, but a very mindless movie with lots of explosions, natural disasters, and people dying. I didn't stay out longer because I was spent. I just wanted to go home and rest.

And that's what I did, writing this blog entry in the mean time.

Hope that helped.

So, to answer the question, Swine flu is very very similar to a regular flu, only a little nastier and lasting a few days longer.

Now that I've been infected though, I don't have to worry about catching it ... at least this season. ;)

Breaking in Korea: Part 1

OK. This is a post I meant to make a while ago, but I hadn't finished all the videos yet, so... It's going to be a bit late.

Something I've been interested for a long while is bboying/bgirling, a.k.a. "breakdancing." There's something about it that I find exciting, exhilarating even. I had growing interest in it for a while, which is why I decided to go see Planet B-boy, when it opened in the Ritz Theaters in Philadelphia.

Here's a movie promotion clip that I absolutely adore:


After I saw the film, I was sort of hooked. Sort of, meaning, I had no connections or means to really go see a show or join a class. I really wanted to, but my job was my life and I had no extra energy to spend on anything other than working or recuperating from work. I asked around, but my only b-boy friend had long since retired from practicing and I only saw him every so often for his church-related things.

Being in Seoul, South Korea, is a blessing for me in so many ways. One is that I finally have the opportunity to go see these performances and competitions live. And it's so much better live, let me tell you.

Even during orientation, we had a b-boy session after a long day of training. A few of the guys I befriended were practicing for that night, anticipating and hoping for a chance to battle.

Well... they got it.

My first video for you is from that night. Enjoy! (Please ignore my absolutely crazy giggling. Haha. I was sleep deprived and it was seriously the first time I saw this kind of thing in person. But hey... I was totally enjoying myself, right? Hope you do, too.)



If you can't watch that video (or even if you can), check out the same video on my Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1247144451998 OR http://www.facebook.com/v/1247144451998 )

And don't worry; I have a few other videos for you that I'll post up later. (and they're better than this one. ;x)

And this little piggy went "Wee wee wee!" all the way home.

Swine flu seems to have hit a whole bunch of schools really suddenly this week, in Seoul at least. I kept seeing Facebook status updates mentioning how schools are closing or whole classrooms or grades are being shut down because so many kids are coming down with it. A group of doctors in Korea even had a meeting and decided to encourage the government to shut down schools for a week or so to slow the spread.

The problem with schools being shut down is that this may take days away from teachers' vacations. I already bought my tickets to the USA, so I hope there aren't any complications with it. I'm planning on just keeping my mouth shut until someone else brings it up.

My school first had one first grader that supposedly was infected with Swine flu and then a classroom or two of the first grade closed. In one class, only one student showed up and ended up eating lunch in the teachers' cafeteria with his teacher.

Then the entire second grade was shut down and all the subject rooms were announced closed. I wasn't told the latter bit of news and having to basically teach by myself again, I had my English classes in the English room. My co-teacher, Yumi, asked, "Didn't you know?" after she was surprised that I was having classes in the English rooms, since they were not supposed to be used. She was the one who should have told me, of course, but we all forget sometimes. I preferred that no one told me, anyway; it's easier to teach in my own classroom rather than traveling from homeroom to homeroom.

I also went to another Bboy competition today and had an awesome time. I was giddy afterwards from the combination of excited happiness from the show and complete exhaustion. I decided to go to sleep rather than partake in any Halloween activities because I was so tired; plus, I already had an awesome day. That was enough for me.

In the meantime, here's a bit of memories from before I came to Korea. I was waiting on job offers at this point. I drew this for my friend Lisa, but in order to see the message, the speed needs to be set a little lower than halfway. Enjoy.

(High resolution of the final image: http://74.53.173.162/large.php?rn=6534080865292b80977262ac9942be92P)

Gosh. I miss my dog.

"But you know, I was always this strange."

Lately, I've been struggling a little getting used to my new co-teachers and the new atmosphere of the subject room teachers.

The students haven't changed as much as the teachers have, however. They're always giving me cute stories to write.

My "Miss Korea Gloria" class is still adorable, even though I feel like all the 6th graders are getting a bit noisier than they used to be. One of the girls from that class is in my after school class and has decided to like me. Her signature bright and energetic "HeeeellOOOOOO, Miss-ih Gih-loria" is very cute and I've told her that she suits her name, Sunny, quite well.

Being rather mature and kind, she's a bit of a favorite among the younger girls in her after school class, but some of them have no clue how quirky she is. One of them is the cutesy Annie, probably the most distracted girl in the class, as well as one of the most distracted girls. Period. After observing Sunny interacting with some of the other 6th grade girls, Annie commented, "Sunny... you're sort of strange." Sunny, being Sunny, blinked a few times and then laughed, "Hohoho! You're just figuring it out now, aren't you?" Then with an air of nonchalance, she added, "But you know, I was always this strange."

A boy in the "Miss Korea Gloria" class has recently decided to wait to be the last one to give the password when leaving English class, but for good reason. He's been adding in his own improvisations when telling them to me. Once, he changed a few terms so that he ended up calling himself "handsome," almost expecting me to shoot him down. Last week, after learning that pumpkin is a pet name in the USA, he called me "pumpkin." I don't know if he meant that in the Korean way (which would mean I'm ugly) or the American way (which he understands as meaning "cutie"), but either way he thought he was quite clever.

While I was on the way to the office from lunch today, another 6th grade kid, although I'm not sure from which class, called out to me, "I love you!" when he spotted me as he was running up the stairs. I looked up and saw him waiting, still frozen in a running position, waiting for my reaction. I probably had a look of confusion on my face, so I quickly smiled and responded, "Aw! Thank you!" and then continued to walk back to my office. I'm not quite sure how else I should have responded. o_O

One of my previous co-teachers, Sun-Mi, is now teaching a 3rd grade class as a homeroom teacher. Last week, a few of them approached me as the rest of the class was settling down and asked if I knew their homeroom teacher. I said, "Yes! I do. Please tell her I say hello." They beamed and nodded.

Later, Sun-Mi and I bumped into each other in the main office. I mentioned that her students asked me if I knew her. She laughed and explained that they were asking her how to say it in English and was practicing the question for a while. They also told her that they really like me, so they make sure to be on their best behavior when they're in English class with me.

How adorable!

The importance of zoning out.

Lately, it's been difficult for me to ignore what going on around me - what people are talking about, what people are doing when they get up from their seats, and the like. There's been quite a shift in social dynamics between the subject teachers, and it's a shift I'm not that comfortable with. It doesn't help that all three of my co-teachers have a hard time talking with me in English or understanding what I'm saying half the time. I'm not saying they're not friendly, but it's hard having no one that I can trust or talk to face to face on a daily basis.

So, today, during my lesson preparatory time, I decided to draw some character masks for my after school kids, rather than simply rely on ones available on the internet.

There are certain activities that all of us find some solace in, I think. I have several: drawing, singing, dancing, reading, writing, snowboarding, rock climbing, meeting and getting to know new people ... among other things. Even when I'm in the middle of teaching, I can just focus all my energy on teaching and I lose myself in it. I have no time to worry or feel upset or plan or anything else that may take up some of my cognitive energy. It's all about what I'm doing in that moment for the time being.

It's so refreshing.

I got to drawing and all the chitter-chatter and gossiping of my co-workers just disappeared and it was just the paper, the pencil, the marker and me.

Sometimes, I forget that how important it is to have something like that on a regular basis. And I'm a person that gets easily bored. I like to be challenged and to try new things, feel like I'm improving or accomplish a goal or outcome.

Especially since I'm in a new place, I've forgotten that regular challenging and enjoyable activities that give me some zoning out time keep me feeling refreshed and alert.

I'm hoping I can find something I can lose myself in while I'm here. I'm looking for a dance class of some sort to join; until then, my undisciplined self will have to make some mandatory time for activities that will allow me to break away from these little stresses that really don't matter. Without those breaks, I think I let those little stresses start building up and weighing on me. Then life starts getting stale... and I'm all about the breath of fresh air.

P.S. Washing the dishes used to be one of those zone out times, but that was when I had a window in front of me. I don't know what it is, but I cannot zone out washing the dishes when I'm staring at a wall.

"Sometimes... you are like a boy."

Gender expectations in Korea are still pretty clear cut and traditional, but changing little by little. If a boy tells a girl she's physically "strong," then it's usually to tease her - it's taken as slightly questioning her femininity.

My new co-teacher, being an older man, has these assumptions without even realizing it. He recently told me that he's been taking a more gentle approach with the girls in the class in terms of classroom management and discipline, but now he thinks it's not a good idea any more. I firmly agreed.

Meanwhile, he's made it clear that girls don't play soccer, don't play video games, and so on. I don't really hold this against him, but I do feel a shift in the classroom atmosphere because of this and other aspects of his teaching style and his attitudes. It's not that it's terribly gone awry, but I have to get used to it, and it takes some energy to combat the whole "girls are meek princesses" attitude a little.

I admit to using some of the gender expectations with the kids in the class. For example, if I tell a girl that she's being "scary" because she's playing too roughly with another student, she usually becomes bashful and is careful not to be so "scary" any more, at least around me. The boys aren't as bothered by it, so I use other approaches.

In the meantime, I can't say I'm on the 100% feminine end of the scale either. That's pretty normal, in my opinion, but my students aren't exposed to it as much. When they found out I play video games, they were shocked. The girls didn't seem to mind, but the boys were in awe.

It reminded me of when I student taught in the USA and the 5th grade boys found out I liked Kingdom Hearts and Halo. They argued over who would sit next to me while we were working on a ship-in-a-bottle project. There were girls who played video games too, so I didn't see the big deal, until they told me that I was the coolest teacher they've ever met... probably because I played video games. Haha. I told them it's not a good thing if their teacher plays too many video games, but they insisted that it's a wonderful thing. So, in the USA, it was more that I was a teacher that played video games than that I was a girl that played video games. In Korea, it's that I'm a woman that plays video games.

Later on, in an after school class, I was explaining the meaning of "lurk," and one of the boys said, "Lurker!" which is a creature from Starcraft (a strategic computer game) that hides under the ground and attacks with spikes while still hidden. I was excited I could have a point of reference to explain the meaning, so I exclaimed, "Yes!" and continued explaining using the Lurker.

The boys stopped talking and James asked, "Miss Gloria... You know Lurker? You play Starcraft?"

"Yes. I like it, but I'm not good."

Brian thoughtfully stated, "Miss Gloria. Sometimes... you are like a boy."

I couldn't really disagree.

End of my school's after school program term means...

End of my school's after school program term means... another after school program term.

The new term starts off with... pretty much the same two classes, but leveled up. "Oxford" is now "Columbia" and "Columbia" is now "Princeton." I'm a little worried since I've just been told that the books I wanted as "textbooks," though they'd be more like literature books, were sold out and I can only have one copy of each. I already made a plan for the entire term, so... well... hopefully I'll make this work.

In the meantime, enjoy the very sloppily made video I slapped together for the kids in the wee hours last night.

Word Clouds

I made a couple word clouds of 100 words I commonly use in my blog. First, I set it not to exclude common English words, such as "the" and "and" and "I." Here's the result:




After excluding those common words, this is the result:




This was fun, but also gives me an idea of the general feeling of my blog. I'm surprised "Tokyo" came up as large as "Korean." I'm also surprised that I didn't use "Seoul" quite as much as I thought I did. Did I?

If you want to make your own, you can use this site: http://www.wordle.net/

You know he didn't study when...

I teach two groups of kids for an after school program at my school; both are very high level in English, but there's quite a big gap in between them.

"Columbia" has a very enthusiastic attitude in my class. They're English comprehension is very good and they understand pretty much everything I say. So my introduction to the class and the classwork struck a chord with them and the few times I had to speak to them as a class or speak to individual students, they took my words to heart.

"Oxford," on the other hand, understands maybe 50% of what I say; and, in turn, half of the meaning of my words simply fly over their heads. They seem to be rather confident in their English ability, but aren't as enthusiastic about using it as "Columbia." While students in "Columbia" will take a simple assignment home and type out a 3 page script, make copies for each student in the performance group, highlight each student's lines on each copy and practice the play over and over with expression ... students in "Oxford" will scribble a 10 line script on unlined paper and pass it around as they practice, simply reciting the lines when they perform.

I'm generalizing, of course. This is the feel of the classes overall, but there are some students who are exceptions in both classes.

One of the students who very much fit the mold of "Oxford" is a student who named himself "Kevin." He has a very innocent-looking face, which I think he's learned to use to his advantage. After I catch him throwing a piece of an eraser at someone, he automatically widens his eyes into two round shiny saucers and blinks at me. *blink blink* It almost works; I really really really wish I could believe that he was innocent... but I know better.

Before the final, he asked me if it was hard. I told him that if he studied it wouldn't be hard, but if he didn't study, it'll probably be difficult.

"Did you study?"

*blink blink*

Then he immediately folded his hands, shut his eyes tightly ... and ...

... began to pray.

I want to move.

After I came back from my 5 days in Tokyo, I found my leather watch wrist bands covered with green mold in my bathroom and my kitchen counters drawers with weird light slightly greenish drippy stains on them. I usually leave my fan[s] running all day long to keep the air circulating, but I had kept them off while I was away. Unfortunately, it not only left a strong musty smell in my apartment, but my apartment seemed to have "sweat" and become a haven for fungal matter in my absence.

If that wasn't bad enough, my air conditioner hasn't worked since I moved in; I've come back home more than once sweaty and really wanting some shelter from the heat and humidity, but not finding any relief.

During the next week or so after getting back home, I began to find other tale tell signs of the very basement-like conditions of my living quarters. Everything leather has at least some green mold growing on it. My diploma casing, my Bible... even some other objects, such as a wooden desk that I keep my television on, has some green mold spots on them.

My apartment gets just a little sun and sometimes the walls start to glisten right before it begins to rain. Now, the summers in Korea are rainy and incredibly humid. I generally get over any discomfort caused by weather conditions quickly if I have a place I can get some relief from whatever the weather might be throwing at me. My apartment was fine during the winter. It was a little humid, but it was never as cold as it was outside.

Now, I can't even store my washed and dried blankets in the closet. I had taken one out and placed it on my bed and thought it smelled just a little bit musty. I was so tired that I decided to ignore it. The next morning, however, I was coughing away. The cough persisted all day. I slept without my blanket that night and in the morning I was as good as new. Apparently, my apartment is so humid that my blanket collected moisture and became a mold farm in the dark warm closet.

This frustrated blog post was probably going to be posted eventually, but was catalyzed by what happened when I got home from a day outside in the heat, wanting to wash my sweaty clothes and also really aching for a nice cleansing shower. When I walked in, I thought, "Well, it's not that hot today, I can deal. It'll be just fine after I shower."

Guess what?

I turned on the water and the shower head wheezed at me, making a slight gurgling sound as it produced absolutely no water.

Thank goodness I had bottled away from of the previous days' leftover boiled water. I was able to use it to at least wash my face and brush my teeth. I even poured it out in a big bowl to wash my face. I felt like I was in a scene from a period film.

Other than roughing it with no water, I'm doing all right. I just really really want to move somewhere that gets more sunlight, better ventilation (and no "sweating" walls), and a working air conditioner. I'm going to try to convince my school to start looking for a new place for me.

Being illiterate

I love bookstores. I could spend hours at them. That is if the majority of the books were in English.

Today, I felt suddenly handicapped as I wandered through a bookstore. All the books were in Korean. I can read some Korean, but very slowly. My reading comprehension of the Korean language is fairly elementary. I'm definitely not fluent when it comes to reading in Korean.

Walking through the bookstore, I saw various sections of interest, such as art or sociology; however, I could not read any of them. Two floors filled with books and information and imagination and I could only barely tap into any of it.

I searched for the English section and found two tables of books. My pickings were very limited, but at least I could understand the text inside the covers.

In any case, I realize that not being able to read feels like I'm locked out. I do love books, but when I realized I couldn't access the information within all those books that surrounded me, I felt a little saddened.

I missed hanging out at a local Borders or Barnes & Nobles back in the States. That's when I felt like I have a trove of treasure chests at my finger tips; all I had to do to get to the gold was open a book and turn the pages.

On a completely different note, I saw "Up" in the movie theater today and it was wonderful. I highly recommend it.

Japan reminds me of a Miyazaki film

I landed in Japan yesterday night and woke up late this morning, meeting up with my very jet lagged friend, Donna, and her husband, Morgan.

One thing that I've noticed in Seoul, Taipei and now Tokyo is the awesome juxtaposition of natural landscape and the cityscapes. Out of the three though, I've noticed the most impressive in Tokyo. We visited the Meiji Shrine, which was pretty much like a huge park. It was a mini-jungle in the middle of the Shinjuku district of Tokyo.

I don't know if this is a bad thing or not, but I was reminded, so many times, of Miyazaki's films, such as Totoro, Spirited Away, Mononoke Hime, and many others. The relationship of nature and Tokyo, the way that the insects moved along the ground, the grindingly loud sounds of the cicadas in the searing summer sun, and the way the hills rolled all brought the feelings I had watching his animations. I think he really did capture the atmosphere[s] of Japan.

After looking around Harajuku (but didn't see too many people in "costume"), we went to Mayu, in Shibuya, which was a restaurant that had "cocoons" for patrons. Each table had a tiny room, wallpapered with cocoon-like paper, with lights wrapped in the same paper. In order to get to our seats, we had to take off our shoes and crawl. There was *just* enough room to sit and eat comfortably.

This restaurant was so strange, but I really enjoyed it. It's not for people who are claustrophobic, but for those who aren't very tall and at ease with small spaces, it's very cozy and comfortable. The background music was probably the most eclectic mix I've heard in a while. It went from classical to jazz to Celtic to Sigur Ros to dramatic sound track music.

I think Mayu has tied with my other favorite theme restaurant, which is in Itaewon in Seoul. That restaurant has rooms filled with sand, with sea and beach type decorations. You take off your shoes at the door of each room and put it on a shelf. Then you step in and enjoy the feeling of being on a beach, sand between your toes, while you dine.

But back to Tokyo - we discussed going to a ninja-themed restaurant. Supposedly all the waiters are dressed like ninjas and run back and forth from the table, surprising you with the menus and other such fun things.

Ninjas! Can't wait.

Unintended Muffy

Here is another quickly and lazily written entry.

I've been wanting to go sing for a while now, especially since my voice is finally back to normal [almost]. So instead of going to a norebang, I just sang at home, recorded myself on my cheap webcam microphone and then listened to my own singing to see where I can improve.

I'm definitely out of practice.

My enunciation was one huge aspect of my singing I needed to work on, as well as focusing my sound out, rather than producing a nasally breathy sound. I really want to get back into singing in a choir or practicing with someone who knows more about singing and voice training than me.

I sang a bit of the song "Unintended," by Muse... I added an echo to mask the mistakes I hear so clearly, but hopefully it won't grate on your ears as much. I also added pictures of my family's lovely doggy, Muffy. I really miss her.

Listen if you dare.

Other than that, I broke out a whole ugly bunch during the last couple weeks of the spring term and my face is still recovering. I'm trying to drink more water now and maybe, maybe, maybe to get enough sleep. I really wish I had some way to vanquish pimples forever and ever.

I've also been teaching a summer program, for which I'm utterly unprepared. Hopefully, I can wake up a bit early tomorrow. Hopefully... I need to find a better system to get myself up in the morning... maybe something like... going to sleep earlier. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

Tap Dancing in 신촌

Around Hongik Univeristy (홍익대학교), also called Hongdae (홍대), and a closeby area called Shinchon (신촌), there are a lot of musicians performing in public places, especially near the parks. (Shinchon is where the famous performer Bi, a.k.a. Rain, grew up.)

This happened a while ago, right before a friend's going away party, but it was fun. I just uploaded it to my facebook; so here you are to enjoy and watch.

If you don't know "Nobody" by the Wonder Girls, then I suggest to watch this first:

And the performance in 신촌. Enjoy! :)

And, just for some more fun, here's a video of a parody of "Nobody," by a group called Norazo (or Norajo, which I think means "play with me.").

Summer vacation!

I finished teaching for the term this past week (even though I'll keep having to teach a little bit every day for the entire break, save one week).

I just wanted to thank Kelly for the lovely package and Laura for the lovely postcard. <3

I saw the new Harry Potter movie today, partially in "3-D," with Janet. It was fun and cute, though the plot felt rather flimsy. I'm posting a great deal of photos on facebook. I'll use those pictures to show you who some of the kids I've written about here are (and maybe some new ones).

Cute, little stalkers

I was literally mobbed by some of my 4th grade girls today as I left a local grocery store. First one came, then a couple others, then some more, until I had a little crowd around me. They asked me where I lived and wanted to ask me to play with them, but they didn't know how to in English. They asked if I'd keep teaching them in the fall, but I told them that I wouldn't be. They asked why and I explained that I had to teach 3rd grade.

Feeling rather awkward talking with a small crowd of 4th graders who were throwing English sentence fragments or sometimes just English words at me on a narrow sidewalk, I told them I had to go home to eat dinner. We said our goodbyes and then I kept walking.

That is until I heard a couple familiar voices behind me.

Two of the girls had decided to follow me home. After I reached the corner of the small road my house is on, they seemed satisfied, asked a few more questions, and seemed to turn to leave.

"Seemed" is the operative word.

As I opened the gate, I saw them through the corner of my eye running over to me. They stood a little distance away, trying to peer into the gate, so I motioned them to come closer and let them actually look. I think that was good enough because they left after that ... or they seemed to have left anyway.

The Password Is... "I Love You"...?

It was a busy day, as is the norm lately, but I had a good time teaching my regular 6th grade classes, as also is the norm.

I can't believe there is only one more week after this week before summer break (during which I still have to work).

In my first class today (the class with Mr. Class Captain, who was absent today), I had to leave right at the end of class to get my picture taken for the yearbook, so I wasn't there to check their passwords as they left. Some of the girls came up to me and wanted a high five anyway before I left.

The next class asked me if I had on make-up, to which I answered that I did because I had my picture taken for the yearbook. After class, a small group of girls stopped by to tell me I was pretty. Haha.

I forget if this happened with my 6th graders today or yesterday, but one class had a system where the girls would check out with the password at one door and I would help the boys at the other door. A few girls waited for all the boys to finish so that they could tell me the password and give me high fives.

My "Miss Korea Gloria" class (the one with Mr. My Cutie and friends) was exceptionally cute as they gave the password to leave.

The password was "I will visit my grandparents." The focus of the lesson "What will you do this summer?" was very simple future tense.

One of the kids, who jokingly tucks the sides of his bangs behind his ears and bats his eyelashes at me, sometimes complete with sound effects like "ddeng ddeng" (and every so often asks me if he's pretty... which he's not, even thought he's very very cute), said, "I will visit my teacher, Ms. Gloria." I laughed, pat him on the head, and then said, "The real password, please." He said, "I will visit my grandparents... AND visit my teacher, Ms. Gloria."

He also stayed behind for a little while to add "... and visit my teacher..." in English or ask, "Are you really going to visit your grandparents?" in Korean after other students gave their passwords. A couple times, he tried to steal their high fives.

I think I should nickname him "Aren't I Pretty?" Boy.

Then a very tall girl who sits in the back of the class came up. Her English is rather good and she's very unique in her attitude. She's got a very serious and obedient demeanor, but she is very silly.

Most of the kids sit in pairs, usually one boy and one girl. Since there are more girls than boys in her class, she has no partner and she often practices the English dialogues alone or with me while I'm walking around listening to everyone. Since she sits on the girls' side behind Mr. My Cutie, she also often helps him with his English.

One day, earlier this year, I picked her to perform a dialogue from the lesson and then chose another person to play the other role. After she finished, she asked, "One more time? This time, no partner?" Most of the girls in 6th grade are very self-conscious, but, surprisingly, she *wanted* to do a one woman show and performed the whole dialogue herself, hopping from one place to another, to indicate different characters.

She, along with a few other girls from her class, is in charge of cleaning the special subject teachers' office (where I am), and she is the only one who *always* shows up, sometimes cleaning all on her own. Once, the Korean teachers heard that there was a couple kids in the 6th grade who were caught kissing in school and they asked her if that's normal for kids nowadays. She answered very nonchalantly, "Well, sure, there are some kids like that. I don't know too much about it though."

Today, she came up to me and instead of saying the password announced, "I love you." I exclaimed, "Aw!" and put my hands over my heart. Then I asked her for the actual password.

I love her, too, even though I don't have a suitable nickname for her.

Mr. My Cutie, who had been incessant in participating in class, but had tried to skip giving the password the last couple times (and ended up having me make him say the password five times for trying to sneak away last week), came up and said the password wonderfully. I gave him a high five and then asked for a low five, which I often ask from kids who are taller than me or who do particularly well on the password. I think he was pretty excited that he got a low five, judging from the way he was cheering for himself as he ran down the hall.

Scar Siblings

I have a feeling that I often don't react the way my students expect me to.

One kid I have in the after school program is an impish 6th grade boy who chose the name Peter for himself. He's very quiet in my regular day class, but I've realized that this is because of early morning sluggishness and not due to any personality trait of his. He's a rather noisy and strange one, he is.

In any case, he came up to me during class this afternoon and said in an urgent tone, "Ms. Gloria! Look!" Then, he showed me a fresh scratch he had on his arm.

I suppose I should have acted tender and asked him if he's ok. Maybe I should have sent him to a sink to wash it. Instead, I showed him a very similar scratch on my own arm in the same place as his. I had scrapped it against something this morning.

"We're like brother and sister," I smiled.

He, without a word, blinked, smiled back, and then went the long way back to his seat.

Am I a bad teacher?

"Your name is Speaking."

Three quick kid stories for you.

I have a 5th grade girl who I think is gorgeous. She's very sweet and well behaved.

During our English Song Club, she makes sure to keep her eyes on me when I'm talking and nods with a quiet smile on her face, again and again.

Then I ask, "Do you understand?"

She gives me a very sweet smile ... then shakes her head, "No."

Another 5th grade kid I have is very cute. He's still very short, has a round face and rosy cheeks, and still has those straight bangs that are cut right above his eyebrows.

He's really interested in English and raises his hand often. He's well behaved and has a very positive attitude in class.

For my 5th and 6th graders, I have a password that they have to recite to me before they leave the classroom. The password is always a key phrase from the lesson. The kids line up, and when they get to me, they tell me the password and they give me a high five.

The password for the 5th graders on Friday was, "Oh! She's tall and pretty." Every so often, students will say the passwords in a very loud or exaggerated voice to have fun with it. This little boy outdid all of them. When it was his turn, he flashed a big grin and said the phrase while mimicing the movements I had done in class to demonstate the meanings of the words "tall" and "pretty." However, when he said "pretty," he struck the pose where his thumb and index finger made a V under his chin. Still posing, he raised his eyebrows and gave me a really cute smile.

It was so adorable that I couldn't help but laugh outloud and tossle his hair before giving him a high five.

And for the final story for this entry, there's a 6th grade kid that I think I've nicknamed "Mr. Class Captain," because I have no better nickname for him. I'll tell you more about him later, but he's a good kid; he reminds me a bit of my youngest brother. Well, maybe more than a bit.

Titles are put after the name in the Korean language. For example, since I tell them to call me Ms. Gloria, they'd call me "Gloria Teacher," if they translated directly from Korean.

On the description for the afterschool program, which Mr. Class Captain is attending, I'm listed as the "Speaking Teacher."

He saw me giving the 5th graders high fives as they left, so after I went back in the classroom, he peered in, just to say hello.

Then, with a little grin, he informed me that my name is "Speaking."

He smiled and left quietly without explaining.

"My name is MyulChi!"

Quick post about MyulChi.

He's a really adorable kid that has gruff features, as in... I think 15 years in the future, he'll look like a stocky (quite possibly stout) lumberjack or a pirate.

Anyway, I don't know his real name, but for quite a long time he was the only kid I actually had a name I used to call or identify him. He's the first kid I had an official nickname for, also.

Much earlier in the year, I was teaching the sixth grade the months of the year in English and he's not all that great at English either, so after January and February, he paused and wondered how to pronounce "March." Noticing that it sounds like "myulchi," which means anchovies in Korean, he thought it was funny to call out "MyulChi!" instead of saying March.

Even after he got the correct pronunciation of "March," he would call out "MyulChi!" which confused a few other kids in the class, since he has a rather loud voice. I told him that if he said it again, his name would be "MyulChi." And what does he do? He says, "January! February! March! ... myulchi," so I named him, "MyulChi."

He only stopped mispronouncing "March" after I threatened to make him do the MyulChi dance in front of the classroom. "MyulChi dance?" he asked. I nodded and wobbled my arms together like a fish. His eyes grew wide and he shook his head, "No! No MyulChi dance!"

Afterwards, he sometimes embraces his name, "MyulChi," and other times he seems to be a little irritated by it, mumbling to himself, "Why am I still MyulChi?"

Other teachers know him as "MyulChi," as well now.

The last time I saw him, he looked in the classroom when he saw that the door was open, knowing I had some candy (which I have only given out for a recent review day as prizes for teams). My co-teacher, Hee-sun, and I were organizing and cleaning up our materials after two days of big review lessons (and, of the nine sixth grade classes, I had to teach four alone). I was about to tell him to leave, but we asked him to help carry some things back to their proper rooms, instead.

He complied cheerfully.

Afterwards, I met him and my co-teacher on the stairs and said, "Thank you, MyulChi." I patted him on the shoulder and handed him two pieces of candy. His friend immediately demanded that he share.

As my co-teacher and I walked away, the boy bellowed triumphantly, "My...! Name...! Is....! MYULCHI!!!"

My co-teacher giggled and quipped, "I think he's happy."

Gar. I'm a scary rambling teacher!

I hunted one of my kids down at lunch by finding him in his homeroom class because I was teaching by myself today, he got in a fight right after class (it was something brewing from right before my class), I told him to follow me and he ran away.

That kid has been absent a lot from school because of his father. His father apparently doesn't let him go to school sometimes and takes him on cross-country trips instead of school sometimes and at other times disappears from his son's life. All the other teachers have said that the boy doesn't care about school; he seems to have given up.

The first impression I had of him was when I saw him in class, probably for the first time since the very beginning of my career here. I asked him to repeat after me and he told me in Korean that he doesn't know or speak any English. Then when I kept gently nudging him to try, he whispered to me, "I'm sorry," then shut his mouth. I did get him to repeat after me, but it took a lot of coaxing.

In some ways, he's really a cute kid, but his attitude is very saddening.

Lately, he's been getting trouble with me - but he's deserving it. He was continuing a verbal argument with another kid during my class. I don't know how to reach him, especially since I don't see him often and I don't speak to him in Korean, but I don't think going soft on him will work. He'll just think I don't care what he does.

Here's another perplexing little event ... There are two boys in that class who are pretty good for me... as in, I can see where they can be a bit naughty, but they never go so far as to make me upset... if they see even a tinge of me getting irritated or even if I'm just waiting for the class to quiet down, they settle down right away. They sneak each other looks in class sometimes and, a couple classes ago, I noticed that they kept looking at each other, so I asked one of them, "Is he that handsome?" The boy blinked, turned a little red, and said, "Wa!?? No no!" And he stopped looking over at the other kid so much. When I came by to have a chat with the other kid, they both snuck out of their classroom to stand a little ways down the hallway to watch me scold that kid. I have no idea why.

I do enjoy messing with that class though. They're not the best behaved class, but they respond pretty well to cues... which I have to use a *lot* with them.

There's a kid in the very front who kept looking back behind him. I was getting a little fed up, so instead of reminding him *again* to look forward, I asked, "Why do you keep looking back at her? Do you like her?"

He sputtered, "What? No!"

"I know she's a pretty girl, but... this is too much!"

"No!"

Then after a while of refraining, he finally gave in and turned around again.

"Again?" I asked.

"No! I was looking at *him.*"

"This time at him?" I looked at the boy behind him.

The boy suddenly got wide-eyed, realizing what I apparently took his words to mean, "Ah! No, no, no!" And after that, he didn't turn around any more.

Don't worry though. I only do this with kids I know I have a pretty good rapport with - if they're the types to be scarred by that kind of thing, I wouldn't do it. At least, I hope I wouldn't.

As for the whole boy gazing at boy thing, it's pretty normal in Korea for boys and girls to be very affectionate same-sex wise. Women often hook elbows with other women. I've witnessed middle aged men patting each other's butts in public. Boys will hold hands in class often; more so than the girls with each other. It takes some getting used to if you're from the states, but I don't think it's a bad thing at all.

So far, I've had a few girls shyly give me hugs or run up to me in the hallway and hug me before running away back to class. The boys don't touch me though, in general, which is fine with me. I've had one boy in the very beginning of the year keep putting his hand over my hand while he would say the password or, at times when giving me a high five, a boy will hold my hand for a moment. I find that very awkward.

More Mr. My Cutie Stories

So the other day, Mr. My Cutie was raising his hand incessantly, trying to tell me an answer to my daily "How are you?" greeting more than 3 times.

This kid was not responsive way back when I started teaching. He was quiet, but dozing off or looking out the window. One thing I did notice about him was that the girls left him alone and many of the other boys in the class followed him or did as he said. For example, once, not long after he started participating more in class, he forgot the "password," which is a phrase from the lesson that I want to emphasize, to check out of the classroom when it was time for lunch, so I told him to wait by the door as the rest of the students checked out. He pretty much became my bouncer. If a boy hesitated and forgot the password or made a mistake, he grabbed their arm and said, "You got it wrong. Get behind me." The boys, whether they actually knew the password or not, did as he said. He was more strict than I was.

One of the first times I noticed that he was actually paying attention in class was when I was waiting for the class to quiet down and before I could say anything to point out the few boys that were still talking, he pretty much growled at them, "Why aren't you shutting up?" in Korean. The boys stuttered a bit and then shut up. Then he turned back to look at me, although just a few minutes later, he was looking back down at his desk. At this point in the year, he still hadn't really raised his hand at all. I realized later that this was because he really doesn't know any English.

Lately, I can see him thinking about my questions and raising his hand if he thinks he knows the answer, whether the answer is correct or not. This week, as I was closing the game activity (which went very well), and was walking around to collect the cards I had made from the students, he called to me, "Ms. Gloria?"

"Yes?" I thought he had a question about the game.

He looked at me very seriously, furrowing his eyebrows a bit and announced, "... I'm fine."

Eh?

I mentioned to my co-teacher later that I noticed that he's participating in English class a whole lot more nowadays. She said, "I think he might just be trying to get your attention."

"Well," I responded, "At least he's learning English."

She chuckled.

Later that night, I went back to school to try to finish preparations for my 5th grade class, and Mr. My Cutie was outside in the schoolyard playing sports, as he seems to do every day as soon as school is out till it's dark, as far as I've seen. I didn't see him, but I'm guessing he saw that the office light was on and came to investigate (although he shouldn't have been in the school building). I saw his eyes peering over the frame of the doorway window. I didn't know it was him at the time, so I went to the door and opened it.

"Hello Miss Gloria." Who else could it have been but Mr. My Cutie?

"Oh, hi... How are you?"

He had started walking away as soon as he said "Miss Gloria," but he rushed back and said, "Uh... I'm fine.... and you?"

That's a phrase many Koreans who may not know anything else in English have learned and repeat verbatim, as well as with the same intonations. ("And... YYouuUUUUU?")

I said, "I'm good." Then I waved and said goodbye, since I had a lot more work to do.

I heard him outside later, telling his friends that he doesn't know any other things to say in English. As they tried to teach him, he complained, "That's too hard. I can't remember that."

Later, I heard the security guard yelling at some kids to stay out of the school building. (A couple nights before, while I was in the office at night getting the 6th grade game ready, I heard the guard chasing around some kids, yelling something like, "Go somewhere else!" to which the kid being chased answered, "I have nowhere else to go." Later the guard yelled, "Go home and EAT DINNER!" I still have no idea which kids those were. Ok... maybe more than no idea at all, but just an inkling if anything.)

He also asked me not to come to school at night any more.

And just so you know, there are other kids with other nicknames... For example, there is one kid I call, "MyulChi" which mean anchovy in Korean. How he got the name is a story for another time, but the other teachers all know him as MyulChi also. He sheepishly, with a small drop of amused pride, told my co-teacher, "I think the name MyulChi made me famous."

Good to know how positively I'm affecting these kids, huh?

"What a rough day!"

I had a pretty rough day today.

But here are some good points.

I jump roped 1000 times today. Yeah, there are three zeros there. I'm so awesome. ;D

And I went to a store I love browsing called Skin Food, which specializes in making more natural nutrient-rich skin care and beauty products. This was one of the small ones, in the Daerim subway station. There was a guy working there (which is unusual from my experience) and he saw me browsing some powders down near the floor and squatted next to me, which was funny because he's a very tall guy. I explained that I didn't know Korean very well and he said, "Oh!" Then he got up for a split second and then sat back down and started trying to explain what all the powders were for. I caught maybe 50% of what he was saying... maybe? He put the powder on his own hand to show me how to looks and then put some on mine. He said in Korean, "It makes it soft." ... or something like that.

I finally broke it to him that I was actually just looking for blush and he pointed to a counter right behind us. I was trying very hard to use Korean at that point, but I started faltering badly, so I just starting slipping English in there and he began to use the little English that he knows to tell me about the blush and to recommend one for me. "This is lovely color," he said. "It is lovely on you." Mind you, I had none of it on me, but he was just trying to say it *would* look good on me. Nonetheless, I'm sure he was having fun using his English and happy to know that he's good enough that I can understand him. I considered a cheaper one for a little while, but finally just decided on the one he recommended.

As he got behind the cash register, he picked up a lone bottled drink that was tucked away on the cashier's counter and handed it to me. "This is for you." "For me?" "Yes." "Oh! ... Thank you." Then he proceeds dig through some sample boxes and puts Skin Food samples in my bag along with my blush. A box of cotton pad things and a tiny little "Gold Caviar Gift Set." I'm always delighted with the freebies I get at Skin Food, so I thanked him and as I left, him and another guy (who had been behind the cash register before, but was just standing around) said, "Thank you!" in unison.



And... I have electricity now, as opposed to this morning, when I woke up and none of the lights would turn on and my refrigerator was turned off.

And tomorrow is Friday... an extremely busy stressful Friday, but after 6:30, I'll be free to relax and wind down.

And I got to hang out with a great friend today, who help me de-stress a bit after the long day.

Being late, smiley students, no electricity, soldiers randomly roaming, doughnuts, & grandmothers - a day in the life of Glo (I'll add pictures later)

This is going to be more of a journal entry - just so I have a snapshot of today... and so that you do too. :)

In the morning, I ended up sleeping in way too late, again. Somehow, it's become a habit to wake up a tiny bit earlier than the perfectly reasonable time, which makes it even more perfectly reasonable... but then I decide to hit the snooze or redo the alarm for a few minutes later... then I wake up and realize that the alarm didn't wake me up or I never set it in the first place.

I run around the house like a mad woman, getting ready to go, and then I run out the door, my hair still wet, sneakers and jump rope in a plastic bag in one hand and my big blue shoulder/hand bag in the other.

Today, my 6th graders were going to go get their graduation pictures taken and the weather was beautiful. I was already late, so although many of them saw me and waved hello, smiling, or surprised (which is usually the initial reaction I get if they see my outside of class... even in the school hallways). I said hello back; seeing their smiling faces was a great start to my morning... even though I was late, my hair was still wet, and I probably looked a mess.

I got to the main office, signed in, said good morning to my vice principal, then went to the gyogwashil (which is where the subject teachers' office is), put my bag down and turned on my computer... then I got right to work finishing my preparations for my 6th graders' lessons. I didn't have to teach them today because they were off getting their pictures taken in the park... and taking group and individual pictures of 270+ kids would take all day.

After I started my work, my head co-teacher, Hee-sun, reminded me that we have an open class (dum dum dum... ) coming up on June 10th. The vice principals and the principals will be there to see what I've been up to these past 3 months. We calculated that we have quite a few extra days, so we decided to stray from the curriculum a bit for that day.

The lesson will be more like a fun review day... and I will be very drill sergeant-like with them, just like I was with the Shopping Game. And they *will* have fun. No threatening tone intended. ;) Seriously though, I know they'll have a lot of fun with this particular lesson plan.

I went between working on my 6th grade lesson materials for this week, to pulling fun materials and preparing for the Shopping Game for the district training class, to completing a draft of the open class lesson plan in detail. *And* I chatted with my little brother a bit on Google Chat, even though I'm not supposed to really chat. I was hungry by lunch, as usual, and ate a lot. The teachers seem surprised that I haven't gained any weight.

In the afternoon, I ran to one of the bathrooms that had sinks (since all the bathrooms to one side of the buildings still don't have sinks installed since they took them out last week). I saw one of my 5th graders who said, "Miss Geu-Loh-Ree-Ah! Uh... Beautiful!" I smiled and said, "Thank you!" then patted her arm and said, "You too!" She suddenly got bashful and said, "No no no...." but she had a huge smile on her face. As we both walked away from each other, I heard her say to her friend, "Miss Gloria said I was pretty!"

I fell asleep for a bit after lunch, but was working most of the time. Hee-sun (I call her Hee-sun Uhnni, which means big sister Hee-sun), another teacher (who is always very friendly with me and is on a diminishing quest to teach me Korean), and I went to jump rope. We've been trying to go to the auditorium and jump rope every day. Last week Friday, they both jumped 1000 times and I jumped 800 times. The other teachers who came with us jumped 500 or 400 times.

Today, there was a meeting in the auditorium, so we went to one of the English rooms. Right away, a couple boys passing by glanced in and saw me, so they looked through the clear parts of the window and said, "Oh! It's Miss Gloria! Hi!" The other teacher mentioned that the kids didn't even care to check who else was in the room. We used some baskets to cover most of the clear spots in the classroom window to the hallway so that the kids wouldn't look in on us. Heheh.

Then we turned on some music and started jump roping, only to be interrupted by a couple maintenance men who were there on a request to make the desks a little higher for the bigger kids in 6th grade. We closed the windows, got the flash drive out of the computer, turned off the TV, and left. I didn't even reach 400 by that point. And I had really wanted to reach 1000.

Then Hee-sun and SunMi (another co-teacher) had to go to a meeting for a special afterschool English program we have at our school. They came back looking for files on the previous Native English Speaker and then rushed out. When they came back again for good, Hee-sun mentioned to me that I was going to start working for the afterschool program for the kids almost as soon as I am finished teaching the district training course. Oh me oh my. But, I only have to do 2 days a week... at least until September.

She showed me a draft of a letter they were sending home to the parents and I saw that my class topics were filled in as "chants, English rhyming games..." and such things... which is all right, but I wanted to do something more like a drama class.

When I mentioned this, Hee-sun told me that I should probably let the vice-principals know about this and took me there to talk with them. She told the vice-principal about my ideas and asked if it was OK for me to choose my own books and make my own curriculum. The vice-principal said that it was a good idea and that was fine, but she needed a 3 month lesson plan and what specific book I wanted right ... now.

Ack!

I had about 20 minutes before I had to teach my district training course, so I made copies for that class first. Then started thinking about the drama class, but in such a rush, no ideas were coming to me.

I walked up the stairs to the other building and then up more stairs to the classroom, where I was meeting Class 2 of the district training course. We read an article about a plot in Brazil to smuggle cell phones to gang leaders using toy helicopters. They were very interested in what was going on, especially as we got past the middle. After doing a short conversation lesson, I played the Shopping Game with them. Oh glorious Shopping Game. They had a lot of fun - just like the 6th graders and Class 1 last week.

I went back home ... to find that my electricity was down. It was still a bit bright outside, but my place is partially underground, so it's never really really bright in here, even if the sun was shining with all its heart outside.

I needed to deposit money in my mom's friend's bank account, to pay her back for my cell phone bill, but I ended up waiting around as various members of my land-family tried to figure out what was wrong and called the electrician. They kept telling me to wait, but when the 3rd grader of the family came back from a hakwon, they started nudging her over to talk with me.

She refused, at first. Finally, her mother and I talked on the phone (and her mother has pretty much perfect English) and she got very excited that her mother was on the phone. She leaned close to me to listen to the conversation, so intrigued by the sound of English. She started to feel more comfortable after that, using a little bit of English here and there with me.

Then, after waiting for quite a while, I was told things were fixed, but not completely fixed. I'd have to leave my key in the morning so that the electrician can come back and fix the root of the problem. It turns out that there was a lot of condensation in the walls and enough water built up to short circuit the wiring somewhere... but they're not sure yet. I'm to keep my windows open at all times to prevent this from happening again.

After saying goodbye, I sat at my desk, turned on my computer and posted on Facebook that I need help finding a good drama resource book for that after school class, and then I went out to the bank. On my way back, I saw a double line of soldiers walking on the sidewalk across from my school, in front of the expensive apartments where some of my wealthier students live. They were walking somewhere, in green basic camouflage-print uniforms, not quite marching, but definitely walking with big strides, two by two. Hm.

I was talking with Jenn, a very nice Uhnni friend of mine who lives close to the Guro train station, on the phone. She's not feeling so well. I hope she feels better and completely better soon.

I walked past my house and I went to a place called Tous Les Jours, which had baked good as well as sandwiches and other goodies to eat. While crossing the street, I see one of my little girls, and she waves and says hello, all smiles. She then turns to her mother (I think), with whom she's holding hands, and explains, "That's my English teacher." Cute!

At Tous Les Jours, I bought a bbq burger and a donut twist, which I happily ate back at home.



Then, as I am sitting at home, browsing the internet, my phone rings. It's my grandfather's younger brother's wife... Jah-guen Halmuhni... literally, "little grandmother." She tells me that it's her and then quickly asks, "Why haven't you called?"

Oops.

She's going to be going to China on Monday, coming back Saturday, then going to the USA on the 12th to meet with other family members for a reunion I'm going to miss. I mean to visit her soon. She is an amazing woman. I'll tell you more about her later, but I'm really proud to have someone like her in my family.

Now I'm sitting here writing about my entire day rather than going to sleep or researching what book I need... so I'm going to end this entry now and head to sleep.

Goodnight!

Evidence that I've been working! (Part 1)

Here are some lesson ideas I posted on my Facebook Notes.



Good songs for learning the months of the year
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 2:38pm

If you're going to be teaching the months of the year... here is something you can do as an activity.

My co-teacher found the song "It's Time for Another Year," which is great for kids who aren't very high level in English, but still fun for kids who just need a review. You can use it with a variety of activities to help students with listening skills, but, if your kids are willing (even reluctantly so), it's a great song to sing as a class.

The lyrics are:
January, February, March
April, May and June
July and August, goodbye summer
Autumn's coming soon

Hey September, October, November
It's December, winter's here
Goodbye Christmas, that's the end
Time for another year!

You can watch/listen to it or download it here: http://www.zshare.net/video/589531383234d82d/

You can find a pdf file of the lyrics to print out here: http://blocs.xtec.cat/clilpractiques1/files/2008/11/kids-songs-months-lyrics.pdf

___________________________________________________

Another more mellow and long song is "Chicken Soup With Rice." My little sister loved this song when she was in elementary school (though she ended up making up most of the lyrics as she began to forget them).
My co-teacher and I decided against it after realizing how long it was, but, in case you like this one better, here are the lyrics:

In January it's so nice
While slipping on the sliding ice
To sip hot chicken soup with rice
Sipping once, sipping twice
Sipping chicken soup with rice

In February it will be
My snowman's anniversary
With cake for him and soup for me!
Happy once, happy twice
Happy chicken soup with rice

In March the wind blows down the door
And spills my soup upon the floor
It laps it up and roars for more
Blowing once, blowing twice
Blowing chicken soup with rice

In April I will go away
To far off Spain or old Bombay
And dream about hot soup all day
Oh, my, oh, once, oh, my, oh, twice
Oh, my, oh, chicken soup with rice

In May I truly think it best
To be a robin lightly dressed
Concocting soup inside my nest
Mix it once, mix it twice
Mix that chicken soup with rice

In June I saw a charming group
Of roses all begin to droop
I pepped them up with chicken soup!
Sprinkle once, sprinkle twice
Sprinkle chicken soup with rice

In July I'll take a peep
Into the cool and fishy deep
Where chicken soup is selling cheap
Selling once, selling twice
Selling chicken soup with rice

In August it will be so hot
I will become a cooking pot
Cooking soup of course-why not?
Cooking once, cooking twice
Cooking chicken soup with rice

In September, for a while
I will ride a crocodile
Down the chicken soup-y Nile
Paddle once, paddle twice
Paddle chicken soup with rice

In October I'll be host
To witches, goblins and a ghost
I'll serve them chicken soup on toast
Whoopy once, whoopy twice
Whoopy chicken soup with rice

In November's gusty gale I will flop my flippy tail
And spout hot soup-I'll be a whale!
Spouting once, spouting twice
Spouting chicken soup with rice

In December I will be
A baubled, bangled Christmas tree
With soup bowls draped all over me
Merry once, merry twice
Merry chicken soup with rice

I told you once, I told you twice
All seasons of the year are nice
For eating chicken soup with rice

You can download/listen to it here: http://www.zshare.net/audio/58953242fc5579ea/

My co-teacher actually handed out the lyrics for the second song to the students and had them follow along as they listened and said that they actually enjoyed it. So... if you want to use this song, maybe you can start off that way.

Learning dates through holidays in the USA
Tuesday, April 28, 2009 at 2:45pm

I quickly put together powerpoint of holidays in the USA. I didn't include everything, so feel free to use this, edit it, change it, not use it... It's just here in case you would like to try it.

I made the powerpoint for "When is your birthday" lesson for 6th grade. This way they get to learn some cultural things while practicing how to listen and say dates in English. Each holiday has two slides. One has pictures for the students to discuss and one with the name of the holiday. I'm going to give students a bit of information about each holiday and let them guess the name of the holiday before showing them the second slides. I'm going to have them take notes on the dates and name of the holidays so that I can use this to review dates with them later.

Powerpoint with 13 holidays: http://www.zshare.net/download/59294433dcb40df9/

Microsoft word file with some points of interest on each holiday: http://www.zshare.net/download/5929430255d8778b/

If you edit it in any way that is awesome, please share it back with me. ;)

Shopping/Marketplace game
Today at 12:41am

So... I sort of tweaked the game in the textbook a bit and made a whole class game out of this.

My 6th graders loved it. I had one class that is very well behaved, but always very subdued because I have them first thing in the morning *and* it's sort of the class's personality. But... they were all running around smiling and having a grand ol' time playing this thing. I also used it with my lowest level adult teacher training class, and they had fun too. Of course, I made it a little more complex by adding more phrases, but that's not hard to do.

And explain that the partners are business partners. And if you tell the 6th graders that they'll be making money, even if it's fake money, they'll be very enthusiastic about it. Some of them ended up taking the time to count out how much fake money they made after class.

Things to prepare:
*Items - there are items in the books, which work fine, but if your school has any props - tape prices to them and the kids will pretty much ignore the items they cut out from the back of the books because those props are just more tangible and interesting to them.
*Flowchart - of the conversation you expect them to carry while buying and selling. Make sure to review this with them and emphasize that the purpose of the game is to practice English, so if they don't use the phrases... well... you can either be nice and say that it's not cool or tell them you're going to stop the game.
*Money and item cards - have the students cut out the money and the cards before class, maybe ask their homeroom teachers to have them do it when they have some time. Then, give students time limits. This worked well for me... tell them the game is really fun, so they have to pay close attention to me and not talk... then explain the rules of the game... review the phrases... then tell them they have 10 seconds to pull out their cards and money... count down. Then show them the item cards and tell them that they have 30 seconds to write a price between $1 and $5 on the back... then tell them to start and announce how many seconds they have left every 5 seconds... but... if they look like they need some time, slow down a bit. Then... have the clerks give all the money except the $1 (which they will need for change) to their partners, and to take all the items from their partners... 10 seconds - go.

Then all the customers stand up... and... "Go shopping!"

When the students start going, start handing out the props if you have any. Make sure each store gets one or two... or three... depending on how many you have. If you have extras, just give them to stores that need more items during the course of the activity. You can also get involved by grabbing some fake money yourself and buying some items.

When you get the class settled to switch roles, it's a very good time to review the phrases and mention anything you want changed, done better... or anything you saw that was great.

:)

Here's the rules I wrote for myself (I did change some minor things, but I'll leave it this way):
_____________________________________________________
Each pair is a store at their desks. One student will be the clerk. His or her partner will walk around and buy items from other stores.

Clerks:
One student will be the clerk. The clerk will sit at the store and sell the items for dollars. The clerk’s partner will bring back more items for the clerk to sell. If the clerk’s partner needs more dollars, the clerk will give the partner the money that they earned.

Customers:
The other student will buy items from the other store. After he or she buys some items, they will return to their store. Then, she or he will give the new items to the clerk. This student can ask the clerk to give him or her more dollars.

At the store:
1) The clerk should ask the customer, “May I help you?”

2) The customer will respond by saying, “Yes, how much is _________?” (For example: “How much is this apple?” or “How much are these grapes.”)
If the customer doesn’t want to buy anything, then she or he can say, “No, thank you.”

3) The clerk will answer, “This ________ is _________ dollars.”
(For example: “This apple is one dollar.” or “These grapes are two dollars.” or "It's five dollars.")

4) The customer can answer, “Ok, I’ll take it.” Or “It’s too expensive.”

5) Then the clerk and customer will exchange the item for the money.

Each pair will play as clerk and customer for about 5 minutes. Then, we will switch roles for another 5 minutes.
_____________________________________________________
If you come up with something else along these lines, please share it with me. =D

Remember to use all the techniques you regularly use to quiet the kids and get them in the seats... this activity gets noisy and unless you have signals that they respond to, you're going to have to do a lot of screaming.

Hope that didn't bore you too much.

No one, no one, no o-o-oo-one...

I love singing in norebangs/karaoke in Korea. I've gone a few times with my friend Lisa, who has the most adorable singing voice.

People hear me singing in English and keep peeking in the doorway window as they pass by. I got a lot of attention singing Alicia Keys' No One the last time. It makes me feel somewhat like a celebrity. Heehee.

So far, we've gotten free minutes twice. =D

Come!

The kid who called me his "cutie" and his friends saw me passing by them and, after saying hello a few times, said, "Come!"

I was in a rush trying to find a women's bathroom that didn't have its sink torn out (I suppose they were fixing some of the bathrooms?), but I stopped and asked, "What? Come?"

They smiled and gestured with their hands, beckoning me to follow them. "Yes. Come with us. Come to our home."

Then, Mr. "My Cutie" told me I was pretty.

I highly doubt they know how sketchy they're sounding. Only because they're so innocent, is this so cute.

When my co-teacher told the class on Wednesday that I became happier when the class enjoyed the activities I prepared for them, the same kid blurted out from the back of the class, "Then I'll be sure to do everything joyfully!" in Korean... I think. After he said it, he waited for me to react, leaning forward, raised off of his chair a bit so that he could see my face. He was so earnest that, even though I wasn't quite sure what he said, I nodded in his direction.

And this week was so much better than last week. I think sleeping more than just a few hours a night may have been a part of it. The 6th graders loved the Shopping Game activity I had for them. And I've been noticing that some of the 5th graders are getting very tall. I don't think they were so tall when I started teaching them.

Last week was somewhat of a struggle to get through, as I was feeling irritable and falling asleep at every quiet moment I had. I don't know if it was just me, the students, or a mix of both, but I felt like I was wading through quicksand to get through each lesson. This week, I was genuinely smiling most of the time. It's so true; I am happier when my students are happy.

One of my co-teachers, Minae, is getting married tomorrow and I'm going to be on a bus 3 hours one way to be there for her 2 hour wedding (Korean weddings are short). I'm going to hop back on the same bus and be back by early evening. I think I should bring a book to read. I am not sure if I really want to go, but I told her I would be there as long as I know how to get there... and I know how to get there. (Edit: I missed the bus... thanks to my very bad morning attitude where I think I can keep sleeping without any consequence. "Just another 10 minutes won't hurt..." >_< )

... And... I forgot to buy her a wedding present! What should I buy?

My teacher is prettier than your teacher!

I know it's been a while since I posted, and I definitely have a lot I want to post about, but here's another quick one for now.

The school I teach at is rather large. I teach 4th graders, 5th graders, and 6th graders. I see my 5th and 6th graders every week, but because there's only so many days in a week and so many hours in a day, I see half of my 4th graders one week and the other half the other week.

Because my school is so large, there are a lot of after school programs held for kids in the area, and of course many of the students at my school attend these programs.

I overheard some 5th graders talking in the hallway outside of the teachers' office I work in after school last week. The kids were waiting for their English class when they mentioned that a certain woman they saw was pretty.

"Oh! She's pretty," one of them said in Korean.
"Oh? Is she prettier than our own teacher?"
"Hmmm...."
"Hahahaha!"
"Of course not!"

I was just struck by how much these kids look up to their teachers and how important we are to them. Then again, this also shows how they are very aware of appearance also.

5th graders in Korea would be 10 - 11 year olds (American age). My 4th graders are 9 - 10, and my 6th graders are 11 - 12.

There is a 6th grader who after seeing me on one of the first classes, turned around to his friend and matter of factly said, "Yeah, you're right. She's good looking," in Korean of course. I wasn't quite sure and still not quite sure if he was actually talking about me, but I just acted like I didn't understand him. (I didn't smile at the kids a lot in the beginning... and I think I need to go back to that, after this week. I think the warm nice weather is affecting their behavior a little.)

But back to the topic at hand...

Another 6th grader has actually stopped by the teachers' office to ask to talk with me privately in the hallway. He then proceeded to tell me that he really needed to practice his English more because he's forgetting a lot and that he thinks he should eat lunch with me every day so he can talk in English with me. I told him that I'm often busy during lunch, and he said that it'll be OK and that he'll just come find me and sit with me. He did try about a week later and asked, "Miss Gloria... are you busy?" To which I replied, "I *am* busy. I'm sorry. See you." (And, yes, I was actually very busy.) On Sports Day, he gave me a book to look at and asked me to hold onto it while his class had an event. The same kid has pressed his face against a small clear part of a classroom window to get my attention while I was between classes. When I saw him and waved, he took that as an invitation to walk right on in. When I asked him, "Don't you have to be in class now?" He asked, "What?" I repeated, "Don't you have class now?" He blinked. "Oh!" and then scuttled away back to his class.

I had a little break in routine I did with the 5th and 6th graders a couple weeks before a small vacation; I had them put their hands on their heads, as usual, while waiting for other students to finish a quick task and then over their heads, which was not usual, to emphasize the difference between "on" and "over" on English, since the Korean language only has "over" with specifying whether it's touching and over or just over. I would have kids put their hands under their chins and then comment that it looked like they were posing. "You are so cute!" I would say and then strike a pose for them and say, "Pose!" To which some of them groaned while laughing and others actually posed with me. By the third time I did this with them, all of the kids in some classes would post with me.

One 6th grade boy apparently thought this was really funny, since, after the boy in front of him told me I was pretty, he actually did a pose for me the day before Sports Day while they were just waiting for other students to finish preparing for the next activity with their hands on their heads. After he posed and I did a quick little pose in response as I passed by, he commented in Korean about how funny I was, but I'm guessing he didn't really know how to say it in English. After the 5 day weekend, while I was passing by his desk, he said to me, "Miss Gloria. You are cute." Then he became quite thoughtful, "You are... uh... my cutie." Then he repeated, "my cutie," to make sure he got the pronunciation correct. Now, I'm not quite sure he knew what he was saying, but it was so adorable that I had to make quite an effort to keep from bursting out laughing. I did laugh at least a little, I'm sure, but I just pat him on his head.

The other day, I was walking around my neighborhood and I heard some little quick footsteps getting closer very slowly, so I finally turned around and I saw one of my little 4th graders walking as quickly as he could to catch up to me. It turns out we live quite close to each other. I asked him if he had just come back from a private after school program, called a "hakwon" (most students in Korea go to hakwons as a way to try to get ahead in their studies). The boy said that he just came back from English hakwon. "Oh. Do you like it?" I asked. The boy enthusiastically answered, "Yes." "Is it fun?" I asked. The boy nodded. "What did you learn today?" The boy opened his mouth and then his eyebrows furrowed. "Uh...." he answered, thinking carefully, but not able to think of anything to say. "Maybe you have too much fun, hm?" I laughed. He just smiled at me, a little embarrassed.

Kids are so cute. Seriously.

And even though their teachers might not see them that often and I don't really remember all 800+ of my students' names, I'm reminded by them, especially as they greet me by name when they see me around school or in the neighborhood, that I'm significant in their lives because I'm their teacher. This just makes me want to be a better teacher for each of them.

... Unfortunately, as much as I would love to remember each one, 800+ names are way too much for me to remember. The task would be very very daunting.