some more small

After more thinking (after the whole "I'm good at being small!" comment), Jeanne came up with, "I am good at making silly songs." She wrote that below the picture and then wrote down one of the silly songs that she had made up a while back. She sang it to me a month or so ago. TOOOO funny!!!! I'd post the video of it but don't have her permission. Maybe I'll get her to sing it and just get the audio of it. :)

"I am little I am small
and I talk a little bit
and I am very very cu te
and I am a butt shaker".

learning to write...

This is when correcting students' work is actually fun. 4 yr old Lindsay was to trace the word giraffe and then write 'gems' and 'gel'. As she is still just learning to write the letters, THIS is what her 'gems' looked like:

diss

The other day Lynn, a grade 4 student (though she's Korean, she goes to an international school and her English is better than her Korean), asked me if D-I-S-S was a bad word. I said no, diss is not a bad word but it is bad to do it to people. Then she replied that she had thought it might be a bad word because it "sounds like a bad word because it is a mix of P-I-S-S and D-I-C-K." (Yes, she was spelling the words out and not saying them because they are bad words).

gifts

I got a couple of gifts this week, both from the same student!Yesterday I got a nice gift for the Lunar New Year or 설날 (it is Romanized as Seollal, but the Korean is actually written as Seolnal), one of the most important holidays in Korea.The paper Hanbok (Korean dress) is a card from Kerry. A letter from the mom is in the envelope. The purple ribbon gift contained a business card holder. The red bag wrap had a fancy cloth bag and a note book. I guess Kerry picked out a book for me that had a butterfly because she likes butterflies.Then today, it was Kerry's birthday party at school (and her sisters, but I don't teach her) and the gifts she brought for her classmates and teachers (goodie bag type gifts) was fancy soap. The students all got one bar. The main teachers each got two. They smell so nice!!!
One thing I find interesting in Korea is how everything is always wrapped. Even simple things are often wrapped very extravagantly.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I've been keeping myself quite busy, sort of.
There's work, of course. Then there are a couple of after work gigs. Add onto that an attempt to go to hot yoga, doctor appointments, dinners with friends and/or the boyfriend, weekend trips and evenings out, and I am BUSY!!! When I am home, I don't feel like doing anything. At home I've been downloading music (had to find some for work) and looking for Christmas movies to download - after the Christmas concert I'll bring my computer to work and my class will watch Christmas movies for the rest of the day (and maybe the following day as well!!).
Work is nuts these days, in preparation for the Christmas concert. Unlike last year's concert, which was only a month after I started, this one is a lot of work. Last year, they had already started teaching the songs and one of the songs the kids already knew because it was used in the Parent's Night show. Also, the concert was just upstairs in the gym, only 3 classes in a concert. This year, we can't use our Parent's Night song, because the moms all saw it. And the concert is in some hall or place with a stage, half of the school in concert at a time. My class is second last the second day, with 4 classes up before us. We were told we had to have them doing 3 songs (choreographed) and a poem. Well, I didn't like any of the poems and decided my kids would do a 4th song instead. I'm glad the school agreed. They thought it was a great idea as all of the other classes were doing poems, which can end up being a tad boring.
So, my kids are singing : I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas, Little Saint Nick by The Beach Boys, All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey, and Happy Christmas (War Is Over) by John Lennon. Many of the kids already know the words to all of them (or most of them) and most of the dances as well (which I made up with a little help from my co-teacher). Our assistant teacher is now making the costumes that we decided on - a vest (red for boys, green for girls) with a reindeer face on the front and their names along the bottom. Very cute.
We had our first demo today with the supervisor watching. She was impressed with how much our kids knew. I think some of the other classes changed their songs or are just starting some of them. Our kids just have to practice. And we have to start practicing with the bells for All I Want for Christmas is You and glow sticks (glowing hearts and star wands) for Happy Christmas.
We have 2 weeks left before the concert. We'll be ready.
I'll post some videos of the kids practicing sometime in the next couple of weeks. They are so good!!!

"I Like To Move It"

How I love my kids!!!!!! My co-teacher put on some music and on came the song "I Like To Move It". The kids loved it. Three of my kids started dancing. SOOOOOOOOOOOO Funny!!!!! Daniel is in the front doing to robot or what ever it is he is doing. Tony (back left in striped shirt) has quite the moves, and Ryan is back right.

Korean Education falling behind?

This is kind of shocking knowing the push they have to learn and study and get educated. They start studying at a very early age, as young as only 2 (at which point some schools are teaching them to start to write etc). Only last week, my kindergarten class had to take a big test. A 1.5 hour long test!!! With reading, writing, vocabulary, grammar, etc. Ridiculous!!!!
Once they hit elementary school (and often before then), they are sent to private schools after school to study more. Once they are in high school, many go to private schools and study until the wee hours of the morning. One math/etc hagwon that I used to live near had classes until 1 AM. The students then had to be up and back at school before 7:30 or 8 in the morning. They get homework from regular school as well as homework from the hagwons.
High School is often said to be the hardest as the competition to get into a good university is very tight. They base everything on which university they get into, with Seoul University being the best in the country.

Korea Near Bottom of the Class for Education
May 16, 2008
Korea ranked high among world countries in higher education achievement but near the bottom in quality.
In the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2008, published by the International Institute of Management Development in Switzerland, Korea is ranked a poor 53rd among 55 nations in terms of university education meeting the needs of a competitive economy, one of the indices that indicate quality levels.
In contrast, the country ranked fourth in the percentage of population that has attained at least tertiary education for people aged 25-34. That brought Korea's overall ranking in education competitiveness to 35th among the countries surveyed, down six notches from 29th in 2007. The country's ranking in education competitiveness has been yoyo-ing from 44th among 60 in 2004 to 40th in 2005, to 42nd among 61 in 2006 and 29th of 55 in 2007.
Competitiveness rankings were given according to compatibility with a competitive society, qualified engineers available in the labor market, and knowledge transfer between companies and universities.
Korea ranked a high fifth in scientific infrastructure, up two notches from last year, and top in patent productivity, a gauge of patents granted to residents or research and development personnel in business, fourth in business expenditure on R&D, and fifth in total expenditure on R&D out of GDP.
The country came 14th in technological infrastructure, down eight notches from 2007, due in large part to lack of sufficient technological regulations and cyber security. Korea ranked the lowest among 55 nations in the IMD survey on whether technological regulation supports business development and innovation.
(englishnews@chosun.com )

My Teacher "Laura"

One of my (grade 1 / 7 years old) students' journal entries (they were to write about teachers)

My teacher "Laura."
Laura teacher is very nice. She is pretty too. She is good at learning students! She is very patient teacher and she is excellent at explaining things to us. I like Laura teacher! Today, she was more prettier than everyday. She is always pretty. I like to study with Laura teacher. Today, she give us a Jelly Worm. She give two (2) of them. I love that. She is very nice. Because she share things with other people. I want to study with Laura teacher everyday! We do not go Sunday and Saterday. :(
New Year blessing many get.

descriptive writing

Assignment: write a descriptive paragraph.

My Teacher
She smells good and delicious. She looks pretty, her hair is yellow-light and her face is like a model. She talks clearly. She doesn't taste like anything but she feels smooth.

(grade 1 / 7 year old student)