mask

With the swine flu getting more and more around, last week the school decided to bring in a new dress code - masks for everyone. All of the teachers and students must wear masks all day. Here are a few of my kids:[Justin][Brian][Ellen][maybe Thomas??? (one of the twins - forget which one was wearing the yellow mask that day. They keep changing day to day)]
It's a nice idea but doesn't really work. None of the kids wear them properly (most of the teachers as well) and many have stopped wearing them altogether. ALL of the kids keep touching their faces anyway, trying to sneak a nose pick here and there, taking the mask OFF to sneeze or cough, etc. Then they touch the tables, the classroom pencils and erasers and everything else. Many have them down just covering their mouth but not their nose, or just hanging on their chin. [In the pics of the kids above, I fixed their masks before taking the pics.]
Today I was watching my students. Only one had the mask covering her nose. The others had theirs down or rolled in a ball on the table. One kid had a pencil hanging from his nostril, another had a pencil in her mouth. Ugh. Also, while the kids are wearing masks during the day, during snack time and lunch time, the masks are put away and the kids are all sitting together at little tables, talking and breathing over each others' food and poking at each others' food at times.

What's the point???
As of this week I have stopped wearing one at all because it is impossible to teach phonics with a mask hiding my mouth and muffling the sound. You can't teach the proper way to make the 'th' sound without them seeing what I am doing, and without me seeing what they are doing to make the sound (there is nothing equivalent to the 'th' sound in Korean so it is sometimes difficult for them). They're quite uncomfortable anyway and make my face itchy.
Another thing the school has brought in is hand sanitizer. They have the kids using the stuff between classes. Well, the kids are getting used to using the hand sanitizer and some are getting obsessed with it. Apparently some of the other foreign teachers have seen some of the kids using sanitizer after going to the bathroom instead of washing their hands.
I think most of them will be getting immunized sometime the beginning of this month. See if they get rid of the masks then.

swine flu, skirmishes with North Korea, etc...

So, my school has closed its doors until Friday. 3 days off mid week. I'm certainly not complaining.
I wonder though how affective this is. A couple of students got the flu and the result is the school closing. So what happens if a couple more students end up with the flu next week or the following week or such? Do we close the school again? Korea has free flu shots for school children (grade 1 and up, but not kindergarten age because it is not part of mandatory education) that will be given in public schools across the country. The parents can opt out of having their child immunized if they want. Any children younger than that can be taken to family doctors for their shots. Public school teachers are next on the list (or at the same time?) for the shots. Foreigners have to wait, or so I've been told. I figure all of the hagwons should provide shots for the teachers. Why not? We see just as many kids as the regular teachers!
In an attempt to make kids remember to wash their hands and be careful, I think some parents are telling their children that if you get the flu, you will definitely die. I've been told that by several students. Interesting. I then explain to the kids that no, getting the flu doesn't mean you will die. Some will just not understand my explanations, though, or accept them if they do, since it's all in English, a foreign language to them, and of course, if it contradicts what their mommy tells them, what are they to believe? I suppose they will learn soon enough since all of them will at some point encounter someone who has had it, or will catch it themselves.
Today there was a bit of a fight between North and South Korean ships to the west. Sounds almost the same as the one that happened my first year in Korea, in 2002. A North Korean ship crossed the Northern Limit Line, that is the internationally agreed upon demarcation line in the Yellow Sea. North Korea doesn't agree with NLL and so every now and then crosses it. The incident in 2002 was a bit more serious, though, as it involved 2 North Korean ships, one of which was on fire on its way back up, and a South Korean ship sank as it was being towed back to shore. Several South Koreans died during the skirmish. I didn't really hear much about it, though, other than the first couple of reports.
There have been other incidents as well.
I wonder how much attention this newest fight will get with all of the attention being put on the swine flu.

Chuseok

Last weekend was Chuseok (추석 /Korean Thanksgiving). Chuseok, which I have posted about before, though with pictures and not as much detail, is one of the most important holidays in Korea (along with Seolnal, the Lunar New Year) and is a 3 day holiday. The main day (the middle of the 3) is August 15th on the Lunar calendar so it changes every year. Unfortunately it fell on a weekend this year, which meant only a 3 day weekend rather than a 4 or 5 day weekend that it often is. For Chuseok, Koreans (especially children) often dress up in their Hanbok (한복/ traditional Korean clothing) and visiting family is the norm. Women aren't always fond of these holidays because they are required to cook so many things. A big Korean dinner is not a simple affair and can take days of preparation due to all of the side dishes and such. During Chuseok, children bow to their elders (well, more of a prostration with the forhead touching the hands on the floor) and often get money in return. One of the most common special foods for Chuseok is songpyeon (송편), a rice cake stuffed with a number of things from sugar, sesame seeds, chestnut, and other such things. For the occasion, Thursday at my kindy was 'Hanbok Day'. The kids dressed up in their Hanboks (which seem to be getting fancier every year) and got to do several Korean activities including making songpyeon and playing jegichagi, a simple game similar to a hackey sack. The game is generally played with 4 people, passing it around trying to keep it from touching the ground.For the kids, the thing is tied to a string to help them keep it from going everywhere.I had my 6 yr old students for 30 minutes that day (each class 30 minutes). We didn't know until pretty much the day before that it was even Hanbok Day and were not told that we were expected to teach the kids something Korean (without any info or help), I had them coloring some simple pages I found on the Net. The kids didn't mind!! Hanok - Korean traditional house with a persimmon tree [coloring page]Hanbok - Korean traditional clothing [coloring page]
I colored along with them and most of them were trying, at least partly, to copy what I was doing.
If I didn't have other work to do that day I would have more pictures of the things they did.
more to come about Chuseok...

Kindy Graduation Speech

This is from a Kindy graduation ceremony in South Korea. She is 5 years old and it was her 3rd year of learning English. It is amazing how well she does her speech. I'm not sure I could do a speech as well as she did. (I'm not so good with public speaking.) Her mom wrote the speech and Lindsay teacher edited it.

kindy sketchbooks

All of my students had a sketch book that they would draw in when they were not on their toys day (they alternated). Some of them are fantastic artists; creative and skilled. I was surprised at how good some of them are. They are much better than I am yet they are only 6 (they just turned Korean age 8)! I should have taken pictures of more of their work, as I loved them all. Here are some of Jason's drawings.Little characters before coloring:A couple of close-ups:Cute!A couple of close-ups:Smog?

12 Days of Christmas

A warm up to Christmas.
This is Jinny. She is in my 5 yr old after school class (meaning she is 4 years old western age). Her regular class is doing this song for their Christmas concert and she loves it. She often starts singing it at random times during the class. She is one of the sweetest and cutest kids ever, really!!

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!!!

a journey through the human body

August's school field trip was to the aT Center
to see some sort of body exhibit.
VERY interesting, to say the least.

You enter the exhibit through a giant mouth.The kids got to brush the giant teeth.Then it was over the tongue and down a slide into the throat.We got to see the lungs and the liver.We got to go through the heart (quite dark, actually).In the stomach we got to see all the goodies
that the giant had for breakfast.The kids got to learn all about the urinary tract,
including a demo on how boys go to the bathroom...
INCLUDING HOW THEY ALWAYS SEEM TO MISS!!!
(It is going on the seat and splashing all over his feet!!!)We got to go inside a rather large pregnant woman
and see some very scary looking babies.Then it was down a slide and through the intestines.

Hmmm... can you guess what comes next???
The exit was, well, a tad shocking,
though not surprising being that this is Korea.The kids had some time to climb around
on the mock giant piles and puddles.

Quite the field trip,

wouldn't you say???

Soooooo busy!!!!

I like keeping myself busy. I don't like sitting at home. When I do, I end up vegging out in front of my computer, either surfing the web, browsing through Facebook (which is getting a tad boring), or watching tv shows and movies that I have downloaded. Usually, though, I am out. I am having a hard time keeping up with my laundry. I'm running out of things to wear. My home is a disaster. I did clean it, but it is building up again. I need to spend some time cleaning and such. But when?
This week:
Monday after work I was on a poo hunt - that is, a search for poo related things such as stickers, stamps and what not. A friend of mine made a request for me to send him such things. I walked from Apgujeong to the COEX stopping in what ever little stationery store I saw. It took about an hour to walk. I then wandered around the COEX for quite a while shopping... for poo stuff, and possibly some clothes and shoes for me (which I probably don't really need). I was home quite late.
Tuesday after work I headed to Suwon to meet up with my rafting guy. It takes between 1.5 and 2 hours to get there. Walked around for a couple of hours, had dinner, and then I hopped on a bus back to Gangnam. I didn't get home til about 12:30 AM or so.
Wednesday I had a Dr. appointment re: my neck. That takes a while as he does adjustments (chiropractic), accupuncture, and then I head to another building for physiotherapy. After finishing up there, I was off to a bit of a meeting/interview(?) regarding a possibly teaching job. It was a bit odd. I didn't even meet the guy that wants the lessons, as he is always busy. I met a friend of a friend's boyfriend to discuss the possibility of teaching business English to his boss, who is the CEO of some Architect firm. The mr. CEO is married and lives in Gwangju (a city in south-west Korea) but comes up to Seoul a few times a week. As he is always busy, it can't be set times for teaching. Basically, when he has time, he'll call to see if I'm available to teach for an hour (or more or less, but I'll still be paid for a full hour if it is less). Possibly over coffee or dinner at times. The money, of course, would be quite good, though it might only be once a week. Right now it would be very handy. My girls that I normally teach on Wednesdays are in America for the summer, and I finished teaching the 40min/3times a week class at the other school. The loss of these two make a huge dent in my income!!!!!
The Thursday I was up near Hongik University to get my tourist VISA for Vietnam. VERY important. Once again, I wandered about a bit buying a few odds and ends that I don't really need. Gotta stop doing that.
Tonight I'm out for coffee and then later out for dinner.
Even my weekend is pretty much filled up with plans, as usual.
I'm thinking I'm actually going to have to write in a time for me to stay home and get things done. But who really wants to do that???

changes

Sigh.
The school is switching the teachers for the afterschool classes. At first I was to swap classes with another teacher - same level, but slightly lower (grade 1 advanced English). I wasn't happy about that as I LOVE my class. My kids are fantastic. Of course the fact that there are only 3 of them helps, but even when there were 8 of them, they were great. The class dynamic was perfect. Even the supervisor sometimes sat in my room doing her work because she loved listening to us talking. We would get things done so quickly and efficiently that we almost always had time to do other things such as learn songs, card games, memory games, talking games, etc. We'd often work on pronunciation, making even that a bit of a game. The kids love my class. :) They are VERY unhappy about having a new teacher. A lot of parents aren't happy, either. The other day my kids were saying the'd write a hundred letters to try to keep me as their teacher. :) They are so sweet!!!
Then they changed it again. Instead of my swapping classes, they're giving me an all new class. They all of a sudden have a whole bunch of 5 and 6 year olds signing up for after school classes and needed to move one of the teachers to teach them. Since my class was so small, they just combined them and the other class (which the parents are REALLY NOT impressed with). The school decided I'd be a much better teacher for the little ones (compared to the other teacher of my class' level) so that's that.
In some ways it's good for me. It means I finish teaching at 2:30 on Fridays rather than 4:30, and I don't have summer intensives to teach (working to 6 instead of 4:30) as they are only for the grade 1 classes. But now Mondays and Wednesdays I have a class of eight 5 year olds (Korean age 5, so normal age 3 going on 4) and Tuesdays and Thursdays I have a class of eleven 6 year olds (actual age 4 going on 5). A lot of work. I won't have all of the tests and writing assignments to mark, but I will have to make the lesson plans and write report cards every month rather than every 2 months. I guess it is a toss up. But I'd rather just keep my class. :( I'm going to miss them. They're going to miss me. :( Oh well.

view

My classroom is in a great location. The windows beside my desk overlook the corner of the Dosan Park in Apgujeong.The other side of the room looks directly at the giant Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (which I really can't complain about!!).It is several floors including a garden on top. I can often hear the great music drifting over from there. Beside that is an enclosed area that looks quite nice. It is a Seoul Electric (?) or something like that station (power house?). I like how they've dressed it up in the traditional style surrounded by garden. Who would know that it is actually full of power converters or the like.

Kindergarten Graduation

The kids have now graduated from kindergarten and will be starting grade 1 next week. The ceremony was on Wednesday. With 100 kids graduating, it was a fairly large event.The parents of the top two students in each class were asked to bring in flowers/plants. EXPENSIVE!!!! The plants are now in the front hall of the school. The giant flower displays were going to be thrown out so a few of us teachers raided them after the ceremony was finished. Roses, orchids, carnations, daisies, Justin, my little monkey.Max, such a sweetie.Brian and Tim having fun.Kaeley, a little angel.The stage.The crowd.
The ceremony started out with the Korean National Anthem, and the school song, and then there was a bit of a speech. Then all of the students had their turn going up to accept their Kindergarten Diploma. There were a few songs for the kids to sing, and a poem to recite. They had all been practicing them for the past few weeks - The World Is A Rainbow and I Will, ...Then all of the students got special awards from a selection of categories - Young Rockstar, Young Diplomat, Young Einstein, Young Shakespeare, Young Athlete, Young CEO, Young Prince/Princess, Young Picasso, Young Mathemetician, and Young Prodigy.Brenton and Kevin (the two boys in the middle) receiving their awards for Young Mathemetician. "We are young mathemeticians."
I'll miss my 20 kids. :(