Apologies for not updating recently. The past few weeks have been uber busy. The new term has kept me busy prepping and learning new names. Then we had a lovely long weekend for the Korean holiday, Chuseok. I went to Hong Kong with a friend and her cousin... photos are available on my facebook, but I'll also post some here later.
Now my family is visiting me until the 26th. :) I've been playing host to some of the sights around Seoul. It's definitely different having to show people around versus just me or my coworkers wandering around.
As for work, getting back into the groove following the holiday, although many of my kids will be absent for a few weeks as it's once again dreaded (for them) and cherished (for the teachers) middle school exams.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Friday, September 2, 2011
Survived Week One.
Week one: Fall term went off without too many problems. Most of the kids this term I've had at some point in the past year, so it's been great seeing how some of them have changed... mostly growth spurts. SO TALL. My middle school boys already tower over me, next it'll be the elementary boys. Curse you genes!!!
I'm teaching the same reading class 2 times a day on both Monday and Tuesday, so at least by the 7:00 class Tuesday night I'll know what I want to teach and how. Wednesday and Friday I teach one of the beginning levels of classes, which I was nervous about since I've never taught it before, or trained in it, but with only three kids it's easier to interact with them and see what they know. If it was any larger, and since it's elementary kids, it might've turned into more class management for 3 hours. Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon I teach a middle level listening class with middle school (Wed) and elementary (Thurs) aged kids.
The Wednesday class has quite a few boys, some of them rather snarky, so they'll be sure to keep me on my toes. My Thursday class is mostly boys as well, but they're more enthusiastic in a positive way. Favorite question from that day: "Do you have a daughter or a son?" And then they wanted to know what I, and the other teachers, are doing for Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving). For the record, I have neither a son or daughter. And I'm going to Hong Kong!!!!
My highest level class Thursday night is also a listening class and is HUGE. Well, huge for the company I work at - twelve kids. It's hard to predict middle school boys' behavior (or middle schoolers in general- gotta love hormones) but everyone exceeded my expectations. Our topic was Animal Research, so we watched a short video clip of chimps in the wild to compare to their treatment in labs. It was hilarious seeing their reactions to the chimps - they were beyond entertained when the chimps would communicate with one another and had so many questions about it. Love it. And then for the end of the class project, they had to create a talk show to discuss animal research. Again, they exceeded my expectations. They really thought out their reasons - and made it entertaining.
Here's hoping a day like Thursday continues for all term. Days like these greatly outweigh the bad days.
I'm teaching the same reading class 2 times a day on both Monday and Tuesday, so at least by the 7:00 class Tuesday night I'll know what I want to teach and how. Wednesday and Friday I teach one of the beginning levels of classes, which I was nervous about since I've never taught it before, or trained in it, but with only three kids it's easier to interact with them and see what they know. If it was any larger, and since it's elementary kids, it might've turned into more class management for 3 hours. Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon I teach a middle level listening class with middle school (Wed) and elementary (Thurs) aged kids.
The Wednesday class has quite a few boys, some of them rather snarky, so they'll be sure to keep me on my toes. My Thursday class is mostly boys as well, but they're more enthusiastic in a positive way. Favorite question from that day: "Do you have a daughter or a son?" And then they wanted to know what I, and the other teachers, are doing for Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving). For the record, I have neither a son or daughter. And I'm going to Hong Kong!!!!
My highest level class Thursday night is also a listening class and is HUGE. Well, huge for the company I work at - twelve kids. It's hard to predict middle school boys' behavior (or middle schoolers in general- gotta love hormones) but everyone exceeded my expectations. Our topic was Animal Research, so we watched a short video clip of chimps in the wild to compare to their treatment in labs. It was hilarious seeing their reactions to the chimps - they were beyond entertained when the chimps would communicate with one another and had so many questions about it. Love it. And then for the end of the class project, they had to create a talk show to discuss animal research. Again, they exceeded my expectations. They really thought out their reasons - and made it entertaining.
Here's hoping a day like Thursday continues for all term. Days like these greatly outweigh the bad days.
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