2/3 finished

At this point I am more than 8 months into my contract.  It means I am 2/3 done.  My co-teacher asked me today about when I want to fly back to the U.S..  I'll be flying back on September 7th or 8th (TBD). 

My next few months will be the following: 

June 2: National election day (no school)
July 23: Last day of school before break
July 24 - Aug 1: vacation
Aug 2 -  Aug 20: teach summer camp
Aug 21 - Aug 25: vacation
Aug 26 - Sept 3: school (Last day of teaching 9/3/10)
Sept 4 - 6: packing and cleaning
Sept 7: fly back to San Diego

June will seem like it goes on forever, but I imagine that once July hits, the time will just fly by. Plans for June include: camping, beach trip, and tea plantation.  Also, documentary filming. During my vacation time (July/August) I hope to go to the Jisan Valley Rock Festival, Jeju Island, and hopefully to Japan.  

Teacher's Day

Tomorrow is Teacher's Day.  I was not aware of this little holiday until today.  A co-teacher told me that on Teacher's Day students write their teachers letters of appreciation and thanks.  She told me this as she rifled through her small stack of letters.  "Oh, I see," I replied.  I wondered if I was going to get any letters today. 


But it's 2:30pm, school is over, and I didn't receive one single letter.  My other co-teacher had a stack of them too that she was reading at lunchtime.  I wondered if it was because students felt like they'd need to write in English, and feared that their skills aren't up to par to write a nice letter.


I wouldn't have minded.  I would have loved and treasured those letters for a long, long time.  But I didn't get a single one.  Just like on Peppero Day I only got 1 box of chocolates and it was from the boy with severe Autism so I know that he hadn't really wanted to give it to me, but rather that his parents made him.

It makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong.  That I'm a bad teacher, or that I'm not reaching out to the kids.  I do feel like they like me, or at least I think they do.  About a month ago my co-teacher said that "most of the 6th graders" like me.  They do get excited when the see me in the halls.  But maybe it's just because I'm still a novelty puppet.  Even after all this time, the kids' eyes widen when they see me.  They stop dead in their tracks when I run into them at the Home Plus supermarket.

It's just a silly letter, but I really wished just ONE student had thought to give me one.  I feel like I need some legitimate recognition that I'm doing a good job.  But now I just feel let down and like I'm failing the kids.  It's heartbreaking.  And this is why, even though I keep coming back to it year after year, I feel like teaching must not be for me.

***

To end on a good note-- funny things that kids have said today:

Fill in the blank:

It's on your head

(when the answer should have been "It's on your right." or "It's on your left."

You can't mi__ it! ----> You can't milk it!

(when the answer should have said "You can't miss it!")


Conversation among students when looking at this picture for our 'Slang of the Week'

Student 1: Why is the potato sad?
Student 2: Because he has no arms or legs.

Advanced English Club

For the month of April, the English club did a unit on Nature and Natural Disasters.  My favorite projects that we did in April were the earthquakes and the plants classes. 

On earthquake day the kids learned about the Richter Scale and then I gave them a challenge: They had to build the highest building they could that could also withstand the biggest earthquake.  They loved working in teams to construct the buildings (with building blocks I borrowed from the 1st grade classroom) and seeing them topple over with a swift shake of their desks. 


For the plant lesson we focused on Earth Day and plants.  We used empty yogurt containers that I had been saving for months in expectation of this project.  They used colorful mosaic squares to cover the yogurt and then they put in potting soil and planted edible grass seeds.  Some students left theirs in the classroom so we could see it grow.  It's been just one week now and 3 of the 4 plants are seeing sprouts. It's exciting! 


This month the English Club is learning about music.  Today's class was just the intro day which is always a little bit on the boring side.  I let them listen to a bunch of different styles of music and then fill in the sentence: "When I listen to _______ I feel _______.  It makes me think of ________." 

Here are some of my favorite responses:

When I listen to surf rock I feel happy.  It makes me think of someone who is going [on a] picnic. 

When I listen to hard rock I feel dangerous.  It makes me think of gorilla and lion. 

When I listen to big band I feel excited.  It makes me think of Mary Poppins.  

When I listen to Hawaiian music I feel I want to go to swimming pool, or beach in Hawaii.  I feel it's summer in here because this song's feel is summer.  It makes me think of afternoon and I think I'm eating very expensive food in very good restaurant.  

When I listen to hard rock I feel crazy fantastic.  It makes me think of HeSun because she is a very crazy friend.  

Next week we are doing Pop music (which they are all very excited about) and a little bit of hip-hop (which I am very excited about).

The final week in May we will do a music video critique.

Cooking with the Teachers

Every week I have a Teachers' Class where we learn and practice English.  After the failure of last week's class (which I thought was going to go over really well...) I almost broke down in tears.  I pleaded to my co-teacher for help and ideas about what to do.  "How about a cooking project?" she suggested.  Ok, I thought.  Maybe I can think of something.  

Last week was Passover and although I can't say I celebrated the holiday in any way, I did pay homage today through my cultural cooking class.  Yes, we made Charoset!  It was a huuuuge success and all of the teachers loved it.  I even heard that one teacher said she wanted to make it at home for her children!  

So for those of you not in the know, here is how you make Charoset:

 

 1.  lay out all of the ingredients.  I wasn't able to find my typical ingredients like figs and apricots (the teachers had never even heard of these delicious fruits!) so instead I substituted what I could find in the local grocery store -- which is not to say that the food is local to the area.  It surely was not.  

 2. Chop and dice the apples.  (New   vocabulary included cutting board, chop, dice, mince, and peel)

3.  Mix all the ingredients together in an airtight container. 

4.  Enjoy! 

 

First Day of School (again)

Although I am still finding it incomprehensible, today, Tuesday March 2nd, is the first day of the new school year.  Although I've always known that this is the way it works here in Korea, March just doesn't seem like a new school year to me.  But yet it is, and it was abundantly clear to me as I walked into my 5th grade teachers' lounge and found a whole slew of new teachers who quickly glanced in my direction and then continued on with their conversations.  I stood there awkwardly, stepped back away from the chatter and buzz, away from the teachers frantically making photocopies before the first bell rang.  My index finger instinctively reached for my one sharp tooth in my mouth, an old nervous habit I have never bothered to outgrow.  "Can I help you?" one teacher asked me.  I thought about it for a moment.  Why was she looking at me like I didn't belong here?  This is where I have always gone for months now.  "No, I guess not," I replied. 


Finally Sun-hee came into the lounge. (She was my 6th grade English teacher last year)  "Hello Sarah," she said to me and then continued to a computer in the corner of the room, talking in Korean to the other teachers.  After a little while I worked up the courage to ask her what I was supposed to be doing, and if she had a time-schedule for me.  She pointed to another computer and told me that there was a new English teacher and that I should just wait in the classroom for her.  Slowly, humbly, I slinked out of the teachers' lounge and back into my own classroom. 

A little while later Helen came into the classroom and sat down in Eunju's old desk.  "Are you my new co-teacher?" I asked eagerly.  When she said yes I was instantly a little relieved.  But then I remembered how Helen used to come to the my after-school Teachers' English Conversation Class but she stopped at some point along the way.  Her English was good, but certainly not fluent like Eunju's.  Helen is younger than Eunju.  She isn't married but is actively looking for a potential suitor.  She gets a lot of grief from her family about why she is still single.  Helen is going to be my main co-teacher and 6th grade teacher. 

After that I met my 5th grade teacher.  Her name is Park Ji-hay.  She seems nice but I don't know a lick about her yet.

As it turns out, today I have no classes.  That means that all day long today I can just sit and do nothing, plan lessons, continue my online TEFL course or whatever.  Tomorrow starts the first real classes.  I am so scared.  This week shouldn't be any different than it has been for the last several months, yet somehow it is. 

Incidentally, I am not teaching 4th grade this year.  I know that they were debating as to whether I would teach 2 extra classes (and get paid overtime) or not teach 4th grade at all.  Eunju assured me that there was a 90% probability that I'd teach extra classes and so I had mentally prepared for it.  But as it turns out, I am not.  Now, instead of teaching 22 classes like I had last year, I am now only teaching 19 classes.  With the exception of Thursday I teach periods 1-4 only, which means after my last class it is lunch time.  It means that I have 3.5 hours of free time every day.  On Thursday I do have a 5th period, but on Friday I don't have a 1st period.

Instead, they will try to have me do a Teacher's Class 3 times a week.  We'll see how that turns out considering that I could only get 1 "student" to come to my class each week before and now she has transferred to another school!  

So here goes nothing..