Kindergarten Graduation

This coming Saturday I will spend my afternoon with JungChul Academy. There will be a talent show and Kindergarten graduation. I am so looking forward to it. Each different "kindy" classes have special songs to sing and dance to. My homeroom class is singing Do-Re-Mi from "The Sound of Music". I will be playing Maria in the song. Another class is singing Up-town Girl. I sort of question the appropriateness of the choice for 5 year olds, but I'm always up for some Billy Joel tunes. Another class is singing Let Me Be There, a 1970's song by Olivia Newton John, also a curious tune for 5 year olds, but I give up figurng it all out. If anything, it is going to be absolutely entertaining, and I can't wait to see it. As we practice, it seems the kids do more screaming of the tunes than actually singing them, but this makes it all the more funny. I can't wait to post a video: )

A couple of weeks ago I took a bus trip 2 hours outside of Seoul to a little town called Eungnam. There I volunteered at an orphanage for a few hours. I brought some poster paints, paper, and brushes. There was an obvious communication gap, but I found different ways of interacting through art, puppets, and hugs. It was an exhausting day. I left at 8:30 in the am and returned 10pm. I think I will look into other volunteer opportunities closer to home, but it was nice to see such a well kept orphanage. I have heard that the foster parenting here is less than note-worthy, but I guess it's like that in the States also.

I got to chat with Linda today. It is so nice to communicate with the people that I love, even if we are so far apart.

Lunar New Year break

Most of Asia celebrates Lunar New Year on Jan. 26 It is one of their gift giving holidays. I got a gift box from my director again, full of soap and toothpaste. From the gift box on Chusok and the one this week, I will have enough toothpaste to last me a year.
I have Monday and Tuesday off this week. It has been an eventful holiday. On Saturday I went to my friend Yong Jeong's family's house. His mother cooked the traditional Lunar New Year soup. It is a delicious Mandu (dumpling) soup. I ate until I popped. The area they live in is further out of town, but the govmt. is expanding and there are new buildings up all around, happy and clean looking because of the newness. They don't look dingy from all the pollution like the rest of Seoul. It was a nice getaway for the day, and his family is very kind. His mother told him that she thinks of the time he was in America alone for a year, and sees me as a daughter to her. I was very touched and look forward to seeing her again in the springtime.
I also went exploring yesterday with Mandy and we took a subway ride to Nakseongdae. There we visited a monument in honor of a historical general, Gang Gam-chan. There was also a beautiful shrine built in his honor, and people were visiting on Lunar New Years to bring him gifts of rice wine and soju. It was so beautiful, and a very sunny day with big billowy clouds.
Today Mandy and I will go to the Olympic Park and see some artistic statues. I look forward to another outing.
I have been attending yoga classes this month and really enjoying it. I think I will keep going.
Well, that's all for now. I miss my people. Send lots of love.

Road bumps

I had heard from people who have worked here in Korea for more than one year that halfway through a year contract you better watch out. If the directors of the hagwan you work for don't get the impression that you want to stay for another year, then they will start to treat you like crap. Last week was hell week for me. So many issues coming from different directions.

I have known for a while that the older Kindergarten class graduates in February. We still have some younger students, but we are going to need about 20 more to enroll to get the numbers back up. We are also losing a lot of our older students, and are in desperate need to enroll more students to get the school out of financial trouble. I have outright asked the head teacher if the directors are going to be able to keep 4 of the American teachers for the rest of the year. She confidently said, "yes...I think so". I think since there are 4 Korean teachers leaving at the end of their contract in Feb., the directors may only hire a couple more Korean teachers, and this may level out the money situation.

Also, two Fridays ago, myself and a Korean teacher were pulled into a meeting about a conversation class that we were both struggling with. It is a one month winter intensive class and I was given a simplistic grammar/vocab book to use. I had been trying to use the book, but one student complained that it was too easy. Complaints from students are like bombs exploding because of the enrollment scare. So the director and head teacher told me and the Korean teacher that we were teaching wrong, and that we should just use the book as a springboard and teach conversation. It was a long meeting, spoken 85% in Korean, with a little English sprinkled in, but each time just repeating the same thing over and over: "if the students are not happy, then it is just probably the teacher's fault". I tried to eat humble pie for dinner that night, and figure out what I could do differently, even though that had not been explained.

This past Monday I had the class again. The page we were on displayed a big outdoor bbq with foods all over the page, and the words of the foods next to each food. I tried asking the two students to describe in English what it is they see on the page. Silence. I prompted them with words from the page, still more silence. It was painful, and the director was there observing, and it looked like she was going to boil. So after the class I got a talk again, and I asked so many questions so that I could get some clear cut answers about how to teach this class. The head teacher said to have the students close their books and repeat sentences that I come up with. So less of a conversation class, and more of a speaking English verbally, without comprehension. That's just how I see it. She also told me to do a better job with lesson plans, which I did need to hear, but I needed both the instruction and the criticism together, because I didn't know how to make a better lesson plan without knowing how to lead the class. So Tuesday night I made some lesson plans. I was feeling more confident when I went to school Wednesday, but before my class had even happened I got another talk that I better just start doing better or else. Or else? Or else what? I asked what was meant by that, and more talking in circles, but I got the message. In my defense I said that this was all happening very fast, and that I would like the chance to show my improvement.

The rest of the week I was still confronted with other things, my teaching in every class was being scrutinized. I have been here almost 5 months without any feedback. Things seemed to be going smoothly until last week. No 90 day review here, seems its a 5 month review. Next was even better. I was given a brand new class last week. This is the irony to me. It's a Korean woman, who speaks very little English, that I am supposed to teach her how to teach Kindergarten. I found it odd that they were using me to teach her, since my teaching methods had come under such scrutiny. I was given a book to use that is mostly in Korean with about 10 vocab. words in it, and asked to teach her.

I did the best lesson plan that I could. Much of the first twenty minutes was spent explaining words that I was using to her. Then I had her come to the board and role play being a teacher. I was given a review of the first class afterwards, and told that I need to let her speak more. This is getting to be such a joke. I'm really having to save face at work, and try to meet their absurd expectations, while after work letting it roll off, and remembering that I am in a different culture with a major language barrier.

I am friends with the Korean coworkers, and a couple of them have told me that the director gets stressed and goes on a witchhunt, in so many words. They have experienced the same kind of scrutiny, and I was advised to just nod my head and take some deep breaths. I was really appreciative of their confiding that to me. It made me feel much better. It was so strange after 5 months of working here to be put on the chopping block like that. Soon after my troubles, the other American teachers were being confronted, just not as severely as me. But there was definitely "something in the water" last week.

I did confront the director about it, and asked her if she was planning on firing me. She said no, but that they just wanted to give me a little shock. The winter intensive class was only one month, and she needed results faster than I could give them to her. I understood, but didn't understand why she didn't tell the American teachers about the expectations for the winter intensive classes. None of us have a teaching background, and giving us books that don't match the class make it quite difficult to know how to teach a class. It was a frustrating week to say the least. I did start using new methods in my classes, and am feeling more confident that my teaching is matching the director's expectations.

I'd like to see what March has in store for the school, so that we can know just how much better or worse things might get. I think my contract is safe for the rest of the year. I hope so. I like this school for the most part. The directors have cared for me sufficiently, and we have compromized at times, even though it was difficult for us to understand eachother culturally. I have quit smoking and am taking a yoga class twice a week. These are some truly positive things that have come into my life starting this new year, and I am grateful for all that I have.

Chicken poop home

In Korea, especially around my neighborhood. They have very different ways of advertising. The neighborhood consists of a maze of streets. Usually specific streets sell a certain product. There are a few attached streets with beef restaurants. Some pork streets, some seafood, then there are rows of beer and soju bars. The restaurants are my favorite entertainment. I will upload some pictures as soon as I can get back down there and take some. It's really cold right now for little outings. But anyway, the front of the restaurants picture what they are serving. You will first see a picture of some cows grazing in a field, and right next to it is a picture of raw meat on a platter. Lots of raw meat pictures for both beef and pork all over the front of the restaurants. There are also cute cartoon depictions of a happy pig beside a happy cook, and at the top of one restaurant a big happy purple squid bids you come in for some delicious squid soup. I guess the happy animals have no idea they are about to be someone's meal. The raw meat pictures are interesting to me. I guess it is appetizing to see, and helps people make their decision about the best place to eat.
I just recently learned the name of one of the food products that had me laughing for days. They serve chicken butt here, called dak dong jip, which literally translates to chicken poop home. Ummm, yes, waiter, I'd like some delicious chicken poop home for my meal please! You have to understand that the language and usage of is so very different here from America, but things like this are just too good not to tell you about. I forgot my camera when I went grocery shopping, but man is was a trove of good stuff. Squid lying out for purchase, large quantities of cooked pig legs at the deli. The market is really into the pig heads. They have them displayed on rotating disks to draw buyers to them. Yummmmmmy!
Ok, just felt the need to share. Happy eating, everyone.

Just nod your head

Schools back in session. It's my first week back since the winter break. We have some winter intensive courses. Some of mine are given fancy titles like "conversation" class. I get two teenage students who have only been learning English for two years, a first or second grade level word book, and am asked to create an environment of conversation and dialogue with my students. I look at the pages in the book, knowing that it is useless in helping me in a conversation class, so I ask my students about what they see in the pictures. I ask them to describe what they see. .......30 seconds later, no response. So I prompt them with English words and ask them to add to my description......no response. Some of my classes with the older kids are just painful. And then the director complains that I don't engage the kids enough, and adds that I need to explain "is" and "are", "a" and "an", which isn't conversation but grammar. So I'm being told to not use the book given to me to teach with, teach conversation and grammar at the same time, and I don't really know what to do. I know I can improve. I have no teaching background, and really no training from my directors, they just want me to figure it out on my own and somehow magically get my students to speak conversation English. In reality I wish they would just call it what it is, or at least give me materials I can use to teach the type of class they want. I feel like so much of this English education culture here is about study, study, study, just for the sake of studying. Not really creating a progressive learning environment, but pretending it is one. It's the same with the students. When I give report cards I can't really say if a student is doing poorly. I have to say the student is doing good so that the parents will keep them enrolled here. I'm sure the standards are higher in the public school system and at the University level here, but at private English hagwans it seems disorganized and ineffective.
After many similar situations thus far. I take it with a grain of salt, and do the best I can with what I have. It is impossible for me to try and rationalize with anyone, they just see it as a sign of disrespect. So I just nod my head and agree that it is my fault and I will try to do better. And on many levels I do and will keep trying to learn ways to get through to the students and make English fun and easier. I know I'm not perfect, and I accept that there are many things I can learn and improve on. I guess it's a matter of deciding how much energy to put into a job based on what you are getting paid and how many resources are provided to you.

Winter blah

It's cold, cold, cold. Depressing. I did go workout today. 30 minutes on the treadmill walking fast, and 50 sit ups. I think working out will start to help with the depressing cold feelings. I have a hard time with going regularly, but I think Mandy and I can start going together bc of her new schedule, so that should help me get to the gym more. I am also going to start yoga on Tuesday. Twice a week for a month. That will give me something to look forward to.

I'm glad the break is over. I was getting really bored. There is not much to do in Seoul except shop, go to PC rooms, and bars. I'm tired of all of that, so just hung around my neighborhood most of the time. At least with work I have something to fill up a void of energy. I will have new students for a winter intensive course this month.

It's so strange! I feel huge. I feel like I look pregnant, but I have so far lost 13 pounds. I've lost it gradually, so it hasn't felt like I'm losing weight. It's a weird feeling. Normally I would be jumping up and down, but here in tiny land I still am much larger than Korean women. It is just coming off without my knowing it. I will focus more on my abs in the gym and see what affect that has on my belly fat. I wonder how much I will lose in a year?

Uuuugggghhhh

Winter. Winter in a huge dirty city. Nuff said, but I'll continue. Freezing, rainy, slippery, gray, dingy, smelly, nothing to do, huge city. I can't wait until spring.