Presidential ambitions

The theme to one of the levels I've been teaching this week is leaders. I found myself asking questions and getting predictable, bland answers apart from one student who remains a loose canon.

Me: "Would you like to be Koreas President?"
Boy: "Yes. Very perfect country."
Me: "What would you do?"
Boy: "I go to USA with a gun and kill everybody."
Me: "Do you like Obama?"
Boy: "No. I don't like black people."
Me: "Why?"
Boy: "I don't like colour black."

Busted in the classroom

Yesterday I caught two kids cheating as they took their test. I knew they were cheating so I nipped it in the bud silently without making a big deal. They have a test with three sections and for the first part they had to memorise over twenty words (maybe fifty, I am not sure). Inside their pencil cases they had written the words in English and Korean. I simply took these and placed them on my desk and checked them after collecting the papers.

It was obvious they had cheated but bearing in mind I caught them early AND that right now they are in the process of revising for some high pressure exams I let the matter slide but let them know I am watching them and don't expect it to happen again. One of them had tears in his eyes. He knew what would happen if the matter went any further - four weeks of retests etc, etc. I tried to deal with the matter as best I could but from now on I will have to be more vigilant.

Also busted is the person in 'editing' who wrote up a section for the listening homework and test. The paragraph is about some films and actors and what kind of films they are starring in. Instead of actually writing the names Jonny Depp and Colin Firth we have John Depen and Colin filth. Yeah, Colin Filth. That's great editing and they clearly deserve their desk job for having such imagination. What purpose does it serve to change their names? No one in Korea knows Colin Firth anyway.

The beast is awake

The strangest Spring in all of my time in Korea. Temperatures hit 24°C as today brought fantastic weather to what was predicted to be a lousy grey week. Sweating for the first time in a while in the taekwondo dojang on Monday and Tuesday I could tell that this week was significantly more humid as well. And despite all this, one Korean teacher covered herself with a blanket today in the office. If she was cold today I suggest she goes to a doctor and gets her blood checked out because she must be more reptile than human. It's still only April but Summer is coming.

Unpredictable student

Yesterday's class. The subject was infinitives (to run, to walk, to jump etc) and how to use them to answer Why questions. Example, "Why do you go to school? I go to school to study. Forty minutes in and after we'd used several examples one boy started to sing this song by Electric Six, to no one in particular "I wanna take you to a gay bar. Gay bar, gay bar". He did this several times over the next ten minutes. I haven't laughed so hard in ages and I'm glad everyone else in class enjoyed it too because no one could have predicted that.

Papering over the cracks once more

Shaking off this cold is proving harder than I'd anticipated. I've had it for about twelve days so far and its in its last stages but I still have the sniffles at times and my throat becomes sore after I've been talking in the classroom for a few hours. Could be worse though. A work email today revealed that there have been more H1N1 deaths in Korea but this time not elderly sick people who were in the vulnerable bracket. This time its reportedly students of similar age to the ones I teach that have passed away. Though the number of deaths through H1N1 is only 20 out of a nation of over forty million people, some fifty nine schools across the country have been closed indefinitely. We have been told that H1N1 vaccinations will reach school populations within 2-3 weeks. We shall see.

It's noticeable that classroom numbers have been down again recently. In light of these recent developments the 'Mask policy' has been reintroduced/reinforced. All teachers are now 'expected to wear masks throughout the duration of the work day'. If my reading of the email is correct, and it may not be, then that means I must have the mask on at all times. Is this manageable? I tried today to have mine on intermittently during some classes and I was getting a major headache. To keep it on for over six hours is just not going to happen. I presume that here will be times that I can take off the mask. It's hard to imagine it making any difference. This is flu season and people just have to get through it.

Classroom cheer

Work over the past few days has been pretty routine stuff but there have been a few changes. This week my academy has been taking the H1N1 threat a little more seriously. It would appear that a lot more students from the schools in the surrounding area have been getting flu, though I don't know the severity of 'these cases'. Numbers from my classes have been slightly down, probably due to this. Starting this Monday every student has had their temperature taken before they've been allowed into the classroom. Also they've had their hands sprayed with some kind of hand sanitizer. Teachers have also been instructed to try and wear their masks on the way to and from the classroom. Over the past few weeks most teachers had stopped doing this.

A lot of my students have been ill with colds etc, etc and one of them has presumably given me the cold that I'm currently carrying. Having a cold is a common occurrence for me especially at this time of year but this particular one has been in my system for over five days now. It's nothing serious just the snuffles, a bit of a cough and a sore throat. Still it's no fun having to speak as much as I need to in class right now. Today my voice was closing down on me as the classes went on and i was glad to go home when I did. Still I had a lot of fun with my students today. I watched one girl draw something in her notebook for about two minutes and as the bell rang she told me "teacher, it's your name". See her artwork below.

What's in a name?

Are there any more ways to incorrectly spell my name?

Classroom picture of the day

In an effort to avoid after school retest for not finishing his homework, one of my most likeable students showed me his "crazy finger".

One track mind

On Wednesday I gave my classes a simple activity that they could do in pairs or alone. They had to match a list of countries with a list of food that comes from that country. Korea matches with kimchi, Japan matched with sushi etc etc. After completion I asked them each to make a sentence beginning with "I would like to eat..." then make another one "I would like to go to.... because....".

One answer I got back was "I would like to go to hamburger"

Cards in the classroom

A few months ago I caught one of my students playing with some cards when he should have been studying in class. I confiscated them and planned to give them back later on. I never did give them back to him as I basically forgot, and they held so little value with him that he never asked for them back. I jokingly hand them to kids who give a bad answer sometimes in an exaggerated manner like a bad football referee. A couple of weeks later, one kid handed me a new card with a new piece of student artwork. He was kidding and it was funny at the time.

Wednesday nightmare returns

Today I began four Wednesday's of potential hell. My schedule has changed and for the most part for the better. Despite losing some good students I am now teaching only four middle school classes so now I have more respectful and motivated kids in the classroom. The apparent trade off is that out of the 8 periods I teach, the first 6 are spent teaching the SAME material. So I teach the same lesson for 75% of the day. That's not good as I'm telling the same jokes, saying the same things and hearing the same predictable mistakes. For the last two periods I have a listening class where I for the most part press play and then pause on a CD player, occasionally explaining how to improve your chances of understanding a listening test. To be fair, today was the first day of this and it went better than I had predicted. I count down the Wednesday's left. Fifty Nine to go.

Only Tuesday?

A conversation this week with a co-worker brought home some harsh realisations. He has some five months left on his contract and is ticking off the days till his time finishes in Korea before going travelling. He said he didn't know how I coped with so much longer left for me here, especially at the place I work.

It's not bad, repetitive but not bad. The pay is comparatively good for the work and effort I put in and I always get paid on time. I am, in general, left alone to do what I feel is right (within the narrow class framework) in the classroom. No matter how I feel at work it could certainly be a lot worse for me here.

From time to time I do have a 'lean spell' where my longing to return home appears stronger than at other times. I am in such a lean spell now. On Mondays and Tuesdays I teach six classes each day. Out of those twelve classes, I teach only three lessons plans. that means I teach one level in one class, one level in four classes and one level in seven classes - so I teach one particular lesson seven times over two days. This week has been difficult so far and we're only at Tuesday.

Easy, boring, repetitive, tedious but fun sometimes. I could do with a change but with and end of sorts in sight, though far away, I have to continue. Am I wasting my time? Am I losing more than I am gaining? To both questions I say no because soon my life will be changing forever and for the better.

I'm saving for my future - and just maybe I can get back some of the things I may have lost over the past few months and years here in Korea. Can I make it without cracking up? Well something to pick up my spirits is my holiday in October. It's in about eight weeks from now and will be four days off work hopefully somewhere sunny. It cannot come quick enough.

Wednesday class artwork in Korea

Here are some more pictures from one of my Wednesday classes. Three of the students are levelling up so it's almost certain I won't teach them again. With the 'artistic director' and 'creative controller' moving on, I doubt there will be any more pictures like this on future Wednesday's. Perhaps we will do some actual studying in class next week. Though I will perhaps miss some of their fun and unique personalities I am glad I am not their grammar teacher.

It's last!

Unflattering picture!

Cooking Man and Big Man's girlfriend

Garbie house

Gavig - I don't know why I am surprised to see another wrong spelling of my name

What a charming expression. It's a common phrase amongst cheeky Korean youngsters

I think this is my favourite picture from this class

More Wednesday art class

More Wednesday fun from one of my classes who are never boring or tired by student life in Korea. Each week I am 'surprised' by these students who have the lights turned off before I get to the classroom. I open the door and some kids are hiding, dancing, singing and shouting. One girl has taken a liking to poking me in the belly and calling me Big Man. And there are always these sketches on the board. At least they spell my name right.

We are buy the Gavin

Big Man ~ Gavin

Big Man - helloW

Robocop's family feud

Today in one class I sat and pitied one of my students. I teach one particular child (10 or 11 years old) who appears to be joyless and miserable. He is smart but possibly introspective, insular and seemingly emotionless, like Robocop. It is also almost impossible to make him smile. His work is OK but he cannot interact with other students and appears to have no friends in class (though seems to make no effort to). At his level (young and low ability), 90% of students just want to talk about something, have fun and just be happy kids, but not this boy!

Today's class theme was family. I tried to get the students to try some kind of word association with family. I got some decent words back from most kids but this boy kept coming up with words like "bad", "hate" and "terrible". Later on I got the class to come up with a sentence about one member of their family. Without a trace of emotion in his voice or face he said "I hate my father". Poor lad, I wonder what his father has done to get his son to come up with that. Like father like son? Korea still continues to puzzle me.

Student hit-list

I've started to take a closer look at what some of my students are doing when they think I am not watching. Whenever they get a chance to put pencil to paper they do not hesitate. This is the latest offering from one student whose favourite sentence is "Kill the people." and who seems to have some kind association with death and destruction. Perhaps he is waiting for the North to invade and a chance to get some his hands on some weapons. I am last on his list, after revenge. At least he spelled my name correctly!

Australian/Astronaut

Today. Classes repeat sections of a story that the students have studied over the past few days and that the class has gone over during the first part of the lesson.

Opening words: "Sam looks at the stars in the sky. 'I want to be an astronaut'...."

Student: "Sam looks at the stars in the sky. 'I want to be an Australian'...."

Another language

One of today's classes was about someone whose dream was to be an interpreter. As a gentle opener I threw out this question

Me: "Can you each give me a language that people speak? Don't repeat what another student has said"

Students: "Korean", "English", "Chinese", "Japanese", "Spanish" ......*pause*......"Body language!"

Fingers crossed

Today is a pretty important day for me at work. Every six months or so, all foreign teachers at the company I work for are observed by one of our foreign managers. Later on we get feedback on how well we did or what mistakes we need to try and cut out. The feedback and some other things go into consideration when deciding to offer a new contract or not. I am not worried about my observation but like to well so I feel a little stress and I'm confident enough in the job I have done and am doing.

However, IF things go badly and I don't get a new contract I don't know what I will do. The chances of that happening I feel are slim. So far observations have gone very well from both my foreign and Korean managers. Also, though I don't know the percentages, overwhelmingly the company likes to keep its teachers. Unless there have been serious problems with staff they like to re-sign teachers as hiring new employees is always risky. I expect to get a new contract but it feels wrong to presume I will get one. If I don't get the new contract some of my plans are in jeopardy and the immediate future would be most uncertain. Fingers crossed.

Seeing double in the classroom

Defying all expectations, the small creature (I believe it's a terrapin) that my student brought to class has survived and has now been joined by another of its species. Again, the two animals roamed about my classroom as I tried to teach, half in fear of standing on them or accidentally kicking them. The student who owns them said she's saving up for another one - we'll see if I teach her next month. Once more I found myself in disbelief at how badly the kids in class tried to treat the animal. nothing cruel, just ignorance as to how pets should be treated. The terrapins were kept in a small pencil case whilst resting. Korea cannot truly call itself a nation of animal lovers.