kimchi-icecream

First iPhone movie made by Korean director Park Chan Wook -- COOL!

2011-01-11T07:23:00.001-08:00

While I'm not living and teaching in South Korea anymore I can't help but notice and pay attention to news related to Korea.

Shooting "a 30-minute film about a surreal encounter between a fisherman and a female shaman" is just plain cool, and I love Park Chan Wook's films--my favorite being Sympathy for Lady Vengeance.

Click on this link to read the story, Director shoots first major movie solely with iPhone.

As usual, Korea loves pointing out any and all 'firsts' that it accomplishes: "PROne, the agency representing Park Chan-Wook, claimed the iPhone movie would be the first ever to be shown in cinemas." I don't know if this is true or not, but if it is I think this is one occasion for which congratulations are in order.

I seriously am curious about the creativity behind this kind of a project, and am intrigued by how Wook "describ[ed]the process as more democratic since everyone with a smartphone took part."

I wonder if the film will go international with a major distributor. For now, the movie will be "shown in 10 cinemas nationwide from January 27 for four days."

Almost makes me want to go back to Korea--almost.

EFL/ESL Summer/Winter Camp for Elementary or Middle School in South Korea - Lesson plans, games, and activities for the last second planning of a camp

2010-12-04T18:09:00.000-08:00

For something like two years now I've been trying to find the time, and energy, to post a list of books that elementary school and middle school level native English teachers in Korea would find useful for the absolutely ridiculous lack of planning, literally last second planning education culture that is prevalent across Korea.

Ah, before I continue, here are some links to other posts of mine that new teachers, and for that matter veteran teachers, might want to read if they haven't seen them before.

English Camps in South Korea – A Guideline for Foreign English Teachers

The Kimchi Icecream Guide for New EFL/ESL Foreign English Teachers/Instructors in South Korea, 2010 Edition – Public Schools, Hogwans, Universities, and Training Center/Institutes

ESL/EFL English Camp Guide for Native Teachers in South Korea – Getting ready for summer English camp (aka more classes, more studying) and final exam period at my school

While surfing Korean English native teacher blogs today I noticed this post Yet again, I’m annoyed! by a blogger I enjoy reading, strangelands. The sad thing is that as more and more time passes I see yet another expat teacher getting more and more frustrated by the ridiculous unprofessionalism of the education culture in Korea . . . but there's nothing we, as expat EFL/ESL teachers can do because the education culture is so utterly lost and chaotic that even the Koreans who can actually see the problems don't know how to manage them.

Anyways, on a more productive and proactive note I am posting a list of books that EFL/ESL native English teachers can use for their regular semester teaching, after school program classes, and for summer and winter camps.

This blog post stems from the comment I posted for Yet again, I’m annoyed!

Go buy “Projects for Young Learners” Resource Books for Teachers by Oxford, and do the Fantasy Island project with the kids. Unless you’re given kids who are beginners/false beginners you can do the projects with them in the fantasy island unit (about 10, I think), and just make lesson notes for yourself as you go through the camp each day. Actually, considering the fact that you’ve been given such little prep time you might consider doing the task-based project anyways. If you have a co-teacher who can translate, the kids can learn a little vocab, a few useful short expressions/questions-answers, or whatever you choose, and then do the project and while interacting with you they get some experience doing a project and having to try and use their English to communicate….after all, that’s all the Koreans want, right? For the students to learn English by osmosis and proximity to the foreign teacher; this is the embodiment of the general teaching culture in Korea that thinks it’s okay to give a teacher these kinds of teaching and learning conditions….

Also, try picking up “Games for Children” Resource Books for Teachers by Oxford. It’s full of different games with different levels, amounts of time, degree of difficulties in game concepts and cognitive levels, etc.

The cheapest book you can get is this one,
Oxford Basics: Simple Speaking Activities.
Jill Hadfield and Charles Hadfield. Oxford, 1999.
W5, 800

You can pretty much modify the vocab and language goals for each of the 20 or so lessons found in the book on the fly.

Get some books and then stress will disappear (well, it’ll be less anyways), and your prep is done in terms of before the camp. Photocopy the pages from the book, make some insanely small lesson notes for each thing you’ll use, and hand them to the idiots that ask you to do a camp with no info about location, classroom conditions, resources available, language learner levels, etc.

Other titles you might want to check out.

Five-Minute Activities for Young Learners
Penny McKay and Jenni Guse
Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers
W30,000

Lessons from Nothing
Activities for language teaching with limited time and resources
Bruce Marsland
Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers
W25,000

Games for Language Learning, Third Edition.
Andrew Wright, David Betteridge, and Michael Buckby. Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers. Series Editor, Scott Thornbury.
W28 000

Oxford Basics: Simple Speaking Activities.
Jill Hadfield and Charles Hadfield. Oxford, 1999.
W5, 800

Oxford Basics: Presenting New Language.
Jill Hadfield and Charles Hadfield. Oxford, 1999.
W5, 800

Oxford Basics: Vocabulary Activities.
Slattery, Mary. Oxford, 2004.
W5, 800

Oxford Basics: Cross-curricular Activities.
Svecova, Hana. Oxford, 2003.
W5, 800

Storytelling With Children.
Wright, Andrew. Oxford, 1995.
Resource Books for Teachers, Series Editor Alan Maley.
W26 000

Very Young Learners.
Vanessa Reilly & Sheila M. Ward. Oxford, 1997.
Resource Books for Teachers, Series Editor Alan Maley.
W26 000

Games For Children.
Gordon Lewis and Gunther Bedson. Oxford, 1999.
Resource Books for Teachers, Series Editor Alan Maley.
W26 000

Drama With Children.
Phillips, Sarah. Oxford, 1999.
Resource Books for Teachers, Series Editor Alan Maley
W26 000

Art and Crafts With Children.
Wright, Andrew. Oxford, 2001.
W26 000

Projects With Young Learners.
Diane Phillips, Sarah Burwood & Helen Dunford. Oxford, 1999.
Resource Books for Teachers, Series Editor Alan Maley
W26 000

Art and Crafts with Children
Andrew Wright
Oxford University Press
W26,000

Creating Chants and Songs
Carolyn Graham
Oxford University Press
W26,000

Writing with Children
Jackie Reilly and Vanessa Reilly
Oxford University Press
W26,000

Drama with Children
Sarah Phillips
Oxford University Press
W26,000

Oxford Basics: Simple Listening Activities.

Jill Hadfield and Charles Hadfield. Oxford, 1999.

W5, 800

Do As I Say: Operations, Procedures, and Rituals for Language Acquisition.

Gayle Nelson, Thomas Winters, and Raymond C. Clark. Pro Lingua Associates, Publishers, 2004.

W19 000

Oxford Basics: Simple Reading Activities.

Jill Hadfield and Charles Hadfield. Oxford, 2000.

W5, 800

Sentences At A Glance, Third Edition.

Brandon, Lee. Houghton Mifflin Company 2006.

W10 000

Paragraphs At A Glance, Third Edition.

Brandon, Lee. Houghton Mifflin Company 2006

W10 000

Share Your Paragraph: An Interactive Approach to Writing, 2^nd Edition.

George M. Rooks.

Longman, 1999.

W13 000

Oxford Basics: Simple Writing Activities.

Jill Hadfield and Charles Hadfield. Oxford, 2000.

W5, 800

Julianne and I also picked up these titles recently, and have found them to be VERY useful to have in our teaching library.

Reading Extra: A Resource Book of Multi-Level Skills Activities (Cambridge Copy Collection) by Liz Driscoll (Spiral-bound - Apr 26, 2004)

Pronunciation Games (Cambridge Copy Collection) by Mark Hancock (Spiral-bound - Feb 23, 1996)

Imaginative Projects (Cambridge Copy Collection) by Matthew Wicks (Paperback - Nov 27, 2000)

Writing Extra: A Resource Book of Multi-Level Skills Activities (Cambridge Copy Collection) by Graham Palmer (Spiral-bound - Apr 19, 2004)

Listening Extra Book and Audio CD Pack: A Resource Book of Multi-Level Skills Activities (Cambridge Copy Collection) by Miles Craven (Spiral-bound - Apr 26, 2004)

Here are some more titles that might be worth checking out (but that we do not own).

Games for Vocabulary Practice: Interactive Vocabulary Activities for all Levels (Cambridge Copy Collection) by Felicity O'Dell and Katie Head (Spiral-bound - Dec 15, 2003)

Primary Activity Box: Games and Activities for Younger Learners (Cambridge Copy Collection) by Caroline Nixon and Michael Tomlinson (Spiral-bound - Mar 5, 2001)

The Grammar Activity Book: A Resource Book of Grammar Games for Young Students (Cambridge Copy Collection) by Bob Obee (Spiral-bound - Jul 13, 1999)

Primary Pronunciation Box with Audio CD (Cambridge Copy Collection) by Caroline Nixon and Michael Tomlinson (Spiral-bound - Apr 11, 2005)

Speaking Extra: A Resource Book of Multi-Level Skills Activities (Cambridge Copy Collection) by Mick Gammidge (Spiral-bound - May 10, 2004)

Good luck.

Jason

I live to scoop Roboseyo's fun video links! Check out "Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See! "

2010-12-04T05:30:00.000-08:00

I haven't been posting much here lately since Julianne and I moved to China, but since things are so tense in South Korea right now with the whole North Korea nutbar situation I thought I'd post this awesome new flash mob video on youtube.

At the time of this posting it was at 9,032,488 hits and climbing . . . here's the video.

Whoever the brain was behind this promotional use of a viral flash mob they are a genius! You can read more about the video and singers in this article.

I'd LOVE to see this done at COEX Mall in South Korea--seriously, can you imagine the reactions?!

I normally tend to just post videos I see online on facebook, but decided that this one was worth reopening my Korea blog cause it's so awesome.

PLUS, it's fun to scoop Roboseyo with the whole finding cool and fun videos and posting them on my blog first!!!

Hope everybody back in Korisneyland is well, and that nobody decides to get all anti-Merry Ho Ho and start a war--even Scrooge would say that's bad for business.

Stay safe, and happy.

J

Post-Methodology – My EFL Teaching Method, and “Must Have Books” For EFL/ESL University Instructors

2010-11-27T18:23:00.000-08:00

It's been quite a while since I wrote a post for my blog here, and I decided I'd write up a post since I left Korea and moved to China with Julianne.

We've been teaching at a military university's English program, and it's been good in many ways, and extremely challenging in others.

Over the course of the first two months of teaching at the university I met many Chinese English instructors of various ranks, and had several conversations. These conversations led to me being invited to give a presentation on my teaching methodology and philosophy of teaching. I should explain the larger context of the conversations involves a massive teaching reform project at my university that has been going on now for just over a year. The university powers that be want to update the teaching methodology that the instructors use, and I think also the English program's textbooks, testing, and overall curricula design. It's a massive project.

I decided that since I put about 3 weeks of work, and dozens of hours of reading and prepping a power point and handout, to post a story about the presentation, and my handouts, because I think other EFL/ESL teachers will find it interesting, and hopefully useful too.

You can see my handouts below, and also the list of my “Must Have Books” For EFL/ESL University Instructors.

Please feel free to comment and ask questions.

Last Friday morning I packed up a suitcase full of about half the books in my teaching library, and headed out to do a presentation on my teaching methodology. I was excited about doing this presentation because I'd spent the last 3 weeks reading, and re-reading parts of my methodology books to clarify in my own mind what my current teaching methodology is since it's gone through quite an evolution during the time I spent teaching in Korea, and now over the last two months in China.

I was also happy that I was being given a forum in which I could explain how I see teaching through the framework of EFL (English Foreign Language) teaching (as opposed to the fractured and confused perspectives I'd been hearing from EVERY Chinese teacher I spoke to--I realized that there was an English program "identity crisis" as far as what kind of program we were all operating within, and I REALLY wanted to address that FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM!). One of the major issues I wanted to foreground during my presentation was the fact that I thought my university's English program was trying to function within three different types of English programs: ESP (English for Specific Purposes), EAP (English for Academic Purposes), and EST (English for Science and Technology). I got quite a reaction from my audience of teachers, and high ranking colonels and PhD professors when I talked about that, and later in the post-presentation discussion period I was really happy to hear others thought the same thing as I did!

I presented to 30 Chinese English teachers, some of who were the top ranking officers/administrators in the English program of the military university where I teach. Before I presented, two other presenters gave their content, and it was quite telling to see that they were essentially trying to introduce what native English speaking teachers take for granted about what a 'good teacher' is--for example, treating students equally. They were also touching on some aspects of CLT and TBL (Communicative Language Teaching Methodology, and Task-based Learning Methodology) but didn't really do anything other than scratch the surface in a manner that I would think should be used for student-teachers, or teachers who have never taught before and are just starting their careers--not a room full of teachers with years of experience.

Over the past ten days or so I have been fighting a head cold and cough, and also dealing with my regular teaching duities and the problems I've been trying to address with course objectives being unclear, and invalid testing and lack of info I needed to know about the final grading and exams . . . this unfortunately made me tired, and I actually needed two or three more days to nail my presentation materials; I finished my prep and first draft of my power point with 177 power point slides of pictures of my students DOING the things I wanted to talk about, and my 10 methodology approaches and principles . . . I then smacked myself up the side of my head and said, "JASON! You ONLY have 50 minutes to present this material--you can't present 177 slides no matter how good the material is in that time!"

Thursday night, the night before my presentation, I invited a Chinese English teacher over to the apartment so I could do a practice run through of my material, and try to get a clearer sense of what I needed to cut. I think I already knew what needed to be cut but by the time I was done my power point design it was Thursday at 6pm, and I didn't have the 2 or 3 days I needed to mull over what I could cut, condense, and revise in order to cull it down to a manageable amount of presentation material.

I even went and re-read Jeremy Harmer's "10 Things I Hate About Powerpoint" because I knew I was putting too much, lol .... but I was out of time, and too tired.

My Chinese teacher friend had a good response to my presentation, and good suggestions too. I cut as much of the material after she left as I could, but I could still see it was too much material. I forced myself, though, to go to bed and not kill myself for a presentation I was only giving once, and for a presentation I was not being paid a large fee for!

I printed off a two-page double-sided handout with some primary points from the power point, and a list of books I'd be referring to during my presentation (see below), and went to bed.

Back to Friday morning . . . I do my presentation and only make it to point 5 of my 10 points I'd used to organize my teaching methodology. With only 10 minutes left in my 50 minute presentation I skipped past several slides in each section, and got out the key ideas for my last five points, and was done. I was somewhat satisfied with my presentation, but knew that if I'd just had a few more days to prep I could have done something I think might have even impressed Jeremy Harmer a little--him being, in my mind, one of the best presenters I've ever heard and seen give a power point presentation (KOTESOL 2007, South Korea).

I'd been given 90 minutes to work with for my presentation, and I'd told the colonel and vice-dean of post-graduate studies at the university that I'd use 50 for my talk, then we'd take a short break during which the teachers could look at the 100 books displayed on a table at the front of the conference room. The break time was a rapid fire blitz of questions from THIRTY teachers all looking like kids on Christmas morning as they grabbed different books I had on the table, and began asking me questions about the books and different teaching needs they all had--holy cow!

I was really happy to see one of the high ranking teachers (not sure about the actual rank) ask me a lot about "A Framework for Task-based Learning" by Jane Willis. I referred to it as the 'bible of TBL' during my presentation, and THAT got her attention as she's one of the teachers assigned to the current massive teaching reform project that my university is currently doing. From what I've been able to piece together, she has to 'teach' and 'train' all the Chinese English teachers on how to teach using TBL, and how to test students too. But based on the fact that the winter and summer breaks don't seem to be used for in-service training, and that teacher training only seems to be done on Friday mornings each week of the semester with teachers giving lectures with no real training taking place in terms of trainees doing exercises and activities to apply what they've been learning about....well, I don't see how the Chinese English teachers are going to be able to get a solid grasp on what TBL is, and how they can use it in their courses.

A major point that I stressed during the discussion period after the short break and book gazing frenzy was that the current curricula at the university, and specific textbooks I'd seen, were not suitable for use with TBL methodology and testing. This got quite a stir from the teachers, and the colonel tried to diminish my comment/criticism of the curriculum not being compatible with TBL--to which I said, "Sir, you teach post-graduate courses, right? Have you seen the undegradate textbooks? No? I'd suggest you take a look at them and then we can discuss this again. But until then I strongly believe there are major problems that need to be addressed." I said this with as much respect, sincerity, and neutral tone of voice as I could, and he seemed to realize that he couldn't back up his opinion cause he had NOT looked at the undergrad textbooks, nor did he seem to be familiar with their testing either.

Anyways, I think some of the big things I walked away from this experience with were quite valuable. Assessing and articulating what my current EFL/ESL methodology and philosophy of teaching was a good experience. It showed me what I need to learn more about, and what I need to read more. It reaffirmed teaching principles and approaches that I strongly believe and practice. And it allowed me to establish more credibility with the powers that be at my university so that when I say something, or criticize something, they know it's not just a complaining foreigner who 'doesn't understand Chinese culture or the university's English program and teaching culture'--the comments and criticisms are based on knowledgea and experience gained from hard work, and a lot of experience.

The conclusion I came to after a lot of reading and re-reading, and reflection on my teaching, was that I was doing what Harmer refers to in his fourth edition of "The Practice of English Language Teaching," 2007: “We need to be able to say, as Kumaravadivelu attempted, what is important in methodological terms, especially if we concede one method alone may not be right in many situations” (page 78, my emphasis, Harmer).

Basically, I use a combination of CLT (Communicative Language Teaching methodology) and TBL (Task-based Learning methodology) with some of my own personal approaches to teaching all mixed up into one hybrid form of the two major methods. But in terms of how I practice and apply my methodology there is no fixed formula. How I teach depends on the needs and wants of the specific teaching situation, language learning situation and needs and wants, and the overall teaching and learning environment within which I'm operating. I think that I knew this before I began my prep for this presentation, but doing the work helped me to clarify and confirm what I do, and why I do it. I highly recommend other EFL/ESL teachers try something like this if they have the time and inclination.

Oh, a really bizarre moment occurred after the end of the discussion period. The colonel stood up, and walked to the front of the conference room. He then proceeded to say that he thought I had a lot of great ideas and opinions about teaching methodology, and EFL, and that he wanted to hear more about my ideas. He then said that "after learning more about Jason's opinions and ideas we may adopt them here as policy and practice at the university"--HOLY SHIT!

Sometimes I really don't realize how other teachers perceive what I say and do. Sometimes I really don't give myself enough credit that the hard work I put into my teaching craft, and continually trying to improve myself as a teacher, comes across to such a point as that I'd actually have my methodology used as a part of the basis for an entire English program's teaching methdology reform . . .

It's humbling, scary, and thrilling all at the same time.

I just have to hope that some degree of success can be achieved in their reform project because based on this article, The Impact of CurriculumInnovation on the Cultures of Teaching (http://www.chinese-efl-journal.com/Vol%20%201%20January%202008.pdf), I don't know if they can achieve their wishes.

But I'll help--if they ask (and hopefully pay more too!).

What is a good man?

A teacher of a bad man.

What is a bad man?

A good man’s charge.

If the teacher is not respected,

And the student is not cared for,

Confusion will arise, however clever one is.

This is the crux of the mystery.

Lao Tsu 1997, ch 27

From “Experiential Learning in Foreign Language Education, General Editor C. N. Candlin

Applied Linguistics and Language Study, Pearson 2001

Different types of foreign language learning . . .

• ESP – English for Specific Purposes

• EAP – English for Academic Purposes

• EST – English for Science and Technology

• EFL – English as a Foreign Language

• ELF – English as a Lingua Franca

• ESOL – English Speaking of Other Languages

• CLIL – Content and Language Integrated Learning

EFL/ESL influences on my teaching methodology . . .

Jeremy Harmer

Scott Thornbury

Michael Rost

Sari Luoma

Penny Ur

Jane Willis

Michael J Wallace

Teaching methodologies . . . Which one? More than one? Or . . . Something new?

• Grammar-Translation

• Direct Method

• Audiolingualism

• Behaviorism

• PPP (Presentation, Practice, Production)

• ESA (Engage, Study, Activate); Boomerang Procedure, Patchwork Procedure

• Four Methods: CLT (Community Language Learning), Suggestopaedia, TPR (Total Physical Response), and the Silent Way

• CLT (Communicative Language Learning)

• TBL (Task-based Learning)

• The Lexical Approach

• Teachers-Students Dialog Method

• Post Method ???

My 10 EFL Methodology Principles and Approaches to ELT

• 1. Fun and Interesting. The “Magic X” factor.

• 2. Balance of accuracy and fluency language goals and content in lessons/course design.

• 3. Communicative and interactive style of TTT and STT.

• 4. Task-based learning.

• 5. Transparency in testing/evaluation, rubrics, and process.

• 6. Recode EFL language classroom with communicative power dynamics.

• 7. Games and Activities are a vital learning tool for learning, practicing, and mastering language goals and skills.

• 8. The 7 P’s: Proper planning and preparation prevent piss poor performance. Lesson planning/course design are critical in achieving teaching success, and language learner success.

• 9. “Variety is the spice of life.” Using a wide range of learning goals, language goals, skills, strategies, tasks, games, activities, and topics.

• 10. Empowering language learners to develop meta-cognitive learning skills (or ‘learner autonomy), and EFL language learning skills.

CLT - Communicative Language Teaching, and interactive style.

NOTE: There was a diagram on my handout that I cannot copy paste into blogger.

Post-Method: 10 Macrostrategies?

• “What is needed, Kumaravadivelu suggests, is not alternative methods, but ‘an alternative to method’ (2006: 67). Instead of one method, he suggests ten ‘macrostrategies, such as “maximise learning opportunities, facilitate negotiation, foster language awareness, promote learner autonomy” etc.’ (Kumaravadivelu 2001, 2006)”

From, The Practice of English Language Teaching, Fourth Edition. Jeremy Harmer

Post-Method is my ‘one’ method . . .

• “We need to be able to say, as Kumaravadivelu attempted, what is important in methodological terms, especially if we concede one method alone may not be right in many situations” (page 78, my emphasis, Harmer).

• “We have to be able to extract key components of the various methods we have been describing” (page 78, my emphasis, Harmer).

“Must Have Books” For EFL/ESL University Instructors

Speaking

Conversation Strategies

David Kehe and Peggy Dustin Kehe

PLA (Pro Lingua Associates)

W20,000(?)

Basics in Speaking

Michael Rost

Longman

W15,000

Strategies in Speaking

Michael Rost

Longman

W15,000

Keep Talking: Communicative fluency activities for language teaching.

Klippel, Friederike. Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers. Series Edited by Penny Ur. W30,000

Oxford Basics: Simple Speaking Activities.

Jill Hadfield and Charles Hadfield. Oxford, 1999.

W5, 800

Getting Ready for Speech: A Beginner’s Guide to Public Speaking, by Charles LeBeau and David Harrington. Compass Publishing, 2002. W14,000

Pronunciation Pairs, Second Edition: An Introduction to the Sounds of English, by Ann Baker and Sharon Goldstein

Cambridge, 2008

W20,000

Conversation Gambits: Real English Conversation Practices. Eric Seller and Sylvia T. Warner. Thomson Heinle, 2002. W29,000

Small Group Discussion Topics for University Students, A Modern Approach to Fluency in English, Third Edition.. Jack Martire. Political, economic, environmental, and social issues facing the world in the 21^st Century. Pusan National University Press, 2009. W12,000

Reading

Steps to Academic Reading Level 3: Across the Board

Jean Zukowsky/Faust

Thomson Heinle

W13,000

Steps to Academic Reading 4: In Context

Jean Zukowski/Faust, Susan S. Johnston, and Elizabeth E. Templin

Thomson Heinle

W13,000

Extensive Reading Activities for Teaching Language. Edited by Julian Bramford and Richard R. Day. Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers

W25,000

Reading Extra by Cambridge

College Reading Workshop, Edition 2.

Malarcher, Casey. Compass Publishing, 2005. W15 000

Curriculum Design

Materials and Methods in ELT, Second Edition. A Teacher’s Guide.

Jo McDonough and Christopher Shaw. Blackwell Publishing, 2003.

W35 000

Games and Activities

Games for Language Learning, Third Edition. Andrew Wright, David Betteridge, and Michael Buckby. Cambridge University Press, 2006. Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers. Series Editor, Scott Thornbury. W28 000

700 Classroom Activities.

David Seymour & Maria Popova. Macmillian, 2005.

W20,000

Grammar Practice Activities, Second Edition, by Penny Ur. Cambridge University Press, 2006. Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers. Series Editor, Scott Thornbury. Cambridge, 2009

W39,000

Debate and Critical Thinking

Discover Debate. Michael Lubetsky, Charles LeBeau, and David Harrington.

Compass Publishing, 2000.

W16 000

A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature, Fifth Edition.

Wilfred L. Guerin. Oxford, 2005.

W22 000

The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms, Second Edition.

Ross Murfin and Supryia M. Ray.

Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

W25 000

Becoming A Critical Thinker: A Master Student Text, Fifth Edition.

Ruggiero, Vincent Ryan. Houghton Mifflin, 2006.

W11 000

Listening

Tree or Three? Second Edition. Beginner Level. Ann Baker.

Cambridge, 2006.

Ship or Sheep? An Intermediate Pronunciation Course, Third Edition.

Ann Baker. Cambridge, 2006

Teaching Listening Comprehension

Penny Ur

Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers

W29,000

Dictations for Discussion, A Listening/Speaking Text, by Judy DeFillipo and Catherine Sadow. Pro Lingua Associates, 2006. W41,000

Listening.

White, Goodith. Oxford, 1998.

Resource Books for Teachers, Series Editor, Alan Maley. W26 000

Pronunciation Pairs, Second Edition: An Introduction to the Sounds of English, by Ann Baker and Sharon Goldstein

Cambridge, 2008. W20,000

Writing

Sentences At A Glance, Third Edition.

Brandon, Lee. Houghton Mifflin Company 2006.

W10 000

Paragraphs At A Glance, Third Edition.

Brandon, Lee. Houghton Mifflin Company 2006

W10 000

Share Your Paragraph: An Interactive Approach to Writing, 2^nd Edition.

George M. Rooks. Longman, 1999. W13 000

Effective Academic Writing 1: The Paragraph

Alice Savage and Masoud Shafiei

Oxford University Press

Effective Academic Writing 2: The Short Essay

Alice Savage and Patricia Mayer

Oxford University Press

Effective Academic Writing 3: The Essay

Jason Davis and Rhonda Liss

Oxford University Press

EFL/ESL Test Design and Evaluation

Assessing Speaking

Sari Luoma

Cambridge Language Assessment Series

W35,000

Testing Second Language Speaking

Glenn Fulcher. General Editor: C. N. Candlin. Applied Linguistics and Language Study. Pearson Education Limited, 2003.

W25,000

Testing for Language Teachers, Second Edition. Arthur Hughes. Cambridge Language Teaching Library Cambridge, 2003.

W30,000

EFL/ESL Research and Teaching Books

Teaching and Researching Listening

Rost, Michael. Longman, 2002.

Applied Linguistics in Action Series, Edited by Christopher N. Candlin & David R. Hall

W22 000

Teaching and Researching Speaking

Rebecca Hughes

Applied Linguistics in Action Series, Edited by Christopher N. Candlin & David R. Hall

W22 000

Teaching and Researching Reading

William Grabe and Fredricka L. Stoller

Applied Linguistics in Action Series, Edited by Christopher N. Candlin & David R. Hall

W22 000

Teaching and Researching Writing

Ken Hyland. Applied Linguistics in Action Series, Edited by Christopher N. Candlin & David R. Hall. W22 000

Culture/s and Cross-Cultural Lessons

Crossing Cultures in the Language Classroom, by Andrea DeCapua, Ed.D., and Ann C. Wintergerst, Ed.D.

University of Michigan, 2004.

W45,000

Culturally Speaking, Third Edition, by Rhona B. Genzel and Martha Graves Cummings

2010 Heinle, Cengage Learning

W21,000

101 American Idioms Harry Collis and Joe Kohl. Compass, 2004. W7,500; 101 American Customs Harry Collis and Joe Kohl. Compass, 2004. W7,500; 101 American Superstitions Harry Collis and Joe Kohl. Compass, 2004. W7,500

A First Look at the USA: A Cultural Reader

Milada Broukal

Longman

W13,000

More About the USA: A Cultural Reader

Milada Broukal and Janet Milhomme

Longman

W13,500

All About the USA: A Cultural Reader Second Edition. Milada Broukal and Peter Murphy. Longman

W13,000

EFL/ESL Methodology Books

The Practice of Teaching English, Fourth Edition.

Harmer, Jeremy. Longman 2007.

How to teach English.

Harmer, Jeremy. Longman, 1998.

W22 000, 000

How to teach Vocabulary.

Thornbury, Scott. Longman, 2002.

Series Editor, Jeremy Harmer.

W22 000

How to teach Pronunciation.

Kelly, Gerald. Longman, 2000.

Series Editor, Jeremy Harmer.

W22 000

How To Teach Speaking.

Thornbury, Scott.

Series Editor: Jeremy Harmer. Longman, 2006. W27 000

How to teach Writing.

Harmer, Jeremy. Longman, 2004.

W22 000

Teaching English Through English.

Willis, Jane. Longman, 1981.

W20 000

A Framework For Task-Based Learning.

Willis, Jane. Longman, 1996.

W22 000

Listening, Practical English Language Teaching. Marc Helgesen and Steven Brown. McGraw Hill, 2007. David Nunan, Series Editor. W15 000

Speaking, Practical English Language Teaching. Kathleen M. Bailey

. McGraw Hill, 2007. David Nunan, Series Editor. W17,000

Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking, by I.S.P. Nation and Jonathan Newton.
ESL & Applied Linguistics Professional Series. Routledge, 2009. W25,000

Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing

by I.S.P. Nation and Jonathan Newton.
ESL & Applied Linguistics Professional Series. Routledge, 2008. W25,000

EFL/ESL Native English Teacher Speaking Tests in a Korean Public High School — Planning and giving speaking tests Part 1

2010-07-12T22:47:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the spring/summer semester at my high school I found out that I was going to be allowed to give speaking tests for my 12 ‘second’ grade classes. Last semester I dropped several comments every once and a while about how student motivation and classroom behavior are heavily influenced by whether or not there are test points assigned to the lesson content they are learning in my co-teachers ears . . . and apparently during a pre-semester meeting it was decided that I could have 10% of the English grade. For my 10 ‘first’ grade classes, though, at first I was told there weren’t any test points that I could get assigned to my classes . . . and then later, about six weeks or so, I was told I could write 3 questions of the 33 questions on the mid-term and final exams for the English section of the test . . . this just goes to show one of many examples of how hard it is for native English teachers to design a semester syllabus, choose the curriculum, and how testing points are all too often not assigned to their classes and/or they’re told about the testing points weeks after they have already prepared and designed their lessons . . . but I digress, and should get back to writing about the process I went through designing my speaking tests.

I have a lot of experience designing speaking tests and administering them with different kinds of EFL language learners (from middle school and high school to pre-service student teachers and in-service Korean English teachers). But I decided to do some research and re-read materials I have in my EFL/ESL library (see the list of relevant books at the bottom of this post) cause I hadn’t looked at them in a long time. While doing my research and writing up my speaking test design I thought to myself, “What do you do when researching “EFL/ESL speaking test +Korea +public school +high school” and your own writing is the only thing you find that is relevant? HAS NOBODY who teaches high school in Korea designed speaking tests, and then written about it online? Wow.”

Actually, there are bloggers who have written about speaking tests in Korean public high schools but they are a minority. Also, due to the nature of blogging as an informal genre most of them haven’t really gone into much detail about their test design process, why they chose the test format they did, and other details that I would have really liked to read about the experiences of other native teachers in Korean public schools doing speaking tests . . .

One teacher I did find, and I posted about, wrote this series by Supplanter‘s blog which I found pretty interesting–and which reinforced my decision to record all the speaking tests with my mp3 player (something I usually do anyways–Korean university students are notorious for trying to get their test scores raised if they don’t like them, so when they do come to ask for an increase I suggest we review their recordings and look at my notes for their test . . . this usually dissuades most of the complainers, lol).

The Grade Changing Fiasco Part 1

The Grade Changing Fiasco Part 2

The Grade Changing Fiasco – part 3

Finally, I come across something related to my search parameters, Evaluation of The Foreign Language High School Programme in South Koreaby Yvvette Denise Murdoch, a master’s dissertation submitted to the School of Humanities, University of Birmingham to fulfill requirements in the Master of Arts in Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language”, 2002. Unfortunately, while it’s an interesting read, Murdoch doesn’t really provide much in the way of how she tested and what process she went through while designing her tests. But that being said it’s still a good read.

Anyways, I decided to give myself a research and writing project to kill time when I had no classes at school. I loosely based my writing goals on Chapter Six: Developing Test Specifications of “Assessing Speaking” by Sari Luoma, Cambridge Language Assessment Series, Cambridge University Press 2004.

Here is a list of things a teacher should be considering, at least some of them anyways, when designing a language test,

“the test’s purpose; description of the examinees; test level; definition of construct (theoretical framework for the test); description of suitable language course or textbook; number of sections/papers; time for each section of paper; target language situation; text-types; text length; language skills to be tested; test tasks; test methods; rubrics; criteria for marking; descriptions of typical performances at each level; description of what candidates at each level can do in the real world; sample papers; samples of students’ performances on task” from “Assessing Speaking,” Chapter 6, page 114.

The problem is the logistics (I’m going to use this word a lot) of designing and giving speakings tests in Korean public school English native speaker classes is that there are so many unforeseeable, unplannable, and unbelievable (from a native teacher’s perspective anyways) issues and challenges that come up throughout the whole process that trying to do a truly professional EFL/ESL speaking test is nearly impossible–in my opinion . . . but I’ll get into that in more detail in part 2 of this post.

I also found “Chapter Eight: Ensuring a reliable and valid speaking assessment” to be an extremely helpful unit to help me refresh on what I needed to be thinking about as I designed the speaking tests for the high school boys.

While reading Chapter 6 I came across three examples of how to do test specification write-ups: Example 1: An end-of-course classroom test, Example 2: A language test at university entrance, and Example 3: A general purpose proficiency test . . . after reading this chapter I decided to do my own test specifications write up . . . although I was unable to follow the models exactly due to the realities of planning lessons and tests that Korean public schools present.

Alright, that’s enough about why I decided to write this blog post . . . time to wade into the nitty-gritty of what I did while going the process of making speaking tests for a Korean public high school.

Before class/semester begins language learner assessment: There were no opportunities for me to assess the actual language learner levels of the students in each class. The only thing available was the students test scores from the previous semester which in terms of communicative ability and fluency really had no validity or relevance. The only thing I found useful about the test scores that I asked my Korean English co-teachers to show me was being able to see which classes might have a majority of low level students, or average to higher level students so that I could alter my teaching methods accordingly (or ‘differentiate’ them).

Test #1 format (of 4 over the course of the school year, 2 in the spring semester, 2 in the fall/winter semester) : one on one interview, teacher and student

Test #2: one on one interview, teacher and student

Test #3: Unfortunately I won’t be teaching as my contract finishes August 24th, 2010. I am, however, leaving all testing and lesson materials from the book I was using for the next native teacher. I hope that they will continue to teach from the same book . . . my original plans for the four tests were that in speaking tests 3 and 4 that the tests would shift from focusing on accuracy with a low degree of fluency to a higher focus on fluency in balance with the test point values for accuracy. The book I was using focuses on developing fluency and learning, practicing, and mastering speaking strategies so it will be interesting to hear from the new native teacher how the students progress throughout the fall/winter semester.

Test #4: fluency and accuracy have equal values on the rubric.

Class hours before Test #1: two fifty-minute classes.

NOTE: The logistical realities of teaching EFL speaking and conversation in a Korean public high school often necessitate the instructor exhibiting a degree of “flexibility” when it comes to following EFL methodology the way it “should” be practiced versus adapting to and dealing with the chaotic and extremely unstable school schedule and teaching/learning conditions. I scheduled the first speaking test with only 2 weeks of instruction due to several reasons: 1) My classes were not assigned time slots during the school’s official midterm exam and final exam periods (thus necessitating me having to schedule testing during regular classes). 2) The students do not understand fully (perhaps even not at all) how they will be tested (my test will be the first ever speaking test done at the school in its entire history), and this diminishes their ability to develop effective learning styles and habits specific to my classes (I made a “How to” study guide for speaking tests handout (look at the bottom of this post) and gave tips and strategies during my classes). 3) I fully expect motivation and attention levels to dramatically spike after Test #1 has been completed as students will have a much clearer idea based on first-hand speaking test experience with a native speaker/teacher in a public school setting.

Test #1 focus: pronunciation, intonation, grammar, and demonstrating/performing cultural rules for speaking and interactions during the test (for example, how to shake hands)

Test Duration: 2 minutes

Type of school: 2nd grade classes at an all boys trade/sports school transitioning into an academic high school, Seoul–the 2nd grade students were enrolled during the trade school standards for acceptance. The overall English abilities are lower. On average each class has 25% false-beginner, 50% low-intermediate to intermediate, and 25% high-intermediate to advanced levels of English language ability.

Class size: 30-40 multi-level high school boys

Language learners: mixed levels, on average each class has 25% false-beginner, 50% low-intermediate to intermediate, and 25% high-intermediate to advanced levels of English language ability.

Test location: in the native English teacher’s classroom, no other students are permitted to be in the room; also, no Korean English co-teachers (they’re presence would inhibit student speaking performance and test conditions), all other students will be waiting in their homeroom, and in groups of 5 come to the hallway outside, line up and wait for their turn.

General Conditions: each class of 30-40 boys will be divided into two groups, A and B. Boys will do a lottery that places them in one of the two groups, and also determine order of testing. This is to avoid the ‘not fair’ criticism that is a very big concern for Korean students in testing situations (whether or not what they’re saying has anything to do with ‘fairness’).

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Click on the link below to read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

EFL/ESL Native English Teacher Speaking Tests in a Korean Public High School — Planning and giving speaking tests Part 1

J

EFL/ESL speaking tests in an all boys high school in Seoul, South Korea -- More of my favorite answers . . .

2010-06-23T02:33:00.000-07:00

Last week on Wednesday my high school had practice exams all day so my classes were canceled--actually, my speaking tests were canceled. They were postponed to today . . . oh god, the day after the 3:30am Korea vs. Nigeria game is NOT A GOOD DAY TO HAVE ANY KIND OF TESTS--or classes for that matter.

Anyways, the guys came into the classroom, one by one, for their speaking tests looking pretty ragged. Baggy eyes, low energy, and a general lack of memory and concentration plagued nearly all of them.

Some of them, however, had some pretty funny and original answers.

I have four questions that I always ask as warm-ups for the guys. The first question is "How are you today?" ("I'm fine, thank you, and you" is banned as an answer because I want to retain some semblance of sanity, and I'm sure if I had to endure 250 "I'm fine, thank you, and you?" responses I'd lose my mind!) One kid replied, "I'm serious." Lol . . .

Another guy, in response to "What's your favorite book or movie?" said, "My favorite book is The "Prince of Machiavelli"" Wow . . . lol. This guy is already prepping to become a politician or CEO (actually, is there a difference in Korea?).

And later on a kid said his favorite book was "Playboy" . . . ha.

One thing I noticed during this second series of speaking tests was that I failed to anticipate that some guys would remember and use "How about you?" and/or "And you?" during the test instead of saying the full question that was being tested. Before the testing I give the guys a handout, and next to some of the listed questions and expressions that will be tested I give warnings and sometimes even outright ban certain types of responses or actions during the test (as you can see I did above with the "I'm fine, thank you, and you?" response).

A few of the lower language ability guys actually remembered this speaking strategy that I had taught them during a lesson that happened in the earlier part of the semester, and they tried using "And you?" any and every time they had to say something that I had already asked them (the test is an interview format) . . . I couldn't let them get away with that because it would have screwed up my rubric and then totally messed up the proficiency test curve at the school. Fortunately, the students doing this knew they were pretty much 'pseudo-cheating' by trying to avoid speaking the English content from the lessons that I was testing, and didn't protest when I asked them to not use the two expressions.

Getting back to the funny stuff, another student had me nearly burst out laughing because he pretty much speaks English like this guy . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

EFL/ESL speaking tests in an all boys high school in Seoul, South Korea -- More of my favorite answers . . .

J

What's it like to teach English in a high school in Seoul, South Korea?

2010-06-15T23:20:00.000-07:00

Preface

Below is a description of the general conditions a native English teacher will have while teaching at a high school in South Korea.

The descriptions are based on my experience teaching elementary after school programs and camps, 1 full year of teaching at 3 different middle schools (all girls, and co-ed), 1 year at an all girls academic high school, 1 year at a foreign language training center (English immersion camp programs for middle school and high school students, and the 6 month Teach English in English training program for Korean English teachers), nearly 2 years at a national university of education (training future Korean English elementary teachers in a full time English education program, and a second 6 month Teach English in English training program), and my current experiences teaching at an all boys trade high school that then transitioned into an academic school in the middle of the contract. Add to all of this summer and winter English camps during the entire five years, with varying levels of public school students, university students, and Korean English teacher trainees, and you’ll see that I’ve accumulated quite a bit of time and experience teaching in Korea.

I tend to focus on the issues, problems, and things that native teachers need to be warned about before they begin teaching, and also things that may (or may not) happen throughout the course of one's contract. Native teachers do NOT get to choose the level of school (you can request it, but bear in mind that even after being told you're going teach _ level of school this can change, and I've personally seen it happen DURING orientation), its location, or the type (trade vs academic), and in general the quality of the school and co-teachers you find yourself with basically is like winning a lottery. Some native teachers get fantastic schools with awesome co-teachers, some get mediocre situations that are good and bad, and some get poor to nightmarish schools and co-teachers . . . you truly will not know what you are walking into until you are already in the school and in the thick of it.

With that in mind I have written this post with some new content giving a general description of teaching high school (though a lot of it can be applied to middle school too), and also linked to other things I've written in the past that are relevant.

The first section (First Week in Korea -- Checklists) is taken from The Kimchi Icecream Guide for New EFL/ESL Foreign English Teachers/Instructors in South Korea, 2010 Edition – Public Schools, Hogwans, Universities, and Training Center/Institutes. This is a cumulative blog post that I turned into an online blog format orientation guide. Check it out.

First Week in Korea — Checklists

After orientation you will likely meet your 'primary co-teacher.' This co-teacher will be assigned to you to help you with your general teaching and living conditions in Korea. This relationship is the most critical one you will have in Korea, and you should try to maintain it in a positive manner to the best of your ability. It is a good idea to print off the checklists below and give a copy to your co-teacher because it may be possible that they've never been a co-teacher before, and never been assigned to helping a native English teacher with their teaching and living conditions in Korea.

***Introduction For New Foreign English Teachers To The Korean Public School Environment

***New Foreign English Instructors/Teachers in Korea: Bring pictures with you for an introduction lesson during the first week at your school ***

***First Day At School For New Native English Teachers in Korean Public Schools — Checklist ***

New Foreign English Instructors — First Day In Your New Apartment Checklist

2005 New Foreign English Instructor Arrives at Korean Public School — A look back at my first week in Korea . . . wow, it’s been a long time . . .

Sample Schedule

Each period is fifty minutes long for high schools in Korea (middle school is 45 minutes, and elementary is 40 minutes). All native teachers, regardless of school level, have 22 classes per week. That being said schools often struggle to fill your schedule completely and you may end up teaching less than 22.

7:45am - arrive at school, greet other teachers in the office, eat breakfast at my desk

7:50am - teachers go to take attendance and do morning announcements in their homerooms

8:10am - first period

9:10 - second period

10:10 - third period

11:10 - fourth period

12:00 - lunch, go to eat with other teachers in cafeteria

1:00 - fifth period

2:00 - sixth period

3:00 - seventh period

3:50 - clean and lock up classroom, return to desk, do any tasks I need to do to finish up day and/or prep for the next day, go home

NOTE: Other high school teachers begin their 8 hour day at 8:30am and leave at 4:30pm, or 9am and leave at 5pm.

This is my schedule for the spring/summer semester. (The reason I am using elementary grade levels to describe the class grades on the schedule is because that's how they describe them in Korea--it's incorrect, but still in common usage.)

NOTE: There's no such thing as a 'typical' schedule in Korea, and your schedule could be radically different.

Class	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
1 (8:10-9:00)		Grade 1 Miss B	Grade 1 Miss B	Grade 2 Mr. G
2 (9:10-10:00)		Grade 2 Mr. G		Grade 1 Miss B	Grade 1 Mr. D
3 (10:10-11:00)	Grade 1 Mrs. A			Grade 1 Mr. D	Grade 1 Mr. D
4 (11:10-12:00)	Grade 2 Mr. F	Grade 1 Miss B	Grade 1 Mr. D		Grade 2 Mr. F
Lunch (12:00-1:00)
5 (1:00-1:50)				2Grade 2 Mr. G	Grade 1 Mrs. A
6 (2:00-2:50)		Grade 2 Mr. G	Grade 2 Mr. F	Grade 2 Mr. F	Grade 2 Mr. G
7 (3:00-3:50)	Grade 1 Mrs. A	Grade 1 Mrs. A			Grade 2 Mr. G
After school program 118:30-19:30	Jason + Mr. D		Jason + Mr. D
After school program 219:40-20:40	Mr. D		Mr. D
	*Total classes =3 +1*	*Total classes =5*	*Total classes =3+1*	*Total classes =5*	*Total classes =6*

When your schedule is being made try to make the suggestion that your co-teacher does not schedule you for more than 5 classes on one day. Sometimes co-teachers will just plug your name and class into any blank slot on the school class schedule without giving any thought whatsoever to how exhausting it can be to teach 6 classes, or even 7 which is insane! Each native teacher has to decide for themselves how much they'll speak up about saying there's a problem with the schedule they're given, but if you're going to say something say it when it's being made--don't try to say something later, or take a 'let's wait and see how it goes approach' cause the odds of it being changed later because you suddenly realized that 6 classes in one day is too much for you are practically nil--no, they're nil, period.

Also, if you're going to agree to teaching after school program classes you should consider how many classes that adds up to including your regular contract classes. I actually made the above schedule table with the times and titles so that I could point out to my co-teacher that she should add up how many classes I teach each day INCLUDING the after school program classes. Doing this helped me avoid being given a regular class schedule that failed to consider that on Mondays and Wednesdays I was also doing after school teaching.

You'll also probably want to read this post below so that if you're new to Korea you won't freak out when your schedule gets changed 10 times over the course of two weeks at the start of a semester.

EFL/ESL Native Teacher Schedules in Korean Public Schools — Day 9 of the semester and I still don’t have a ‘permanent’ class schedule…nice.

And if you want to know what your first day might be like here's a blow by blow account of the first day of the second semester at my school. Some native teachers start their contracts in the MIDDLE of the school year (in Korea it starts in March), and others begin in March. The first week to two weeks of a new school year are generally chaotic, especially if you compare them to back home (which you shouldn't) . . . so be prepared for ANYTHING to happen.

Foreign/Native English teacher first day of spring/summer semester back at school — a detailed account

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Click on the link below to read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

What's it like to teach English in a high school in Seoul, South Korea?

Vampires buses and loudspeakers on a Friday . . . how could teaching in Korea get any more fun than that?

2010-06-06T06:50:00.000-07:00

Last Friday was the final day of my speaking test preparation and review classes. I'd only had one snag throughout the course of the week in terms of anything going wrong. Specifically, the Tuesday classes missed the lesson because Wednesday's classes got moved to Tuesday due to the elections voting national holiday and "too many missed Wednesdays" of classes throughout the semester. I ended up photocopying the handouts and giving them to my co-teacher who assured me he'd tell the guys everything they needed to know about the upcoming speaking test, and that he'd review everything too--though how he was going to do that during the 10 minutes every morning where homeroom teachers take attendance I don't know, as that was when he was planning on doing it.

Thinking that I'd made it to Friday with nothing else happening to make doing the review classes difficult I noticed two things outside the building where my classes are held: hundreds of kids from the adjoining middle school out on the playing field with loudspeakers, and blood donation buses . . . and I felt a sinking feeling.

The loudspeakers were really 'special' cause they made this fantastic echoey reverberation effect that bounced off the other buildings surrounding the playing field and then smacked right into the windows of my classroom. It's amazing how much power these things have . . .

Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

Vampires buses and loudspeakers on a Friday . . . how could teaching in Korea get any more fun than that?

J

New evaluations for Korean teachers and open demonstration classes for high school parents--oops, I mean moms . . .

2010-05-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

Today at the boys high school it was open demonstration class during two periods of the afternoon where parents of the boys, oops, I mean moms of the boys came to observe Korean teachers for the new teacher evaluations the government has introduced. I found out about this day 2 weeks ago, and find the whole thing kind of bizarre. Let me explain.

When I found out that my class would be observed by parents, oops I mean moms, for the new government teacher evaluations the first question out of my mouth was "What is being evaluated? Can I see a copy of the evaluation?" My primary co-teacher thought this was an extremely bizarre question, I don't know why, and immediately went to the evaluation papers that are used for native teachers near the end of their contracts.

I already knew that native teachers are evaluated by their co-teachers, primary co-teacher, and students near the end of their contracts, but I had never seen a translated copy of the forms with the content. I took a moment to point out that my primary co-teacher should have told me that (don't worry, I was nice about it) when I first arrived at the school (NINE MONTHS AGO), and that she should have gone over translated copies of the forms that would be used to evaluate me . . . she didn't look very happy about that. I imagine the reason being that she knows I'm right, felt a bit embarrassed, and also didn't want to have to do the work of translating the forms (which, in fairness to her, should really be done by the education office and the forms should be given to new native teachers at orientation and save Korean English teachers the hassle).

Moving past that particular gem of native teachers working in public schools I returned to asking about the government's new evaluation process and how could my co-teacher find a copy of the evaluation paper the parents, oops I mean moms, would be using to evaluate myself and the Korean English co-teachers I'd be teaching with. My co-teacher then began trying to say I didn't have to worry about any of this because it was 'only for Korean teachers' . . . but earlier she had said it was 'for my classes' . . . uhm, which was it really?

I'd also read in the Korean English news online, somewhere sorry can't remember the article, that the evaluation results of schools and teachers would be published online--THAT little tidbit had me VERY curious to find out everything I could about this . . . and I was getting nowhere fast.

The nearly 25 minute conversation about one simple question, "What will I, and my co-teacher, be evaluated on?", never really got answered. My co-teacher ended digging up an email with an attached set of evaluation forms but after showing them to me and with me asking several questions about them we both realized, sigh, that they were the forms for the native teacher evaluations that happen near the end of each contract . . . so, I was no closer to finding out anything then when I started asking questions, and I had lost 25 minutes of my life that I'll never get back. Blah . . .

For the next couple of days after that futile inquiry with my co-teacher, I asked each of my the other co-teachers I work with if they had been shown any evaluation papers, or had received memos with the evaluation criteria listed--all of them said no, and their general attitudes were of 'why are you asking me these silly questions?' Okay, message received, and I gave up my search for answers.

Over the course of the two weeks leading up to the open demo class day I tried assessing how much my co-teachers were concerned about what we'd be doing, and again received disinterested and unconcerned responses, so I just let it go. This past Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I tried to make a small effort to meet with the co-teachers who would be doing the open demo class with me but they kept saying they were busy, and while we did finally meet on Friday for a few minutes to discuss the lesson plan and content for my class (I say "my" class because I'm the one who makes the lesson plans alone, and I'm the one who does the majority of teaching when we 'co-teach') but again ran into a lack of concern.

Today, however, was the day of the open demo class and in typical Korean cultural fashion my co-teachers suddenly found their motivation and concern about the demo classes--probably because several hundred parents, oops I mean moms, descended on the school in the early afternoon to observe the open classes, lol.

At lunch time my co-teachers finally got around to helping me clean and tidy the classroom for the visit. In general, however, my co-teachers don't see the classroom we teach all my English classes in as 'their' classroom because in spite of the class being 'co-taught' the reality is that Korean English teachers see it as "Jason's class"; this general attitude usually results in a hands-off approach which places all responsibility for the classroom, lesson planning, and general teaching conditions on me.

Considering the fact that 22 classes worth of high school boys walk through the classroom each week it goes without saying that it gets dirty fast, and frequently. Ordinarily I try to get some students to help me tidy up the classroom, empty the garbage, sweep, and mop the floors about every 2-3 weeks, but for the demo class I wanted my co-teachers to take SOME responsibility for the conditions of the class . . . so with the imminent arrival of the horde of ajumma I suddenly witnessed high motivation levels on the part of ONE of my co-teachers that I'd be doing the demo classes with. The other, an older male teacher, did what most older male teachers do: pointed out the younger female teacher and suggested that she 'knows how to do the preparation' and avoided all responsibilities having to do with getting the classroom clean and organized.

The devil inside me kept whispering that I should have told my co-teachers that for this week they needed to make the lesson plans, prepare all teaching materials and photocopies of worksheets, and in general organize the classroom conditions and teaching tasks that needed to be done . . . but I really didn't feel like having the open demo class turn into a textbook lesson 7, workbook lesson 7 exercises 1-4, and Jason as 'human CD' speaking robot boy with the rest of the time in the class having me standing around waiting for my co-teacher to remember I exist as a teacher that can do other things besides drill pronunciation with the class as a chorus. I also think if I'd suggested that my co-teachers make the lesson that there would have been some resentment--which pisses me off just a 'little' bit considering I make 100% of the lessons, prep everything needed for each class, and do 70% or more of the teaching in every class, so why not have ONE LESSON in which the Korean teacher does most of the work?!--so I kept the status quo in order to maintain the peace and my relationships with my co-teachers.

The first demo class of the afternoon went pretty well. Six parents, err moms, came into the classroom all wide-eyed and a little apprehensive to see the big chubby shaved head white Canadian teacher at the front of the room who was smiling at them and waving them towards the chairs I'd finally gotten my co-teachers to find and move to the classroom. I walked to the back while the boys were entering the room, greeted them in Korean, and handed them copies of the lesson handouts. They all smiled and took the handouts, and then laughed a little when I offered them pens in case they didn't have any in their purses; thinking about this now I understand their laughter because I think it must be 'standard ajumma kit' to have several pens in one's purse at all times (you never know when you'll hear about some magical hogwan that can raise your son's test scores by 0.1% and need to write down that info!).

I then began the class with some trepidation because in my head I kept asking myself this question: if the open demo class is for the moms to evaluate the Korean teacher's teaching how much should I do, and can I safely hand the reins over to my co-teacher for different parts of the lesson that they ordinarily don't do . . . ? To be honest, I began to sweat a little because I didn't want to embarrass or somehow harm my co-teacher's evaluation (though who the hell knows what might do that as we were never told what the moms were evaluating about the class) . . .

Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

New evaluations for Korean teachers and open demonstration classes for high school parents--oops, I mean moms . . .

J

The road to hell is apparently paved with my intentions to help ATEK out . . .

2010-04-28T00:09:00.000-07:00

I see that ATEK's leader (I won't disgrace the title "president" in reference to him) has commented about my post on the ATEK Open Discussion forumwhere Breanna Horn (National Council Hogwan Rep) started a thread titled, "A different Take 0n ATEK" which says,

"A post I found about ATEK's online visibility at Kimchi Icecream and ease of access for teachers. Any thoughts on the post? Is there anything about this we can/should/have already addressed?"

The response from ATEK's leader?

"Well, part of it is that we haven't had a comms officer in a few months. Rob is in now so I expect great things. Also, this guy didn't do any research before writing his story. We have access to almost 2,000 teachers on Facebook now - twice our membership. And, the bloggers write stories - however misinformed. I think the NEW newsletter, a new comms officer, and some really big success stories from us in the near future will turn the current PR picture around. I should mention that the perception of ATEK is leaps and bounds ahead of where it was a year ago at this time" (my bold and italics).

Thank you for completely missing the point of If ATEK falls in the forest, does it make a sound? Musings on why ATEK isn't communicating with the expat community . . .

I'm feeling a new blog post coming to me: 100 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Join ATEK!

Does anyone else find it incredibly bizarre that ATEK's leader himself points out what I about write in my post? He says,

"I think the NEW newsletter, a new comms officer, and some really big success stories from us in the near future will turn the current PR picture around" (my bold and italics).

I wonder if he realizes that he seems to be admitting there have been problems, that there has been a lack of communication "from us" to the native teachers, and that the "PR picture" has problems that need to be "turn[ed] . . . around" . . . which is what I was trying to convey through my post . . .

Seriously, very not impressed!

Oh, and I might as well illustrate further why I'm just a wee bit pissed off. A couple days ago I sent EIGHTEEN IDEAS AND SUGGESTIONS to help improve ATEK that I spent time and energy writing up and sending to Rob . . . yeah.

1. "The Faces of ATEK" - Do a photo shoot where the faces of ATEK each do a one minute self-introduction video (or 30 seconds) and introduce themselves, tell a little bit of bio info, and then say what they do for ATEK.

This will HUMANIZE ATEK for the native teacher community, and make it less of some kind of abstract entity.

It doesn't have to be a pro video (maybe later in the future) and could even just be someone's netcam or point and shoot camera in their apartment that they self shoot for now.

I've noticed that X is an ATEK member, I think. Why not ask him if he'd be willing to volunteer some of his time to do a photo shoot of the council? . . .

2. Have an "ATEK forest" with animated/flash trees. Tree 1 would be the structural tree with links to picture/video/role/title/rank/name of ATEK's leadership. Tree 2 could be the 'useful teaching sites' tree with links to teaching resources. Tree 3 could be an ATEK site map that links to the major categories .....and so on.

A community made of 'trees' ....

3. Print up on sheets of A4 paper (6 cards per sheet to be cut up) the basics of ATEK and then have a volunteer media blitz in major cities around Korea where ATEK members walk around handing out small pieces of paper with the ATEK website and basic info on it to native teachers walking around popular foreign shopping and drinking areas.

4. Is there an ATEK monthly newsletter [THAT IS NOT ONLY FORMEMBERS]? For now it'd need to be something VERY simple in form and design otherwise it'd be a nightmare in terms of time and energy to produce. It could have things like: dates and basic descriptions of ATEK's activities over the past month, highlight the biggest thing done in the past month, 1 teaching tip for each level of school and type of school from hogwan to elementary to high school to university, new and interesting teaching websites, TED video of the month link, and so on.

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Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

The road to hell is apparently paved with my intentions to help ATEK out . . .

ATEK gets a new national communication’s officer – also known as – Roboseyo

2010-04-27T18:42:00.000-07:00

I got an email this morning with a press release pdf file attached about ATEK's new national communication's officer, Rob Ouwehand--also known asRoboseyo.

In my last post, If ATEK falls in the forest, does it make a sound? Musings on why ATEK isn't communicating with the expat community . . ., I wanted to elicit reactions from ATEK members, its leadership, and the general native teacher community . . . and I think I succeeded in provoking some thought and action about the general issue of TWO-WAY communication between ATEK and the native teacher community, and also the general lack of outgoing communication from ATEK's leadership about what it's doing.

You can read the full text here, ATEK: New Communications Officer Plans to Get the Word Out. I'll share a few of the more salient points . . .

ATEK: New Communications Officer Plans to Get the Word Out

Rob is going to be a busy busy BUSY guy: "His duties will include communicating with the press and other media, developing and maintaining communication channels with the expat community, and responding to interview requests and inquiries from other media."

I like how specific Rob is in describing the "goals for his term include working with ATEK’s webmaster on maximizing the website’s usefulness, finding new ways to more regularly update the public on ATEK’s actions, and plotting and producing materials useful for teachers at different stages in their life in Korea, from deciding to come, arriving, and adjusting, to maximizing their experience here and contributing meaningfully in their communities" (my italics and bold).

I think if ATEK, and Rob in particular, are creative in their communication and public relations strategies that reaching over 20,000 teachers won't be a problem, "However, Ouwehand has his work cut out for him: there are estimated to be over 20 000 foreign English teachers in Korea, and it is difficult to reach them all." If one teacher is reached in each of the hundreds (if not thousands) of groups out there, and within each group that ONE teacher shares their knowledge about ATEK with their group members/friends about how to access ATEK's resources, and sign up if they're interested, then the problem is nowhere near as ginormous as it seems to be. Twitter, Facebook, and blogs will facilitate this goal if they are used strategically and creatively, I think.

"Ouwehand believes ATEK is an easy sell: “It’s hard to refuse a group that is doing everything it can to make your life easier.”" I recently sent Rob an email in which I made some suggestions for ATEK . . . .

Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

ATEK gets a new national communication’s officer – also known as – Roboseyo

If ATEK falls in the forest, does it make a sound? Musings on why ATEK isn't communicating with the expat community . . .

2010-04-21T03:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, so ATEK is getting a bit of renewed Kbloggage lately and a few of my friends on facebook are also talking about them too.

But I would like to pose the following question: If ATEK falls in the forest, does it make a sound?

Where I'm coming from is that if I don't visit the ATEK website regularly (which I don't), and I'm not a member (which I'm not), then I pretty much don't hear anything about ATEK and what they're up to.

Some might suggest that if I want to hear updates (I'm indifferent . . . okay, slightly curious at times) that I should just join ATEK and then I'd be on their email list . . . but I don't want to; I'd also point out that expat teachers like myself who are sitting on the fence in terms of 'to join or not to join ATEK' might be persuaded to join if regular communication and press releases were posted on a mainstream expat Internet web site or blog as opposed to only on ATEK's website.

ATEK's lack of press releases has resulted in me getting my information from Chris in South Korea and Roboseyo's blogs--which I find really bizarre because neither of them are press officers for ATEK yet they seem to be filling in this ginormous void that ATEK doesn't seem too concerned about . . . or maybe doesn't know about . . . or . . . meh, whatever.

It's sad that ATEK doesn't have an active blog (I think a former press officer used to, but it disappeared when he did) because I would add it to my side bar and definitely would have clicked on this story, ATEK adding new legal assurance program--but this story isn't coming from ATEK, it's coming from Chris in South Korea's blog. Chris, being the good guy he is, blogged about the information he received in an ATEK membership email about the development--so, it seems like if you're not a member you can't be privy to what ATEK is doing unless you join them, visit their website, or know someone on the inside . . . help me out if I'm missing any other options for getting info . . .

The legal assurance program is something substantial, something positive, something big (at least in my mind it is) that ATEK has produced that can and likely will make a big difference for foreign teachers who run into contract problems with their employers, and other legal situations they need help in. Yet there has been no Korean English news media press release, and foreign teachers in Korea will likely for the most part learn about the story via a blogger who to my knowledge has no official connections or role with ATEK other than as a member . . .

Instead of producing their own media press releases that reach as wide an audience of native teachers as possible ATEK seems to be relying on its website as their primary communication medium--which I personally think is a big mistake. How can ATEK expand its membership when it is failing to communicate and reach out to native teachers through mainstream channels?

UPDATE: Julianne and I were chatting about my ATEK post tonight during dinner, and she pointed out the following problem: It is now April 21st and neither Julianne nor myself remember seeing a major publicity and recruitment campaign put on by ATEK to inform newly arrived in Korea native teachers about membership and other relevant info. You'd think that if increasing membership numbers is the primary focus of ATEK right now that there would have been a major media campaign at the end of February and throughout March . . . was there one? I mean, other than on ATEK's site itself?

Here are some questions I posed and did a little research on . . .

Does ATEK have a Twitter feed? No.

I did a search on Twitter and came up with nothing. I did a search on Google and came up with nothing. (If there is one please post the link in the comments for this post and I'll add an update too.)

Does ATEK have a facebook group for communication and sharing information? Yes/No.

A facebook search for "ATEK" produces 81 results . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

If ATEK falls in the forest, does it make a sound? Musings on why ATEK isn't communicating with the expat community . . .

J

2010 Hangang Yeouido Spring Flower Festival, Seoul — Playing with my Sigma 10-22mm, Sigma 100-400mm telephoto, and Canon 100mm macro lenses . . .

2010-04-16T05:54:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I went to the 2010 Hangang Yeouido Spring Flower Festival (also see here for info) and took pictures along the 2km lane way that runs around the National Assembly Building.

Arriving in the area I began taking pictures right away with my Sigma 10-20mm lens . . . I couldn’t believe that the sky was a nice clear blue! Awesome . . .

(click on the link below to see pictures)

At the beginning of the 2km lane way there was . . . this. ‘Interesting’ product placement . . .

(click on the link below to see pictures)

I made sure to visit some of the bigger cherry blossom trees (I’ve been to the festival now 5 times so I know the area fairly well).After that I pulled out a tripod and mounted my Canon 400D on it, and then changed lenses putting on my Canon 100mm macro lens. There was some cold damage to the flowers sitting in massive pots at the start of the lane way, but they still looked nice to me.

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Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

2010 Hangang Yeouido Spring Flower Festival, Seoul — Playing with my Sigma 10-22mm, Sigma 100-400mm telephoto, and Canon 100mm macro lenses . . .

J

Where can I find Vietnamese noodles in Seoul, Korea? Check out 'Good Morning Vietnam' restaurant in Hyehwa-dong, Seoul

2010-04-10T07:57:00.000-07:00

Julianne and I walked over to Hyehwa-dong tonight (it's only a 5 minute walk from my apartment) to get some Vietnamese noodles for dinner . . . I brought my camera (Canon 400D with Canon 50mm lens) and snapped a few shots (and surprised Julianne a few times, lol).

The Vietnamese Noodle restaurant we went to is called "Good Morning Vietnam."

It's directly across the street from the McDonalds in Hyehwa-dong.

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Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

Where can I find Vietnamese noodles in Seoul, Korea? Check out 'Good Morning Vietnam' restaurant in Hyehwa-dong, Seoul

J

What do Korean English co-teachers do when the native English teacher is sick and absent from the classroom?

2010-04-06T04:54:00.000-07:00

For the past 10 days or so I've been battling the cough/fever/fatigue/body ache virus that's been making the rounds at my school (and probably all of Korea).

Last week I was supposed to begin the first round of speaking tests for my 2nd grade classes but Sunday night I felt so crappy, and had lost so much of my voice from coughing, that I decided there was no way I could force myself to do the speaking tests for the 2nd graders and teach my 1st grade classes too (that's a LOT of speaking!). I text messaged my co-teacher Sunday night saying that if I still felt the same way Monday morning at 6:45 I'd be taking a sick day.

Monday morning rolls around and I feel like death warmed over, and my voice was down to around 50% power . . . I text messaged my co-teacher and took a sick day.

Tuesday I forced myself to suck it up and soldier on into the school where I did two second grade classes (about 18 guys out of 38-40) worth of speaking tests, and taught my three 1st grade classes . . . it was a LONG day.

Wednesday, I pumped myself full of cough and cold meds and again soldiered on trying to ignore how crappy I felt, and did the tests and classes. On top of that I stayed at the school for my after school program gifted class that runs from 6:30 to 7:30pm. Oh my god was that a mistake. A twelve hour day when you're sick is NOT a good idea.

I text messaged my co-teacher Wednesday night, again saying that if I felt as crappy as I was and if my voice was as terrible as it was that I'd be taking another sick day. Thursday morning at 6:45am I texted her to say I wouldn't be coming in.

I have been very happy with how my school, and my co-teacher, doesn't harass me when I take a sick day. They generally accept and trust my judgement about whether or not I am able to work when I'm sick, and they accept that I'm not Korean (meaning that Korean teachers usually go into school no matter what their condition is). Also, I haven't heard a single "You should go to the hospital." from any of the co-teachers I work with--actually, I got a few text messages from the older ones after I sent them an apology text message saying I was sick and staying home where they suggested, and didn't demand/command me (wow, impressive), that I should go to the hospital. I now see this as a normal expression of concern in Korean culture but when I first got to Korea it used to bug me.

I ended up staying home on Friday too. It was a little amusing to me Friday morning when I texted my co-teacher at 6:45am to say I wouldn't be coming in again to see the first hints of alarm at my absence because there were now 3 days of speaking tests that would have to be made up, and the school schedule is already insanely full and figuring out when and how to make up the time was going to be difficult to figure out . . . but my throat felt like I'd sucked back a shaved-glass smoothie from hell, and my voice sounded like it too. My co-teacher texted me her concerns, and I decided to actually call her so she could hear what I sounded like--if there had been even a glimmer of doubt as to why I couldn't administer the speaking tests, and why I was staying home, it disappeared pretty fast! She told me to get better soon, and that on Monday we'd figure out how to reschedule the tests.

Anyways, to get to my post about what Korean English co-teachers do when the native teacher is sick and not in class . . .

I really don't understand why 99.9% of the co-teachers I've worked with, and 99.9% of the stories I've heard from other native teachers about their co-teachers, don't use the lesson plan and materials that the native teacher makes if the native teacher is sick.

Actually, I do know the reasons but it still frustrates me.

Here are some of the many reasons,

1) The KET's English language ability is "poor" (by "poor" I mean the literal performance ability, not the Korean cultural practice of being 'humble' about your abilities) and they cannot teach English in English.

2) The KET's degree of participation while co-teaching a class is little to none, so they don't know how to teach the lesson plan alone (even after having observed it several times).

3) The KET is shy and/or insecure about their English speaking ability and afraid/nervous about how students might react if they make a mistake, or say/do something wrong.

4) The KET often learns the language goals and content of the lesson DURING class along with the students, and has not mastered the content enough to teach it independently.

And the list goes on. Some of the reasons are very legitimate and understandable, and others are not.

The thing that motivated me to write this blog is that the native teacher/Korean teacher Thursday and Friday classes are at the end of the week, so in terms of my co-teachers not having learned and mastered the lesson goals and content of the week's lesson . . . that shouldn't have been an issue because they'd already co-taught/observed the lesson at least twice with me. The power point for the lesson was on the English classroom computer; there were copies of the lesson worksheets on the desk ready for the classes; the co-teachers had taught the lesson with me at least a couple times already, and had had a chance to listen to me teach and explain the lesson content, and go over the worksheet exercises; the co-teachers had heard the classroom English expressions and procedure language, and observed how I taught each stage of the lesson and how much time it took . . . simply put, the co-teachers had pretty much gotten their 'practice' co-teaching sessions done with me, had had time to observe me teaching the lesson and voluntarily choose what they want to do in terms of specific co-teaching tasks, and had had time to learn, practice, and master the lesson content . . . so you would think that if the native teacher had to take a sick day that the co-teachers might be able to teach the class alone using the lesson plan for that week--but that's not what happened.

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Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

What do Korean English co-teachers do when the native English teacher is sick and absent from the classroom?

Where can I get a good hair cut in Seoul, South Korea? – Hair & Joy near Honggik University Station, Hondae, Seoul.

2010-03-27T06:12:00.001-07:00

Julianne and I went to Hongdae, Seoul this afternoon to get her hair cut. The last time Julianne got her hair cut it was a little nerve-wracking because we chose a small Korean hairstyling shop in Chuncheon, Gangwon province, and had to hope they wouldn’t do anything too extreme because neither the hairstylists, nor Julianne and I, could communicate much with each other.

A little while ago Julianne was walking around Changdeok Palace and a Korean handed her a magazine called “Maps and Guides” that has maps, lists of shops, touristy places, and other things for foreigners visiting and living in Korea. It’s probably the best info/map/tourist source I’ve ever seen on paper in Korea. In the magazine it recommended Hair & Joy as a good place for foreigners to get their hair cut and styled.

It looks like Seoul Selection produced the magazine, and if so they did an amazing job!

We decided to check Hair & Joy out. Julianne called the phone number in the magazine (02-363-4253) to see if she needed an appointment. The Korean who answered the phone could speak English, and Julianne made an appointment very easily. Not something that happens often in Korea–wow.

We arrived at Honggik University Station and . . . .

Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

Where can I get a good hair cut in Seoul, South Korea? – Hair & Joy near Honggik University Station, Hondae, Seoul.

Cultural Taboos and Native English Teachers in South Korean Public Schools

2010-03-19T18:31:00.000-07:00

When a new foreign teacher first comes to Korea and walks into their new school and teacher office it could be compared to an actor walking into a play in which they don't know the following: how to speak the language the play is written in, the cultural behavior rules for how to interact with other characters, power dynamics and hierarchies, and the social conventions for the different situations which arise in each scene of the play.

After working in Korea for five years and having attended several orientations and workshops for foreign teachers I have yet to see a presentation that addresses the most common situations and challenges that new foreign teachers experience during the first couple of weeks at their new schools, while settling into their new living environments, and throughout the course of their first year in Korea.

If any of the following materials are used as a part of an orientation or new foreign teacher training manual I would appreciate being cited as the author (if it’s something that I wrote) and or as a source from which the materials were taken from (if it’s something I found and arranged and posted on the Net). I’ve spent a lot of time and energy writing and blogging and would appreciate the citation. Thanks.

Now I should preface everything I write below by saying that I'm pretty sure most if not all foreign teachers can adopt and embody several Korean aspects to being the 'ideal model new foreign teacher.' (The definition of what is 'ideal,' however, seems to vary a lot. Sometimes it also boils down to just saying yes all the time and doing whatever is being asked of you--this meaning that you're being a 'good' foreign teacher.) But the flip side of this coin is that everybody has psychological and behavioral boundaries they just won't cross, or modify, and there's a limit to how much one can assimilate themselves into a culture that may at times be incredibly alien and stressful--from a foreign perspective.

With this in mind I decided to write about the following situations below.

14. Failing to be patient with the bureaucratic school culture paperwork and how Koreans get tasks done that are directly related to your work and living situations.

New foreign teachers often complain about how slow and inefficient public school bureaucracy is when they first arrive in Korea. They need to bear in mind, however, that they really don't understand the processes involved, and generally the large number of Koreans involved in completing one seemingly 'simple' task.

Try to keep in mind that there is generally little to (usually) no cross-cultural training for your Korean co-teacher (and when there is it's only for your ONE primary co-teacher, and fails to include all the other Korean English teachers at your school, some of which you'll likely be working with, but who never get the training) let alone all the other Koreans in your school that will be involved with things relating to your life in Korea. As a result of this when Koreans are talking about something and/or doing something for you they don't know how to include you in the process. If the ritual way of doing a task hasn't been modified to include the foreigner in a situation in Korea then the foreigner pretty much doesn't exist.

New native teachers are often frustrated about the language and cultural barriers that exclude them from active participation in decision-making processes, lol. For example, when a school is setting up the teacher's apartment, or perhaps even just learning that they need to find one for you AFTER you've already arrived at the school straight from orientation (yes, it's happened to me, and may happen to you) the new foreign teacher needs to keep in mind that the school admin office manager, a secretary or two, their co-teacher, the vice-principal, principal, the apartment building manager, the apartment owner, and toss in a few Koreans I'm probably forgetting . . . they are ALL involved in completing this ONE TASK. Add to this that Korean culture is a very ritualized culture with what to a foreign teacher appears to be an 'obsession' with attention to rank and respect and only one way to do something and yeah, everything begins to look like it's moving in slow motion IF you compare it to how things get done back in your home culture--DON'T DO THAT!

Sit back and let the Koreans work out what needs to be done and how, and occasionally ask your co-teacher to translate the key parts of what is going on but be prepared for most if not all decisions to be made for you, without asking for your input, to HELP you (though you may not like how you're being 'helped'). The assumption is being made that since you can't speak Korean, and have never lived in Korea, that you must not know how to do anything in Korea--literally! This is not to say that the Koreans are being mean, or negative in any way towards you; it's just the way Korean culture views a young unmarried adult in their mid to late twenties . . . especially one who doesn't have any older family members present to make decisions and do things for them--which is the norm here even if you're a 25+years old university graduate. After you've been in Korea for a while and met some Koreans who are in this age bracket you may realize that it's pretty true that older married mid-30s to mid-50s Koreans have to help the 20-something generations to do things that in western culture it's taken for granted that the young person can do--in Korea, that's just not the case. For example, a 20-something Korean guy cooking a simple meal or doing his laundry . . . many have no idea how to do these things.

Another issue that new teachers may not consider is that how work tasks are prioritized is very different. The task that gets given priority is always the task coming from whoever has the highest social and workplace rank in the school. If a school office admin manager is working on doing 10 tasks, and one of them comes from the vice-principal or principal, it's pretty safe to assume that completing the bank account deposit form for the new foreign teacher's monthly salary deposit is going to drop lower in the task priority rankings--even if pay day is tomorrow, or even worse, yesterday. The Korean admin office manager is in Korea for life, and has to do what is best for their career and future; dropping all other tasks regardless of the social and work rank of the Korean who needs it done in order to do something for the new foreign teacher who is likely to only be in Korea for ONE year . . . yeah, not likely. Be patient and be friendly to the admin office manager in your school because this person especially handles tasks that you NEED done. Also, if you're the first foreign teacher at that school, and/or the admin office manager is new to their job, they may not know what to do and how to do it which will also make the whole process take longer (add to the mix that every public school office admin manager and university secretary/co-ordinator I've worked with has never been given any training or mentoring on what foreign teachers need done, and how to do the paper work--expecting them to do their jobs quickly and well when it's a task they've never even heard of before is not really fair so be patient and know that things will eventually happen . . . eventually, lol).

13. Failing to adapt to what may appear to be an extreme loss of independence and autonomy at work and in your personal life.

A lot of new foreign teachers arriving in Korea, myself included, are shocked at how much independence and autonomy they have to surrender at work and in their personal lives. I'll never forget the first time I told my primary co-teacher in 2005 that I was going to go to Seoul (from Ganghwa Island) for the weekend and how she showed extreme agitation and worry about how I could possibly survive 72 hours without her, or someone older than I was, to 'help' me.

Now remember, she was operating under that general assumption that if you can't speak Korean, don't know the culture, and don't have an older family member to supervise you that you're pretty much a helpless child . . . and no, I don't think that this is an exaggeration.

I looked at my co-teacher and told her that if I could survive basic training in the Canadian Army that I'd be able to 'survive' traveling to Seoul and back, finding a place to sleep, finding food, and walking around Seoul amusing myself. She continued to ask "How will you . . . ?" questions in spite of my attempts to reassure her and I finally just gave up and told her that I'd call her day or night (HA!) if I needed her help (I didn't, lol). Telling her that I'd rely on her to tell me what to do if I needed help calmed her down a tiny bit, but I'm sure she probably spent a good portion of the weekend worried about me being 'all alone and helpless' in Korea, lol. (As an aside I think it's much more preferable to have a co-teacher who cares about your well-being than one who has no interest at all in helping you and/or how you're doing during the first month or so in Korea!)

There are a huge number of situations in Korea that you actually will feel 'helpless' to a lesser or greater extent.

a) getting a cell phone

b) getting Internet and Cable TV installed and an account set up

c) getting a bank account (though KEB is pretty decent if you want to go alone)

d) going to the hospital for your health check, or if you're sick (go with a Korean co-teacher who can help translate things (it's 70-30 that you'll get a doctor that has fantastic English) and be willing to sacrifice your privacy for the sake of accurate translations to aid the diagnose and treatment. Also bear in mind that everything your co-teacher hears and sees is fair game for discussion with other Koreans back at your school!

e) going to the immigration office to apply for your alien registration card and to get a multiple re-entry visa (I cannot urge you strongly enough to NEVER go there alone, always go with a co-teacher or a Korean from your school)

Some foreign teachers manage to accomplish tasks in spite of the language and cultural barriers on their own, but I suspect that many if not the vast majority need help from their Korean co-teacher when they first arrive in Korea. You can do the things I list above, and more, ALONE . . . but they often exact a high cost of stress and difficulty if you go it alone; getting your co-teacher or another Korean to help you generally speed things up in ways that you may not understand right now--just trust me, it's 99% of the time it's easier if you have a Korean helping you.

It's a really really hard thing to do, however, giving a Korean stranger/co-teacher complete and utter power over you in a situation to get something done for you, but it's something that often has to be done no matter how much you might hate it, resist it, and really don't want to do it. It can be very surreal to sit in a bank setting up a bank account and have no clue what is going on most of the time because your co-teacher is speaking in Korean, and the bank officer is speaking in Korean, and very little translating is going on other than the bare minimum. Yet the alternatives are not being able to get something done, it taking a thousand times longer than if you'd just let your co-teacher help you, and the thing being done incorrectly (often because of misunderstandings, and often a Korean will make assumptions based on Korean cultural norms about what you need and want that are the OPPOSITE of what you have specifically said in ENGLISH and they didn't understand or just assumed they know better because you're new to Korea) which can cause more problems in the future.

12. Failing to understand that there is a hierarchy and you are at the bottom of it (most of the time anyway).

In Korea there is a very highly structured social hierarchy based on age, gender, job title, and other factors (whether or not you're of Korean ethnicity, in my opinion, also plays a major role in this). In public school culture a new foreign teacher who is in their mid-to-late 20s, unmarried, can't speak Korean, doesn't know Korean culture, and doesn't have a high ranking job title . . . well, you have about as much rank as a 'recruit' entering army boot camp in the minds of the Koreans you'll be working with. Do not be confused by all the attention and flattery and compliments you're getting from students and faculty because in terms of having the authority and/or power to request something you need or want you have to go through the chain of command first. Even if you're an older foreign teacher, for example someone in their fifties, you'll not be treated the same way as a Korean teacher in their fifties; I should add, though, that most Korean teachers who are younger than you will be fairly deferential to you, but that that is not always the case (as I've heard from older foreign teachers, and also witnessed first hand).

When a fresh out of teachers college graduate/new Korean teacher arrives at their first school to begin their teaching career they're pretty much everyone's 'lackey'--to put it lightly. Every task that nobody else wants to do--give it to the newbie. I've talked to several young Korean English teachers and ALL of them, especially the young unmarried female teachers, tell me that they have a really stressful time at work because of the rigid social hierarchy within the school culture. Basically, they can't say 'no' to pretty much anything a senior ranking teacher tells them to do without severe social and professional penalties being enacted on them by their 'seniors.'

Juxtapose what young new unmarried Korean teachers go through when they arrive at their new jobs and schools with how new native teachers are treated and I think it's safe to say that in general we're treated a lot better even though we're at the bottom of the school's social/workplace hierarchy. (Oh, and if you're Korean-Canadian or Korean-American and you can speak Korean semi-fluently to fluently YOU SHOULD HIDE THIS FACT!!! If you don't you WILL be treated almost exactly like a new Korean teacher. You'll be asked to do translation tasks, stay late, and basically you'll lose the ability that new foreign teachers have to claim "I am not Korean" and say no to things like doing extra classes on Saturday mornings, and other extras that most Korean teachers cannot refuse to do.)

If you think you can somehow LIVE AND FUNCTION as a teacher outside this social hierarchy and somehow sidestep it, and create your own power dynamics with the Koreans you work with--well, let's just say you're in for a really long and stressful year in Korea. I am NOT suggesting you say yes all the time and act like you're in the Korean army. I am suggesting that a drastically increased sensitivity to rank and power politics and cultural issues is a good idea.

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Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

Cultural Taboos and Native English Teachers in South Korean Public Schools

The Kimchi Icecream Guide for New EFL/ESL Foreign English Teachers/Instructors in South Korea, 2010 Edition

2010-02-28T22:25:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Korea!

The Kimchi Icecream Guide for New EFL/ESL Foreign English Teachers/Instructors in South Korea, 2010 Edition is the culmination of five years of writing and blogging about living and teaching in South Korea. It is based on my experience teaching elementary after school programs and camps, 1 full year of teaching at 3 different middle schools (all girls, and co-ed), 1 year at an all girls academic high school, 1 year at a foreign language training center (English immersion camp programs and the 6 month Teach English in English training program for Korean English teachers), nearly 2 years at a national university of education (training future Korean English elementary teachers in a full time English education program, and a second 6 month Teach English in English training program), and my current experiences teaching at an all boys vocational-academic (it's currently transitioning from the one to the other) high school. Add to all of this summer and winter English camps during the entire five years, with varying levels of public school students, university students, and Korean English teacher trainees, and you'll see that I've accumulated quite a bit of time and experience teaching in Korea.

My goal is to help new foreign teachers entering Korea for the first time to be informed of everything they need to know in order to make the transition from just keeping their head above the water and doing what I call 'survival teaching' to beginning to be able to swim with varying degrees of success and happiness. I write about both the good and bad things that may or may not take place in your teaching and living conditions in Korea. The really hard thing about trying to write an orientation guide is that each foreign teacher has a different personality and their teaching/living situations can be so different as to be almost as though they're not in the same country. Perhaps the 3 biggest things you'll need in Korea are a sense of humor, patience, and the mental abilities to adapt and be flexible about things that are literally beyond what you can imagine being possible--these are the things I think are VITAL to surviving and thriving in Korea.

In the readings below I've created a 1-3 star rating system to tell you how important I think a particular post is for new teachers to read.

* A little important and something you should read after you've been in Korea for a month and settled in.

** Moderately important and something you should read after you've unpacked everything in your apartment, and been in your school for a few weeks.

*** Very important information that will help you avoid typical mistakes and problems that new foreign teachers face when they first arrive in Korea.

I've put together this guide with everything I think a new foreign teacher (and for that matter even some veterans might find something useful here) might want to read about when they first arrive in Korea that I've written and blogged about. Yet there will be things that you think are incomplete or missing; please add comments or email me and if it is possible I will write about the question, issue, or topic.

If any of the following materials are used as a part of an orientation or new foreign teacher training manual I would appreciate being cited as the author (if it's something that I wrote) and or as a source from which the materials were taken from (if it's something I found and arranged and posted on the Net). I've spent a lot of time and energy writing and blogging and would appreciate the citation. Thanks.

I'll leave you with this thought about teaching and living in Korea.

Spoon boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Spoon boy: There is no spoon.
Neo: There is no spoon?
Spoon boy: Then you'll see, that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.

I wish all new foreign teachers in Korea good luck tomorrow as the first day of the spring/summer semester begins.

Jason Ryan

Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

The Kimchi Icecream Guide for New EFL/ESL Foreign English Teachers/Instructors in South Korea, 2010 Edition

Korea War Photo Exhibit about the 68 countries that helped Korea.

2010-02-27T05:36:00.001-08:00

While walking past Kwang Jang Market, in between Seoul subway stations Jongno-samga (3) and Jongno-oga (5) on the dark blue line (#1) Julianne and I saw a Korean War photo exhibit with pictures of the 68 countries that were involved in the Korean War.

The exhibit is put on by "The World Peace Freedom United" and sponsored by Doongsa Dong-A (and a few others, I think) but when I do a Google search for the world peace group nothing comes up so I'm not sure exactly what kind of group they are, or what their mission is. Regardless of that, I was VERY impressed with the something like 200 photos from the Korean War, and the general set up of the photo exhibit.

A little while I ago I wrote a post about the Korean War/War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan-gu (near Itaewon), South Korea – Revisiting the Past. On my old blog I also write a post called Pepero Day in Korea vs. Remembrance Day around the World. The reason I mention these two blog posts is because in both of them I am a little critical of the general manner in which Korea integrates other nations' soldiers who fought, were injured, and died during the Korean War, into Memorial Day and the War Memorial of Korea exhibits.

After walking around the photo exhibit I was really impressed and wondered to myself why this kind of exhibit is not a permanent fixture at the War Memorial of Korea . . .

Anyways, Julianne and I walked around looking at the photos, and I took a few pictures of them to encourage people to go and check out this exhibit.

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Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

Korea War Photo Exhibit about the 68 countries that helped Korea.

Wild Women’s Performing Arts Festival

2010-02-26T19:10:00.000-08:00

Tonight is the Wild Women's Performing Arts Festival. Click here to check out their website. You can also see videos from Wild Womens Performing Arts Festival in Hongdae, Seoul South Korea Jan 09.

The event starts at 8pm on Saturday, Feb 27 at Mongwhan in Sinchon.

Date: Saturday 27 February 2010
Time: 7:00PM to 5:00AM
Admission: W16,000 includes free drink and prize-draw ticket
Where: Mong Hwan (Club) in Sinchon
Directions: Sinchon Station, Stop 240 Exit 2 (see attached map - English)
(Info from Korea4Expats)

Also from Korea4Expats.com some information about who will be performing,

"Up and coming artists from two of South Korea’s indie labels, Electric Muse [Orgeltanz and Dringe Augh] and Pastel Music, Inc., will be performing at the event as well as Bigbabydriver, Oriental Lucy and a solo performance by Zee of The Pines, just to name a few. The evening will also include powerful spoken word performances delivered by female representatives of Word Food and beautiful dance pieces by several Eshe performs with Orgeltanz at WWPAF II."

Here's info from the website in English and Korean. Also, here's the facebook event link.
J

"Hello everyone!

The Wild Women’s Performing Arts Festival is back to raise more money for the Korean Women’s Association United! This year the event will take place on Saturday February 27th as part of the run-up to International Women’s Day on March 8th. The night will feature a fresh list of performers, poets and dancers, as well as a silent photography auction, raffle and much more! So make sure to clear some space in those busy calendars to show your support for gender equality in South Korea.

Volunteers are needed before the festivities begin. We need help to place flyers around Hongdae and the surrounding area on Feb 19th, 20th, and 26th. We also need volunteers for the event itself on the 27th in three different shifts: 8:00 – 10:00, 10:00 – 12:00 and 12:00 – 2:00 If you can offer any of your time, we would really appreciate your help. To learn more about the Wild Women’s Performing Arts Festival, please explore this website and see the amazing artists who will be contributing to the event.

For more info or enquiries, contact:

Wild Woman in residence: Shawn McRae

Email: smcrae77@gmail.com

Phone: 01030403755

Thanks for your continued support."

여러분, 안녕하세요!

한국여성단체연합 후원을 위해 개최되는 Wild Women’s Performing Arts Festival은 오는 3월 8일 세계 여성의 날을 기념하여 2월 27일 토요일에 열릴 예정입니다. 시 낭송, 댄서들의 멋진 공연과 사진 경매, 경품추첨 등 다양한 이벤트가 준비되어있습니다. 한국의 성 평등 의식 확산을 위해 꼭 참석 부탁 드립니다.

축제 시작 전 자원활동가분들의 도움이 필요합니다.

2월 19일, 20일, 26일에 홍대와 그 일대에 전단지를 붙이는 작업과, 2월 27일 행사진행을 위해 시간대별로 자원활동가들이 필요합니다(8시-10시, 10시-12시, 12시-2시). 여러분의 많은 참여 부탁 드립니다.

Wild Women’s Performing Arts Festival에 대해 더 알고 싶으시면, 저희 블로그에 놀러 오셔서 각종 행사 정보와, 행사를 빛내줄 훌륭한 예술가들을 만나보세요! ^^

질문사항이나 그 외 더 필요한 정보가 있으시면 아래 연락처로 문의주세요.

※영어 문의

- 숀 맥클리(Shawn McRae)

smcrae77@gmail.com

010.3040.3755

※한국어 문의

- 박지연(한국여성단체연합 인턴활동가)

park.jiyeon@hotmail.com

010.9203.4728

여러분의 많은 성원에 감사 드립니다.

Korean War/War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan-gu (near Itaewon), South Korea - Revisiting the Past

2010-02-20T04:59:00.000-08:00

This afternoon Julianne and I decided to head to the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan-dong, Yongsan-gu (about 4 blocks away from Itaewon), Seoul to take pictures and walk around. I've been to the memorial several times, but for Julianne it was her first visit. (You can see pictures I took of the War Memorial during another visit here, about half way into the post.)

I'm always struck by the vivid bronze sculptures standing just inside the main gates of the memorial grounds.

One of the first things that struck me when I came to Korea in 2005 was how mountainous this country's landscape is. I tried to imagine how Canadian soldiers who fought (516 died) in the Korean war would have dealt with the terrain while wearing full combat gear with a ruck sack loaded with ammo, food, sleeping bag, and whatever else they needed for the missions they completed. (Check out the Canadians in Korea website for info about the 27,000 Canadian Forces personnel who fought and served as a part of the massive UN Forces in the Korean War.)

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Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

Korean War/War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan-gu (near Itaewon), South Korea – Revisiting the Past

Winter English Camp in South Korea #2, Day 2: The Zombies Return . . . and not even the power of kimchi ice-cream can wake the undead!

2010-02-16T05:40:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday morning I walk outside of my apartment to see . . . more rain. I'm not normally a superstitious person but sometimes you can't ignore the gods when they're sending you consistent signals like two weeks of gorgeous blue skies, and then two days in a row of gloomy gray skies and rain--alright, I'm listening . . .

I think what I'm hearing is that I need to pull out my special bag of teaching tricks for my current English camp students. They're insanely smart, and from what I've been able to figure out all of them have low-advanced to high-advanced English abilities, and a few of them have native speaker fluency . . . and yet when I ask a question all I get is a zombie wall of silence . . .

At the beginning of day two's classes, after greeting the guys (to which I got the zombie response I was dreading) I began by talking about my speaking speed, and how I wanted to check with them if it's okay for me to talk at my normal speed--which I NEVER do, or rarely do in Korea. My personal EFL/ESL pedagogy is that speaking naturally is nuts most of the time. If half or more of your class can't follow your natural speaking speed, and natural level of vocabulary and how you communicate what you're trying to tell them then I believe you need to use a variety of speaking methods to help students understand you.

Some of the things I do are . . .

1. Speak more slowly, and with very careful pronunciation.

2. I repeat a lot of the things I say, and vary the speed too.

3. I use the white board a LOT to reinforce what I'm saying if it's difficult.

4. I break long sentences into chunks, and put pauses in between the chunks. I use gestures and acting/miming in tandem with key words and expressions.

5. When I'm not giving instructions, demonstrating something, explaining something, and other teacher talk along those lines I will try to speak more 'normally' but I generally follow this pattern: first time, I say the sentence somewhat normally, second time, I slow it down break it into chunks and use very careful pronunciation, and the third time (if necessary) I repeat the sentence with some degree of natural rhythm and intonation but still not at my natural speaking speed. (NOTE: The pattern described here varies depending on the type of class, language learner levels, and the learning situation. There is no one way of speaking fits all teaching situations formula.)

There are other things I do but those are some of the most common methods I use to help the students understand me. But in the case of the guys I'm teaching right now they really don't need it. Maybe for some particular topics and situations they lack exposure to, but I'm also encouraging them to ask questions if they don't understand something.

Normally it's hard to get Korean students to take an ACTIVE learning role and to get them to independently choose to ask a question (with no teacher prompting) because they worry so much about loss of face if other students think the question is 'stupid' or 'too smart' or whatever the case may be but I think these guys can do it.

Anyways . . . the guys told me they wanted me to speak at my natural speed, and so I began the day's lessons.

In the first hour I gave them a power point lecture on how to write a paragraph in English. I tried to teach them in a very communicative manner. I asked a lot of questions, and kept pushing really hard to get them to take a more active style of learning--and I pretty much ran into the wall of zombie silence again, argh!

I knew that some of the guys had studied how to write paragraphs before whether it was in a hogwan (private academy) or when they'd lived and studied English overseas in an English country. Yet they were acting like POWs in a prisoner of war camp, and I was Colonel Klink trying to get them to tell me where the secret escape tunnel was . . .

And it was only Day 2 of a two week long camp . . . oh god.

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Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

Winter English Camp in South Korea #2, Day 2: The Zombies Return . . . and not even the power of kimchi ice-cream can wake the undead! (See pictures of kimchi ice-cream here!)

J

The Staring Ajusshi -- I know my girlfriend is hot but will you please stop staring at her?

2010-02-15T06:58:00.000-08:00

Late this afternoon Julianne and I decided to head to COEX Mall for dinner, to play some video games in the arcade, and to wander through Bandi & Lunis book store, and lastly check out the CD and DVD store.

We mostly spent our long Korean New Year, commonly known as Seollal, weekend hibernating inside the apartment. Last Thursday night we did a COSTCO run and picked up baked chicken, apple pie, and other things to make our long weekend nice. And then on Friday night I was COMPLETELY NUTBAR and went to Lotte Mart at Seoul Station to pick up a few supplies . . .I didn't have my camera with me Friday night, but I did have it earlier in the week and I snapped some shots of the New Year gift tables. (Insert as many bodies as you can imagine into this picture and you'll get what it really looked like this past Friday night.)

I always prefer to try and give gifts that display some degree of how much I know a person. For example, giving a friend who loves movies a DVD, or a co-teacher who is into reading romance novels a romance novel as a gift. Whenever I see the pre-packaged/pre-wrapped gifts I kind of cringe because it illuminates how much 'bally-bally culture' ("hurry-hurry") has come to dominate Korea (and to be fair, North America has its own bally-bally gift giving culture too; gift cards and pre-wrapped gifts are also common back home). I'm sure there are many Koreans who give gifts that have some kind of personal aspect to them but it's just not something I see much of due to the types of places I can visit and as a result of that the limited experiences (as in there's a LOT of Korean culture I never really see) I have as a foreigner living and teaching here.

In this picture you can see the influence of older generations in Korea and gift giving. My understanding of why giving large sets of TUNA, or SPAM, as a gift is that it comes from post-Korean war culture and how older generation Koreans feel about gifts of food: they're like gold! I guess it says something about the privileged life most of us have had who have never experienced the lack of food and daily necessities the Korean senior citizens had to deal with growing up during the post-war period.

Unfortunately that still doesn't change my reaction to seeing cans of tuna as a popular gift, lol.

I'm not sure but I get the feeling that Seollal is a bigger gift giving cultural event in Korea than Chuseok--maybe they're on the same level?

Anyways, getting back to my story about Julianne and I getting out of the apartment today cause we spent most of the four day weekend indoors watching episodes of Dexter, playing games on our Wii, and napping like hibernating bears after munching on our chicken and apple pie from COSTCO (SERIOUSLY, COSTCO has the BEST CHICKEN in KOREA!) . . .

After eating dinner in COEX Mall's food court we went to the arcade and played the Jurassic Park jeep first person shooter game. It was a lot of fun and Julianne was a pretty good shot. I also tried to shoot a stuffed animal off a plate at the back of the arcade but I swear they load the butts of the stuffed animals with weights cause I can never knock one off to give to Julianne--argh.

We then walked through Bandi & Lunis bookstore, and the CD/DVD store. Having cured our cabin-fever we decided it was time to head home on the subway.

Now I've written before about ajusshi (middle age married man) in Korea and the staring that goes on (see this post, I almost dongchimmed an ajusshi in the subway tonight . . .) so I'll try not to repeat myself about how much this is one very specific aspect of Korean culture that I really really hate--especially when it involves my girlfriend.

The Korean news media really loves to play up how perverted and depraved foreign English teachers are yet I never see (at least in Korean ENGLISH news media) stories about the lack of manners that X (I won't put a number on it because I have no statistics to back it up) ajusshi in Korea exhibit towards foreigners in general, and foreign women in particular, but it's pretty high in my experience (and I think most foreign/expat teachers you talk to will back this up too).

NOTE: I should also add here that there are different types of ajusshi sub-culture groups . . . one ajusshi sub-group is the always polite, always gentlemanly, always poised and elegant and cultured and intelligent and well-groomed and so on and so forth. These guys are AWESOME, and a few of my co-teachers in the past have been this type of 'ajusshi' if I can suggest there is a continuum of ajusshi types, lol. Simply put, not all ajusshi are like the staring-ajusshi type, and people reading my blog outside of Korea should not be confused by my characterizations here.

I don't know if there have been any cross-cultural studies of staring and taboos (there probably have been, but I don't have the inclination to spend time researching this on the Net), but I remember reading on a blog a foreign female teacher-writer who commented about how in the West guys do their best not to stare at women's chests, whereas in Korea it seems like guys do their best to stare at women's chests.

Anyways, tonight, on the subway ride home Julianne and I sat down and just across the aisle and slightly to our left was an ajusshi who thought we were the most interesting thing in the world to stare at. Julianne stared back at him in a very obviously disgusted way--no reaction, he just kept staring.

I stared back at him with my best 'teacher look of death stop what you're doing or there will be consequences'--nothing.

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Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

The Staring Ajusshi -- I know my girlfriend is hot but will you please stop staring at her?

J

Winter English Camp in South Korea: Camp #2, Day 1 -- My Teaching Nightmare Becomes Reality: Zombie Student Attack!!!

2010-02-09T05:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was day 1 of my second two week English winter camp. Unlike the previous two week camp that wrapped up last Friday, where there were blue skies every day, yesterday morning was gloomy and overcast.

I wondered if there was any kind of portentous meaning in the gray skies and tried to shake it off as I walked into my office. I turned on my computer, printed out a few things, and then made photocopies of stuff I needed for day.

To give you an idea of what I was copying (especially if you've never done a camp in Korea) here is a list of what I prepared.

1. Classroom English Rules

2. Camp Schedule with dates and times.

3. A handout from the book "Ugly Koreans, Ugly Americans" about asking personal questions and taboos in introductions situations.

4. A writing assessment sheet with 3 simple questions. I wanted the guys to spend 5 minutes per question, and write a minimum of five sentences or more per question, so I could see what their writing skills were like (one of the two major goals of the camp is to learn how to write a paragraph in English).

After organizing all the stuff I needed for my first day of camp and the two fifty minute periods I would be teaching I headed to the first grader (Koreans use elementary school grade language for high school grade names, don't ask why--I don't know) building where my classroom was.

I usually head to my classroom during a camp at least one hour early to prep the room and check that all the teaching technology is in working order. I turn on the touch screen TV (I'd rather they had a power point projector and big screen, but oh well), and turn on the computer and check that both are working. I also check that there's an Internet connection. All of these things in the past have for one reason or another not been working and if I don't check with at least an hour to try and fix whatever problems might be happening I risk having to come up with teaching alternatives really really fast (it's happened in the past, and it's NOT fun). OH, I also do these checks EVERY DAY--you can't rely on the fact that something was working yesterday cause it might not be today.

I open the curtains to let in whatever natural light there is outside (unlike last week, not much) because I think it impacts student mood and energy levels. If the only light in the room is artificial I think energy levels are lower.

I then check to see if the heat is on. During the past two weeks of my first camp the heat had already been on, and I didn't have to worry about walking the 100 feet or so back to the main building on the high school campus to the administration office to ask for it to be turned on. Yesterday, however, I had to do so.

Having opened the curtains and gotten the heat turned on I then turned to prepping my white boards. Depending on what I'm teaching, and whether I'll do the materials more than once in a year, I usually make a power point file so that I don't have to write things out while teaching. For the camp, though, I didn't have a power point made up of all the things I'd be putting on the white boards so I spent a few minutes writing it up. Oh, and I cleaned the white boards. It's nicer for me to write on a clean white board, and I think nicer for the guys to be able to read off of too.

Looking at the above picture I forgot to mention my two ice breaking activities. The first involves the use of balloons and speaking. The second is getting the students to make 'self-introduction posters.' Last semester my school gave me a small budget to purchase color pencils and I had grabbed those for the guys to use in the making of their posters. Not only do I have to do an ice breaker with the incoming freshmen who have never been in the high school before, but I also believe there's a need for the guys to participate in an ice breaker with each other because they come from different middle schools all over the place.

I've written out a description of the balloon ice breaking activity that I use in my post called, English Camps in South Korea – A Guideline for Foreign English Teachers, so if you're curious you can check it out there. As for the self-introduction posters . . . this is what I do.

I brainstorm a list of topics with the guys. Usually name, age, hobbies, favorites, dreams/wishes, and family are the topics that come up. I do not teach them new language because I believe this is an activity where it's better for them to be using language they already know. I can then see how fast and easily they produce language they've learned, and how accurately they produce it too. It takes pressure off of them to learn, and gives them time to adjust to the new environment, and of course me, the 'alien' English teacher. While some students have a natural creative ability many students in Korea lack experience as language learners doing creative activities because there is a general antipathy on the part of Korean teachers, and surprisingly many students too, towards anything that they deem not to be learning tasks that are directly related to mastering test content. As a result of this Korean students often have a really hard time beginning creative projects/tasks and completing them in what foreign teachers would consider a 'normal' period of time, so it's a good idea to have a model of the self-introduction poster up on the white board, or even a hard copy that you've made yourself. I like to change the colors of the words or letters, the size of the letters, the directions and angles of what I'm writing, and integrate pictures into the poster too. Once the guys saw what I wanted they got down to it and did a great job.

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Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

Winter English Camp in South Korea: Camp #2, Day 1 -- My Teaching Nightmare Becomes Reality: Zombie Student Attack!!!

J

Winter English Camp in South Korea: Camp #2, Day 1 — Lesson prep in Korea is the Achilles Heel of EFL teaching

2010-02-08T04:15:00.000-08:00

I'm still writing up the first English camp I just finished this past Friday and will try to post the series (it covers 8 days) some time this week.

This morning I came to school and did the small bit of prep I needed to do for my second two week winter English camp. Then the events of today reminded me yet again why lesson prep in Korea is pretty much the Achilles Heel of EFL teaching. Let me explain.

Last December I organized an informal winter English camp workshop at my high school for other foreign teachers who wanted to collaborate ideas and materials. About 9 teachers showed up and we talked for nearly 3 hours. It was awesome. Ironically, we ran out of time before my turn came up to describe the criteria of my camp (number of students, grade level, number of classes per day, number of days in total, and other info) and get some ideas from the others--but that was okay because my English camp experience Korea is pretty extensive (click here to see my English Camps in South Korea - A Guideline for Foreign English Teachers) and while it would have been nice to get some feedback about my camp plan there were other teachers, especially newbies, who really needed more time to collaborate than I did.

Anyways, the reason I mention the workshop is that I had been planning my winter English camp theme, lesson outlines and notes, supplies I would need, and other details nearly TWO MONTHS before the camps I am now teaching would begin--and I should have known better!

Some time in the last week of December my co-teacher and I got together to confirm all the details of my camp . . . and it was at that point that I realized the camps were really just a 'Come See The Alien Teacher Show' for the incoming freshman students. The camp schedule had been set up so that I'd only have TWO HOURS with each of the freshman classes--two hours?!

The only things I would have been able to accomplish in a two hour period of contact time with freshman are: introductions, ice-breaking activity for myself and the students, and self-introduction posters--my favorite ice-breaking activity for the freshman to introduce themselves to each other.

Needless to say I was a bit . . . uhm, what's the word I want to use here . . . ARGH! That'll do.

I politely (though with a very disgusted facial expression, I'm sure) explained to my co-teacher that I did not want to do an alien freak show, and asked her if any of the other Korean teachers were having the same sort of schedule set up with the incoming freshman (I already knew what the answer would be--no, of course not) and after she said they weren't I pointed out that this was a complete and utter waste of my time, and the students' time . . . and she agreed with me.

I'm pretty sure it also helps that I had several papers with me including a camp syllabus that I had designed. I had already gone over with her the theme I'd chosen for my camp, the learning goals I had for the students, the number of classes assigned to each of the learning goals, and other planning I'd done . . . it was pretty obvious to my co-teacher and the Korean teacher that this wasn't a case of a foreign teacher whining and complaining for no good reason--I had specific professional teaching issues with a camp concept and schedule that wanted to use me as an alien freak show, and lucky for me this was one of those rare times during my teaching tenure in Korea that the Koreans in charge of my teaching situation listened to me, heard and understood what I had to say, and agreed with me. (Yes, I'm still in shock!)

(For those reading this blog outside of Korea, and who have never taught in a Korean public school, what I mean by 'alien freak show' is the tendency in Korea to parade foreign teachers out in front of students, Korean teachers, and sometimes even parents during the first day of an English camp. Typically the audience ooohs, and ahhhs, laughs a lot, and yells things at the native teachers whose reactions range from 'let's get this over with' to 'oh my god, why am I here?')

The fact that my co-teacher listened to me, and didn't try to strong-arm me into agreeing and submitting to a plan that we both knew is bad, is yet another example of why my co-teacher is the goddess of all Korean English co-teachers in Korea. (Anyone who knows me in Korea will also know that this is NOT typical of my general discourse about co-teaching in Korea--so let me assure you that when I give this kind of high praise it is based on having worked with a large number of co-teachers.) Most other co-teachers would have argued with me or tried to persuade me to just say yes or blatantly ordered me to obey and follow the schedule as it had been set up. I didn't get any of that pseudo-Korean army culture nonsense from my co-teacher--wow.

After talking with me in English for a couple minutes she then explained in Korean what I had been saying to the Korean teacher in charge of organizing the camp schedules for all the teachers at the school. He understood, and had the decency to look a bit embarrassed at the situation; I found out later, however, that it hadn't been him at all who was responsible for the idea of putting me out on display for the freshman (I won't say who it was, but expats with time in Korea will know who makes those types of decisions in Korean public schools, 'nuff said). The meeting ended with me telling my co-teacher that if I had to do an alien freak show that was 'fine,' but that I was very unhappy about it and hoped that some kind of changes would be made to the concept of the camp and its schedule.

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Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

Winter English Camp in South Korea: Camp #2, Day 1 — Lesson prep in Korea is the Achilles Heel of EFL teaching

Bugs and Apartment Life in South Korea - A giant cockroach visited my girlfriend today . . . no, really.

2010-02-04T04:42:00.000-08:00

A giant cockroach visited Julianne in her apartment this afternoon . . . no, really.

I've had several different apartments in Korea over the years and never really had a major problem with bugs. I'm not saying there haven't been bugs, but the number and type haven't been anything like a serious infestation or problem.

I don't know what the actual percentage is of foreign English teachers who are placed in apartments that have bug problems. I'd have to say based on how many teachers I've heard talk about it as a problem that it'd be something like 25% or so. The majority of apartments in Korea will from time to time have ants, cockroaches, and other critters appear to one degree or another--but in terms of them being a chronic presence and problem relative to apartment life in Korea I'd say 25% sounds accurate in my experience of hearing stories from teachers.

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Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

Bugs and Apartment Life in South Korea - A giant cockroach visited my girlfriend today . . . no, really.
J

EFL Foreign Teacher Motivation - What do you do when you don't feel like teaching but have to?

2010-02-04T04:40:00.000-08:00

It's a gorgeous day outside with a clear blue sky and not too cold a temperature . . . and I really don't feel like teaching.

I decided that it'd be interesting to write about "What do you do when you don't feel like teaching but have to?" and see what other teachers in and out of Korea do.

Here are some of the things I've done in the past.

1. Put on a tie. I normally wear a collared shirt and cotton pants or dress pants when I teach. During my five years of teaching I have gone through periods where I dressed much more casually but I found that my behavior and motivation tended to be a little more relaxed than I like, and I also have seen that Korean teachers and students treat you differently based on your appearance (holy understatement batman!) so dressing things up a notch helps with a lot of different aspects of teaching in Korea. Wearing a tie makes me feel more professional and therefore I act more professional. I'm not saying a lack of a tie equals less professional, but business dress does help with my teaching motivation levels.

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Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

EFL Foreign Teacher Motivation - What do you do when you don't feel like teaching but have to?

J

Winter English Camp Konglish: "shampoo and rinse" and "wash towel"

2010-02-03T04:50:00.000-08:00

I'm way behind on writing up the seven of nine days of winter camp I've taught so far . . . I have pictures of the guys doing stuff, and stories galore . . . but for now a small story will have to do.

Oh, before I get to the story there's one other interesting thing that happened today at camp. The students I'm working with are NEW freshman--technically they're still middle school students right now--and the Korean education cultural organization of the winter break period threw me a curve ball today. Let me explain.

The winter break is not a consecutive block of time off from school. Korean students go on winter break and then after about 5-6 weeks they come back to school for 2-5 five days, and then they go on 'spring break' . . . yes, that's how it works. Don't ask me why they don't just finish up EVERYTHING school related before they break at the end of December so that they can have an uninterrupted vacation--err, cough! cough! I mean winter classes time--they just don't do it that way. The students and teachers all come back to the school for a few days to do whatever it is they do, and of course have a graduation ceremony. (In fact, one might say that there is no such thing as a 'vacation' in Korea for students. The teachers give the students winter and summer homework assignments--yes, I just said they give them HOMEWORK during the 'breaks!')

What does all this have to do with my winter camp? Well, today I had SIX students in my class, SIX! Originally 25 had supposedly signed up but I have only been getting 16 or 17 every day. I altered my lesson plans accordingly and things had been going well up till now. The thing is I had been told (yes, shocking, I was told this would happen a week ago by my co-teacher--yes, she is that AWESOME!) that some students might not be in my classes this week because of graduation ceremonies but for some reason it didn't register in my head that this would actually happen . . . but it did.

Anyways, losing 10 students is not actually that big a deal. It's especially not a big deal cause the remaining six are actually the ones with the best attitudes and who have been trying the hardest. Yes, I pretty much won a kind of teacher lottery! Woohoo!

Alright . . . . let me tell you my story about winter English camp Konglish . . .

Today the guys brainstormed topics for the demonstration speech they're going to have to perform on video tomorrow. Before setting them loose to choose their own topics we did a group brainstorming of possible topics to help them get a sense of what I wanted them to think of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

Winter English Camp Konglish: "shampoo and rinse" and "wash towel"

Random things from this past week . . . a motorcycle, my school, an ugly dog, a mountain landscape, and a student’s lunchbox — this is my life…

2010-01-29T03:36:00.000-08:00

Over the last month, maybe even two months, I haven’t been doing much blogging . . . and I’m going to try and get back to my habit of putting up at least 3 or 4 posts a week.

Last Friday, and all of this week, I began my first winter English camp at my all boys high school. The students are the incoming freshman and I’ve really enjoyed working with them. One of my high school’s criteria for new students applying to it this year was that they had to be in the top 10% of all middle school applicants–and the difference between the incoming freshman and last year’s freshman is extreme.

Anyways, suffice it to say that I’m really looking forward to teaching them in the spring semester, and that my winter camp has been freaking awesome so far. The first camp runs over the course of two weeks, and then I do another two weeks with a different group of freshman . . . I’ve got a series of blog posts in the works about what I’ve been doing at the camp, and I’ll post them this weekend or at the latest early next week.

The weather in Seoul has been a lot ‘warmer’ lately (Julianne would strongly disagree! Lol . . . she thinks anything colder than -5 is really cold) and I’ve been able to get a few pictures while out walking around Seoul. Here’s one of a delivery motorcycle overloaded with pink carpets (?).......

Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

Random things from this past week . . . a motorcycle, my school, an ugly dog, a mountain landscape, and a student's lunchbox -- this is my life...

Moving Sale – A friend of mine is leaving Korea and she has lots of stuff to sell…

2010-01-29T02:39:00.000-08:00

A friend and former co-worker of mine is leaving Korea and she has a lot of stuff to sell.

"Everything in like new condition unless otherwise noted. There’s more stuff…even some freebies. Come visit and see for yourself.

All prices negotiable – especially if you’re buying more than one thing!"

If you're interested click this link to find out more information. I copied and pasted the list of items and prices below. If you go to the link you can see pictures of each item too. As of Friday, January 29th the items below were not sold.

I wish her all the best and hope she finds success after life in Korea.

Car:

1998 Hyundai Sonata 4-door sedan. Green/grey color, AC, AM/FM/Cassette, Automatic transmission. 155,000kms. Runs well. All maintenance records available. I’m the second owner. The original owner was a professor I work with. Transfer of ownership date negotiable but I’d like to use it until the end of February if possible. Asking 1,000,000 won.

Furniture:

Bed – wood, strong frame, super-single bed & mattress. Asking 180,000 won.
Wardrobe – wood, 2 drawers plus clothes bar. Measurements: 32L x 23W x 74H / 81L x 59W x 188H cm. Asking 80,000 won.
Desk – wood, low computer desk (I used it as a makeup table). Measurements: 43.5L x 17W x 17H / 110L x 43W x 43H cm. Asking 50,000 won.
Mirror – large, circular (23in/59cm) mirror on wood base (sitting on top of desk). Asking 20,000 won.
Sofa – brick red, vinyl, 3 seater sofa. Seat covers could use recovering. Center seat sits lower than side seats. Asking 50,000 won.
TV stand – wood, on wheels, 2 shelves (one lower & top for TV). Measurements: 23.5W x 16L x 15H inches / 60W x 41L x 39H cm. Asking 10,000.
3 drawer chests – wood, one chest has 3 drawers (right of TV), the matching chest has 2 drawers and one door with glass front (left of TV). Chests each measure 25H x 23L x 16.5W inches / 64H x 59L x 42W cm. Asking 25,000 each.
Table – wood, folding legs. Top in good shape but a couple faint marks. Seats 4 to 6. Measurements: 35L x 23.5W x 11.5H inches / 89L x 60W x 29H cm. Asking 10,000 won.
Table – wood, folding legs, traditional Korean design. Seats 6 to 8. Measurements: 48L x 31.5W x 13H inches / 122L x 80W x 33H cm. Asking 35,000.
Stool – brick red seat, black metal legs. Height: 18 in/46 cm. Asking 5,000 won.
Full length mirror – white.	SOLD
Chest of drawers – 5 deep drawers, plastic. Excellent for storage. Asking 10,000 won.
Coat tree – wood.	SOLD
Office chair – black cloth seat. Very comfortable. Originally 250,000 won. Asking 100,000 won.

Electrical:

Air conditioner – Whisen, tower style air conditioner, programmable, including external exhaust unit & remote. Asking 600,000 won.
Oven – Lotte oven. Has 4 stovetop burners, oven bakes & broils, 2 oven racks. Top folds down over stovetop to create more countertop space. Oven is older but works perfectly. Includes valves for LNG & LPG gas hookups. Asking 200,000 won.
TV – Samsung 20” color TV with remote. (Delivery Feb. 19th). Asking 70,000 won.
Slow cooker – Bought from Costco. Very new.	SOLD
Steam Iron – Asking 30,000 won.
Fan – light blue, 3 speed, oscillating fan.	SOLD
Rice cooker – Smaller size. Asking 20,000 won.
Toaster – 2 slices.	SOLD
Microwave oven – White & black, Samsung microwave. Turn table.	SOLD
Braun Hand Blender – whip, blend, chop, puree – whatever you like. Asking 25,000.
Space Heater – 2 heat settings, pivots on its base. Radiating style heat. Asking 20,000 won.
Refridgerator – bar fridge, no freezer. Perfect for office.	SOLD
Speaker set – 1 base speaker, 2 tweeters, has own volume control. Solid black. Sits on table/desk top. Perfect as attachment to computer for stereo sound.	SOLD
Vacuum – bagless, dustbuster style with crevice & floor heads.	SOLD
Lamp – silver color, 2 bulbs, dimmer switch. Measures:16.5H x 6L x 6W inches / 42H x 15L x 15W cm.	SOLD
CD/Cassette/Radio player – with remote. Asking 50,000 won.

Shelving/Clothes Bars:

		Floor to ceiling clothes organizer/bars – 3 floor to ceiling poles, 3 cross bars, 2 baskets that attach to poles, front curtains. Height & length of bars are adjustable. Asking 80,000 won.
		Clothes bar – free standing (on wheels) beige, single bar with full length basket below. Asking 5,000 won.
		Bookcase – wood, 4 shelf bookcase. Asking 30,000 won.
		Bookcase – wood, 3 shelf bookcase. Asking 25,000 won.
		Bookcase – wood, looks like one box from above bookcase (works great as a bedside table). Asking 5,000 won.
		2 sets Kitchen shelves – wood. Each has 4 shelves (2^nd shelf pulls out). Measurements (to top shelf): 47.5H x 23.5L x 15W inches / 121H x 60L x 38W cm. (I hope you can see the shelving - they hold a lot of stuff!) Asking 20,000 won each.
		Metal storage shelves – 3 shelves, on wheels. Measurements: 33H x 21.5L x 13.5W inches / 84H x 55L x 35W cm. Asking 5,000 won.	SOLD
		2 Shoe racks – one is black plastic with 6 shelves (one pr of shoes/shelf), the other is black wire with 3 shelves (3 prs of shoes/shelf)	SOLD

Miscellaneous: (Some prices not listed. – Make me an offer.)

Clothes drying rack – white bars, green metal frame. (Picture shows arms folded down – but arms open big enough to hold a blanket.) (Delivery on Feb. 20th) Asking 8,000 won.
Luggage dolly – folds up, sturdy.
Ironing board – full size, regular height ironing board.	SOLD
Bedding – 2 sets of mat, blanket & pillow. Another pillow & blanket available too.
Telephone – beige, basic house phone. (Available March 5th)
Dishes, dishes & more dishes – Corelle dish set, platters, Pyrex mixing/serving bowls, metal mixing bowls, baking pans (cake, muffin, bread), Pyrex pie plates, cutlery (knives, forks, chopsticks & spoon set for 10), all kinds of cooking utensils, pots & pans – you name it, I probably have it.
Plastic storage containers – from very small (kitchen use) to very large (clothing, etc).
Weights – two 2 pound weights, wrap around ankles or wrists.
Small 3 drawer set – plastic. Good size for pens & stationery storage.
Garbage cans – variety of sizes & colors.
And LOTS MORE……Towels, bathmat, small cushion, baskets (small to medium sizes), hangers, books (not textbooks), small plastic sewing machine (not hand-held), herbs & spices, wrapping paper, Baduk (Go) board…..

Hard working Koreans in Seoul, 2010

2010-01-19T01:34:00.000-08:00

I haven't been outside taking pictures very much over the last couple weeks because of the very low temperatures. Today, however, was above zero so I decided to walk around with my camera.

I'm always very impressed with the motorbike delivery guys in Seoul who work in all conditions, rain or shine. Based on how many delivery scooters and motorbikes I see every day all over Seoul, without the efforts of these Koreans I imagine that businesses would suffer a major slow down without the delivery guys. If you look closely at the center biker you'll see the special wrapping he has around the bike's handle bars . . .

Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

Hard working Koreans in Seoul, 2010

2009 SMOE Workshop Day 1 – Unrealistic expectations?

2009-12-21T19:26:00.000-08:00

Let me preface this post by saying teaching is one of my passions and that I take improving myself as a teacher seriously. The intent of this post is to make some very needed observations and criticisms about how workshops are designed and how presenters are chosen and presentation materials vetted . . . or, unfortunately, to illuminate the lack of vetting and the lack of supervision . . .

I arrived at Korea University at 8:40am Monday . . .

I signed in, got my name tag, and picked up a workshop booklet. After that I headed into the auditorium and found myself a seat.

Some Koreans were testing the microphones and prepping things for the opening ceremony. The usual items were being prepared . . . national anthem, big Korean flag power point slide, and an overview of the workshop schedule power point slides were readied for the 200 or so native English teachers slowly filling up the auditorium.

As I sat in the audience waiting for the usual hoopla to be finished . . . I thought about how I always find it amusing that foreigners are asked to stand and salute the Korean flag and sing their national anthem. I have no problem paying my respect to the Korean flag, and standing while their national anthem is played–I am after all at work and on their dime–but I still ponder these things from time to time.

National anthem and flag respecting done the supervisor says some opening remarks, and begins introducing the SMOE office co-ordinators . . . and unfortunately can’t remember all their names. I am terrible with names so I feel some sympathy for him because I’d probably have been lucky if I could remember 2 and I think he got through about 4.

The supervisor then goes over our schedule for the two days.

Monday December 21st

8:30 to 8:50am – Registration

9-9:20am – Opening Ceremony

9:30-10:20am – Co-teaching (Steven Austin, SETI)

10:30-10:50am – Reflection Session: Classroom Issues and Professional Development

11:00-12:20 – Reflection Session

12:30-13:20 – Lunch

13:30-14:20 – Reflection Session

14:30-16:00 – Co-teaching Demo Lesson and Q&A

Tuesday December 22nd

9:00-12:50 – Co-teaching Workshop

13:00-15:00 – Lunch Party Buffet

16:00-17:30 – Go to see “Jump” (Show)

I had already seen the schedule because my co-teacher is awesome and when she got the memo she printed out a copy for me, and then when I asked her to she translated some of the info written in Korean. There wasn’t really a lot of info to translate but what there was she did with no hesitation or complaining. My co-teacher rocks, and I’m insanely lucky to be working with her.

After the supervisor finished going over the schedule a coordinator got up and kind of did the same thing, lol, and then pointed out a map we had been given in our schedule booklets. Finishing that we had a ten minute break before the first presentation, “Practical Co-teaching,” began.

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Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

2009 SMOE Workshop Day 1 – Unrealistic expectations?

Flugun Gate at Snow Jam, Seoul 2009 — What is a ‘flugun gate’?

2009-12-14T22:09:00.000-08:00

After the final match was finished at the Snow Jam event I began to walk home . . . and came across a Flugun Gate . . .

Since I’ve never seen one before I did a Google search for “flugun gate” and came across taryn’s korea adventure blog posting, Incheon Global Fair & Festival. She writes about how she had to wait “in line first to be spritzed with hand sanitizer, and then to pass through the so-called “Flugun” gates where a machine doused us in some kind of germ-fighting mist.”

Another blogger, With Backpack, also went to the Incheon Global Fair and writes,

“Along with the hundreds of hand sanitizer machines, there are also many “fluguns” installed where crowds are expected. This is a device that is suppose to kill flu germs, I think. I doubt that it works, since after being “flugunned” about three times in Songdo I had a cold the next day.”

Another day in Korea blogger writes, “It’s misty and apparently kills the flu.” And Annyeong! writes, “Of course, before entering we had to walk through the Flugun Gate, just in case we were carrying H1N1. The swine flu scare is getting ridiculous – so many festivals have been cancelled because people are scared to gather in large groups because of the flu.”

After doing several different searches on Google for about 20 minutes I finally gave up on finding an expert source defining what a “Flugun Gate” is and whether research has been done that proves there’s any degree of effectiveness in H1N1 prevention . . .

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Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

Flugun Gate at Snow Jam, Seoul 2009 — What is a ‘flugun gate’?

Snow Jam Seoul 2009 / LG Snowboard FIS World Cup BA — Awesome snowboarding with huge air and a few wicked wipeouts

2009-12-14T22:06:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday afternoon Julianne and I headed back to Snow Jam for the afternoon qualifying match, which was scheduled to run from 1-5pm, and then we planned to hang out for an hour till the final match that would happen from 6-7pm.

We got to the snow ramp at about 3:45pm and I snapped a few pictures of the scaffolding with my Canon D400 and Sigma 10-22mm lens . . .

When we walked to a spot where we could see the ramp there was nothing going on . . . I’m not sure if the afternoon match finished early but . . . yeah . . . arriving at 4pm, 2 hours before the final match starting time (6pm), actually proved to be a bonus in disguise because I was able to get a good spot inside a barricaded area just across from the ramp. If we’d arrived at even 5pm we would not have been standing at the edge of the street. Even so, it was FREAKING COLD and standing in one spot for 2 hours was not exactly the most fun thing to do on a Sunday afternoon. The only thing that kept me motivated to ignore the cold was that I was pumped about it being my first time taking pictures at an international sport event!

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Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

Snow Jam Seoul 2009 / LG Snowboard FIS World Cup BA — Awesome snowboarding with huge air and a few wicked wipeouts

Seoul Snow Jam 2009 -- World class snowboarders and a 3 story high snow ramp in Ganghwamun Plaza?

2009-12-12T08:52:00.000-08:00

Julianne and I headed out to Seoul Snow Jam tonight . . . but we were too late. But I should backtrack a little and explain how I found out about SSJ.

My co-teacher asked me on Friday if I'd heard about SSJ--I said a friend of mine, Sonya, had mentioned it to me. My co-teacher then asked me if I knew that the main snowboarding jump was '3 stories high' and in Ganghwamun Plaza . . . and it was at this point that the photographer in me began to giggle like a little boy on Christmas morning at the images I imagined I'd be able to shoot at this event . . . needless to say I was VERY happy my co-teacher had reminded me, and that Sonya had passed on the event info to me.

A brief search on Google brings up this link to the event's site. And more importantly this link to the event's schedule. On Sunday there will be a qualifying match from 10am to 12, another qualifying match from 1-5pm, and then the final match is from 6-7pm. I can't believe that I didn't research this event on Friday when I heard about it cause normally when I hear about a festival or event I post a blog with all the info I need to go, and share it too. Too much has been going on lately (for example, my school is asking me to do FIVE WEEKS of winter English camps--the most of any foreign teacher in Seoul that I know) and other stuff that I won't bore you with . . .

There are also news articles about the event online too. Here's one from the Korean Herald, 2009 Seoul Snow Jam held in Gwanghwamun, and Hermit Hideaways has a bit on it too.

Anyways, tomorrow I'm going to head back to Ganghwamun Plaza and find myself a good spot and take a bizillion pics of dudes flying through the air doing spins and tricks that defy the imagination! I can't wait.

As for the trip Julianne and I took tonight . . . well, here are some pics of the event area. Oh yeah, and it was CROWDED!

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Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

Seoul Snow Jam 2009 -- World class snowboarders and a 3 story high snow ramp in Ganghwamun Plaza?

Rubber Seoul Event and World AIDS Day, Hongdae, Seoul, South Korea - Saturday December 5th, 2009

2009-12-04T13:56:00.000-08:00

Julianne and I are going to be volunteer photographers at the Rubber Seoul Event and World AIDS Day, in Hongdae, Seoul tomorrow night.

Please come out and have some fun while supporting World AIDS Day.

See you there,
Jason

p.s. If you read this and have a blog PLEASE put up a post about this event.

http://rubberseoul2009.wordpress.com

http://www.littletravellers.net/korea

Rubber Seoul 2009 is coming soon on Saturday, December 5, 2009. The line-ups and clubs are official! Look below for details.

For those of you who missed it last year, Rubber Seoul is an evening of music, dancing, and all around fun in Hongdae that coincides with World AIDS Day. It is a great way to spread information about HIV/AIDS in Korea, as well as to support the Hillcrest AIDS Center in South Africa.

10,000 Won will get you a Little Traveller doll as well as unlimited access to the clubs until the wee hours of the morning. ALL proceeds from the cover charge will go to support the Hillcrest AIDS Center in South Africa.

So, save the date on Saturday, December 5, 2009. It's gonna be an awesome night.

We have three clubs lined up, and here's the band line up:

JANE’S GROOVE (Doors open at 8:30 pm)
9:00 pm Brick Slipper
9:45 pm Bridget and the Puppycats
10:30 pm EV Boyz (Minus One)
11:00 pm Sotto Gamba

CLUB FF (Doors open at 9:00 pm)
9:15 pm The Koxx
10:00 pm Pony
10:45 pm Gogo Star
11:30 pm No.1 Korean
12:15 am U R Seoul

1:00 am - 6:00 am DJ Eddie's Super-Fun Rockin' Dance Party!
DGBD (Doors open at 11:00 pm)
11:15 pm Solitaire Love Affair
12:00 am Tacopy
12:45 am Rock Tigers

Get ready for a great time and to help some people out!
Don't forget to invite all of your friends.

T-Shirts, Little Traveller dolls, and hand made crafts will also be available for purchase at all venues, with the proceeds going to benefit HIV/AIDS charities.

And make sure you check out our blog, and the Little Travellers Korea website:

http://rubberseoul2009.wordpress.com

http://www.littletravellers.net/korea

Little Travellers are beautiful beaded pins made by women affected by HIV/AIDS in South Africa. Each pin is individually handcrafted and unique.

Founded in Canada and now sold in Korea for 5000 won each, all of the proceeds go to fight HIV/AIDS in the KwaZulu-Natal province; an area with one of the highest prevalence of HIV in the world.

For every little traveller that is sold, 40% goes to the crafter and 60% supports the Hillcrest AIDS Center. Hillcrest provides a variety of services including education, counseling, emergency feeding and school fees. For more detailed information, please refer to the Little Travellers brochure.

Proceeds from this event will be donated to the Hillcrest AIDS Center, a non-governmental, non-profit organization located in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The Hillcrest AIDS Center provides home-based care and nursing, emergency feeding programs, school and funeral fee funds, educational workshops, counselling, testing services, and economic empowerment through the income generation project.

English Camps in South Korea - A Guideline for Foreign English Teachers

2009-11-26T23:44:00.000-08:00

I decided to do some new writing about topics foreign English teachers in Korea need info about during their first year teaching in Korea, and there is info in this post that some experienced teachers might appreciate too (like book titles that are useful for different types of English camps).

I've also been working on some posts about co-teaching because I'm back in the public school system and co-teaching in Korea lacks an organized and well designed training program for the different levels of schools. I'll try to post those in the coming weeks.

If it's your first time reading this blog please take a look at a series of posts called,

A Guide For New EFL/ESL Foreign English Teachers/Instructors in South Korea - Public Schools, Hogwans, Universities, and Training Center/Institutes

At the beginning of each post I write, 'If any of the following materials are used as a part of an orientation or new foreign teacher training manual I would appreciate being cited as the author (if it's something that I wrote, some materials are from other sources and should be cited appropriately) and or as a source from which the materials were taken from (if it's something I found and arranged and posted on the Net). I've spent a lot of time and energy writing and blogging and would appreciate the citation. Thanks.' Please cite me as the author for my English winter camp post if you use any of the materials too.

Anyways, many new foreign teachers right about now are being asked to prep for winter English camps. Getting explicit instructions on how to do this, and what to be aware of, is often not what happens. Foreign teachers should keep in mind that some Korean English co-teachers have done English camps with a foreign teacher before, but that others have never planned a camp involving a foreign teacher and likely don't know what to tell you to plan, or how to plan it (so it might be a good idea to print out this guideline and give a copy to your co-teacher!). There are a lot of things to consider when planning and designing an English camp in Korea, and I've tried to cover as much as I can here.

1. Pre-Camp Checklist

a) How many students per class?

Camps tend to have 20 students per class, but this number can be higher or lower so make sure you ask.

I think that if the number is higher than 20 you should politely but firmly suggest that the number is too high--especially when you're not likely to have a Korean co-teacher in the room to help with classroom behavior management. All too often if the KET''s (Korean English teacher) away the mice are going to torture you with bad behavior . . . the unfortunate truth about too many (but luckily not all) students in Korea is that once they realize you won't use corporal punishment to enforce the rules they often see time alone with you in a classroom as 'do whatever they want to time' cause they know you won't hit them . . .

This is not true for all foreign teachers. I think personality type, confidence levels, teacher training and experience, and other variables come into play with how students behave when there's no co-teacher but I've also heard too many stories about foreign teachers pretty much giving up and making their camp into watching movies and/or students doing whatever they want while the foreign teacher goes on facebook to chat with friends, play games, or whatever while they complete their class hours but don't do any actual teaching . . . with some planning and preparation an English camp can be a fantastic experience for both the teacher and the students. Often a lack of planning and prep are the REAL source of students bad behavior . . . and also the stress and hair pulling frustration that a teacher experiences. This camp guide, I hope, will help pre-emptively kill a lot of the problems that first time camp teachers experience.

b) Who is screening the levels of students? How are they doing it? c) Will there be mixed grade classes? Or mixed level classes?

This is a vital question to ask because in the past, before I had experience teaching camps, I didn't think it was necessary to micro-manage my co-teacher while the students are being selected, or signing up, for a camp. During my first camp experience in 2005 on Ganghwa Island I was given a class mixed with 1st grade false-beginner students, intermediate students, and advanced students, 2nd grade false-beginner students, intermediate students, and advanced students, and 3rd grade false-beginner students, intermediate students, and advanced students--ALL IN THE SAME CLASS!!! The complete and utter lack of any kind of educational criteria being used to put this class together made it an impossible class to teach--especially for a first time teacher in his first semester of teaching in Korea. Simply put, no teaching or learning principles were used in the formation of the class rather it was more about pleasing parents, the principal, and about getting the most students possible in the foreign teacher's class.

While the example I just used is an extreme case there also milder versions of this that happen. Putting SAME GRADE but radically different language ability students in the SAME class often happens too. For example low level 2nd grade students combined with high level 2nd grade students. This then forces the native teacher to choose which group of students they orient their lesson materials towards. It is possible to teach this kind of class but it generally can only be done by teachers with a lot of training and experience. One solution is to pair up weak and strong students and turn the strong students into teaching-assistants, begin with low level vocabulary and language and then work your way up to higher level content so that the high level students get some learning too . . . but designing lesson plans in this manner is not easy, and teaching it is difficult too. In addition, you also have to consider that Korean language learners will often have social/friendship behaviors that sabotage a teacher's desire to pair weak/strong students together whether it's about an age difference, being separated from their friends in the class, or whatever this can often be a major obstacle that gets in the way of the best teaching strategies.

Probably the easiest method for a Korean English co-teacher to create class lists by learner ability, i.e. a class with all advanced students, is by looking at student English test scores. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for many Korean English co-teachers to actually do a proper language learner ability assessment (whether it's for reasons of time and number of students, or a matter of the KETs language ability and teacher training). It's also hard for many native English teachers to assess learner levels especially when they're new to the EFL/ESL teaching job. Simply put, try to get student test scores involved in how they are assigned to English camp classes so there is at least some degree of educational reasoning being used in which student goes into which class. Otherwise you're in for some really hard teaching experiences.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Click on the link below to read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

English Camps in South Korea - A Guideline for Foreign English Teachers

I hope it helps new foreign teachers and make sure to check out the book list as it has titles that can be used for speaking/conversation camps, writing camps, listening (if you're asked to focus on that), reading, culture, games and activities, and the list goes on . . . I organized the book titles by type of camp so if you're hunting for a good book to use for your camp you may find what you're looking for in the list.

Good luck,
J

2009 Seoul Lantern Festival — Saturday night pictures . . .

2009-11-15T05:51:00.000-08:00

Julianne and I returned to the 2009 Seoul Lantern Festival on its final night this past Saturday . . .

It was pretty cold and windy outside, and there were thousands of people there . . .

I was using my Canon D400, a Sigma 10-22mm lens, and my Speedlite 580EXII flash . . . I think I got some pretty nice shots.

I guess some things I might mention about the festival are . . . I was shocked to see a pretty significant safety patrol/police presence along the stream’s icy water. At one point a police officer began yelling across the stream at a father with a baby in his arms for stepping down onto rocks next to the stream to get his picture taken–I was VERY IMPRESSED to see a police officer doing something about a high risk behavior because during the five years I’ve been in Korea I have NEVER seen a police officer do anything remotely like this.

A friend of mine commented on how she liked that about 50-60% of the people were trying to be respectful about not bashing into each other, and especially if you were taking a picture. All too often in Korea the higher social rank person (or someone who “thinks” they’re a higher social rank, or often is just walking around in a ‘bubble’ oblivious to others not in their social circle) pretends not to see you and just ‘walks through you’ or rams into you/bumps you/shoulders you aside as they walk by regardless of what you’re doing at the time. The crowd that was out at the festival was less push and more respectful than is, unfortunately, the norm at festivals with large crowds (at least in my own personal experience).

Another thing that shocked me was that there was a LINE UP at the stairs next to the small waterfalls head of the stream concert stage area–I was really surprised by this, and the fact that no one was trying to bud in line or pretend not to see the 100-200 people long line up. WOW is all I have to say about that too–apparently there are some major cultural changes going on somehow in terms of street festival etiquette or something . . .

Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

2009 Seoul Lantern Festival — Saturday night pictures . . .

2009 Seoul Lantern Festival at Cheonggye Stream, Seoul, South Korea

2009-11-11T06:54:00.000-08:00

Julianne and I headed to Cheonggye Stream to check out the 2009 Seoul Lantern Festival . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

2009 Seoul Lantern Festival at Cheonggye Stream, Seoul, South Korea

H1N1 ‘Clinic’ is really a tent outside the International Foreign Clinic and ER at Seoul National University Hospital . . . wow.

2009-11-09T03:21:00.000-08:00

About 3 days after visiting the ER of a hospital in Seoul (see this link for the story), and getting Tamiflu along with several other medicines, Julianne began to feel worse not better. We headed back to the hospital last Wednesday morning after she called me at school to say she needed my help.

Arriving at the hospital we headed to the International Foreigner Clinic. As we walked through the main entrance of the hospital I couldn’t help thinking ‘oh my god, there are so many people coming and going from the hospital, and many of them are elderly, why is there no temperature check and sterile mask check point at the main entrance?’ In the main waiting area just inside the entrance I immediately asked a nurse who was wearing her mask around her neck for two masks for Julianne and I to put on. While Julianne was not tested for H1N1 during our last visit (not sure why), we were pretty sure that she had it. We wanted to be responsible and put on masks so that she wouldn’t infect any people inside the hospital . . . I have to be a bit sarcastic here and say that I guess this must be a foreign concept . . . sigh.

After hearing me ask for masks, and saying “H1N1″ to the nurse she put on her mask immediately with a very alarmed face.

Julianne and I then headed over to the main desk that has the international clinic sign above it but we were directed to go to the right of the desk and down a hallway about 15 feet to the actual clinic itself. Apparently there are no English speaking medical staff or clerks posted to the desk in the main lobby where the giant sign is but rather you’ll only find them in the clinic itself.

Arriving at the small office we waited while the secretary (nurse?) kept answering the phone . . . and waited, and waited . . . and then she finally stopped to talk to us.

The nurse (I’m guessing) began asking us why were visiting (apparently failing to notice that BOTH of us were wearing masks) and after hearing “fever” and “Swine Flu” she paused and reached behind her to pick up a N95 mask . . . lol, lucky for her that Julianne already had her mask on, eh? I don’t know how quickly someone can be infected from talking to a person with the H1N1 virus but if you aren’t wearing your mask and the sick person isn’t wearing a mask I would have to hazard a guess that the odds do increase at least a little that you’re going to be infected . . . sigh.

The nurse asked Julianne for her alien registration card, national health insurance card, and we also gave her the hospital info card. After typing in some info, and asking Julianne some questions, the nurse took Julianne’s temperature. It was a little high, and probably would have been higher if Julianne had not already been taking anti-flu meds. The nurse wrote this info down on a form, and then told us someone would come and take us to the “H1N1 Clinic.”

After waiting about 2 minutes a guy in his late 20s or early 30s showed up to escort us. He was wearing a mask–wow–and we began walking to wherever the “clinic” was located. I asked Julianne if she wanted to get a wheelchair but she said no, she’d walk. I was worried, though, because we didn’t know how far away this “clinic” was and Julianne was VERY weak, and needed to walk very slowly.

Walking outside, I asked the escort if he spoke English and got a quick head shake ‘no.’ We slowly walked across the parking lot, and had to pause while trying to cross a through way because traffic wouldn’t stop for us (why stop for sick people when driving through a hospital? Yes, this pissed me off!).

I asked the escort how much farther away the clinic was because I had the sinking feeling that it could be several hundred meters away . . . he pointed at a place that looked like it was about 50 meters from where we were, so the total distance was about 150 meters from the hospital entrance–this being a great location for sick people to walk when they need to see a doctor, of course–NOT!

Telling myself to calm down, and that things could be worse Julianne and I walk past construction vehicles roaring around, and BEEP BEEP BEEPING as they move materials to see a collection of 4 white tents . . . needless to say we were rather shocked.

Julianne began saying “There’s no way I’m giving blood in there!” and I tried to reassure her that they wouldn’t ask her to do that in an open air tent with construction being done a few feet away from its entrance . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

H1N1 ‘Clinic’ is really a tent outside the International Foreign Clinic and ER at Seoul National University Hospital — Nothing says quality care like a screeching bleep sound from construction vehicles outside the tent flap…sigh!

H1N1 and visiting a South Korean Hospital — Do NOT pick your nose and then hand out sterile masks!

2009-11-09T03:18:00.000-08:00

Almost two weeks ago Julianne became very ill with flu-like symptoms. But she didn’t have a fever so we thought, perhaps wrongly (apparently a fever is NOT mandatory to have H1N1), that she probably didn’t have H1N1. A couple days later she was really sick and having some trouble breathing so we headed to the hospital.

The first contact people in the ER are two clerks behind a counter, and one to two security guards who monitor incoming patients and people. Considering the hype over H1N1 I was surprised that there wasn’t a person at the door taking everyone’s temperature as they entered the area. Instead, the security guards hand out masks to incoming people . . . but didn’t seem to be giving them to 100% of the people entering the ER area. (Also, inside the ER area I only saw about 60-70% of people wearing their masks, some incorrectly, and no one seemed to be asking the people not wearing masks to put them on.)

Since the security guards act as first contact people (after the two clerks) in the entrance of the ER they had sterile masks. Some of them wore them correctly, while others wore them around their neck with the nose and mouth uncovered . . .

Considering the fact that a security guard comes into contact with EVERY PERSON entering the ER I was rather disgusted with the guards not wearing their masks. If they did have H1N1 they could be infecting patients and visitors to the ER . . .

Anyways, more on this after I continue the story . . .

Julianne gave her alien registration card, national health insurance booklet, and hospital info card to the two clerks at the desk who then waved us through to the ER doors where the security guards pass out masks. We were handed masks and then walked through to the open treatment area (open as in there are no private rooms or wall dividers between each area and everyone sees everything that is taking place while you talk to your doctor–there are curtains but they are rarely pulled around the patient).

Before seeing a doctor Julianne was seated in the hallway where a nurse with excellent English asked her some preliminary questions. But when she tried to call up Julianne’s registration file on her computer we found out that the clerk at the front desk had failed to sign Julianne into the hospital as a patient–uhm, hello patient in-take procedures? I wonder why he didn’t enter her into the system . . . the nurse looked puzzled and did what should have been done earlier.

It was around this point that another nurse walked up and asked me to sign the ‘friend/family responsibility for patient form’ that you must sign if you’re the person coming in with a patient. It says things like: take care of personal belongings, be with the patient at all times, and other things along those lines.

Anyways, Julianne was having a hard time breathing and when the nurse found this out she hooked her up to a heart rate and blood pressure monitor . . . . . . .

Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

H1N1 and visiting a South Korean Hospital — Do NOT pick your nose and then hand out sterile masks!

J

EFL Teaching and Curriculum Design in Korea – Tried to make a 2 month syllabus and in the first week it’s already been destroyed…

2009-11-07T05:04:00.000-08:00

About a week ago I sat down to plan out the lessons I would do over the course of November and December at the boys high school where I teach. I looked over all the lessons I’ve designed and chose my ‘Greatest Hits’ . . .

I also sat down with my co-teacher and went over all the dates on which I’d have no classes due to tests, field trips, and any other of the myriad reasons that classes get canceled. I thought that my semi-long term planning would not be screwed up and that I’d anticipated everything I could that might effect my lesson planning . . . boy was I wrong.

But the Halloween lesson was sabotaged by the H1N1/Swine Flu situation in Korea. On the last Wednesday of October, around 11am, I found out that ALL first grade classes would be sent home Wednesday afternoon and that they wouldn’t be returning until Monday of the next week . . . . . . . . . .

Click on the link below to read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

EFL Teaching and Curriculum Design in Korea – Tried to make a 2 month syllabus and in the first week it’s already been destroyed…

It’s class time . . . and yep, no students (again).

2009-11-07T03:44:00.000-08:00

This past Wednesday morning I go to my classroom to set up for my introduction lesson a few minutes early. This is the first week for me teaching the second grade high school boys classes (I’d been teaching the senior grades in a Suneung (“Korean SATs”) listening prep class for September and October).

I turn on the computer, the touch-screen TV, and set up my power point presentation that I use in my introduction lesson. I put on some Hip Hop music (to wake up the guys as they walk in), and write a few things on the white board like “Classroom Rules” and the 10 Xs system (I erase one X each time a rule is broken, all 10 get erased and there’s a consequence for the whole class) that I use for classroom behavior management.

I finish setting up, check my watch, and have a minute or so to wait before the boys should begin arriving . . .

No early arrivals . . . okay. Usually at least a few guys show up early to get first pick of where they want to sit, check out the alien teacher–err, foreign English teacher, and chill out while waiting for the class to begin.

The class bell goes off, and I’m standing in the doorway. I see another young Korean English teacher, and he asks me, “Are you teaching now?” I respond, “Yes, but I have no students” and begin laughing.

He seems astounded by this, and I tell him that it’s a pretty common experience for native English teachers that an entire class just doesn’t show up, and nobody tells you anything about why . . . sometimes this happens for legitimate reasons and other times it’s just plain poor communication and a lack of professional courtesy to make sure the native English teacher is informed about a schedule change, cancellation, or whatever the case may be.

I wait two more minutes, and then decide I’m going to do something I rarely do anymore . . . . . . . . . .

Click on the link below to read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

It’s class time . . . and yep, no students (again).

EFL Classroom Halloween Culture Lesson Craft Activity and Display Part II

2009-10-27T05:28:00.000-07:00

Earlier I wrote 3 posts about my Halloween culture lesson and my experiences decorating classrooms in Korea. Here are the links . . .

Halloween Classroom Decorations — Looking back at 2005 and my first Halloween lesson in Korea

Shopping For Halloween Decorations at Lotte Mart, Seoul Station

Carving jack-o-lanterns with my co-teacher — Co-teaching . . . it ain’t just in the classroom.

The high school boys have been responding pretty positively to the Halloween culture lesson and craft activity. We’ve been putting up the different vocabulary craft items they make in class. Creative, imaginative, artsy type activities are NOT a common classroom language learning experience, let alone a common learner experience in other subjects as well, in South Korea. This is an unfortunate side-effect of the exam/test-myopia that plagues the entire education system in Korea, and it severely impacts that teaching and learning styles that are practiced. Fortunately for most native English teachers one of the positive aspects of our classes not being tested is that we have a lot more freedom to do things that are not in direct support of the extreme tests-are-the-only-thing-that-matters-therefore-we-only-do-test-related-things-in-class . . .

In this picture you can see the yarn spider web that the boys helped me put up and attach to the four ceiling fans. At the front are the results of the craft activity with scissors and color paper . . .

Click on the link below to see the pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

EFL Classroom Halloween Culture Lesson Craft Activity and Display Part II

Fiery Red Fall Leaves and A Monk Waiting for a Taxi in Seoul, South Korea

2009-10-27T05:00:00.000-07:00

Today on the way to meet Julianne for dinner it was impossible to miss that the fall leaves are hitting their peak colors . . .

Click on the link below to see the pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

Fiery Red Fall Leaves and A Monk Waiting for a Taxi in Seoul, South Korea

J

H1N1/Swine Flu — Shutting down all schools in South Korea . . . will it come to that with Suneung only 16 days away?

2009-10-27T03:45:00.000-07:00

I haven’t written about H1N1 aka Swine Flu since September . . . and today Brian from Jeollonamdo did a write up,

More cases of swine flu, more deaths

in which he displays an awesome summary of things being written on the Net.

Here are the posts I wrote back in August and September about H1N1.

H1N1/Swine Flu in Korea — I predict all schools will be closed in Korea for 10 days this fall/winter–probably Sept/Oct

H1N1 will become an epidemic in Korea that will see a revolution in hygiene awareness, and Koreans staying home when they’re sick

“You should go to the hospital” — Korean cultural norm of going to hospital for many things may backfire on it for H1N1

South Korea – Swine Flu will close all schools and pretty much shut the country down for 10 days–and give foreign teachers another 10 day quarantine

. . . . .

Here is perhaps the biggest reason why I still think there’s a high chance of all schools being closed across Korea,

“Korea has stocks of Tamiflu and anti-viral drugs for 11 percent of its entire population but the ministers said that the stocks will be raised to cover 20 percent by the end of the year.” (Korea Times, Tamiflu Available at Drug Stores)

. . . . . .

Click on the link below to read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

H1N1/Swine Flu — Shutting down all schools in South Korea . . . will it come to that with Suneung only 16 days away?

I wonder what will happen over the next few weeks . . . I especially worry about the elderly Koreans with pre-existing health conditions.

I hope things are not going to get as bad as I think they will . . .

Carving jack-o-lanterns with my co-teacher -- Co-teaching . . . it ain't just in the classroom.

2009-10-26T04:19:00.000-07:00

My primary co-teacher and I finally got around to carving our pumpkins. It was her first time carving so she was very excited, and I have to admit I was too. We set up in a room adjacent to the teachers office . . .

Click on the link below to see the pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

Carving jack-o-lanters with my co-teacher -- Co-teaching . . . it ain't just in the classroom.

J

Disco Jump Ride in Dongdaemun Market — The guy who does flips in the center of the ride wasn’t working tonight–damn!

2009-10-25T05:56:00.000-07:00

Julianne and I headed over to the Dongdaemun Market area tonight to eat some BBQ galbi (pork ribs). On the way there we passed by the Disco Ride . . .

Click on this link to see the pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

Enjoy,
J

Halloween Classroom Decorations — Looking back at 2005 and my first Halloween lesson in Korea

2009-10-24T20:20:00.000-07:00

My first Halloween in Korea was back in 2005. I was living and teaching on Ganghwa Island, and was one of just 6 foreign English teachers on the whole island. My home middle school (I taught at 3, and lived next to one of them) was in a two-street village next to a mountain–needless to say the kids and teachers had never been exposed to anything resembling a western cultural Halloween event so I decided to do a culture lesson and decorate my English classroom.

I spent my own money on the decorations because the middle school was small (98 students) and they didn’t have any kind of budget (especially after spending 40,000 on building a new English Zone). I went to Walmart in Incheon (back in the day when Walmart was still in Korea) and picked up supplies and some decorations . . .

Click on the following link to read the rest of this post and see the pictures.

Halloween Classroom Decorations — Looking back at 2005 and my first Halloween lesson in Korea

Fall Leaves Around My Neighborhood in Seoul

2009-10-24T18:51:00.000-07:00

For the past couple weeks I have been trying to find the right time of day with the right angle and amount of sunlight on some trees near my apartment. I still haven’t been able to be free and in the area at the best time but I decided to take some pics yesterday regardless because soon the leaves will be gone . . .

Click on this link to see the pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

J

Kimchi-icecream moves from blogspot.com to wordpress

2009-10-24T04:48:00.000-07:00

I finally decided to make the move from kimchi-icream at blogspot.com because everybody has been telling me that wordpress is better. The straw that broke this camel’s back happened a couple days ago when I was trying to upload pictures and a window popped up informing me that I had exceeded Picasa’s web album limit and that I’d have to pay for more space if I wished to continue uploading pics to my blog . . . uhm, no thank you.

I'm hoping the people who read my blog regularly will click on the link below and continue reading. The link below is the title of the first post I wrote on the new wordpress.com blog I created.

Kimchi-icecream moves from blogspot.com to wordpress

I began playing around with the wordpress blog yesterday and am in the process of choosing the blog template that I like best, and figuring out how to use the dashboard features too.

Using wordpress is going to allow me to evolve my blogging style, and perhaps more importantly write more often because I'll be able to access it whenever I want to as opposed to not being able to when I'm in certain places Monday to Friday (I'm sure you can pick up on the subtext here, wink wink).

Anyways, I really hope regular readers will follow me over to wordpress, and bookmark the new blog site.

I even modified the name slightly to include a tag line . . .

Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving

What do you think?

J

Club Freebird, Hondae, Seoul, South Korea -- A band I saw the other night and nobody can tell me their name, lol.

2009-10-20T03:29:00.000-07:00

Last Friday night Julianne and I headed out to Hongdae to see a friend's band play. We both brought our cameras as we planned to take pictures of the band playing.

I picked up some Ilford Pro 3200 ISO Black and White film for Julianne's Nikon F4, and I had my new Speedlite 580 EX II flash, Canon D400, and Simga 10-20mm wide angle lens. I had yet to really try out the flash under real time shooting conditions, and looked forward to trying it out in the low light conditions of a night club.

The opening shots proved to be a little . . . ahem, blurry. But I still like the effect.

The band had a kind of Irish heavy metal sound and really good stage performance. I think they are one of the best live acts I've seen in Hongdae.

The lead singer had fantastic vocals for heavy metal, and his on-stage persona was funny but at the same time had an edge to it that suited the music.

The bass guitarist was also good, and exuded a subtle but powerful energy that meshed well with the rest of the band.

As you can see I did some editing of the pics using Picasa 3.

The electric guitarist and backup singer was awesome. He had a laid-back-let's-get-a-beer-and-shoot-the-shit personality offstage that I'd never have connected to the onstage performer seen here.

While I don't generally listen to heavy metal these guys were really good live, and I enjoyed their performance.

I'll leave the rest of the pics to your viewing pleasure with a few comments here and there.

With color pictures Picasa 3 has an Effects category with an option of Focal B&W that allows you to take a color picture and transform it into black and white with only the color focusing on the point of the picture that is most interesting . . . I really like the effect it has here.

In this picture it also works well to highlight the drummer in the back of the band. I considered going up on stage to take some closer pictures . . . but I didn't know these guys and some dude going up on stage while they're performing . . . I didn't want to do that. I've had strangers with cameras, and also VIDEO cameras, just randomly walk in while I've been teaching . . . I no longer get irritated by it but I know it's not cool to do to people without any warning.

This next picture is awesome! I love the poses . . .

Awesome!

I keep getting images from "The Commitments" in my head when I look at the pics here, lol.

This guy seriously has the the ultimate poses--I can't decide who has the best one-shot-moment pics: the lead singer or this guy--what do you think?

Okay, seriously, watch this The Commitments video clip and the lead singer from the movie band, and then take a look at the lead singer (below) again--I think they could be related . . .

I can't wait to see the pics from Julianne's Nikon F4--we're still waiting for it to be developed. I did black and white pics on my Canon and wonder if they'll be equal to the film shots . . .

After about 45 minutes of performing the end came with a big bang--awesome.

After the guys were done their set I went into the back and told them that if they email me I'd share the pictures I'd taken. I'm still waiting to hear from them, and once I do I'll update this post with the name of the band and each of the members.

I'll also find out where they're performing next and put that up too.

J

P.S. I finally started using my flickr.com page--here's the link where you can see ALL of the pics I took of these guys.

Choong Ahn High School, Seoul, South Korea -- Fall pictures, a soccer game, and a magpie . . .

2009-10-15T05:38:00.000-07:00

Today was "Open House" at the high school . . . but I also heard other variations on the idea: parents day, parents visiting day, and a few others. I didn't really see many parents myself as I spent most of the day at my desk because classes my classes had been canceled due to a controversial nation wide test (see here for more info).

I put the time to good use, though, and did prep work for classes tomorrow, and next week.

When I finished work I headed outside to see a beautiful fall day. Here's a shot of the main building on the campus.

I was using my Sigma 18-200 lens, and should have switched over to my Sigma 10-22mm to get the whole building in the shot--but it's still a nice picture, I think.

The trees are beginning to show their fall colors . . . I can't wait until there are large patches of trees in fall colors. I've been told to return to Chang Deok Gung/Palace (see here for Part 1, and here for Part 2 of my pics of the palace) in a week or two because there are a lot of trees on the palace grounds and in the fall it's really awesome.

I then walked around for a while taking pics . . .

I'm beginning to explore black and white photography more on my camera . . .

This tree lies in a court yard that is behind the main building with 3 other buildings that surround it. This tree could be in a Harry Potter movie . . . I love its lines and character. I'll take more pics of it later.

After taking pics here I realized that the guys were playing a soccer game on the massive astro-turf field that sits on the rear part of the campus.

I turned on my camera's Artificial Intelligence Servo setting, and began taking shots and trying to tweak the settings so that I might get some good shots with my 18-200mm lens (I think a bigger super zoom lens would work better but I don't have one--yet).

The guys were playing hard, and it was fun watching them while trying to take some good shots.

I'm hoping to do a fall photo shoot of the entire school grounds over the next couple weeks--you can get an idea of how nice the campus is from the background here in this shot (below), but The Marmot's Hole has a gorgeous set of pictures here that I'll be hard pressed to top.

Anyways, I took shots for about 40 minutes . . .

After the game ended I began to walk off campus but ran into my favorite Korean bird . . .

I've been trying to get good shots of the magpie for 2 years now, and finally think I managed to get some.

He looks really different from the front when you can't see the blue coloring on his wings.

After wrapping up my photo shoot with the magpie I headed to Yongsan to meet a friend who wanted some camera shopping tips . . .

Well, time to go to bed . . . g'night all.

J

Gecko's in Itaewon, Seoul, South Korea -- Trying their cheese burger ...

2009-10-15T05:18:00.000-07:00

Last week Julianne and I decided to try one of the top 10 hamburgers in Seoul that we hadn't checked out yet. We looked at Seoul Eats blog Review: Hamburgers in Seoul, and decided to go to Gecko's in Itaewon.

The bar is cozy and has a nice dark wood pub atmosphere, and I really liked that there were tables out on the balcony (though we didn't sit there).

The service was excellent, and our food arrived a lot faster than I expected.

Voila! For 10,500won you get a cheese burger and krinkle fries . . . hmmm, krinkle fries. Who would have thought they'd taste so good but when you can't get them easily in Korea they seem to take on a magical aura . . . lol.

Julianne and I were very satisfied with the quality of the cheese burger (hand packed burgers, yum), the fries, and the waiting staff's service was really good.

Compared to Kraze Burger we think Gecko's wins, but for Julianne and I the Smokey Saloon still wins as . . .

The Best Hamburger in South Korea -- The Smokey Saloon in Itaewon

Later, while walking around Yongsan station I saw this tree with some nice fall leaves . . .

. . . and the Eiffel Tower . . . uh-huh, not.

Over the next few weeks I'm going to try and find some nice areas around Seoul with colorful fall leaves and post some of those pics . . . I seriously love the cool temperatures of fall in Korea, and walking around outside when there's no heat and everything still has some color and hasn't become the drab grey and brown Korean winterscape is awesome.

J

Chang Deok Gung/Palace in Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea -- Part 2

2009-10-09T17:45:00.000-07:00

During this past Chuseok (Korea's harvest festival holiday) weekend Julianne and I headed out to Chang Deok Gung (Gung means 'palace'). See Part 1 here for the first set of pictures.

As we continued to walk through the palace the sun kept getting lower and lower. The deepening blues of the sky and darkening shadows offered some really nice pics.

I usually don't get too crazy with my photography when taking pics of palaces and temples cause I think people want to see how they actually look . . . here, however, I decided to play with the perspective a bit.

Julianne and I began to realize that we weren't going to be able to finish walking around the entire palace grounds as the shadows began to climb the walls faster and faster . . .

Like I said in Part 1 of this post, the palaces I've visited in Korea don't generally have many cultural objects inside them to represent the lives and culture of the historical periods . . . it really sucks that so many things were destroyed during the Japanese colonial period.

A lot of the objects that are used to fill these rooms look very new, and 'too modern' . . . but if everything has been destroyed that used to be in the palaces then I guess you just have to choose the closest alternative . . . I don't know if that's the case here, I'm just guessing.

The deepening shadows began to present some challenges to getting nice pics . . .

Julianne and I both like the screened elevated walkways that connect buildings . . .

A few locations had enough sunlight to show the details and colors while at the same time presenting cool shadow lines . . .

I wonder if anyone has done a study of roof top and ceiling design and the meanings of the colors, symbols, and other things that are usually on them . . . might do some looking online later but I'm a little skeptical that the info would be available in English.

And the shadows began to get longer and longer . . .

The stone walls and courtyards really give the palace a great historical feel . . .

I mentioned before that I haven't done a lot of black and white photography . . . but I think I'm beginning to get a sense of when contrasting light conditions with the objects in a picture work well together . . .

I really like the way my Canon camera captures colors . . . the blues and golden tones of the setting sun came out really nice in these shots.

Julianne and I tried to move faster, and get our pics done, but time was running out in terms of lighting, and the palace grounds close at 6pm.

Another location where the sun was still able to get access . . . nice.

The large number of giant trees on the palace grounds is amazing, and they really add to the palace's overall atmosphere.

This shot took me a while as I tried a number of different exposures and locations to try and get the blue sky, trees and building details without having it be overexposed because of the sun . . .

I'm having some issues with my polarized lens filter right now (it may have been scratched by a cleaning cloth I was using, so until I can figure out if I can somehow 'fix' it it's out of commission)--I imagine if I'd been able to use it these shots might not have been so difficult with the sun in the background.

This little section kind of reminds me of a hobbit's home, lol.

Looking at the map, and how much of the palace grounds we had covered . . . Julianne and I realized that we're going to have to come back to finish taking pics of the rest of the palace--it's HUGE.

. . . and . . . another . . . gate, lol.

On this particular day I seemed to be paying a lot of attention to shadows and the patterns of trees cast by their shadows on walls . . .

Arriving in another section of the palace Julianne and I realized we had pretty much lost the sunlight and blue sky conditions . . .

I tried switching just to black and white to see what I could get . . .

Another of the fantastic trees on the palace grounds . . .

Wikipedia's entry on Chang Deok Gung/Palace has the names of the different buildings and areas on the palace grounds . . . for example, this is my picture of "The pavillion Buyong-jeon in the secret garden Biwon in Changdeok-gung palace in Seoul."

Sun dial (?) . . .

One thing I learned, or rather, realized is that black and white photography can produce some really awesome patterns made by objects that have a lighter shade background.

The color version of this picture is nice too.

Around 6pm we were shepherded out by another tour guide . . . and caught the last bit of sunlight and color while walking back towards the main gate of the palace.

I hope that Julianne and I can get back to Chang Deok Gung/Palace before the awesome clear blue skies of fall in Korea disappear. I really want to finish exploring the parts of the palace, and of course, take more pics.

J