Wow... I just noticed the weirdest thing....
For some reason, every student in every class... is... Asian. Wtf?
- Gilad
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Teacher! Teacher! TEACHER!
Man, it's so cool being able to tell people what to do. Joking... well, partially. So today (Thursday) was the first day we taught a full courseload.. and ya know? It's not so bad afterall... pretty easy actually...
Of course, I missed the fact that I had to teach my 6:30pm class... and instead of being in the classroom where the students were waiting, I was in the staff room daydreaming about the bottles of wine I'd buy later this weekend. The dream-bubble burst when I found out I had to be in class... so I sorta just grabbed the necessary textbooks, ran up to class without any kind of lesson plan and just taught on the fly... and who woulda thunk it... but it turned out alright!
And although many of these kids can't speak English, they've apparently all mastered the "Gilad? Oh ho ho ho heh he hehh ho ho.. I so Glad meet you" joke...
I'm slowly figuring it all out... now I just need to figure out whether those kindy's are actually 4-year old humans, or evil miniature cyborgs sent from an advanced Asian civilization from the future... with the intent of making me lose my mind... hmmm....
- Gilad
Of course, I missed the fact that I had to teach my 6:30pm class... and instead of being in the classroom where the students were waiting, I was in the staff room daydreaming about the bottles of wine I'd buy later this weekend. The dream-bubble burst when I found out I had to be in class... so I sorta just grabbed the necessary textbooks, ran up to class without any kind of lesson plan and just taught on the fly... and who woulda thunk it... but it turned out alright!
And although many of these kids can't speak English, they've apparently all mastered the "Gilad? Oh ho ho ho heh he hehh ho ho.. I so Glad meet you" joke...
I'm slowly figuring it all out... now I just need to figure out whether those kindy's are actually 4-year old humans, or evil miniature cyborgs sent from an advanced Asian civilization from the future... with the intent of making me lose my mind... hmmm....
- Gilad
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Kindy's
Ah, kindy's -- or as the rest of the world refers to them: kindergarteners. Not sure if anybody watched that video I posted from YouTube a few posts ago -- but my group of kindy's are exactly the same. I don't know why South Korean students under the ages of 7 or 8 insist on having to yell EVERYTHING but it's definately something I'm going to have to grow used to. But you definately can't deny how cute these kids are -- they can barely speak English but are somehow some of the funniest little people around. Maybe in a few months I can bring a digital camera to class, tape them, and show them all to you.
So how does it work? I get to school everyday at 1pm (except for Wednesday -- I get there at 3pm on that day) and I teach several classes throughout the day. Each class is usually divided by age/English proficiency... so I could teach kids from ages 4-15 or 16 (those are Korean ages... when kids are born here, they're born at the age of 1... so a kid aged 4 in Korean is really 3 to us.) Each class goes on for 40 minutes... the beginning of the day is reserved for Kindergarten classes, and as the hours go by, the students I teach usually get older. Some of these kids speak great conversational English while others are just awful and make the experience a heck of a lot more difficult.
You'd also think that stereoptically being Asian means these kids would be harder workers and do their homework and participate... WELL... not really. Kids are kids. On top of that, these kids also go to public school, martial arts, sports activities and/or other sorts of things ON TOP of the schooling they do with us. Korean parents all want their kids to learn English and be active and stop at nothing to make sure these kids attain (or at least attempt) these goals. The end result? Most of these kids get up at 6am, don't get to bed until 11pm and are constantly doing something.... which ultimately means that when they're in our classes, they don't want to be there..
But anyway, it's definately been an experience thus far. Teaching English is not an easy job (at least not at my school) yet, but it's definately a great learning experience... and I'm sure as time goes by, it'll become a lot easier for me.... or at least I'd like to hope so...
- Gilad
So how does it work? I get to school everyday at 1pm (except for Wednesday -- I get there at 3pm on that day) and I teach several classes throughout the day. Each class is usually divided by age/English proficiency... so I could teach kids from ages 4-15 or 16 (those are Korean ages... when kids are born here, they're born at the age of 1... so a kid aged 4 in Korean is really 3 to us.) Each class goes on for 40 minutes... the beginning of the day is reserved for Kindergarten classes, and as the hours go by, the students I teach usually get older. Some of these kids speak great conversational English while others are just awful and make the experience a heck of a lot more difficult.
You'd also think that stereoptically being Asian means these kids would be harder workers and do their homework and participate... WELL... not really. Kids are kids. On top of that, these kids also go to public school, martial arts, sports activities and/or other sorts of things ON TOP of the schooling they do with us. Korean parents all want their kids to learn English and be active and stop at nothing to make sure these kids attain (or at least attempt) these goals. The end result? Most of these kids get up at 6am, don't get to bed until 11pm and are constantly doing something.... which ultimately means that when they're in our classes, they don't want to be there..
But anyway, it's definately been an experience thus far. Teaching English is not an easy job (at least not at my school) yet, but it's definately a great learning experience... and I'm sure as time goes by, it'll become a lot easier for me.... or at least I'd like to hope so...
- Gilad
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
the teaching starts today
So after two days of shadowing, it is finally our time to shine. We are now officially teachers - real teachers too, how crazy is that!
I have been told that I got lucky because I have recieved only two kids in my kindergarten class as opposed to the usual 7 monsters that most others have (I must admit the little monsters can be pretty cute sometimes). However I have been informed that my kids are "special." Meaning I have to teach them more than anyone else, and that their parents are very hands on, which is never a good thing for a teacher in Asia. One of the mothers speaks better english than the English Korean teacher who has them as well, so we are both terrified. I met them yesterday and they were scared of me thus inhibiting any sort of interaction between us for the entire class - looks like we got off onto a good foot.
Gilad and I are currently trying to figure out how to a) control the kids, considering they are wild. I have never seen anything like it in Canada, and I am not even sure that the other Asian countries share the same problem. I wonder what made Korea so lucky. We are also b) trying to figure out a way to keep these kids - who go to school longer than any adult works - interested. If I had to go to 2 or 3 private schools after a full day of public school I probably wouldn't want to acknowledge my teachers either. While the kids when they are younger are bouncing off the walls, the exact opposite effect seems to take place once they reach puberty. They totally retreat and attempt to become invisible.
Perhaps I am being a little pesimistic right now. Not all the kids are like this of course, some of them are actually very pleasant and completely adorable. However these are not the ones I am worried about and so they are, at present, not on my mind.
I am actually very excited to start teaching, just to see how I do.
Oh, and I am going to start Habkido classes very soon (a form of martial arts), so if teaching in Korea doesn't happen to be my thing, then maybe the martial arts will make it all worth it.
- Dawna
I have been told that I got lucky because I have recieved only two kids in my kindergarten class as opposed to the usual 7 monsters that most others have (I must admit the little monsters can be pretty cute sometimes). However I have been informed that my kids are "special." Meaning I have to teach them more than anyone else, and that their parents are very hands on, which is never a good thing for a teacher in Asia. One of the mothers speaks better english than the English Korean teacher who has them as well, so we are both terrified. I met them yesterday and they were scared of me thus inhibiting any sort of interaction between us for the entire class - looks like we got off onto a good foot.
Gilad and I are currently trying to figure out how to a) control the kids, considering they are wild. I have never seen anything like it in Canada, and I am not even sure that the other Asian countries share the same problem. I wonder what made Korea so lucky. We are also b) trying to figure out a way to keep these kids - who go to school longer than any adult works - interested. If I had to go to 2 or 3 private schools after a full day of public school I probably wouldn't want to acknowledge my teachers either. While the kids when they are younger are bouncing off the walls, the exact opposite effect seems to take place once they reach puberty. They totally retreat and attempt to become invisible.
Perhaps I am being a little pesimistic right now. Not all the kids are like this of course, some of them are actually very pleasant and completely adorable. However these are not the ones I am worried about and so they are, at present, not on my mind.
I am actually very excited to start teaching, just to see how I do.
Oh, and I am going to start Habkido classes very soon (a form of martial arts), so if teaching in Korea doesn't happen to be my thing, then maybe the martial arts will make it all worth it.
- Dawna
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Oh no...
Today is our first day teaching... or... well, shadowing. It's 7:00am, and we're dreading the 5 hour wait in between now and the time we have to be at school. Two of the other foreign teachers have painted a pretty horrifying picture of what the whole situation will be like... and we're not too excited to say the least. To sum it up, these kids apparently never do their work and are impossible to control. We will have to yell at them. We will have to discipline them. We will have to be assholes... there's no other way around it, and right now, that sucks.
Then again, we haven't experienced the classroom dynamics or met any of the students and are basing everything on the perceptions of two other teachers.
Hopefully it goes well today... or this might be the longest year of our lives.
Then again, we haven't experienced the classroom dynamics or met any of the students and are basing everything on the perceptions of two other teachers.
Hopefully it goes well today... or this might be the longest year of our lives.
Anneyong Haseo!
After nearly 24 hours of travelling, we've finally arrived to South Korea! What an experience it's been so far... we want to thank all our friends for being there for us over the last few weeks... you guys were great.
Surprisingly, we're not very jet lagged... although we did get up at 4am today. Whoever lived here before us left our apartment a complete mess... so we spent something over 7 hours getting the place cleaned up, rearranged and, well... made it our new home. Anyway, we'll save the detailed description of everything that's gone on over the last few days since we're pretty tired, but in the meantime we'll leave you all with a few pictures and captions showing off our apartment and the beautiful city. And remember... we encourage replying so we can hear from you or answer any questions...
Dawna smiling in the airport... this is of course taken BEFORE our LONG FLIGHTS.
Happy Gilad.
Dawna showing off all our luggage at Incheon International Airport in Seoul, South Korea after 13 hours of flying. We still had to endure a 7 hour-layover and another 1 hour flight.
Driving into our city of Masan.
Dawna enjoying the beautiful sunrise over the sea... seen from one of our two balconies!
A closer look at the sunrise.
This is in the downtown area and is about a five-minute walk from our apartment. Most of the stores in this area look like this. Really colourful...
South Korean McDonald's. See, Bryson? You could live here as well...
More reason for Bryson and Drew to come visit...
Waterloo's House of Pain will get this one.
Our MUCH improved living room.
The view from the living room.
A closer look from the living room's view (from our second balcony).
Another view from the same balcony.
Our kitchen.
Our other balcony. It's the same one Dawna saw the sunrise from.
A closer look at the view from the kitchen's balcony. This is the same view as the sunrise picture from before, but during the day.
Our bedroom. The view you see out the window is the same view as seen from the living room.
The other bedroom/computer room.
As you can see, we're pretty lucky with the apartment we got. Anyway, we need to get ready for some Korean dinner at a restaurant. Tomorrow's our first day at work... we're both pretty nervous about it all, so pray for us along the way.
Surprisingly, we're not very jet lagged... although we did get up at 4am today. Whoever lived here before us left our apartment a complete mess... so we spent something over 7 hours getting the place cleaned up, rearranged and, well... made it our new home. Anyway, we'll save the detailed description of everything that's gone on over the last few days since we're pretty tired, but in the meantime we'll leave you all with a few pictures and captions showing off our apartment and the beautiful city. And remember... we encourage replying so we can hear from you or answer any questions...
Dawna smiling in the airport... this is of course taken BEFORE our LONG FLIGHTS.
Happy Gilad.
Dawna showing off all our luggage at Incheon International Airport in Seoul, South Korea after 13 hours of flying. We still had to endure a 7 hour-layover and another 1 hour flight.
Driving into our city of Masan.
Dawna enjoying the beautiful sunrise over the sea... seen from one of our two balconies!
A closer look at the sunrise.
This is in the downtown area and is about a five-minute walk from our apartment. Most of the stores in this area look like this. Really colourful...
South Korean McDonald's. See, Bryson? You could live here as well...
More reason for Bryson and Drew to come visit...
Waterloo's House of Pain will get this one.
Our MUCH improved living room.
The view from the living room.
A closer look from the living room's view (from our second balcony).
Another view from the same balcony.
Our kitchen.
Our other balcony. It's the same one Dawna saw the sunrise from.
A closer look at the view from the kitchen's balcony. This is the same view as the sunrise picture from before, but during the day.
Our bedroom. The view you see out the window is the same view as seen from the living room.
The other bedroom/computer room.
As you can see, we're pretty lucky with the apartment we got. Anyway, we need to get ready for some Korean dinner at a restaurant. Tomorrow's our first day at work... we're both pretty nervous about it all, so pray for us along the way.
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