Last week we started an after school enrichment class for middle school students.  The kids are great and it's been nice to be with middle schoolers again.  Even better, one of the chapters that I was given to teach was titled "Natural Disasters".  Whoohoo, just like being in the science classroom...sort-of.

For the most part, kids will be kids.  Whether in Korea or at home, they are pretty much the same.  A few examples...1. When given a stapler, it's only a matter of time before they start shooting staples at each other.  2. No matter how many times they are told to put the cell phones away, I will still confiscate several of them.  3. If kids stay in your room during  break, they will ask to write on the white board.  4. Boys don't want to sit with the girls, and girls don't want to sit with the boys.  5.   They are SO creative and silly that I have to smile during group presentations...love that!

There are a couple of items that are a bit different...

1. In Korea, it appears that the kids generally don't carry scissors.  Instead, they bring box-cutters with them to school...often decorated with Hello Kitty, The Simpson's or Angry Birds.  The first time I asked to borrow a pair of scissors and was handed a knife I was taken aback.  It's the norm here and I haven't seen anyone get hurt with them. 

2. Another item...paperclips.  It appears that Korean's prefer to use binder clips to paperclips.  On multiple occasions, I have given the students a stack of cards that were paperclipped together.  When I ask them to re-paperclip them, they don't know how to do it and I get a messy stack returned to me.  Fascinating.  

3. Lastly, I love that kids are so quick to solve disagreements using Rock, Paper Scissors.   In Korea, it's called gawi-bawi-bo (가위 바위 보)...which translates to scissors, rock, cloth.  I've used this in my class at home, but I only know how to play with 2 people. In Korea, large groups of kids can play this and they end up with a single winner in less than 30 seconds.  I have never seen hands move so quickly!  Often, I'm still trying to figure out who won the first round when they're already on the 4th round.    It's pretty amazing.  Take a peek as they compete for a snack...

Here are a few other pictures from the past 2 weeks...

Each time we start or finish a class, there has to be a ceremony.  Since my classes are generally 1-2 weeks long, I attend these on a fairly regular basis.  This week I got to attend a few so I thought I'd mention them.

An opening ceremony usually proceeds as follows:  A brief welcome statement will be made by one of the Korean staff members, everyone stands for a salute to the flag, we remain standing while we watch a video and sing the national anthem.  Then, an important person will be introduced to speak.  This is often the superintendent or the director from our facility.  The person talks for about 5-10 minutes.  I have no idea what he/she is saying.  At some point, the person usually points in our direction and then everyone laughs.  When this speaker finishes, the initial speaker returns to the microphone.  We get introduced one by one.  When our name is called, we are to stand, face the students and bow.  Once we're all introduced, we may go to our classrooms.

Same thing every time.  This week I was finally told why we get laughed at...turns out that we're being complimented.  The superintendent says something to the effect of "These are the best native teachers we have had at this institute.  They have received good scores.  Too bad they can't understand me". <<insert laugh here>>

The closing ceremony is basically the same...welcome, salute to flag, national anthem, then closing statements.  Today was slightly different as we were presenting some awards to the gifted students.  I was selected to represent the native teachers and to pass out 5 special certificates to the kids.  I was a little concerned as my pronunciation of Korean names still sucks.   So, prior to the ceremony, I inquired about my duties.  I was told that I didn't have to say the names...just hand them the certificate.  Cool...sounds easy enough, right?  WRONG.  There is proper procedure for  distributing certificates.  The student will come up to you, you have to examine the certificate and look impressed by it  (WOW!), then hand the certificate to the student with both hands, then follow with a  bow.  It would have been nice to know this PRIOR to the first student coming up to receive the certificate.  Oh well, I'm just a dumb foreigner who doesn't know anything, right?    (I love being able to play that card! HAHAHA).  After I passed out the certificates, I was to give a short speech about the students as a whole.  Next all 5 native teachers were called to the front of the room where we were to take group photos with each of our classes.  After the photos, the rest of the kids received their certificates then headed out.  We were instructed to line up in the hall and say goodbye as they left.

Ah yes, another closing ceremony completed...and tomorrow, yet another one.  Next Monday will be  the opening ceremony for the parent class and next Friday will be the opening ceremony for the new native teachers.   And so it continues...open, close, open, close, open, close....

On Friday morning, I found out that all the teachers from my classes were going to be volunteering that afternoon at a school/residential facility for persons with disabilities.  SOOO, I got permission from my supervisor to tag along with them.  As I understand it, the school is a public school and directly next to it, is a government funded residential facility.  I was only able to see a very small part of the program, but I was quite impressed by the facilities.  There was a nice track and exercise area, a gym, a horse riding area, and several very nice looking houses/buildings.

After arriving, the teachers all received information about the program (I assume, as this was all in Korean).  Then, we were divided up and given different jobs to do.  Some people did some arts & crafts projects,  some people were asked to talk with some kids who were non-verbal, a few people were selected to help bathe some kids who were unable to move on their own.  My group was assigned to play badminton.  Awesome!

There were 5 kids that we played with...four had Downs and the other one had autism.  As soon as I stepped in the gym, one of the guys grabbed my hand, handed me a racquet, and made it clear that I would be his partner.  We played for about an hour.  He was quite good and I got my workout for the day.  After we were done playing, the teachers indicated that it was time to clean up.  All of the "kids"  started rolling up the nets and packing everything up...a nice team effort.

I'm so glad that I was able to join the Korean teachers on this trip.  I always love the time I spend with this very special population...what an amazing afternoon!  

On Thursday, our boss told us that we would be celebrating the end of the year by having lunch together on Friday at noon.  Nice!  The following day, 11:45 am, Mrs. Kim came into our office and informed us that there would be entertainment...us!  Please be prepared to sing, dance and give speeches.  There will be wine.  

At noon, we wandered over to the conference room where there was a nice spread of Korean food, although we were told that the chicken had not arrived yet.  We started with wine and reflected on the past year at UIFLE, then we ate the first round of food.  Since we were still waiting on the fried chicken,  we were told that it was time to sing.  We had decided on a Beatles theme.  I got away with being the back-up singer/dancer for the "Yellow Submarine".  This was followed by "Hey Jude".  The chicken arrived, so we finished eating.  There was time for one last song before heading back to work...one of the Korean staff members took out his ukulele and played us a Hawaiian tune. Darn, no time for speeches.  LOL...gotta love Korea.

Note to self...ALWAYS CARRY YOUR CAMERA!  Today was our scheduled fire drill.  We were told that we would go stand outside and take a picture for evidence.  We were also told to bundle up as we could be out there for a bit.  There were no classes at this time, so it was only staff.

As we walked down the stairs to the ground floor, there was the smell of smoke.  Hmmm, interesting.  Once outside, I saw that a smoke bomb had been lit.  Within a few minutes, there was a gentleman in a suit using a fire extinguisher to put it out.  I thought, this is interesting....however, the best was yet to come.

Another smoke bomb was lit and some men came running out of the building with the fire hose.  They aimed at the smokey can, but the force of the hose was too much for the guy and he ended up squirting a bunch of the people who were waiting outside...so glad I wasn't over there.  After the guy tried to hit the smoke bomb without success, the hose was finally turned off.  The ca was turned over then out by hand.

Everyone gathered, a photo was taken, then all returned to their offices.  An interesting way to start the morning.

Day time: As part of the English program in Ulsan, there are several Saturday activities offered for kids and families.  I agreed to work on the second Saturday of each month at the Planetarium.  Basically, the program consists of 4 parts: a vocabulary lesson, a tour of the solar system with an explanation of a few constellations, a movie that describes the training procedures for astronauts (narrated in English), then a quiz game at the end.  Since there are 3 of us working, we each took one of the first sections then we all work together for the game at the end.  My section is the tour of the solar system and the explanation of about 5 constellations...pointing them out and sharing the mythology behind them.  I took a few pictures while I was at work today.

Nighttime: Tonight there was a total lunar eclipse (the last of 2011) that could be seen in it's entirety from Korea.   I was so excited to find out about this! (Thanks Carrie!) I bundled up to go out in the 30F weather to watch to moon disappear.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky...just the moon, Orion, and a few other stars.  Here are some pictures of the eclipse.  So freaking cool... and one of the most amazing things I've seen!!

Friday was the last night of a training class for middle and high school English teachers.  I was to teach 3 one-hour classes to 3 different groups of teachers.  Just after my second group of students started working, 2 teachers from the previous class came to my door and asked to speak with me.  As soon as I stepped out, they handed me a beer, grabbed me by the wrist, then led me to a different classroom.  This group decided to celebrate the last day of class by having a chicken and beer party....in a classroom...at school...LOVE IT!

Knowing that it would be rude to decline food and drink, I sat down and enjoyed the feast.  After 10 minutes, I felt bad that my students were working on a project while I wasn't even in the room.  I tried to excuse myself, but I was told that I needed to stay...AND...that the students (teachers) in my class didn't want me there anyway.  I had to laugh at this as I know it's absolutely true...8:30pm, Friday night, 5th day in a row, 3 hour training session after you have already taught all day.  Been there, done that...she's right!!  It's not personal, it's the truth.   Class number 2 gets a break and Katie gets another piece of chicken!  Gotta love Korea!

    This week I had two interesting conversations with some of my students.  The first conversation was with an 8th grade girl who is in my gifted English class.  The other conversation was with a Korean English teacher who is in one of my teaching strategies classes.

    After finishing the English assignment in class, one of the 8th grade students started working on some science.  Naturally, this got my attention.  I asked if I could look through her book. 
    The book was about  1/2 to 3/4 inches thick and was mostly small excerpts with lots of multiple choice questions.  She told me that this was the book that she had to study for the semester final.  (Note: Korean school year starts in March and they are coming to the end of their 2nd semester).   The final will be in 2 weeks and she's already stressing about it.  I told her that our kids have to take a science test in 8th grade too.  She then asked me..."Just one test?"  I explained that there was one in each subject area, but yeah, just one round of state testing.  Her reaction..."OMG, you guys are SOOO lucky.  This is the second exam this semester and we had 2 others in the first semester.  We had a different book to study from".  Turns out that there are often 3-4 national finals given each year.  These tests are used to rank the schools so tons of pressure are put on the kids and the teachers.  These students will stay up to all hours of the night studying for their finals.   I told the student that President Obama wanted to make our education system more similar to S. Korea's (Click here to read). I wish I had a picture as I cannot possibly describe the sadness and disgust she had on her face as I told her this.   All she could say was..."I hope not".

    A day later, I had a conversation with a Korean English teacher who teaches middle school.  I asked her about some of the challenges she faces as a teacher.  Her top 2 areas...assessments and classroom behavior.  
    As far as assessments, she echoed what the student told me...3-4 national assessments each year which are used to rank schools.  In addition, open classes are held 2-3 times each semester.  An open class is an opportunity for parents to come observe your instruction during the day and they fill out evaluations.  These evaluations can be used against the teachers.  If a teacher receives poor scores, they will be removed from the classroom and put in a training center.  However, she said that she has never seen this happen, as the "open classes" have turned into more of a dog-and-pony show instead of a demonstration of everyday teaching.  
    She also mentioned the discipline.  Before coming to Korea, I remember several people saying to me that Korean kids are better behaved.  This does not appear to be the case.  Kids are kids and they will always push the limits.  In some cases, it's worse in Korea.  For years and years, corporal punishment has been allowed in Korea.  Some teachers don't know any other methods of discipline.   More recently, Seoul has created laws to protect against this.  Although we are not in Seoul, the Ulsan teachers have been instructed not to use corporal punishment... and the kids know this.  So, when a child acts up the kid basically has the attitude of "Ha Ha Ha, you can't do anything to me...you were told you can't touch me".
    This teacher also told me that the S. Korean government was trying to make their schools more like American schools.   She said that there has even been recent talk about changing their school year to start in September so it would match ours.  Seriously?  If you read the article I attached earlier, you find this point to be quite ironic.

    So anyways, America wants to be like Korea, and Korea wants to be like America.  Personally, I think we need to scrap them both and start over as we are both creating test-taking robots who won't know how to function in society. It's sick to think about.