My Philosophy in the Classroom/ Office

When I got to Korea as a GET I had no idea what I was getting myself into and with all the partying, new discoveries and enjoying the novelties of living by myself I never really settled in as a teacher. I thought I had already posted this, but I'm trying to keep up with this resolution of reaching 100 posts for the year so, without further adieu, here's my teaching philosophy: 

Seating Plan

The desks are in pairs. This provides an optimal setting for using the Think-Pair-Share learning model as well as using it as a hook to begin certain lessons.  Another option is numbered heads within groups which are used when playing a cooperative PPT game. With the opportunity to do diagnostic testing, gauging students’ levels, a seating plan can be tailored to improve student teamwork, cooperation and minimize classroom disruptions. If this isn't performed follow the alphabetized or numerical seating plan and change problems after one month (I hate it, but this will happen). The teachers’ desk(s) will be at the front.

Disciplinary Model

 Reinforce classroom rules to the fullest of your abilities. Present the fact that the opportunity to speak with a qualified English teacher is a privilege in most circumstances and should not be ignored and or mistreated. 

Develop a list of them with your co-teachers who can also translate:

-          Answer all assigned questions in English.

-          Raise your hand if you have an answer.

-          Treat everyone the same way you wish to be treated.

-          Do not interrupt your classmates or your teachers.

Develop bilingual posters with pictures for phrases students use commonly in the classroom encouraging them to use English.

-          Can I borrow a pencil?

-          Can you repeat that? (this will definitely be annoying)

-          What page are we on?

-          Can I go to the bathroom/ my homeroom / get a drink?

-          Excuse me, I have a question.

-          How do you say _____ in English?

This could also branch out to conversational phrases if its successful.

Incomplete Homework (doesn't exist, yet):

If a student’s homework is incomplete he/she will be asked to finish it in between the next recess break, before his next class. In this scenario, the classroom will be closed and no students will be allowed to enter until this student is finished their homework, or the bell sounds. Treat this as a remedial period as well for students who are struggling. Afterwards once the homework is handed in it will be marked no different from the rest. This can also be for students who haven’t finished their in-class work.

Bullying:

From the moment bullying occurs – ie two or more people intentionally teasing or hurting another student, isolate all 3+ students. Ask several questions to get both sides of the story (confirm each side by asking the other group if what they say is true). Explain why this is unacceptable behaviour and notify the homeroom teacher. If this occurs again communicate with the homeroom teacher and develop an action plan and if it’s continual involve other members of the school.

Classroom Procedures:

Attention strategy: Be quiet and place your hands on your head. Until everyone is silent and facing forwards continue with the lesson.

Leaving: Grade 3 and 4: As a whole the class lines up at the back of the room. Grade 5: Song and then have the class file out through the back door while rewarding other students with stamps at the front or a seated dismissal instead of the song.

Encouragement Rules:

-          Class points, record in notebook and on the board.

-          Posting work on the wall.

-          Positive posters.

-          Key phrase posters

Library As a Multiple Learning Room:

-          Laminated Word searches and Sudokus

-          Model of the room on a wall with movable furniture.

-          Whiteboard

-          Jig Saw Puzzles.

-          Music CDs

-          Twister.

-          Puppets and set

-          Flash Cards.

-          Stencils.

The Life of a Desk Warmer

Ironically, I'm not at my desk today. I was given the option to go in for 8 half days of my choice, so I gave myself a four day weekend. To be fair, I was out every night from Wednesday to Saturday though. But now I feel nursing a hangover at my desk along with facebook, solitaire, watching really bad kid movies, checking the sports ticker and highlights, I have done little to no work at my desk. I've organized my library for my structured reading classes, and that took a day and a half, when I was hoping it would take three or four.

This concept of desk warming (but this season I'd call it desk freezing) is the dumbest thing ever. I haven't asked why we subject ourselves to wasting away at our desks, and I doubt I will. Perhaps if I knew what I was doing at the beginning of the year I'd start lesson planning, but both my CTs for the upcoming month are on vacation, (they apparently desk warmed or went to a training course over Christmas while I was doing winter camp and in the Philippines). My ambition is starting to get the better of me though, I'll be re-reading a textbook from teacher's college after this to hopefully kick start my aspirations to rock this year. I've remodeled my teacher's philosophy a while ago too and I plan on sticking with that. But desk warming is just so tedious.

I made a list of things to do the first couple of days if I got a headache from categorizing and organizing upwards of a thousand books. Once that was finished there's nothing to do but waste away. I tried writing creatively (this blog doesn't count) but I'm a true believer that art makes art and I'm not getting any sort of catharsis from Atlantis 2: Milo's Return (raise your hand if you even knew this movie existed... that's what I thought too).

This is one of the downsides of teaching in Korea. I just wanna work with kids, teach them stuff, hear them running and yelling in the halls, and feel like my job isn't a cubicle job.

Funny kind of relevant story to end this post. I took the morning off last Tuesday to play frisbee with some people at Haeundae Beach. As we were throwing the disc around, more and more Koreans started coming to the beach. They were in high school uniforms, suits, jogging gear, and regular clothes. I didn't think anything of it until one of my friends said, "Don't any of these people have jobs!?" and its true. You'd think in between 10 and 11 in the morning people would be in meetings, micro-managing someone, or playing on their smart phone, not feeding seagulls or taking millions of selfies on the beach. Once again though, I'm not gonna ask questions, if I've learned one thing here its just go with the flow, especially when you have a question that's longer than nine words or starts with why.    

Know what I'm Saying, Korea

Now I've never been one of those innovative people who invent or reinvent things and stuff in the material world. I like playing with words a lot more. I merely take new things and apply them to my life to make them easier or more enjoyable. Now living in Korea, where coin rollers don't exist, I could make a little bit of dough on the side, which is illegal according to my contract. I love this job too much to risk this, especially because this idea will take off like rocket. So for the motivated get rich quick guy or girl, here's a way to spend your time off of Craig's List.

First I'll give you a little story about how I thought of my idea.

Every month or so all the specialist teachers go out for dinner or coffee. This month we went out to a modern Korean restaurant. It's modern because there were chairs. The food is the exact same, side dishes galore, some soup, rice, veggies, seafood and possibly some red meat. Really tasty, pretty inexpensive, overall its good food. My meal comes with some side dishes: some are good, like fried fish in a sweet sauce, some are weird, like uncooked beans in a sauce, and some are overdone, kim chi. Typically there are about 8-12 dishes and sometimes more depending on the locale. It doesn't work like a Western meal where everybody passes each dish around and you take what you want onto a plate. This is because usually your "plate" is a pair of chopsticks. It makes life really difficult when you're favourite side dish is on the other side of the table next to a person who's also hungry. Reaching over is a little bit of a stretch and I'd feel like a jerk if I jabbed someone with an elbow, and feel completely embarrassed if I dropped food in another side dish. And when you're sitting down on the floor its even harder to reach for stuff. This is why I propose that Korea should get a lazy Susan for every home.

This seems like a real no brainer but at the same time, I can see why they would oppose such a revelation.
a) It's not a Korean invention. There's a lot of pride in Samsung, Hyundai and LG products here, nothing made in Korea is considered a joke, unlike the American Car.
b) I have yet to see a circular or rounded table apart from fancy buffet tables I saw in my first week. The circular centerpiece on a square table probably doesn't appeal to the eye. Its' basic shape Fung Shui.

For these two anticipated complaints I offer one solution.
Make some square lazy Susans. It's almost like reinventing the wheel, but going backwards too. Either way, Korean pride is maintained as is the square table, avoiding probably the biggest furniture fire ever. So start spinning those squares Koreans.

The punks of Busan and Vancity.

Last Wednesday I went to a concert. The first one in what feels like forever, considering the one I saw in the summer was junk and the one before that (which melted my brain) was in November 2012. Three bands performed in total and they all had really good sets. The first was headed by the new age Korean Sid Vicious. The second were some Korean dad's still looking to make it big with songs they wrote twenty years ago. The headlining band called themselves the Japandroids, a lively duo from Vancouver and took the underground bar by storm. Overall the venue and the show were tons of fun.

This first band was very punk rock. It was a 3 person group, this Vicious looking character held an ax and stood behind the only mike that was on. The bassist was a girl and she had some really awesome riffs, but she was shortchanged with a "broken" mike, but she dressed the part wearing her hair like she don't care and acid washed jeans. The drummer looked like he got picked up off the street. He didn't have much of a punk edge to him: white tee, well kept jeans, and sunglasses from the terminator. His dedication to excellent posture really held him back from rocking out. The most disappointing point was when Vicious had a ten note guitar solo with his back to the audience. What a jerk, eh?

The next guys I knew would be weird from the get go based on their awfully pretentious name Genius. The lead guy was very talented but he and the rest his band mates were much older than the first band. My musically inclined friend said the drummer wasn't great, or even good for that matter, and I don't remember what he looked like, just like the bassist. The lead was all your eyes could handle, his rants about his girl friend really pulled me and his guitar was straight out of Guitar Hero. Just pouring his old, tortured soul into the microphone. The two bands worked the same way The White Stripes' openers do; they're a safety net. Even if the main attraction puts on a mediocre show they'll still blow the openers out of the water, which is exactly what they did.

The clarity of the guitarists voice over the pounding drums and the hollering from the floor in front of them was really nostalgic. Their stunts and willingness to share the stage with crowd surfers made me feel like I was back home in Kilroy's or the Cathedral (RIP). Plus, everyone was Western apart from the the local bands' supporters. It was a great night and the after party was pretty solid too. I went out of my way and personally thanked the guys for an awesome show after it concluded. They didn't show up to the after party, unless I went to the wrong place. Lots of fun though, and made it home at 3 and was only 5 minutes late for school the next day and no one was in a particular fit about that because I don't have classes until the new school year begins.

Hopefully some more bands take a geography lesson and hit up one of the most beautiful cities in all of Asia, and maybe the world. 

A first world rant... sorry

I am at my wits end with everything in my apartment:

The wireless I have been siphoning for the past 6 months for free has either exhausted itself or my computer refuses to cooperate with it. Thankfully I have other ways to occupy my time, like Stable Stacey. She's lost a bit though, there's this hum that comes off the strings that has come out of nowhere, I changed the strings and its still there. So now I'm sitting in a coffee shop drinking this delicious blueberry latte to try and forget HOW I FINALLY HAVE TO PAY FOR AN INTERNET CONNECTION AND ACCEPT THAT MY GUITAR COST EIGHTY DOLLARS BECAUSE THE PEOPLE BUILT IT USING TWENTY!!!

These are really trivial things, I know, but having been a student pampered by landlords who treat you like family and university residences that get exploited like Cancun on Spring Break, I have come to expect certain things like WiFi and a guitar that doesn't make a weird noise.

The weirdest thing that happened when I was dealing with these first world problems is thinking, "I'm going home." And then my life came crumbling into perspective. All those things you miss, or miss having other people do for you, come rolling through my memory and all the advice that's waiting for me at home. Typically when I'm in a bind I'm totally like "I know, I'll email the family computer wiz!" ... "right, no INTERNET."

I decided to put on some grown-up clothes yesterday and deal with this problem like an adult. I went to an internet provider yesterday and asked for an outline of their plans. Ironically, the information is only available ONLINE! So that's my Monday mission at school with the help of my co-teacher. As for the guitar, I'm just going to accept that I bought a horrible guitar and see if I can salvage it by taking it to a guitar store and having them string it for me. After I try to tune it one more time, maybe.  

Eons ago I always seemed to admit defeat and just accept being wrong, along with dealing and hearing other people's problems, despite them not having time to acknowledge mine. Ever since coming here its been Hakuna Mattata. Despite the barriers that surround me, preventing me from living to the fullest (ie speaking Korean) I'm having lots of fun in and outside of school. I'm keeping busy, and maybe with the additional duties I'm getting at the beginning of the new school year along with my own endeavours, I'm feeling the water rising over my head. I guess its that notion of that the invisible fear is much scarier than the one right in front of your face, like poltergeists vs. a bear.

I guess I can leave on that idiotic comparison, I'm sure I'll be fine once all this stuff is in front of my face, unless they're never-ending. Vacation/ desk warming time starts tomorrow, so I'll prep for my duties next year then.
Happy Family Day to those back home in Canada.  

The first full night of 2013

Well, I made it once again to the bitter end of the night and the subsequent McDonald's Breakwich along with a handful of other firsts. The last full night I spent out in Busan I was stuck with a Korean eating Ramen Noodles in a convenience store looking out on Gwanali Beach, this one was a little rowdier.

It started at a Western Pub with the original Canadian Crew, some birthday celebrations and a siiiiiiiick game called Cards Against Humanity (basically a much more extreme Apples to Apples). I arrived late but this game was an awesome catalyst to catch up.

Then one of those crazy moments happen, when you recognize a guy you haven't seen since you both had really gross hair and 40 hours of community service due before graduation. It blew my mind.

Speedy cab ride into the drinking district and more drinks went down, obviously. I tested out a couple cheesey lines: "If you were a pirate would you have a parrot on this shoulder or this one... oh how did that get there?" As usual when the night runs to the 3am mark the only place to go is Blue Monkey (aka the Bowel Movement). A basement bar stuffed with all the men you can imagine, it might as well be a gay bar, barring the few girls who are busy with their sisterly bonds and the ones who have boyfriends and/or love dancing. Things might have been said, things were done and we filed out and went to the nearest McD's.

I don't remember eating my breakwich, I don't even think it was hot, the hash brown was top 10 though. I knew I just wanted some Korean BBQ. I never got any, kind bummed but since it was 6 in the morning I could take the subway home.

Now one thing I am notorious for is falling asleep in a cab on the way home from the bar.  The same thing happened on the subway. I live at 201 and woke up a 232. It was a very rude wake up call. Even worse, I had to go to the bathroom....

I had it all figured out, I knew how my first squat-pot was going down and it wasn't like this. The instant I realized this was going to happen I remembered I had a spicy lunch. I don't care what other people say, Johnny Cash wrote "Ring of Fire" on the porcelain bowl after too much Mexican food. So here I am moderately drunk and totally sleep-deprived squatting in the bathroom eons away from my apartment wincing through all that spice. The dump felt like a 20 minute endeavor and the jetstream of a flush wiped it away like nothing was ever there.

Back on the subway for an hour ride home.

I made it home, running up the stairs to the street and into my building catching an elevator and riding  up to my apartment to be greeted by the blazing Mr. Sun. I slept for about 3 hours. Now I'm here telling you about a night that turned into morning a little too quickly for my liking. Tip of advice, old or young, give it a shot with the best of friends. You won't regret it unless its on a weekday.

Special Shout Out to Trees and the Copy Room

I'm just sick and tired. . . literally. My nose is running, my throat is scratchy, the school's still cold and this week has just been a real piss-off despite not having to plan. Unfortunately, this requires my co-teacher to plan instead. You think finding the right page to photocopy would be easy; apparently not for her. She's your typical space cadet: very academic, but completely out to lunch. As we are fast approaching the end of the Korean school year English class consists of watching "Up" for our promising 3rd and 4th Grade students. There are 7 classes per grade with an average of 28 students per class. In Korea you can't just watch a movie, you need questions to answer and key phrases to learn. Since I picked the last movie before Winter Break (Toy Story 3), she picked one this time and was left to do all the legwork for it just as I was prior to the break.  First, she only accounted for one of the grades, which resulted in a lengthy trip to the photocopier. Then what happens? She photocopied the answers sheet as opposed to the questions sheet. Back to the copy room. Alright one week is finished, next week more of the same: keep watching "Up," keep answering questions, and keep learning new phrases.

These question sheets are not made by myself or my co-teacher, there's a book with all of these questions, it has a question sheet for every ten minutes of a given movie. This book has every children's movie post 2000 which reflects the school's DVD library. Although the innovative mind who developed this book of wonders garners a lot of respect its editor is on the other spectrum. I've found spelling and grammar mistakes which can slide, but when a set of questions coordinates with another movie. . . PREPARE THE GALLOWS!!! Sure enough, my co-teacher selects this question sheet. Back to the copy room since Dory asks questions to a school of fish and never bounces off of Jellyfish in Up. Meanwhile, again, I'm left with students stricken with cabin fever and the anticipation of a two week vacation running up and down the walls yelling and screaming. 50% don't even know what "sit down" means, you'd think that would be a priority, wouldn't you?  Sometimes I think she makes these absent-minded mistakes just to escape the madness.

Then today happens. First we had the movie book debacle of having Finding Nemo questions instead of Up. So we played hangman while this ordeal was sorted out; they asked for a very hard animal and I gave them elk. They had an L and stick man hanging on the whiteboard by the time my CT returned with the next set of questions. After that class she was obviously rattled and reverted back to what she knew. The first round of question sheets, which we had done 14 times before. The thing that got under my skin the most here was the fact that while she was out of the classroom filling her thermos, or whatever she does, I had handed out the right set of questions. Speaking in Korean she had asked for them to be returned and then gave them the question sheet they had last time. So now we plunge into cramming 30 minutes of film, and 10 minutes of instruction into 30 minutes. Surprisingly enough I had four classes but I only remember two. Maybe its due to being sick.

Lunch sucked too.

But I'm settling down. I have isolated myself, challenged the wicked witch of the English department and now I'm watching the Aristocats, in Korean, but I remember enough of the plot to make sense of it all. The absensce of Phil Harris' voice is a bit of a let down but I'm still happy. I really wish I could blow off some steam playing Frisbee tonight, but I need to get rid of this bug for the weekend, and more importantly the weekend after that. Sorry for venting. One last thing: approximately 1372 pages were wasted. I say wasted because they don't get marked. Ahh, another day in Korea.

Philippine Phood

Of course, I don't have any photos so we're going to settle with some mouth-watering and cringing words to place these authentic meals in front of you.

Sea Urchins:

This was a "catch of the day meal." Four of us simply walked out into the ocean and scooped up the urchins with short needles and a purplish colour to the shell. This is not the only type of sea urchin around the area, there were also small ones with long black needles, which paralyze you, adding an element of danger to the the mission. After we collected about 20 urchins unscathed we sat on the sandbar and had a sea urchin breakfast with eggs, beef-loaf (beef spam), and rice. To eat the sea urchins one of the locals, RJ, who helped gather the sea urchins used a stone as a chopping block to open the urchins and then dump out the inedible innards of the urchin. What's left is the yellow roe stuck to the inside of the shell. In typical Philippine fashion you scoop out the caviar-like and it turns into a phlegm that you flick off your fingers onto your palm and put some rice with it. The taste was really salty; duh, its from the ocean, but after I had had my fourth one I felt I wasn't a lot of sustenance. talking with my cousins afterwards, they rarely eat, but its a rite of passage for tourists in the Philippines.

Siopoa:

This was probably my favourite authentic Philippine food. It looks like a dumpling, but its stuffed with a top-notch meatball and a slice of hard boiled egg. The outer layer is actually about a centimeter or steamed bread  with is super soft. A siopoa is about the size of your palm. The typical way to eat them is jam a ketchup bottle through the steamed bread and inject the ketchup inside. It was so good I hate 4 in one sitting.

Halo-Halo:

I googled this one make sure I got the spelling right and although these looked much more decadent than the one I had its follows the same principle. Halo-halo means stir-stir in the island's indigenous language, so the dessert is a layer of fruits, ice, milk, then Rice Krispies and Cornflakes for garnish and crunch. This was really tasty, but I don't have a sweet tooth, but its like a milkshake, just not pureed. To make it less appealing too, I had this after 4 siopoas.

Mangos:

Korea doesn't really have Mangos so this was a big deal to me. Also I had never really hopped on the mango train back in Canada either. I will now though, those sweet and juicy fruits are one of the many foods I can't say no to. I'll suck that amorphous seed til its dry. They also complements all the food I had in the Philippines, except the next one.

Coconut Wine:

Once again, a rite of passage for the tourist. Its tapped out of the palm tree and mixed with something to give it a red colour. To be honest it smells worse than it tastes, and it tastes pretty bad. It has the oak flavour of wine, but its a palm tree, and, bonus, it contains bits precipitate I can only assume belong to the tree. The side affect of drinking this is falling asleep within the hour.

The Burgers:

Maybe it was just Siquijor Island but the only burger is one that requires two hands and a crocodile jaw.  The first one I had was a chicken burger with mango salsa from JJ Backpackers. It was dynamite, there's a real sense of empowerment holding a kilo of food in two hand. The patty was probably the circumference of my neck and an inch thick. Thankfully the buns were made of thinwich bread. Mango salsa is the best by the way. The next burger I had was more well none as a jawbreaker: Big Billy Burger from Capilay's Bar. This was breakfast, brunch and a burger all crammed in between two typical sesame seed buns. Egg, ham, pineapple, two patties, a handful of shredded lettuce, tomoato, cheese, onion, mayo, ketchup and a chipotle sauce. It was ginormous, and probably the biggest burger I've ever eaten.  Needless to say I felt like walking home as opposed to riding a scooter over bumpy terrain.

I also tried a couple dishes from other parts of the world, and they made it work too. It was some A+ food courtesy of my guides and hostesses in the Philippines.