My friend Melanie has a tradition on her blog where she posts a single photo every Friday with no words which illustrates a moment from the previous week. I felt inspired by the concept and decided to adopt it for my own blog. Each week I will post a single photo with no words from a moment in my life - either from the previous week or something or someone about which I've been thinking. A simple yet memorable image to share with everyone.

With school out it's time for summer camps! As I explained in the previous post though technically schools are on vacation at the moment students still attend school for summer camps. This week I taught 3 days at Yeongsun Elementary School's summer camp.

I was told that I would teach 4 40 minute classes every day, 2 of which would be the "upper level" students (a broad term that includes a native speaker and a few students who still have difficulty writing their names but consisted of the 4th, 5th and 6th graders in addition to two 3rd graders) followed by 2 classes teaching "lower level" students - i.e. 1st, 2nd and most of the 3rd graders. While one level would be in the classroom with me the other would be studying with a different English teacher and the classes would switch after a short break.

After a lot going back and forth between doing a theme of lessons on birthdays or the Olympics (with some helpful input and lesson plans from my cousin Chris) I finally decided to do one on the 6 tastes because I already have powerpoints made for those lessons in addition to the cookie recipe I wanted to use worked better with that concept. This turned out to be a smart decision because the other English teacher was doing a lesson on birthdays on the first day.

On our first day of class the students learned the tastes - sweet, sour, salty, bitter, spicy and savory. They got to try 10 different foods and determined which of the tastes they exemplified. Below are the students tasting the foods and writing the answers on their worksheet.

On day 2 we learned nine new vocabulary words for describing the texture of food - hot, cold, hard, soft, creamy, chewy, crunchy, light (fluffy) and greasy. In addition to a couple of games I had the students write a few sentences about their favorite foods using the new vocabulary and color a picture to go with it. I thought the students would grumble about such an English-intensive activity during camp but surprisingly most worked diligently on their sentences and even more so on their pictures.

After they completed their sentences we had a sharing portion.  Korea's English education system emphasizes reading and writing - to the detriment of verbal skills. My goal at my schools has always been for students to grow more comfortable speaking in English - beginning with reading their own thoughts and eventually progressing to natural dialogues. Since the upper level class is a mixture of English speakers I expected many of the lower level students might feel a bit shy presenting in front of their peers. However, much to my surprise the majority of the students volunteered to read their sentences in front of one another. Many of them also were able to answer the comprehension questions I asked after each presentation.

Our final day of class was a cooking day and the students were incredibly excited about the prospect of making cookies. We first reviewed the recipe and the students had to put it in order (in hindsight this was too difficult for their level but most put their best effort towards it) and then I split the class into two groups which would take turns cooking. We made no bake peanut butter chocolate cookies which were a hit. I was surprised to learn that the school has a 350,000 won budget just for its English summer camp. We were able to purchase all of our cooking and craft materials for camp and use the remaining money to buy English games, crayons, markers and journals for the fall term.

While the other groups cooked students played a matching/memory game with cards I had made with the new vocabulary. After enjoying their cookies I handed out rewards for the students who had earned the most stickers for good behavior and correct answers during our 3 days of camps. They received pencils, an eraser, sitcky notes, tootsie pops and an English notebook. The green team, the students with the most stickers are pictured below on the right.

Though my summer camp classes with the older students went remarkably well I had many difficulties with the lower level classes. Out of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade classes I have only taught the 3rd graders and they are by far my most rambunctious class. After working with the students and observing the Korean teachers interacting with them I realize that there is a very different approach towards classroom management in elementary schools in Korea and the United States. In Korea it seems the teachers take on a very motherly role with minimal discipline. Misbehaving students are reminded repeatedly in a sing-songy voice to behave but face absolutely no consequences for their actions. These younger students stood on their chairs, the table, got up repeatedly during class, tried to climb a pole and chattered away every day. It was so bad that after the first day I requested a Korean teacher to join me in the classroom for the rest of camp because I was worried about the students acting out while we cooked and hurting themselves. Initially I this behavior was in part because of the language barrier however the students  acted the same way with the Korean teacher in the room so I believe its their typical classroom behavior.  I also suspect that at least three of the boys have AD/HD but she assured me they had been tested previously for it and were just rowdy little boys. People with special needs still face difficulties within school and discrimination within the society so parents prefer their children are not "labeled" as such and sadly the end result is that the children do not receive the guidance they need to successful maneuver through the education system.  For this reason I am hesitant to accept that the boys are simply just rowdy when they are constantly hyper and fidgety.

Since the younger class was much more difficult to handle a good portion of each class involved redirection back towards the task at hand. The students learned the 6 words for taste and we reviewed the words with pictures, a taste test, games and the cookie making activity. For some reason during this activity the Korean teacher disappeared - leaving me to manage 20 small children who understand minimal English. It was a test of patience to try to supervise one group and keep them relatively quiet while they colored  pictures of their favorite food while at the same time making cookies with the other group. This camp has just reconfirmed my assertion that my classroom strengths do not include the patience nor aptitude to work with small children.  I was very thankful when the camp came to a close and I can return to the high school where I will desk warm for a week before a week of summer camp classes there.

All countries and cultures have their quirks and Korea is no different. These are things that while usually are taken for granted by a native might cause a visitor or ex-pat stop and say "huh, that's odd."Often these oddities can provide additional insight into the culture. Quirky Korea is a weekly posting in which I share a picture of something that struck me as odd during my time here. Sometimes the picture will be self-explanatory, other times it will need a bit of context.

This sign recently popped up at a local grocery store. There are approximately 30-35 Western foreigners in town in addition to a few South East Asians - enough I guess they want to entice foreigners to the store by offering us a discount if we purchase multiple items of coconuts, avocados and/or mangoes. My guess that these appeal more to the foreign population and it's a way to draw in business. However, I'm a bit uncomfortable with the offer since Korean nationals aren't able to take advantage of it - I would object to something that would exclude me solely because of my nationality so therefore I feel it's wrong to support an offer that excludes others. I wonder what they would do if a Korean American tried to get the sale price (or any foreigner who is ethnically Asian and therefore occasionally mistaken for Korean) - would they be required to show their passport in order to prove their "foreign-ess"?

School is out for the next month, however, unlike their counterparts in the USA Korean students will not be enjoying a season of early evening baseball games, sleepovers, pool parties other summer activities. Instead many Korean students will attend summer camps where they will study (high school) or play educational games (elementary school) for most of their break. It was a bit disheartening when I asked my academic high school students about their summer plans and they all responded with "I will study at school." I felt guilty telling them I was heading to Japan for 9 days.

In Korea it appears that extracurricular activities like sports, clubs and part-time jobs are viewed as unwelcome distractions from the time needed to study which will help prepare the students for the ever important college entrance exams. Unlike in the US where those activities help enhance a college application and set apart even academically excellent students here I suspect here they're seen as a waste of time. Even at my technical school which puts less of an emphasis on academics than other high schools has a week of English summer camps which consists of 4 hours of class a day.

Summer school started today at Yeongsun Elementary School. Below is a picture of my upper level English class during the taste test portion of the lesson. We have summer camps for 3 days this week during the morning. I teach these 20 upper level students for 2 forty minute sessions and then I teach 20 lower level students for the remaining 2 forty minute sessions. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to share at the end of the week.

My friend Melanie has a tradition on her blog where she posts a single photo every Friday with no words which illustrates a moment from the previous week. I felt inspired by the concept and decided to adopt it for my own blog. Each week I will post a single photo with no words from a moment in my life - either from the previous week or something or someone about which I've been thinking. A simple yet memorable image to share with everyone.

Throughout June and July my 5th and 6th graders made pinatas. I promised them if they were good during that time I would bring them some candy back from the USA for their pinatas. A couple of weeks ago we took the pinatas outside and the students enjoyed breaking them open for the candy (unfortunately I didn't take into account that due to the heat the chocolate I brought for them would melt ...). The pictures below are from our project.

All countries and cultures have their quirks and Korea is no different. These are things that while usually are taken for granted by a native might cause a visitor or ex-pat stop and say "huh, that's odd."Often these oddities can provide additional insight into the culture. Quirky Korea is a weekly posting in which I share a picture of something that struck me as odd during my time here. Sometimes the picture will be self-explanatory, other times it will need a bit of context.

There's a lot about Korean schools that I just don't understand but one thing that I find completely illogical is that end of term tests are typically held 2 weeks before the final day of school. This means that students will study intensely, take their tests and then attend classes for an additional two weeks, of which material from this time period is unlikely to show up on the following term's tests. At my technical school the result is near chaos - students literally expect not to do anything in class. They watch movies or, worse yet, have free periods with little supervision which results in rough-housing in their classrooms (based on the noises I hear outside of my classroom). I was strongly advised to show a movie in my classes the final two weeks because the students have learned from example that those final classes are unimportant for any upcoming exams (grades seem to be based almost entirely on a few exams - classroom performance and homework (if even given) appear to be meaningless). And so that's what I did - for all 6 classes I showed a movie and for the most part order was maintained however as a teacher I felt it was a complete waste of 2 class periods and a sad reflection of the school and it's priorities (keep the students happy even if its detrimental to their overall education and future). To be fair this was only at my technical high school, classes were as usual at my elementary and academic high school though I tried to make our last English class together a bit more fun with games or short videos.

I once asked a co-teacher why there were these two extra weeks and he said that Korean teachers have a lot of paperwork. I'm not quite sure exactly what paperwork they have to fill out that their American counterparts don't but I think it's incongruous to organize the school schedule in such a way that nearly a month of classes every year is wasted on movies, games and free time.

My friend Melanie has a tradition on her blog where she posts a single photo every Friday with no words which illustrates a moment from the previous week. I felt inspired by the concept and decided to adopt it for my own blog. Each week I will post a single photo with no words from a moment in my life - either from the previous week or something or someone about which I've been thinking. A simple yet memorable image to share with everyone.

The majority of my students, even those at the academic high school, have absolutely no interest in ever leaving the borders of Korea (a country that is approximately the size of the state of Indiana). I found their insular mindset disheartening and have tried to encourage them to expand their horizons by introducing other cultures in the classroom. Today, at Gaeun High School we discussed traditional costumes around the world and I showed them this video - Matt is an American who travels around the world and dances with locals. It sounds a bit silly but the result is a video that not only highlights the diversity of the world but also the similarities ~ everyone seems so joyful dancing along with Matt. I was pleased to see that the video was well received by my students and hopefully it might inspire at least one of them to go beyond Korea's borders - if even for a short stint as a tourist.

On Thursday afternoon as I began my trek home from school I was approached by a young Korean boy. It's not unusual for children to say "hi" to me since a foreigner is still somewhat of a rare sight in town but I immediately realized this boy was a bit different because he did more than shout "hello!", wave and quickly move on.

I turned off my music and pulled the ear buds out of my ears and was surprised to hear him speaking in fluent English. He explained that he's Korean American, visiting his grandmother for the summer, speaks little Korean and realized he was lost. I was the first person he had encountered in which he could converse. Using my phone and the name of a day care that he knew was near his home we were able to find an approximate location on google maps and set off to find it. As we walked to his house he spoke at length about his impressions of Korea. It was very interesting to hear an 11 year old's perspective on the culture and it seems we agreed on many things - Korean drivers, to us, drive frighteningly fast and seemingly with little regard to others, the stress on grammar in English classes is creating a population of people who can not effectively communicate verbally in a language they study for nearly 10 years and classroom (mis)behavior is astonishingly bad.

After walking him to his neighborhood, a cluster of homes, an orphanage, church and the aforementioned day care I walked back towards Jeomchon. The walk to the outskirts of town permitted me to walk back along the rice paddies which are a brilliant green at the moment. The photo above is from my walk home, Jeomchon is surrounded by these paddies and as you can see in the background by mountains as well. I imagine all the motorists passing me were surprised to see a waygookin walking along the road outside of town but thankfully only one older gentleman stopped to inquire exactly what I was doing. Situations such as those are when I'm thankful I speak barely any Korean because I feel less guilty politely excusing myself because I can not comprehend the typically one-sided conversation.