1) So I have completed my first week of actually teaching classes in the new school year. It went pretty well, except for one odd thing, which I'll now explain. For background, last year students all had what are called "nametags", folded triangular prisms of paper on which they have written their names. In hangeul on one side, and Romanization on the other. Apparently, Allison, the teacher I took over for, couldn't read hangeul, and I certainly can't at the size most of them wrote it on these nametags. Not to mention that lack of uniformity in the Romanization conventions when it comes to names.
Anyway, I asked my co-teacher if we were going to make nametags on the first day, and explained the problems above. She said she too had poor eyes, and we would not make nametags. So then the fifth graders all show up with nametags they've already made. And I guess she changes her mind about them, because for the remainder of the week, we make nametags. And I'm okay with that, stressing that they must write their name really BIG, because this old man can't see well if they are at the back of the room. And sure enough, they do. We had also agreed not to do Romanizations on the other side (I can read hangeul just fine. However, some students have "English names" they had previously adopted.
I told these students to write their Korean name on one side, and their English name on the other. Then I find out that she's telling them NOT to write their English name, when some of the sixth graders tell me she's told them that.
I said, "I don't care. Write Korean on one side, English on the other."
I went to her then and asked what's going on. We're speaking quietly at the front of the room. "This is English speaking class, students must be allowed to use their English name if they want, right?"
"Well, I have to evaluate them, and their name is in Korean on the roster," she said.
"That's not a big deal, is it?" I asked. "Surely you could write their English name in the roll alongside. Besides, it's English speaking class--if students have and want to use an English name, that is good and we should do it!"
After class, I apologize for contradicting her (though really it was the other way around), and we again go through our reasoning. "There is far too much Korean Korean spoken in this classroom," I finished, a kind of passive-aggressive comment, but true enough anyway.
She said, "I understand your intention, but they do not have enough time [to write both names]."
I looked at her, squinted my eyes suspiciously (Koreans are very good at reading eyes), and said simply, "Oh, come on." It was BS and she knew it. I didn't bother to point out that we weren't even going to do nametags, so that made her "I have to evaluate them" argument specious on its face.
So, after that, she told them in the Korean version of the instructions (which she gave even if a class told her unanimously that they understood the instructions I had given them in English) to put their English name on the other side. I loved that when she asked class 3-1 how many had English names, almost everyone raised their hand!
2) On Saturday, we had the first session of my Saturday Public Speaking class. We have 18 students this time; they were not selected by the interview and essay process we've used in the past, whittling down 150 or more candidates to the 20 or so in the class. The funding came from a different source, so we had to take one student from each high school in Nambu district. The best student from the school--no, the best student from the school who wanted to take the course.
After the intro lecture, we do a speaking activity. I give each student a different short, humorous story. They have two minutes to read and understand the story, then two minutes to take notes on an index card which they can then use to retell the story to the class. They stand up and tell the story to the class--if they do well, I tell them, they will be regaled with waves of laughter. Though that's not always true, it's still a good way for us as instructors to hear them speak, and for them to encounter the idea of speaking with index cards rather than reading verbatim from a script.
Honestly, the results of this selection process were not wildly different from what we've had in the past: almost all speak passably good English, though the clarity, the confidence, and the storytelling ability vary. One student declined to stand up and make an attempt. This has happened a couple of times in the past, and that student always drops out. They simply don't have the English background for it. So despite the changes, I'm looking forward to another great semester with these high-level students.
3) After my stint was over (the class is taught at Sindorim High School, at Dorimcheon on the Line 2 west spur), I went to Sindorim D-Cube City for lunch. The Irish League or whatever it is is having a St Patrick's Day do there, but not much is going on when I visit--I'm too early, I think. But there is a McDonald's booth downstairs that's recording people doing the "Big Mac Song". It's not the same one I know, but I let myself get roped into it, and do the old school song from my childhood. What the hell, I shrugged, and let a pretty girl put me on the internet. Here's the McDonald's Korea link: http://www.bigmacsong.co.kr/video_detail.php?video_id=53882 and here's the YouTube video. Not that you would be interested:
Showing posts with label nunchi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nunchi. Show all posts
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Friday, July 3, 2009
Call Me
We had an English Dept "meeting" today, held in Sky Onn Food at Gimpo Airport, where we had met previously, and which I blogged here. This one was exactly the same, except for the part about how it was payback for listening to the presentations about the technology in our new English Only Zone.
No, today was payback for not inviting me to the last English Dept "meeting". You see, here is what happened: Miss Lee had her demonstration lesson last Monday, which is traditionally followed by a celebratory get-together called a department meeting. While walking to school that day, I asked Hwang about it, and he said he didn't know the specifics, but 이금천 would let me know. Anyway, long story short, I heard no more about it and assumed it was postponed until later. So I trekked home at the end of a long Monday.
So on Tuesday, Miss Lee (이정현) spilled the beans, and I asked Mr Hur (허준영) why he didn't tell or call me--turns out, they had had a meeting (beef galbi no less, plus second round) Monday evening, and everyone thought someone else had told me, but no one did.
Yeah. Like that. I understand completely. Really. There are at least four people responsible for different aspects of my tenure at Young-il High School, and I can easily see how something like this slips through the cracks. But what actually did hurt my feelings, a little bit anyway, was this: Once they realized, why did Nobody call? Everybody has my phone number, I'm sure Somebody thought of it, and Anybody could've called. But Nobody did!
So anyway, practically every member of the English Dept, certainly all those listed above, alerted me to the particulars of today's meeting. After all, its whole purpose was a make-up for the previous one. Nobody said anything about all that, except for 허준영, who sidled up to me at the "live dish" pasta (where you select the ingredients for a ragu and the chef cooks them while you wait) and explained to me how bad everyone felt, and how much they hoped I would enjoy the meal today.
Well, I certanly did.
No, today was payback for not inviting me to the last English Dept "meeting". You see, here is what happened: Miss Lee had her demonstration lesson last Monday, which is traditionally followed by a celebratory get-together called a department meeting. While walking to school that day, I asked Hwang about it, and he said he didn't know the specifics, but 이금천 would let me know. Anyway, long story short, I heard no more about it and assumed it was postponed until later. So I trekked home at the end of a long Monday.
So on Tuesday, Miss Lee (이정현) spilled the beans, and I asked Mr Hur (허준영) why he didn't tell or call me--turns out, they had had a meeting (beef galbi no less, plus second round) Monday evening, and everyone thought someone else had told me, but no one did.
This is a little story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.
There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.
Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job.
Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it.
It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.
Yeah. Like that. I understand completely. Really. There are at least four people responsible for different aspects of my tenure at Young-il High School, and I can easily see how something like this slips through the cracks. But what actually did hurt my feelings, a little bit anyway, was this: Once they realized, why did Nobody call? Everybody has my phone number, I'm sure Somebody thought of it, and Anybody could've called. But Nobody did!
I know where you're coming from
Call me on the line
Call me call me any anytime
Call me my love you can call me any day or night
Call me
Cover me with kisses, baby Oops...nevermind
So anyway, practically every member of the English Dept, certainly all those listed above, alerted me to the particulars of today's meeting. After all, its whole purpose was a make-up for the previous one. Nobody said anything about all that, except for 허준영, who sidled up to me at the "live dish" pasta (where you select the ingredients for a ragu and the chef cooks them while you wait) and explained to me how bad everyone felt, and how much they hoped I would enjoy the meal today.
Well, I certanly did.
Monday, June 15, 2009
This Week's Lessons
For the benefit of the two or two-point-five people who read this blog with an eye to expanding their ESL lesson portfolio, here is a brief description of this week's lessons for first (10th) and second (11th) graders.
First of all, I decided to give the PPT/touch-screen presentation a rest. I have been very academic and demanding lately, especially of first grade, so this is fun week--even though I hope next week will be really cool (stay tuned).
Second, first grade: I am starting by introducing them to the game "I Spy": you know, I spy, with my little eye, something (color). My classroom is actually pretty colorful due to all the different stuff I have in it, like my plants and their pots, coffee mugs, calendar, the decor, etc, etc.
The key teaching point is the construction, "Is it the _____?" They must phrase the question correctly and use the English term for the object. Very basic, but I'm not really trying to teach anything new this week.
So, whoever guesses my object gets to go next. We do this for about 20 minutes then switch to game #2, "Who Am I?" This is a variation on "20 Questions" whereby the object is always a famous person. I have created a bunch of chits and put them in a coffee mug from which someone (me first) draws a name. Then each table, rotating around the room, asks a Yes/No question to hone in on my identity.
I rearranged the desks to make six tables of six instead of 10 tables of four to give them more chances for their group. And when I'm It, I coach them on how to ask questions that narrow the field rather than eliminate only a small group. In other words, "Are you a Korean singer?" is a poor question, since I could be a Korean or a singer and you didn't eliminate either one.
And again, the language key is phrasing a proper question to get a Yes or No answer. "What's your job?" is a clear violation. Next team. "Are you England?" gets a No where "Are you English?" or "Are you from England?" would be a Yes. "Are you fly?" is a No, unless the target is Offspring, while a better question might be "Can you fly?" if you're a superhero.
Third, second grade: the new unit for this class is titled "The First Australians." Desks are in the usual groups of four. In the warm-up, students try to make as many words as possible from the letters in A-B-O-R-I-G-I-N-A-L; today's winner was 16 in both classes. Turns out, ling is a word, who'da thunk it?
But the main activity is one I took from a Dave Deubbelbeiss "Lesson in a Can" called Running Dictation (scroll to #105 at the bottom) in which students memorize a snippet of the information posted on a document, report it back to the base, taking turns, and repeat until they have "downloaded" the entire document. The first team to complete the task are the winners. This is a really good idea.
However, my students are the world's worst CHEATERS, so Mr Hur and I had to continuously modify placement of the document copies and monitor student behavior until we were no longer posting four copies for their convenience, but only two copies, one located in the hallway outside each door to the classroom.
Since the lesson is about indigenous peoples, I used related texts, for example:
One final note I would make is that while I truly appreciate Dave's ESL Classroom 2.0, it is hideously difficult to find anything because the navigation is so poorly organized. Granted, part of that is because of the huge volume of content, but it's moreso because of his idiosyncratic filing-relational-labelling system, for want of a better word. I also dislike having to join a website, even a free one, but this one is worth it for me--if you teach ESL, it's worth it for you, too. One of the best resources.
One more final note I would make is that Mr Hur kept suggesting that students wanted to earn candy for being the winners. These are seventeen year olds. I have used Starburst and Jolly Ranchers before in my career, but only with elementary or middle schoolers. High school students, I explained, should have internalized their motivation for learning and performance by now. Their prize is knowing they won--bragging rights. He agreed, but still suggested they expect something for winning.
That agree/persist thing may be nunchi, the Korean inability to say what they mean, but too bad--we are simply not going to treat high school juniors like ten-year-olds. Grow up.
First of all, I decided to give the PPT/touch-screen presentation a rest. I have been very academic and demanding lately, especially of first grade, so this is fun week--even though I hope next week will be really cool (stay tuned).
Second, first grade: I am starting by introducing them to the game "I Spy": you know, I spy, with my little eye, something (color). My classroom is actually pretty colorful due to all the different stuff I have in it, like my plants and their pots, coffee mugs, calendar, the decor, etc, etc.
The key teaching point is the construction, "Is it the _____?" They must phrase the question correctly and use the English term for the object. Very basic, but I'm not really trying to teach anything new this week.
So, whoever guesses my object gets to go next. We do this for about 20 minutes then switch to game #2, "Who Am I?" This is a variation on "20 Questions" whereby the object is always a famous person. I have created a bunch of chits and put them in a coffee mug from which someone (me first) draws a name. Then each table, rotating around the room, asks a Yes/No question to hone in on my identity.
I rearranged the desks to make six tables of six instead of 10 tables of four to give them more chances for their group. And when I'm It, I coach them on how to ask questions that narrow the field rather than eliminate only a small group. In other words, "Are you a Korean singer?" is a poor question, since I could be a Korean or a singer and you didn't eliminate either one.
And again, the language key is phrasing a proper question to get a Yes or No answer. "What's your job?" is a clear violation. Next team. "Are you England?" gets a No where "Are you English?" or "Are you from England?" would be a Yes. "Are you fly?" is a No, unless the target is Offspring, while a better question might be "Can you fly?" if you're a superhero.
Third, second grade: the new unit for this class is titled "The First Australians." Desks are in the usual groups of four. In the warm-up, students try to make as many words as possible from the letters in A-B-O-R-I-G-I-N-A-L; today's winner was 16 in both classes. Turns out, ling is a word, who'da thunk it?
But the main activity is one I took from a Dave Deubbelbeiss "Lesson in a Can" called Running Dictation (scroll to #105 at the bottom) in which students memorize a snippet of the information posted on a document, report it back to the base, taking turns, and repeat until they have "downloaded" the entire document. The first team to complete the task are the winners. This is a really good idea.
However, my students are the world's worst CHEATERS, so Mr Hur and I had to continuously modify placement of the document copies and monitor student behavior until we were no longer posting four copies for their convenience, but only two copies, one located in the hallway outside each door to the classroom.
Since the lesson is about indigenous peoples, I used related texts, for example:
The government of Brazil has recently published photographs of an isolated community of indigenous people living in the Amazon rainforest. It is the first time the world has seen this tribe and the first time for the tribe to see the outside world.
The newly-found tribe is surely one of the last remaining peoples on Earth never to have had contact with modern life. The name of the tribe and its exact location are being kept a secret. We only know that the tribe lives in a remote part of the rainforest near the Brazil-Peru border.
One final note I would make is that while I truly appreciate Dave's ESL Classroom 2.0, it is hideously difficult to find anything because the navigation is so poorly organized. Granted, part of that is because of the huge volume of content, but it's moreso because of his idiosyncratic filing-relational-labelling system, for want of a better word. I also dislike having to join a website, even a free one, but this one is worth it for me--if you teach ESL, it's worth it for you, too. One of the best resources.
One more final note I would make is that Mr Hur kept suggesting that students wanted to earn candy for being the winners. These are seventeen year olds. I have used Starburst and Jolly Ranchers before in my career, but only with elementary or middle schoolers. High school students, I explained, should have internalized their motivation for learning and performance by now. Their prize is knowing they won--bragging rights. He agreed, but still suggested they expect something for winning.
That agree/persist thing may be nunchi, the Korean inability to say what they mean, but too bad--we are simply not going to treat high school juniors like ten-year-olds. Grow up.
Monday, June 8, 2009
SCHMOE or SMOE
First off, I have to let you know this: the Demonstration class wherein I was to be evaluated today by the head office, get this, did not happen! They changed the procedure at the last possible moment, or even later--the letter was in today's mail, so we did not hear about this change until Miss Lee called to find out why no one had arrived to evaluate my class, as promised. What a bunch of ultra-macaroons, as Bugs Bunny would put it. And if Bugs is making fun of you, how far can you be from Daffy Duck?
Here's the timeline:
These people make the Keystone Kops look like the Nobel Committee. To begin with, this process should be taken care of in April, at the latest. The only reason I am not flustered is because, as mentioned previously, I don't plan to break out a hash pipe or rape a student across my desk anytime soon.
However, the timeliness of the procedure is not entirely irrelevant, as my semester break/vacation plans depend on acceptance of the new contract and payment of bonuses, airfare allowances, etc. Let's get with it, SMOE!!
Of course, the fact that no one showed up was no reason, as far as I'm concerned, to cancel the beer and chicken I promised to my co-workers! So, at 5:30 we met at Young Poong Chicken 영풍치킨, a hof in the new Blue Nine building across the street from the Doosan officetel where I live. The weather is quite fine--cool and windy, even--for mid-June, so I opted to sit outside. Frankly I was a little disappointed by the attendance, although it was with only day-of notice: Hwang, Mr Hur (Jerry) and Mr Lee (이금천).
We had a wide ranging conversation; these are literate, intelligent people who think the same of me until it is time to do anything practical--but I'll come to that later. I am still hoping to learn more from them than they learn from me in these episodes, but we're not there yet. I taught them about Christian religion in the West, and they thought they taught me about 눈치 nunchi, but they didn't. I already knew.
Mr Hwang left to go to his son's baseball practice with the words, "I'll be back!" At some point, the idea came up that Hwang would not return, but I assured them he would. Jerry then went into a dissertation on 눈치, which literally means "eye-measure", the subtle art of lying to your friends so you don't destroy the mood or hurt their feelings. Socially adept people can read the hints to determine if their friends are being polite or politic, or if they will really come back.
I agreed with him on the definition, since, after all, I have experienced this phenomenon--what with being in Korea for the better part of a year and all that--but I insisted that Mr Hwang was not being nunchi; if he wasn't coming back, he would say so. Well, about the time I was saying, "No, he'd call if he's going straight home," who did I see coming towards us across the mezzanine? Hwang.
Now, I'm not taking back one word I said in the Orange Drink post below, indeed, I think I'm merely proving it--he is as good a Korean friend as a white guy in Korea could hope for! But the stuff about treating me like a slow ten-year-old remains in force.
To wit: we were together at the cash register when I paid for a single beer, cost: W2,500, with a W10,000 note plus a W500 coin. The correct change should be W8,000. When the cashier gave me W7,000 in return, I looked to the native speakers for help. Both later agreed that they saw the transaction correctly--meaning, my 500 W coin, the 10,000 note and the 7,000 return--but wondered why I hesitated and questioned the cashier.
You know why? I think I do! They AUTOMATICALLY think Koreans are smarter/wiser/more careful/more precise than ANYONE ELSE could possibly be. Which is a very, very dangerous thing to think! No matter what nationality you may be: just look at the NYSE.
In any event, Korean perfection took a big hit just last Thursday when Mr Hwang and a juice box ended up looking pretty silly. I labelled this story as a parable for good reason. Today's episode could be titled "Korean money too confusing for foreigners--I mean Koreans!" I have no hope or expectation of changing Korean culture, I don't really want to, anyway, but what I do want is respect--simple respect. As I've said before, I am respected in the classroom. However, in the rest of the Korean world, I'm Rodney Dangerfield.
Moving on ...
I don't recall exactly how it came about, but I sang a few lines of The Impossible Dream from Man of La Mancha, the breath-taking musical based on Cervantes' Don Quixote, and Hwang wanted to know more about it. I gave him spellings, names, etc--and am chagrined to learn that Richard Kiley's performance is NOT on YouTube--WTF?
However, some guy named Brian Stokes Mitchell turns out to be incredibly awesome. I looked at five or six different tapings of his rendition in the 2006 revival and he brings tears to my eyes every time. Gotta show this to Hwang tomorrow!
Here's the timeline:
Mon, May 27 Initial info sent out about contract renewal
Tues, Jun 2 Final contract renewal submission deadline
Thur, Jun 4 Final day to submit date for Demonstration Class (w/in 2 weeks)
Mon, Jun 8 My date for Demonstration class, as submitted
Mon, Jun 8 Announce (in mail that cannot arrive on Mon) change of renewal process
These people make the Keystone Kops look like the Nobel Committee. To begin with, this process should be taken care of in April, at the latest. The only reason I am not flustered is because, as mentioned previously, I don't plan to break out a hash pipe or rape a student across my desk anytime soon.
However, the timeliness of the procedure is not entirely irrelevant, as my semester break/vacation plans depend on acceptance of the new contract and payment of bonuses, airfare allowances, etc. Let's get with it, SMOE!!
Of course, the fact that no one showed up was no reason, as far as I'm concerned, to cancel the beer and chicken I promised to my co-workers! So, at 5:30 we met at Young Poong Chicken 영풍치킨, a hof in the new Blue Nine building across the street from the Doosan officetel where I live. The weather is quite fine--cool and windy, even--for mid-June, so I opted to sit outside. Frankly I was a little disappointed by the attendance, although it was with only day-of notice: Hwang, Mr Hur (Jerry) and Mr Lee (이금천).
We had a wide ranging conversation; these are literate, intelligent people who think the same of me until it is time to do anything practical--but I'll come to that later. I am still hoping to learn more from them than they learn from me in these episodes, but we're not there yet. I taught them about Christian religion in the West, and they thought they taught me about 눈치 nunchi, but they didn't. I already knew.
Mr Hwang left to go to his son's baseball practice with the words, "I'll be back!" At some point, the idea came up that Hwang would not return, but I assured them he would. Jerry then went into a dissertation on 눈치, which literally means "eye-measure", the subtle art of lying to your friends so you don't destroy the mood or hurt their feelings. Socially adept people can read the hints to determine if their friends are being polite or politic, or if they will really come back.
I agreed with him on the definition, since, after all, I have experienced this phenomenon--what with being in Korea for the better part of a year and all that--but I insisted that Mr Hwang was not being nunchi; if he wasn't coming back, he would say so. Well, about the time I was saying, "No, he'd call if he's going straight home," who did I see coming towards us across the mezzanine? Hwang.
Now, I'm not taking back one word I said in the Orange Drink post below, indeed, I think I'm merely proving it--he is as good a Korean friend as a white guy in Korea could hope for! But the stuff about treating me like a slow ten-year-old remains in force.
To wit: we were together at the cash register when I paid for a single beer, cost: W2,500, with a W10,000 note plus a W500 coin. The correct change should be W8,000. When the cashier gave me W7,000 in return, I looked to the native speakers for help. Both later agreed that they saw the transaction correctly--meaning, my 500 W coin, the 10,000 note and the 7,000 return--but wondered why I hesitated and questioned the cashier.
You know why? I think I do! They AUTOMATICALLY think Koreans are smarter/wiser/more careful/more precise than ANYONE ELSE could possibly be. Which is a very, very dangerous thing to think! No matter what nationality you may be: just look at the NYSE.
In any event, Korean perfection took a big hit just last Thursday when Mr Hwang and a juice box ended up looking pretty silly. I labelled this story as a parable for good reason. Today's episode could be titled "Korean money too confusing for foreigners--I mean Koreans!" I have no hope or expectation of changing Korean culture, I don't really want to, anyway, but what I do want is respect--simple respect. As I've said before, I am respected in the classroom. However, in the rest of the Korean world, I'm Rodney Dangerfield.
Moving on ...
I don't recall exactly how it came about, but I sang a few lines of The Impossible Dream from Man of La Mancha, the breath-taking musical based on Cervantes' Don Quixote, and Hwang wanted to know more about it. I gave him spellings, names, etc--and am chagrined to learn that Richard Kiley's performance is NOT on YouTube--WTF?
However, some guy named Brian Stokes Mitchell turns out to be incredibly awesome. I looked at five or six different tapings of his rendition in the 2006 revival and he brings tears to my eyes every time. Gotta show this to Hwang tomorrow!
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