Tuttle Update

Today is Halloween, though the parties and Zombie Walks etc, were all last night. I decided to stay in and have a quiet dinner at Nori Nori, a hof in my building. I was about to leave when a pair of young people invited to have a drink with them.

Usually, I dread these situations, because I am not fond of spending a half-hour being tortured with personal questions in almost incoherent English; however, I had heard the girl spreaking pretty good English earlier, so I took a chance, and sat down with them. We got deep into some soju and conversation, and found ourselves at a noraebang until after midnight.

Her name is Janie (she runs a new hair salon that opened in the building) and the guy was one of her employees. I looked for a certain Aerosmith song but they didn't have it--the English song selection is usually not too extensive (although I've noticed that "My Way" is 7004 everywhere you go).

Earlier on Saturday, the students in my Saturday class presented their first big speeches. I was quite pleased--with a couple of exceptions, they all got the most important things I was looking for: a hook, or interest-arousing opening; clear structure with signposts and transitions; knowledge and enthusiasm for their topic; and useful visual aids. A good start!

In weather, the week started out cold but clear, and had warmed up nicely by the weekend. In the coming week, temps are supposed to range from lows in the 40s to highs in the low 60s; still a bit chilly, but at least no smow in the forecast--yet!

My lessons this week are heavy on video--of course, in the 1st grade's movie unit, this is to be expected: it is now that they will begin applying the terminology we have been developing. Half the class leaves the room while the others will watch a Mr Bean video. They have to identify the genre, setting, characters, actors, plot, etc., so they can tell the others all about it when they come back in. Repeat with video #2. To end class, we just enjoy a third Mr Bean video for the fun of it.

Personally, I am not crazy about Mr Bean (Blackadder is a different story, Mr Atkinson's earlier creation), I think it's rather juvenile. The kids, though, love him. Of course, they are juveniles ...

The 2nd grade will do the Harry Potter and the Sorting Hat lesson I described here. I have been looking for some Harry Potter wizard costume pieces so I can dress up the winning team and take a picture for the photo board, but no luck yet.