If these shoes could talk...

Those are a pair of shoes that I have worn every since I came to Korea. They have been my work shoes, because you change your shoes when you go to work here. I always said to myself I would get a different pair but I never bothered. They have seen me through 1 hagwon, 2 public schools and this last one. These shoes have taken me through a lot of drama and hard times, but also through fun experiences as well. I'm not going to take them back with me, so I suppose they can live here in Korea.

I just finished my last classes and I feel good. I thought maybe I would feel really sad, but I'm all together okay. (I'm thinking it will all hit me when I strap in for my plane ride). The students seem surprised and pleased with the gift card and nice candy I gave them. They really enjoyed the video and were amazed I made it. I left them the title of the video so they can search for it, and also gave out my email.

I know I will miss these students. The hardest thing is not going to be here to see them grow up, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

The following are pictures of student homework. For their last assignment I had them write a sentence about their favorite subject they learned in Math, then draw a picture of their favorite experience. Some of the results were really amusing and I liked the fact that they were varied. It showed I gave them a range of experiences. It was also fun to see their hand drawn renditions of me...so take a look!

I'll start with ones that are renditions of myself. Sorry for the cropping on this one but I'm in the bottom left. I've got those wild eyed teacher eyes.

Here I am depicted in threes for some reason. For the most part I'm distinguishable because of my curly hair, which was rendered with quite a lot of curliness. As for what the kid is depicting it was a weighing demonstration I did with them. I had a spring scale where you attach something to the hook at the bottom and it pulls down to show how many grams, many of them got a kick out of this.

I like the nose I was given in this one:

 A lot of them liked the "potion" activity which was done last week. It was an activity I devised for measuring using milliliters. However, I couldn't find a water dropper for the life of me in my area and so just poured tiny amounts. I relabeled colorful sports drink bottles as, "Fire potion", "Electric potion" and so on. They first filled out a worksheet then came up to me to get their "potion."

Here a student enjoyed the "animal cubes" project we did earlier in the semester:

Another one for the weight unit, here I had students construct a "gallon man" craft, which a lot of them liked.

Another one that enjoyed the measuring unit. She is depicting a scenario that actually happened. I made a large inch ruler by laminating an example. Then I walked around and measured the student's heads as they guessed the size. Yep, that was a big hit too!

I'm quite impressed with this kids memory of sorting black and white baduk beads to represent area. Something learned back in the Spring semester. It's also a really accurate rendition of the activity.

This last one hear I like because it's basically a drawing of this kids desk when they are in my class. Open book, eraser, pencil and pencil case all shown in good detail.

When I looked through this homework assignment I was filled with a sense of accomplishment. I couldn't help but think that I did get through to these kids and left them with happy memories.

I did receive a present from one of the homeroom teachers that she gave to me privately. I could really tell she acknowledged the hard work I put in and was sad to see me go. I reassured her I enjoyed teaching at the school and will miss it very much.

So this was my last day of work here in Korea. Just about a week left and I'll be off on my new adventure. Thank you kids!

Proud of My Work

Before I ever left for Korea I was working at an Insurance Company in San Francisco. My boss was this kooky old Japanese man who lived by a lot of morals and codes. Have you ever watched Mad Men? The office was kind of like that, and even had old type writers.

While he was training me to be an Insurance Agent he would now and then pass on knowledge. This one time he told me that when you do a job you should do it right. You should do such hard work that when it comes time for you to leave (for whatever reason) the company should be sorry to see you go. At that time I was fresh out of college and with a small work history behind me. I tried my best at that job, but know I could have left it better.

His wise words have carried with me in Korea. As you know I struggled at the first few jobs I had here, then I started to get momentum and understood what hard work means. It doesn't just mean showing up on time, doing paperwork and being there. It means going beyond the call of duty and probably working more than you should.

At the job I'm leaving now I know I am leaving behind hard work. My colleagues and supervisors might not be exactly telling me, "We wish you could stay" but I know I've left my mark. Although the Vice Principal did say she was sad to see me go.

However, I'm proud of my work at this job because of what I experienced today. I was organizing my desk and getting things ready for the new teacher. Throughout the year I kept binders of my work so to keep a record and just in case things came to this. I looked through my two full binders of "worksheets" and realized what great work it was. I made 90% of the worksheets by scratch. The binder of "lesson plans" weren't just short pages with an outline of what to do, but detailed and lengthy. In the storage spaces along the walls were spread out five large plastic bins full of materials, I also made from scratch. In addition, I bought blocks, cards and other hands-on stuff for the students. I'm leaving this all behind for the new teacher, and hope they use it.

When I walked into this school to teach 1st Grade math I was left with scant supplies and lesson plans. I started from scratch and built up a curriculum that I think is effective. However, I know that there is room for tweaking, but that's for the new teacher to deal with.

Leaving a job feeling satisfied and proud is a really good feeling. In the end, I don't really need a supervisor to tell me "good job" because I saw the results in my students and work. If you are an English teacher here in Korea I would encourage you to put in more than you have been. You might think it's not worth it because of the salary and quality of your institution, but it will develop yourself so much.

Anyway, that's my thoughts on this last Monday at work! (Official last day is next Thursday...next Monday is a holiday).

Goodbye desk~

Goodbye chalkboard ~

Cards of Good Luck

In addition to the video I made for my students I am planning to give each one a personalized card with a treat. In each card is a personal written note that touches on my experience with them and wishes for their future. I've also stepped it up a notch by glueing in a small picture of myself into the card. I figured a percentage will throw it out, but there might be a bunch that hold on to it.

For the girls I got them a card with a red heart and yellow frame on it. Inside it says, "I love you" around it so I figured the girls won't freak out as much, as say the boys would.

The boys get the "Good luck" card with a four leaf-clover image and a present box on the inside flap.

I still have to glue in my picture to the rest of the cards before I'm finished. I was hoping to make a little candy gift for them, but things were getting too expensive. I got the cards off of Gmarket (Korea's Amazon.com). Each card was about .50 cents and there are 134 students, so you can do the math. Plus I got them nice candy, instead of the cheap kind. So I kind of calculated all the presents I have given them over the past two years and figured they had gotten enough.

This is the first time I have ever made goodbye presents for students, but since this is a "real" goodbye I wanted to make it special. Besides I have been teaching these kids for the past two years. I think it is also a good idea to give your graduating students a present. But I know most teacher's don't bother because they might feel it doesn't matter. In this case, I felt it really mattered and hope it does make a difference.

I guess I will find out on the last days of class. All I know is that if I were a little kid in one of the many English classes I had here and got a little present from a teacher, I would feel good. :)

Winter Camp Week 1: Wrap Up

Those last five days of winter camp went really fast! Thankfully I had prepared enough before camp to jump into it without that dreaded feeling of, "What do I do?" At my school camp is from 8:50 - 12:10, with various breaks in between. Most of what we teach is academic, like Science and Reading, but there are also fun stuff like a Drama unit and Museum unit.

I try to engage the students as much as possible with questions, and I also found setting up the material works well. Before we get into the book I brainstorm with them about the topic and play a short video for them to get the connections visually. This really helped when we were going to make a craft based upon cavemen wall paintings. The video showed the wall paintings from Lascaux in France, and the students were quite impressed.

I admit I miss the days of designing the whole camp and having "cooking" and other themes that were more hands on fun. But you make due with what you got!

For the next week of camp the students will practice their short drama and enjoy making a wooly mammoth out of recycled materials. I look forward to more time with the kids, but as the days swiftly pass by I'm reminded of how little time I have left. Thankfully we have a week off after camp so I can see about squaring everything away. Mostly just need to sell off my stuff. Ok see ya!

Make Math a Subject in the Classroom With These Books for Sale

More cleaning out goodness going on over here. Before I started teaching math at my school two years ago I bought these books to get a sense of how to do it. They were really helpful in understanding how young learners take in Math and also helped me see ways to turn it around into English learning. Therefore they were incredibly useful books and I think would be great for your collection.

If you don't teach Math in your class then these might inspire you to do so, as they have lots of ideas. Also many games and activities are included, which you could easily put in the classroom.

1. Developing Number Concepts, Book 1: Counting, Comparing, and Pattern

http://www.amazon.com/Developing-Number-Concepts-Book-Comparing/dp/0769000584

Price: 25,000 Won

2. Developing Number Concepts, Book 2: Addition and Subtraction

http://www.amazon.com/Developing-Number-Concepts-Book-Subtraction/dp/0769000592/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

Price: 25,000 Won

3. Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics: Grades K-3

Price: 25,000 Won

OR 60,000 Won for all Three! Wow!


Let me know how you would like them delivered, and keep in mind if you have children this would likely be helpful in tutoring at home.

:)

Teaching 2nd Grade Math: Some materials

 Before I leave I am making sure I document all the materials I have made over the past several years. Most of which were made for teaching first and second grade EFL Math. The above is a set of telephone game cards. Each student is given the above sheet and can "call" another student in the classroom. I used toy phones and also they would get flashcards of fractions. They would practice target language and it was quite successful, although a lot to manage.

That is the same thing just in a more condensed format. Below we have a set of board games.

There were two styles of board games, one just on an A4 size paper and another quite larger. The kids enjoyed playing these games and I would make sure they were speaking English. One of the rules I reinforced was that if a member landed on a square and didn't speak it in English then that player would have to go all the way back to the start. This helped a lot as they could self-manage their own groups.

I found the above shape posters online and found them fun for English learners. Each one has a cute little poem with reference to what the shape is in real life. They currently are up on the walls around my classroom.

I used a lot of manipulative cards such as the shape cards above. Mostly for introductions and having students come up and do the work themselves in front of everyone. This allowed for vocabulary games and activities, too. I don't know how I could have gotten by without sets of shapes, coins and other various picture cards. Just writing the words on the board wasn't enough for me, I guess!

There is a lot more, so much that it fills up 26 pages in a Word document. If you would be interested in getting this document let me know, as I am very open to sharing. I'll see about adding more on a blog post another time, if it suits me. ;)

The Why

Why leave this land that has so many wonders and where I have discovered a culture rich in beauty and taste?

My time in Korea, for the most part, was focused on a certain set of tracks. Those led by the fact that I was dating a Korean and we were getting serious. I thought that my life was headed down towards marriage and forming a family in Korea. It was something I was willing to accept and go through with, coming with the price of leaving America and my family behind. Intertwined with this was my love for the country, exploring and being involved in the art scene. But then last year these tracks suddenly stopped, I broke up with my boyfriend. Since I was heading down those tracks I tried to keep the momentum going, hoping I would find a new lover along the way. However, it seemed as hard as I tried life just wasn't going to deal me those cards.

Around the beginning of this last summer, as I found myself defeated again, I sat back and asked myself, "Where am I going in Korea? What am I doing here?" I began to see that trying to continue the personal path I was on before was becoming fruitless, yet my energy and love towards teaching had never waned. I also considered what is left for me here in Korea, both professionally and personally.

(my Public School classroom in 2008)

Professionally I could continue to find good schools to work at and build up my reputation and salary, perhaps getting a University teaching gig. But then I understood that this could last for only so long. Without a Master's degree I would eventually be up against the competition of those who have earned such title. Combine this with having already moved four times in Korea and have gone from one school to the next, I felt tired with the feeling of having to do this over and over. Yet I felt the passion for teaching in me and knew that making a career out this would be not only possible but best for my life.

I came to the conclusion through research and discussion to go back home and pursue a Master's Degree in TESOL. I realized that I would like to try to serve the immigrants and students who need English back home, then to keep pumping it out over here. Like a flower bursting into bloom this idea of mine started from a seed and grew into a new life goal.

Therefore my decision to leave Korea stemmed off the personal and grew into the professional. Throughout the beginning of when I was going back-and-forth on whether to stay in Korea or not, I truly did have a hard time coming to the idea that I would be leaving this country. It's not just that I'm leaving a comfortable way of life, it's that I will be saying goodbye to friends and relationships that I have cared about over the years here.

More so than anything I have experienced or gained here in Korea is that I will miss my students. So the decision to leave is even harder knowing I won't be here to see them grow up. All I can wish for is that they remember me.

Certainly I want to write more about what I'm going to miss and look back on the fond memories I have, so keep an eye out for that. But I hope what I wrote today show's you how I came to the conclusion of leaving my 4 year life in Korea. For the most part I am excited about my new journey ahead and can't wait to see how what I have learned here shapes me in the year's to come. If you have any questions about all this please do ask.

All right, thank you for reading.

Foreigner Joy will soon be foreigner no more

This is what I looked like when I first arrived in Korea, back in spring of 2008. At that time I was exhausted but also thrilled to start my Korean life. For the next four years I learned a lot about Korean culture, it's people and mostly myself. I've had two serious Korean boyfriends in that time, and they helped shape my experience here. So what am I getting at?

I'm leaving Korea.

I will write about how I came to this conclusion and what my plans are shortly. But first I want to say something to those who have been reading this blog from the beginning, or generally keep up with it. Thank you! Really, I was able to get through the tough times and enjoy my time in Korea so much more because I had this blog. Also being involved in the K-blogging community kept me from jumping ship even earlier. I know many of you appreciate what I write and do to represent Korean life, and so a part of me is sad that I will no longer be contributing after I leave. However, I think what I leave behind here on this blog will be helpful to other's in the future and certainly will remain as a great way for me to look back on life here.

With that said I also want to say something to those who might be saying, "I guess Joy has given up." "Korean life was just too hard for her anyways, she must not have tried hard enough to live here." When you live somewhere for four years, especially in another culture, you do spend a lot of time making it your home. There are folks in Korea who have been here a long time, made it a point to learn Korean, and have engulfed themselves in the culture by either marriage or other means. These are "lifers" and for a while there I thought I was one of them. But my life changed and wasn't really going down that track anymore (I'll write more on this later when I talk about why I have decided to leave). In short I want to say to those who might think I have "given up", that making a decision like this is not easy.

So why am I leaving and where am I going? I am going to detail the "why" part in a different post as I feel it would be good to give a better description of this then just, "It was time."

As for where I am going...well. I decided to go back home and go to Graduate school. After spending considerable time researching I have decided to go to Seattle University and attend the M.A. Ed. TESOL program. You see I decided that I need my American life back and I also want to advance in this field. Now, I'm no fool and know that the American job market is tough. I won't be guaranteed work after I graduate. Yet I am willing to relocate myself again to where job opportunities may be. If there is a job in Arizona that would hire me, I'll take it! Perhaps I'll even head out again and this time to Japan.

So from now on I'll still be sharing posts about my remaining time here in Korea (I'll be leaving at the end of my contract in February). Also I'll talk about my move and my time here in Korea. Once again thanks for following me through all these years or weeks...it's been a pleasure keeping this blog. So time to move on...and get going!

Drama Festival Fever

For the past several weeks I have been teaching my students a scene from the play, "The Blind Men and the Elephant." It's an adapted version for EFL students and includes several songs which they dance to. For the most part I have been having fun teaching my students to sing, dance, speak loudly and act. However, doing it this time as a team leader adds on more challenges. There is pressure for the students to perform well, and it comes from the Korean side of the school. As foreign teacher's we know that we can do our best, but the students will decide in the end how to perform.

However, I keep my chin up, work hard and hope that it will piece itself together in a functional way. Last year, when I was in the first grade, things turned out not so well. I blame this on that each foreign teacher was responsible for 2 groups to teach them the whole play. This was a daunting task as these little kids couldn't get through the whole thing each time we practiced. Plus our play was way more complicated with props they had to pick up, and standing positions that changed for nearly every scene. Needless to say not all the groups performed well last year. The Korean teacher's seemed to let that mishap slide, even though they frowned quite profusely.

This year, since I am in charge of organizing it, I decided to give each foreign teacher on the team a scene or two, to teach the students. There are six scenes and I divided them up into equal parts and what made sense in the story. That made 3 of the teacher's doing scenes and one designated as the "director" who will teach them everything (focusing on parts needing the most help). So far I find this scheme to be working well. I can focus on just my scene with the students, as they rotate from class to class. On Friday, nearly every group had their lines down memorized and the song movements in coordination. There were a few groups still lagging behind, but I blame it on their inability to focus. Certainly, I've gotten a work out every day by standing in front of a group of kids dancing and waving my arms around gesturing to them!

Next Monday and Tuesday will be our final days of practice, then Wednesday we will have a dress rehearsal all day. Thursday and Friday will be performance days.

If one were to look at the benefit of doing this on their English skills, I would say it is helping the low levels out a lot. They are getting actual quality time with the teacher on pronunciation and speech, then I think they would normally get in the regular classes. Also we have blended the high and low levels together, which I feel has helped the low's gain confidence and understand where their English could go.

For the most part I just want this to be over and to go back to my routine of teaching Math. Sure this is fun, but also quite repetitive and stressful. Ah well....that's life!

Fresh air with the kiddos: Field trip to the Korea National Arboretum

Some wonderful Fall foliage pics here to share with you as I talk about my final field trip for this semester. The kiddos were sent to the Korea National Arboretum up in Pocheon, which is slightly north of Seoul.

Our day was blessed with little cloud cover, warm air and wonderful colors along the way.

You might be asking yourself, "What is an arboretum, that sounds familiar?" Well this is likened to a collection of trees, so in essence this park was a tree-park. What does every tree park need? A museum to enlighten you on the varieties of wood out there and it's many uses, of course!

In one exhibit they reminded viewers the destruction that Japanese occupiers left on the forests here, which was kind of sad. However, the organization of the museum was quite nice and it also had a lovely lingering smell of fresh cut wood.

Also in the museum was a gallery space with shadow boxes full of hand crafted sceneries made from wooden items.

After our stint around the museum we headed over to a greenhouse for some humid air and to take a look at some greenery.

The most of this trip was spent wandering through the many paths admiring the changing colors in the leaves, and mostly for me taking in the fresh forest smell.

In fact the fresh air and Fall foliage reminded me of my small-town home back in California, so I became a bit homesick and nostalgic at the same time. But the kids constantly kicked me into remembering where I was, and Fall in Korea is certainly a special time.

We enjoyed lunch in a opening under the trees, where unfortunately bees also had a good time checking out what we brought.

For the final leg of our trip we walked up a trail admiring the forest once more, before heading back to the busses.

Now is the peak time for fall foliage it seems, as the trees are in full bursts of color. I can't help but think by the end of next week the trees might look like sticks, and winter will be around the corner. Time surely does fly!