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!

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. :)

A Goodbye Video to my Students

As part of a package of things I will be giving to my students to say goodbye to them, I made this video. It's a collection of photos and videos from our various field trips over the past two years. There was a lot I could put in but I narrowed it down to the following that you will see. I'm not looking forward to my last class time with the kids, because they really gave me the strength and inspiration to be a teacher. But I hope this video and my other gifts will leave a lasting memory in their hearts.

Enjoy ~

An Activity for Measuring Area

I might be preoccupied with leaving Korea, but I still have my job to do. These days the kids are finishing up the chapter on measuring. In a few weeks they will have their final tests and then it's a week and a half off for Christmas!

The measuring unit covers inches, centimeters and area. This kind of subject area is really straight forward but also can be expanded to cover talking about comparatives. Such as, "She is taller than me." So I have been integrating some basic English learning along with the target Math subject area.

For measuring area I wanted to give kids a physical experience of how this works. So after an introduction and doing the book work pages I gave them an activity. Each student got a worksheet that has four sections on it. In each section is a picture and an example sentence. This relates to a set of four pictures that each team receives. (The white paper you see). On this set of papers are different pictures, such as a strawberry and a pacman.

The students share the pictures and also share a box of baduk beads. In case you don't know what these are, they are small black and white semi-flat beads that are used in a classic game here. Also called "Go" in Japan.

They use the baduk beads to cover up the area inside the pictures. Then after they count up the number of beads it took to cover the picture they refer back to their worksheet to write a target sentence. "The strawberry is 50 baduk beads in area."

Was it a success?

You bet it was! The students really cared about filling up the area inside the pictures and then concentrated on counting them up. Sure some of them counted in Korean, but then they had to write about it in English. Also after counting they would shout, "Teacher! The Ghost is 110 baduk beads!"

I enjoyed walking around the classroom helping them and seeing their concentration on this activity. I hope it helped the students understand the concept of "area" and how to talk about it in English.

If you don't teach Math this might be a good activity to use in classroom for just counting numbers or making patterns within the shapes. Besides using the baduk beads has become a very versatile tool in the classroom. I would suggest getting a set and seeing what you can do with them.

I'm going to miss being in the classroom, but hope I can take all this hard work with me as I get my MA. Ed in TESOL.

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!

When a student leaves

It came without notice today, one of our students is leaving the school. What makes this more special than other times is that this students was let's say a star. But not in a great and brilliant shining way, more like he was the constant trouble maker. Indeed, last year he would use his physical self to hurt other students without much regret. This year he used words and threats more, which I guess was an improvement. But despite him being a bully, rude and just hard to manage I actually became fond of this kid. I think what happened was finding a way to manage him in class and also be his friend at the same time. Also when he was behaving well and giving constructive output in the class I enjoyed his participation.

So I was a bit sad getting the news today, which was delivered in a kind of awkward way. His father entered my room and asked me where were his books and told me about it. He thanked me for teaching him too. When he left I stood in my classroom a bit flustered knowing that the boy would be leaving and I didn't get to say goodbye. So I went and found him in his after-school class. I asked him, "I heard you are leaving our school?" He said yes and it's because his father is changing jobs and moving. I don't know what the truth is but I gave him a hug and said I will miss him, and goodbye. He seemed a little confused but he's just a boy anyways. He's the kind of student that needs a mentor in his life or adult figure who understands him and at the same time councils him on making right decisions.

It all makes me realize what can happen to you when you teach young students for an extended period of time. A part of your heart opens up to them and at some point they move on. I guess that's that.

**He just came in here to say goodbye. He looked a bit sad too. Oh man...the tears are behind my eyes. Well I tried my best for the boy.

School Market Day

Fall is here with clear blue skies and cool breezes, and I am reminded that a whole year has gone by. Around this season schools like to hold festive markets where the students come out and buy stuff. Usually the stuff for sale is donated by parent volunteers. This week my school had their School Market, and I joined in with the students haggling for things such as pencils and toys. It really was a lot of fun.

This year the English department got involved by baking goods and donating money for store-bought sweets. Also some teachers helped man our booth and have the kids practice buying stuff in English. It was fun to see students excited to interact with the foreign teachers, and I think this kind of out-of-the-classroom experience was good for them.

Items also for sale included school uniforms and used clothing, and keep in mind all the profits went to charity.

I wouldn't mind seeing more events like this with the English teachers involved, however I know it would mean a lot more extra work. Anyways, I got myself a few packs of pencils, but saw a few toys I wish I had bought. However, the kids had a blast and that's what is more important.