Today was Halloween, my least favorite day of the year. I've never liked it, since I was, ya know, 11 probably. My recent career as an ESL teacher in South Korea has only increased my disdain of it.
Halloween is a Western holiday, so naturally the types of places I work embrace it. All things English-related are promoted, so when a kooky holiday pops up my employers play it up. I think the last two sentences I wrote are pretty much identical to one another. Hopefully the point has been made.
So Halloween is the worst day of work of the year, and it's because of the dreaded "Halloween Party". We as teachers are tasked with organizing games and activities for these kids. Two problems immediately become evident. First, "organized fun" does not exist. These things can feel forced and stale, like we're trying to imitate some generic interpretation of "fun". If you're not careful, you'll find yourself monitoring a party where groups of ten children rotate from station to station at the sound of a whistle, playing poorly-fashioned games such as "bowling", which consists of languidly rolling a small ball 10 feet at 3 empty water bottles, or some sort of magnetic dart board game which doesn't function properly and eventually deteriorates into haphazardly hurling winged magnets at a wall which they bounce off of and fall to the floor, as onlookers can muster neither the will to care nor the resolution to quit. And just when you think it can't get any worse someone tells you that the first grader in the frog costume just shit himself. That was how the party went my first year here.
On the other end of this spectrum there's another dangerous path to take. Without regimented supervision things can get out of hand quickly. In this case, you're just loading kids up with sugar and carbohydrates, and unleashing them on yourself. Their most primordial instincts take over as they surge toward a frenzied, insatiable zeal for more candy, more soda, more madness. At this point, your best bet is probably locking them all in a room and periodically lowering from the ceiling a lamb or yak for them to dissever and feast upon. However, that's most likely out of the question, so instead you get the bright idea to play musical chairs with them, which quickly morphs to a swirling mass of manic children, which swells and pulsates and becomes one indistinguishable blur, as Michael Jackson's "Thriller" is barely audible above their distempered cacophony. That was year two.
I approached this year with a "pick your poison" mindset. Given that most students are middle school, I envisioned apathetic stares and an unwillingness to give a damn. Thankfully it would only be three hours. Yet I must say that this year was the least worst of them all. Sure there was the indifference of a pack of 13 year old girls, as well as the violence of a couple of 10 year old boys trying to bludgeon each other with balloons, but some genuine fun was had, even by me. The bulk of the time was spent lining them up 5 at a table, and seeing which of them could eat the most cookies in one minute. Sure a couple kids almost choked, and the place was a disaster afterward, but it was entertaining. There was also a competition where kids were given an English word that they had to get me to say, either by acting it out or explaining it to me in English. At the end we handed out some prizes, swept up a little, and said goodbye. Tomorrow we'll go back to teaching them English.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
opinions
On Tuesday and Thursday nights I teach a class of eight 14 and 15 year olds. "Teach" actually isn't the right word for it. These kids' English abilities are so good- better than any of the Korean teachers at the school even- that there's really nothing left for them to be taught. My job then is to be someone they can speak English to, and guide the class discussion.
Every other day I have to select an article from a collection of articles, and hand it out to them. The articles I give them are written in Korean, and their homework is to translate it into English. Also, there is a separate "Opinion" page, where a question relating to the article is posed to them in English, and they are to respond to it by writing a few paragraphs.
Given this arrangement, the contents of the actual article itself are unknown to me when I hand it out to them. I have to rely on reading their translations before I know what it is we're talking about. However, I can get an idea of what the article's topic is by reading the question on the "Opinion" page. For instance, the "Opinion" question for the first article I gave them was something along the lines of, "Do you ever imitate a celebrity's style?" The article ended up being about the influence a certain actor's fashion had had on fashion trends in Korea.
The reason I'm explaining all this, and taking way too long to do so, is that I was perusing the article selection today and stumbled across one doozy of an "Opinion" question. I really can't wait to assign it, just so that I can get a translation of the article itself. The "Opinion" question was: "If you were a leper, would you abort your child?"
Every other day I have to select an article from a collection of articles, and hand it out to them. The articles I give them are written in Korean, and their homework is to translate it into English. Also, there is a separate "Opinion" page, where a question relating to the article is posed to them in English, and they are to respond to it by writing a few paragraphs.
Given this arrangement, the contents of the actual article itself are unknown to me when I hand it out to them. I have to rely on reading their translations before I know what it is we're talking about. However, I can get an idea of what the article's topic is by reading the question on the "Opinion" page. For instance, the "Opinion" question for the first article I gave them was something along the lines of, "Do you ever imitate a celebrity's style?" The article ended up being about the influence a certain actor's fashion had had on fashion trends in Korea.
The reason I'm explaining all this, and taking way too long to do so, is that I was perusing the article selection today and stumbled across one doozy of an "Opinion" question. I really can't wait to assign it, just so that I can get a translation of the article itself. The "Opinion" question was: "If you were a leper, would you abort your child?"
Sunday, October 23, 2011
ennui
I've been back here for a week or so now. At this point I'm willing to make two predictions. One, this will be my last go round over here. And, two, I won't complete my year-long contract, but will come home after 6 or 8 months.
Nothing terrible has happened that makes me feel this way. Rather, this whole thing has gotten stale for me, I think. In prior years I would eventually feel bored or burnt out, but after 9 months or so; this year it has hit me in the first week.
My school seems to be okay. I do have one major problem with it that I'll get into in a moment. I teach mostly middle schoolers, who can be tough. Some of them don't give a damn about what I have to say. There's one class in particular who couldn't give less of a collective shit about anything I say or do. So, of course this was the class my boss sat in on and watched. She basically saw me talk to myself for a while, while a group of teenagers sat staring into space. It was one of those things that makes you laugh once it's over, because it really could not have gone any worse. In my 2+ years of teaching over here, those were the worst 40 minutes I could've possibly chosen to have a boss observe me.
But they aren't all that way. A few of them actually talk to me, and are quite good. Still, there's a certain enthusiasm that only comes from teaching the younger kids, and I miss it. I think back fondly to my students from last year and wish I could just teach them again.
I'm the only foreigner at this school, as opposed to year one when there were 6, and year two when there were 2 or 3. I wasn't sure if I'd like being the only foreigner or not, and I'm starting to feel that it's a bad thing. It's boring not having anybody to chat with, and there's nobody else there for support in the event a problem arises.
A problem certainly has arisen. On Fridays, I teach a half day: 4 classes instead of 8. As a result, after 6:30, I'm done teaching and have nothing to do. However, I'm not allowed to go home. I have to sit there until 9:30, when all the other teachers are done as well. 3 hours, on a Friday, of just sitting there and waiting. I bitched out my boss for 15 minutes about this, asking what she expected me to do, but getting no answers. She said she had to go do something but we'd talk about it later. She never came back, because that's how people handle confrontation over here. That fight isn't over, though.
So that's where we are. Maybe this week a fiery passion will be lit inside me and dash the ennui. We shall see.
Nothing terrible has happened that makes me feel this way. Rather, this whole thing has gotten stale for me, I think. In prior years I would eventually feel bored or burnt out, but after 9 months or so; this year it has hit me in the first week.
My school seems to be okay. I do have one major problem with it that I'll get into in a moment. I teach mostly middle schoolers, who can be tough. Some of them don't give a damn about what I have to say. There's one class in particular who couldn't give less of a collective shit about anything I say or do. So, of course this was the class my boss sat in on and watched. She basically saw me talk to myself for a while, while a group of teenagers sat staring into space. It was one of those things that makes you laugh once it's over, because it really could not have gone any worse. In my 2+ years of teaching over here, those were the worst 40 minutes I could've possibly chosen to have a boss observe me.
But they aren't all that way. A few of them actually talk to me, and are quite good. Still, there's a certain enthusiasm that only comes from teaching the younger kids, and I miss it. I think back fondly to my students from last year and wish I could just teach them again.
I'm the only foreigner at this school, as opposed to year one when there were 6, and year two when there were 2 or 3. I wasn't sure if I'd like being the only foreigner or not, and I'm starting to feel that it's a bad thing. It's boring not having anybody to chat with, and there's nobody else there for support in the event a problem arises.
A problem certainly has arisen. On Fridays, I teach a half day: 4 classes instead of 8. As a result, after 6:30, I'm done teaching and have nothing to do. However, I'm not allowed to go home. I have to sit there until 9:30, when all the other teachers are done as well. 3 hours, on a Friday, of just sitting there and waiting. I bitched out my boss for 15 minutes about this, asking what she expected me to do, but getting no answers. She said she had to go do something but we'd talk about it later. She never came back, because that's how people handle confrontation over here. That fight isn't over, though.
So that's where we are. Maybe this week a fiery passion will be lit inside me and dash the ennui. We shall see.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
3
Here we go.
Year 3 is beginning in a similar manner as year 2 did. My apartment is not yet ready, because the old teacher hasn't left yet, so I am to spend my first couple nights back in one of the skeeviest places this country has to offer - a love motel. I actually miss the love motel from last year compared to the one this year. My room just feels gross. It also doesn't have internet access, so I'm writing this from a pc room.
Getting over here was awful, but that's to be expected. For my flight to San Francisco I got to sit a row behind a screaming 2 year old. The kid cried and yelled for probably 4 hours of the flight. Everybody was miserable. A crying 2 year old is especially annoying because he can talk and communicate, so you just want to say, "Hey baby shut the hell up," because he'll probably get the point. Nobody said that though, we all just grew angrier at his stupid Dad who just held him there the whole time.
The second flight was better. However, despite my experience with long plane rides, I'm still unable to sleep on them. I tried to watch a few movies but the pickings were rather slim.
When I got to Daejeon I had some trouble finding the person who was to pick me up. I was told to meet them outside of a certain coffee shop. So I'm standing there with all of my luggage waiting for someone to notice the young white guy who clearly just stepped off a plane, but after 5 minutes nobody had approached me. After about 10 minutes a lady comes up to me and I find out she's my boss or something. She says that she saw me earlier but I didn't recognize me from my picture because I'm wearing glasses. I wanted to point out to her that the fact that I'm a young white guy with a bunch of luggage should be enough of a hint that I'm the guy she was looking for. I was tired though and just wanted to sleep.
So, I don't think there's much different from this year compared to the prior two. I'm back in Daejeon, which is the city I lived in the first year. I'll be teaching elementary and middle school kids once again, although there may be more middle school classes this year which might not be much fun.
Given the fact that I can attach a specific crisis to each of the first two years I spent in this country, I think it's understandable that I enter this third year with some trepidation. The first year the crisis had to do with my family. The second year the crisis had to do with me. I don't want to scare anybody, but if you're a friend of mine...you might want to look both ways before crossing the street this year.
There's more to say but this enough for now. I'll write again once I get settled in an apartment. So, check back in often for more The Journey to the East 3, Daejeon 2: Let's Have Nobody Die or Almost Die This Year.
Year 3 is beginning in a similar manner as year 2 did. My apartment is not yet ready, because the old teacher hasn't left yet, so I am to spend my first couple nights back in one of the skeeviest places this country has to offer - a love motel. I actually miss the love motel from last year compared to the one this year. My room just feels gross. It also doesn't have internet access, so I'm writing this from a pc room.
Getting over here was awful, but that's to be expected. For my flight to San Francisco I got to sit a row behind a screaming 2 year old. The kid cried and yelled for probably 4 hours of the flight. Everybody was miserable. A crying 2 year old is especially annoying because he can talk and communicate, so you just want to say, "Hey baby shut the hell up," because he'll probably get the point. Nobody said that though, we all just grew angrier at his stupid Dad who just held him there the whole time.
The second flight was better. However, despite my experience with long plane rides, I'm still unable to sleep on them. I tried to watch a few movies but the pickings were rather slim.
When I got to Daejeon I had some trouble finding the person who was to pick me up. I was told to meet them outside of a certain coffee shop. So I'm standing there with all of my luggage waiting for someone to notice the young white guy who clearly just stepped off a plane, but after 5 minutes nobody had approached me. After about 10 minutes a lady comes up to me and I find out she's my boss or something. She says that she saw me earlier but I didn't recognize me from my picture because I'm wearing glasses. I wanted to point out to her that the fact that I'm a young white guy with a bunch of luggage should be enough of a hint that I'm the guy she was looking for. I was tired though and just wanted to sleep.
So, I don't think there's much different from this year compared to the prior two. I'm back in Daejeon, which is the city I lived in the first year. I'll be teaching elementary and middle school kids once again, although there may be more middle school classes this year which might not be much fun.
Given the fact that I can attach a specific crisis to each of the first two years I spent in this country, I think it's understandable that I enter this third year with some trepidation. The first year the crisis had to do with my family. The second year the crisis had to do with me. I don't want to scare anybody, but if you're a friend of mine...you might want to look both ways before crossing the street this year.
There's more to say but this enough for now. I'll write again once I get settled in an apartment. So, check back in often for more The Journey to the East 3, Daejeon 2: Let's Have Nobody Die or Almost Die This Year.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
itinerary (3)
Depart: Philadelphia Int'l Airport 7:45am Oct 14
Arrive: San Francisco Int'l Airport 10:53am Oct 14
Mileage: 2516
Travel Time: 6:08
Depart: San Francisco Int'l Airport 1:10pm Oct 14
Arrive: Seoul Incheon Int'l Airport 5:25pm Oct 15
Mileage: 5636
Travel Time: 12:15
Total Mileage: 8152
Total Travel Time: 18:23
Followed by a 2 hour bus ride from Incheon to Daejeon.
Arrive: San Francisco Int'l Airport 10:53am Oct 14
Mileage: 2516
Travel Time: 6:08
Depart: San Francisco Int'l Airport 1:10pm Oct 14
Arrive: Seoul Incheon Int'l Airport 5:25pm Oct 15
Mileage: 5636
Travel Time: 12:15
Total Mileage: 8152
Total Travel Time: 18:23
Followed by a 2 hour bus ride from Incheon to Daejeon.
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