Sunday, October 16, 2011

English Speakers, where have you been hiding?!

I had a very busy week! I was in 3rd grade and fell in love from day number one. I was so involved in everything that they were doing that it made my week go so fast. Here is what my week consisted of:

Monday-
  • presented introduction PPT
  • observed/co-teach math and 2 periods of art (Korean calligraphy), eat lunch with 3rd graders
  • read and comment on the girls diaries
Tuesday-
  • observed/co-teach PE, music, and social studies, eat lunch with 3rd graders
  • taught 6th grade English
Wednesday-
  • taught 5th and 6th grade English
Thursday-
  • field trip with thirty-one 3rd graders to a library using the subway
  • read and comment on the boys diaries
Friday-
  • taught Science and English to 3rd grade, observed music, eat lunch with 3rd graders
Having things to be involved in at school truly does help time pass much quicker. It feels like I woke up and suddenly it was Friday and the week was over.

The third grade class that I was fortunate enough to spend time with happens to be a very bright class. All of the kids surprised me at how much English they actually knew. It turns out that many of their parents know English, they have been studying at an English Academy since a young age, or they have been to an English speaking country at some point in their lives already. Their writing skills are superb and I think many of them really enjoy learning English. I was able to read their diaries during the week. Their teacher asked them to write something in English for me to read. They were all excellent. I think everyone but 3 students wrote in English. English or not, I still wrote a comment and gave a sticker to every diary.

AMAZING! 3rd grader summary of Romeo & Juliet!

The teacher for this class, Jin-young, is a relatively new teacher but I think she is great. She uses the national curriculum but makes it her own. She has taught all of the students how to play the recorder, triangle, tambourine, and melodium. Her room is beautifully decorated with displays of the children's work and it corresponds to the time of year. A student can walk into her class and truly feel engaged by the atmosphere of the room. Jin-young really enjoys what she does and knows her students very well. If I asked any questions about students, she could tell me what they enjoy doing, how to get them engaged, and where they may have any problems. I was pleasantly surprised at her abilities as a teacher.

Hand-made/painted little girl by Jin-young
Hand-made/painted little boy by Jin-young



















At the end of the week I was able to teach Science and English to the students. I think Science is where I struggled the most because the students have never had a Science lesson in English before. We were learning about beaks and how they are different and used for different purposes. The material I had was great and I really put a lot of thought and effort into it. I started the lesson by having the students play a game to see that different utensils (i.e. chopsticks, pincetts, spoons aka beaks) are sometimes easy or difficult to use depending on the object that is trying to be picked up (i.e. short straw, magnet, small ball aka bird food). They really loved this game and had great motivation to attempt to pick up more than their friends. We had a small discussion afterwards about how this relates to a birds beak and maybe it cannot always pick up certain items. The class looked at 4 different birds through an Angry Birds PPT that I made. The birds included a Heron, Korean Haw finch, Mallard Duck, and Falcon. Afterwards, the students had a chance to make a Birds and Beaks book that contained a picture of each bird and information about their beak and what they eat. The students love anything dealing with art and coloring so I tried to incorporate some of that into my lesson. I struggled with the language barrier. Jin-young helped me by translating some of the words in Korean and writing the Korean equivalent on the blackboard. It definitely took some time and effort.
English was a fun lesson about weather in seasons. I did not use the national curriculum but instead made my own materials. The students listened to a fun song about what happens in each season. It was a YouTube video called "If you need to know the seasons." It puts an interesting twist on the seasons and is easy enough for the children to catch onto the words. They loved it and were dancing immediately. After listening to the song, we talked about what was in the video (i.e. seasons which are winter, spring, summer, fall) and what happens in each season. This was the introduction of vocabulary and we did a little bit of repetition so they could start to become familiar with the words. Next, we watched a short video clip of the seasons changing from one to the other. The students were very amused by this because I do not think any of them have really watched what happens from season to season. We finished the lesson by making a seasons cylinder. It required the students to write the name of each season and draw a picture of what happens. Then, they wrote one or two short sentences describing the weather. It was a cylinder because the seasons go round and round and evolve. When I told them this it was a big "Ohhhh I get it teacher!" Quite funny. Overall, the lessons were successful but actually ended up taking a bit longer than expected. The end result was great though!

3rd grade Seasons Cylinders
3rd grade Beak Books
The 3rd graders with their books!
The scariest part of my week in third grade was the field trip! Normally in the US, a teacher will book a bus for a field trip. In South Korea, the whole class takes the subway. Yes, the subway! It was scary! All the students were required to bring their T-Money Subway Card from home. I was in charge of 8 little girls and I do not think they could have been more thrilled because I heard many shrills and shrieks when they found out that I was their group leader. Thirty-one third graders, myself, Jin-young, and three parent helpers took off for the subway around 9am on Thursday. Not only did we have to take the subway but we had to transfer to another subway line to get to the library. It was a long ride and the subway was absolutely packed for some odd reason! It was quite the task to get all of the students on or off the subway before the doors closed. It was a close call a few times but everyone made it safely. We all walked from the subway to the library where the students learned how to check out books online. This was done through a few videos and explanations by library staff. Afterwards, the students had a chance to eat any snacks that they brought and to play on the playground that was nearby. By the time we reached Seokgye Elementary at 130pm, every single student was exhausted and tired. They did not even want to eat lunch. They just wanted to go home and rest. Many of them could not do this though because after school they had academy sessions for a couple of hours. Thursday was an exhausting day for these kids! It was very fun and I really liked being able to see the kids interact outside of the classroom setting.

How many Korean students can
we fit on a merry-go-round?!
Taking a crowded subway!

Most of the 3rd grade class.. eating ice cream!



My usual 5th and 6th grade classes went well this week. I think I enjoyed the 5th grade classes more than the 6th grade classes. The 5th graders are much more willing to get involved and answer questions. Overall, they tend to be more active. In 6th grade, the students were doing a review over "Will you help me?" Joy Teacher wanted to do the review so my only part in the lesson was the short greeting and a description of the game. I assisted with the games by helping any groups that had questions or were confused. In 5th grade, the students started a new unit called "This is a bedroom." It talks about houses, the rooms inside, and any object located in the rooms. I played a guessing game with the students where I put a household item in a box (i.e. fork or toothpaste), shook it, and I gave them one clue until they guessed correctly. Next we discussed four rooms in a house, a bedroom, kitchen, living room, and bathroom. We made a mind map together discussing items that you can find inside of these rooms. The class really liked this part because they could come up with vocabulary words that they know. Literally every student raised their hand to give an answer. The remainder of the class was filled with a short video and a memory game about items found in a house. It was the introduction lesson so there was a lot of new vocabulary to be presented.


**These are the 6th graders dream lists from the previous week. They finished them up during lessons on Monday and Tuesday. I love them! They are great!**
My weekend was filled with the 19th annual Korea Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, or KOTESOL for short. It took place on Saturday Oct. 15, 2011 and Sunday Oct. 16, 2011. It was very interesting and was my first big conference that I have been able to attend. I would say it was also overwhelming for me. There were so many presentations that I wanted to see but there was not enough time. I ended up attending presentations on the following topics: classroom management, digital literacy, pecha kuchas, changing classroom atmosphere without changing students culture, KISS (keep it simple and stimulating), grammar instruction, active listening and many others. It was a great conference to attend and I really learned a lot. Saturday was definitely a long day. I do not think my body was ready for a conference to take place from 830am until 730pm though! I received some great free resources as well in the form of books and useful classroom websites. I plan to pass along some of this great information to my teachers at Seokgye Elementary. The real question that I want to know is where have these English speaking teachers been hiding out?! It was great to be able to communicate with those around me this weekend!



Week High Points: being in 3rd grade, having every student go "No, Erin Teacher, don't leave!!!" on Friday, receiving a home-made Korean dinner from a student, attending a Professional Development conference, getting adorable letters and pictures in the mail from my brother, sister, and cousin, realizing a month and a half has already passed, eating Subway and Honey Nut Cheerios (or Nut and Honey O's as Jeong-a Teacher calls them!), fall weather, booking a DMZ trip for 10/21/2011!

Week Low Points: leaving 3rd grade, realizing there is only a month and a half left, waking up at 630am on a Saturday and Sunday, getting caught in the rain, not being able to work out, Iheartradio (online radio I listen to during office hours at school) cannot be played in S. Korea anymore, not going to an apple orchard or pumpkin farm this fall!

Sneak Peek into next week: Erin Teacher starts her unit plan on writing letters to a pen pal!! :)

Korean cell phone trend??
Korean Calligraphy
3rd grade note to me :)
Lunch with 3rd grade!
Korean home-made dinner
Dumplings, Chicken Nuggets, Boiled
Eggs wrapped in Bacon
So adorable!
Letters from my brother and sister :)
From my cousin Audrey :)
@ Sookmyung University
 for KOTESOL

~ E

1 comment:

MOM said...

WOW....I am tired just reading everything you did. Sounds like a FUN and busy week. The time seems to be going by so fast!!