'Twas A Musical Week!

Ah, my week at Seokgye was filled with excitement in the Music Department. The week started on a Tuesday because Monday was the holiday National Founders Day here in Korea. Tuesday consisted of me observing the music classes in Korean. They start each class by stretching and warming up their voices using the piano. Then, the teacher introduced the song Dongchang-ee, which means east window in Korean. It was a very difficult tune to understand because the singers voice vibrates very differently. Na-eun, the music teacher, even said that this is a difficult song for the children to learn because it is not very upbeat and fun. Everyone struggled through it anyways. I could not really tell if the students enjoyed the class but I do know that it was a lot of sitting and listening to the teacher. I did find out that Na-eun is a very young teacher. She is only 23 in Korean age and has been teaching for about 6 months.

On Thursday and Friday I was the music teacher to 4th and 5th graders, which was a bit scary considering I have no musical talent whatsoever. Since students were learning about Korean Folk music, I thought it would be fun to learn an easy American Folk tune. Home on the Range was about the only thing that popped into my head and I know how to sing it, which is a plus. I started off the class with a series of stretches to the song Twist and Shout! The kids loved it and actually danced a bit while we were stretching which was perfectly OK. I just wanted to get them moving before class. Then I was able to test my piano skills and warm up their voices. It was actually just me pressing a few keys that were close together and the students would sing the notes back to me. I guess it worked well because no one told me differently. Then I simply asked the students to listen to the song before we dug into the words and pronunciation and meanings of the song. After listening I handed out the lyrics and we went over the words together as a class. I showed the students what a banjo is and what an antelope looks like because these were very unfamiliar things to the students. We sang the song a few times and everyone caught on pretty quickly. Next, I compared Home on the Range to a Korean Folk Song called Arirang. The students all know the song so they sang with it. We filled out a Venn-Diagram that talked about similarities and differences between American and Korean Folk Music and had a discussion about it at the end of class. Overall, it was very different for me to teach music. It was fun and I think the kids had fun as well. They all wanted me to play more American Folk songs in the English classes that I teach! It was also a challenge because there were high and low level English learners. I had to teach to the lowest learner because I did not want to leave anyone behind. Sometimes my sentences were one or two words with more gestures than anything. The lesson started to get better and better as I taught each class, but the teacher told me that I did a very good job. My work in the music department is done for now..  :)

The rest of the school week was filled with my normal English classes on Tuesday and Wednesday. We talked about dreams in the 6th grade classes and the phrase "What are you doing?" in the 5th grade classes. The 6th graders had the task of coming up with a dream list after being introduced to John Goddard who wrote a book about his dream list. They could work as a group or work alone and everyone wanted to work in small groups. The students liked this small project a lot because it involved them using their artistic skills and having time to talk with their friends while they work. In the 5th grade classes, our focus was on games to improve their understanding of the unit "What are you doing?" We played Bingo, did role-playing, and finally played Snowball. Snowball consists of acting and speaking while remembering everything that was previously said in the group. It is a very fun game for the kids to play.

On Wednesday I was able to visit a private school and watch two Seokgye students compete in an English Speech Competition. They both took 1st place and I was so proud!! The younger group had to talk about a story and what they learned from it. The older group had to talk about a global issue and what they could do to help solve it. There were 16 participants overall and I found the whole thing to be very interesting. Here are the students from Seokgye..

My life outside of school was a little mellow this week. On Monday, Falyn and I went down to Ewha Womens University to walk around and browse the shops. It was her birthday (22!) so we just wanted to get out and celebrate a bit. We bought a few accessories and found these delicious candied grapes for sale. Oh, and Auntie Anne's pretzels was also in the vicinity so we had to stop and indulge! After shopping a bit, we went to dinner and ate some Korean BBQ. Wednesday was a day for gifts! My Grandma Bonnie mailed me a package of goodies and it made my day :) On Thursday I started feeling a bit sick. I think I caught a little bit of a cold. After school on Thursday I made a pit stop at Home Plus and bought the most amazing blanket ever! It sure does help to keep me warm at night. I took some medicine and was asleep by 8pm on Thursday. I am still not feeling 100% but definitely much better. Saturday was the International Fireworks Festival down at the Han River. Falyn and I went around 2p because it said that it was a festival.. but we did not see any festivities going on. We ended up finding a spot on the grass and laying down in the sun for a couple hours. No, we were not the only people laying down in the grass. Apparently we were supposed to bring a blanket for a picnic because that is what everyone does while waiting for the fireworks to start. Instead we slept and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon. The fireworks started around 730p and they were quite impressive. They lasted for over an hour! I think the scariest part was trying to get to the subway afterwards. There were masses of people crowding all of the streets and the police were screaming stuff in Korean which means nothing to people who speak English. Lucky for us some of the policemen could speak English so they told us what we were supposed to do. It took us well over an hour to get home. It was a very fun day, though!

Mizzou in Korea!?

Package from my Gma Bonnie :)

Candied Grapes!

Awesome Fireworks Show

Typical Subway ride in the AM

Sun-man at the Fireworks

~ E

"Erin Teacher look so happy!"

I have officially been in South Korea for about a month! It is crazy how fast time flies and the amount of things I have done in the past month is insane!

I think the school events of this past week are going to be pretty normal when looking at the rest of my time here in Seoul. I am getting used to the routine of going to school Monday through Friday and waking up at 7am. Mornings are still not my thing but it is nice being the only one in my dorm in the mornings since Keely has to leave at 7am for her school. This week I was able to teach 6 English classes as an assistant teacher. It really helped my Tuesday and Wednesday go by quickly. The 5th graders were learning about the phrase "Do you want some more?" and the 6th graders were learning about "What do you want to do?" I had the opportunity to be an actress in the mini dramas that my teacher and I came up with that focused around their phrases of the week. Needless to say I am a terrible actress but I think the kids all loved it anyways :) There were a bunch of games that each class played as well which was nice to get kids moving while learning. Some of the games included Top 5 (kind of like Family Feud in US), Speed Game, dancing and singing to songs, Snowball, etc.

So here is how to play the Speed Game above. One player starts at each end, either the top or the bottom. They say "Ready, Set, Go!" and begin saying the phrases that are contained in the unit. Each student must point to a phrase and say it clearly before moving onto the next phrase. When their fingers meet they must do Rock, Paper, Scissors, and whoever wins can continue while whoever loses must start over. Whichever player gets to the opposite side first wins the game, but the game can be played as many times as needed. It is a game of recognizing phrases while working on pronunciation, accuracy, and speed. The children loved it and it was good to see them loving English. In the classroom, each student had a partner and they were given the Speed Game board so they could play with their partner. So everyone in the class was playing this game and no one was left out to be watching. It was great. Another good point is that this game can be modified to any unit that the children are studying!

Here are some writing samples that I took during the week as well. I asked students to simply write about their summer vacation. I wanted to get an idea of where they were at with their writing skills when it comes to grammar, spelling, sentence structure, paragraph structure, punctuation, capitalization, etc. I was surprised at the results that I received. Please keep in mind that the 6th grade students that I will be teaching my unit plan to are considered to be the HIGH level of English learners. Also, in the English classes at Seokgye, their focus is not mainly on writing but instead speaking and listening.

Example #2

Example #1

I guess it's safe to say the students like us! :D

Clever spelling of the word ocean

 HINT*** please click on the picture if you would like to see a bigger version so you can read some of these samples :)

I also observed many classes outside of English this week. I really had a fun week! One of the first classes I observed was a Gym class with 2nd graders. They were learning how to play the traditional Korean hand drum called a Sogo. The 2nd grade homeroom teacher gave me a drum and a stick and threw me right out there with the girls. They were all giggling at me because I had no clue what I was doing. I had to do a performance with them so I just watched the leader and danced, hopped, skipped, frolicked, and played my drum just like she did. I wish I had a video of me because I would have looked ridiculous. The kids at the end all said "Erin Teacher look so happy!" because apparently I was smiling the entire time :D

Traditional Korean Sogo

The next class I was able to observe was a 6th grade Art class. They were making traditional paintings using black ink and popcorn. Once again, the art teacher put me right in the action and I was a 6th grade artist. Most of the kids had better paintings than I did but I actually find mine to be very pretty! Once it has time to dry I will be able to take it home with me, which makes me feel more like a kid because I used to get so excited anytime I could take something home to show my parents hahah! So this lesson was supposed to be cross-curricular between science and art because they were learning about the microwave. I thought they would be able to use the microwave to pop their own popcorn but it just ended up being a few PPT slides about microwaves and then they spent the rest of the time making their paintings. I think the students all enjoyed this lesson because they could eat popcorn as they worked! I know I enjoyed that part of it, too!

My masterpiece!

The next two classes I observed were Science and Social Studies. I did not get any pictures of these :( but they were interesting either way! In 4th grade Science, the students were learning about plants and the difference between plants found in areas like deserts, mountains, and beaches. There was a very, very short PPTPPTs, posters, food, and went into great detail about what their package would include. Some of the topics were Seoul Tour, Hometown Experience, Making your own Pottery/Traditional Tea, Traditional Food, Thanksgiving Day Chuseok, and Gwanghwamun. Overall, I would have to say I loved the Social Studies presentations the most. It was multi-lingual, very informative, and I saw all of the hard work that each group put forth!  

I was also put to the test this week with many questions from Kuki Teacher. She is an English teacher for the 3rd and 4th graders. She literally took notes on me, which I found to be interesting. Some of the many questions included my philosophy on teaching, my goals in life, and what I look for in a mate. The last question was one that really made me laugh. The other 2 are very reasonable questions. Her response was what amused me the most. Every time I said something she would say "Ohhh, very good!" and immediately write it down in her notebook and circle it with intensity. I ride the subway home with Kuki everyday so we always have interesting conversations and we are learning a lot about each others culture!

After a long and busy week at Seokgye, it felt awesome to get done with work early and to have a three day weekend ahead of me! October 3rd is a national holiday called Foundation Day, or the day Korea was founded back in ancient times. So far my weekend has been spent relaxing, catching up on sleep, working on lesson plans, and shopping at Coex which is the biggest mall I have ever laid eyes on. It is difficult to shop here in Korea because either everything is VERY expensive or nothing fits because it comes in one size, which is too small! I cannot figure out sizing either. Some places have small, medium, large while others have random numbers like 32 and 245. They measure your feet in millimeters and your height in centimeters! It is so hard adjusting to all of these different measurements and frustrating. Eventually I will get it! I think the best part of my day yesterday was my dinner. Keely, Falyn, and I ate at Kraze Burger and we had burgers and fries. Not only was it delicious but they served Budweiser! I had to get one and it was a decent price as well ($3.50 equivalent). I was satisfied with my burger, fries, and beer to say the least.

Delicious BLT for lunch

Korean version of the Chicago Bean???

Yummy! Beer, Burger, Fries :)

More updates from my life in Seoul are in the near future, so keep checking back! :)


~ E

I've got spirit, yes I do!!

Ah, this weekend marked the annual rivalry games between Korea University and Yonsei University! I was only able to go to the soccer and rugby games on Saturday because I was busy working on Friday during basketball, hockey, and baseball! Oh well. I do not think I would have survived two days of these games anyways. Would you like to know why?! Well, of course! These are not your ordinary sporting events. You do not bring lawn chairs or sit on metal stadium seats and enjoy the game with some popcorn. First off, it took place at the 1988 Olympic Stadium in Seoul which was amazing!! When I walked in, I was greeted by free food and drinks, headbands, wristbands, visors, and plastic bags. To say the least, I was completely covered in something red for KU. Second, it was a huge dance party the entire time! These people danced for 5+ hours straight on Saturday. You could feel the stadium shaking and swaying from all of the constant dancing! Oh, and those plastic bags are not trash bags as we all thought. You fill them with air, hold it closed, and they are now noise makers to use for dancing!! Some Koreans in the seats behind us became friends with myself, Keely, and Falyn and showed us every single dance move to every single song. I could only dance for about half of the time and then I was ready for a nap. I was not anticipating sweating on a day like this but I ended up nasty and sweaty. It all made sense why people were bringing in coolers of water bottles at the start of the games!! After the games, the alumni of KU agree to pay for fans to come eat and drink for free at certain restaurants. It is insane, but definitely a great time! Oh, and KU won the games this year!!! :)

Falyn & I with our headbands

Using the plastic bag!

In front of the rings!

The crowd!

Storming the field after KU won!

The dancers leading all of the dancing

In more normal events in my life, school was good this week! I had my 1st full five-day week. It was not as exhausting as I thought it would be. This whole normal job thing might just be okay!! :) I found out that I will be teaching my unit plan from October 17th until October 28th to the 6th grade English classes. I am very excited, although a little bummed out as well. I had planned on doing pen pals with students from the US but having only a 2 week time span to teach what I want does not allow for multiple letters to get sent back and forth. I may still stick with the same theme of learning how to write letters but just do pen pals by exchanging between the classes I teach. I am obviously still figuring things out. My teacher really wanted me to teach them how to write letters though because they have no knowledge of it whatsoever. Also, in school they mainly focus on pronunciation and correct sentence structure orally so writing is left out of the picture. I think the National Curriculum here is very strict so teachers are only allowed to do so much with a scripted book. I am trying to show them some ideas to get students moving and learning, but they are hesitant. Cross your fingers for me!

On Wednesday of this past week, I was able to attend a workshop for English teachers at a nearby school. It was 1.5 hours long and I found it to be very interesting. We watched an actual English class take place at this school. The lesson was 40 minutes long with one native Korean teacher and one native English teacher. During the lesson nothing but English was used which I loved! Even the native Korean teacher spoke English and reinforced the children's use of it! Some activities in the lesson were 2 interactive games where students were up out of their seats moving around or changing partners and playing games. The whole time they were practicing forming sentences using their vocabulary from within the unit but HAVING FUN! Afterwards there was a short question and answer session. All of the English teachers from my school said that they learned a lot and they found some good ideas to use! Maybe this will be some hope for me to do interactive lessons :)

I played badminton this week and actually surprised myself a little bit! All of the teachers told me that I must come back and play again because I'm pretty good! So I guess I will be a badminton regular at Seokgye. Let's hope the badminton racket doesn't bruise me anymore, though. And yes, I did get bruised by the badminton racket and it was an accidental, self-inflicted bruise. Ah, you live and you learn though!

Pathetic bruise!

My stipend for teaching finally came in! I am 500 bucks richer except I do not have my bank card yet so that money will just be sitting for a little bit longer :( It is nice to know that it has finally arrived though. My plane ticket reimbursement should be arriving in my bank account sometime in the upcoming week, so I am just one rich lady!

School lunches are still the most difficult thing for me. The plus side is that I do not have to pay for my lunches while I am here! Weekly, there are servings of octopus, anchovies, seaweed, sprouts, weird soups, etc. There are definitely some good things like bibimbap, pork, fruit, and the usual rice. This past week was our first Pizza Night and it was not only delicious but very informative. We got to share information about our school and learn about what the other girls are encountering. Some Korean students were also there so we were all able to hear their side of Korean Education. Very neat experience and I am loving Wednesdays!

Until next time....

~ E

Please, step into my office :]

The "big girl" office

Well, I have finished my first official week at my school even though it was only a two day week! I have an office with 5 other English teachers and somehow we manage to make it work in such a small space. My desk is the farthest one on the left! It is so nice to have my own space at a school that is welcoming me for only 3 short months. I have already started to understand the Korean school system a bit more because my colleagues have allowed me to read some of their literature. The requirements for school are so interesting. For example, students are required to know how to properly ride all city transportation, use chopsticks, have respect towards unknown foods, and be responsible for all of their belongings by the time they enter elementary school in 1st grade. The students are expected right away to be very responsible children in a bustling society. Personally, I think it is great because students can learn to have some more appreciation for the things and people around them!

I am already feeling very involved within the school as well. The English teachers invited me out to a school dinner this past Friday. Literally every single teacher was there and we all sat down and enjoyed each others company over some delicious Korean BBQ. Everyone keeps commenting me on my ability to use chopsticks so I must be doing something right :) It was so nice to hang out with my colleagues outside of work and get to know a little bit more about them! I need to start preparing for some intense badminton on Tuesday because the Phy. Ed. teacher is expecting to see me there... :/ I'm not sure my skills are up to par with these pros!

This coming week is my first full week at Seokgye! I am sure it will be very exhausting as I am not used to this type of weekly schedule. I am eager to get into a routine though! I could not be more excited to start this week because I will get to spend more time with the students that I will be teaching English to throughout the semester. They all seem to be very bright young individuals who are ready to learn. On Wednesday I will even get the chance to visit another school to see how their English program is going. This will give me some insight into how to include some variations in a classroom where everything is so strict because of the national curriculum!

In other news, I had a very fun and exciting weekend. Betsy, Keely, Falyn and I finally booked our trip to Busan, which is located in the southern part of Korea! Our mini trip will be Oct. 8th - Oct. 9th! Apparently Korea offers a free bus trip from Seoul to Busan for foreigners so we snatched that up right away! We plan on touring the city, utilizing the free bike rentals around the area, and spending the night in a hostel. Betsy and I went to Kyobo Book store in Gwanghwamun to look for some books in English. It is by far the largest bookstore I have ever been to and we only made it through part of one floor!! I will definitely be back. My mom sent me a package with a bunch of goodies and it arrived way before I thought it would so that was exciting! Betsy, Falyn and I also decided to go hiking! We hiked up Mt. Yongmasan and were amazed at the beauty of the sights we saw. Our muscles will definitely be sore after that hike, or should I say climb! We plan on going a couple more times before we leave.

On Mt. Yongmasan!

The goodies that my mom sent me from the States!

The most delicious, sugar-free mints ever!

A shirt that I bought in Itaewon!

More updates to come in the near future :)

~ E

안녕하세요 선생님! or Hello Teacher!

Today was my first full day at Seokgye Elementary School. I really did not do much at all but I finally have my schedule figured out. I arrived at 840am and at 9am I had to introduce myself to the entire school over their broadcast. Jeong-a, my supervisor at the school, did not exactly tell me that I would have to speak so I am sure that I looked rather awkward on every TV in the school. Then my day consisted of sitting at my desk from literally 915am until 245pm. The school did not want me observing until we had our meeting at 3pm to figure out exactly what I would be doing until December. I can understand their hesitation, but at the same time I just wanted to get out there and start some observing and teaching! Here is what we figured out at the meeting. Every week I will be teaching 6 classes of English. One class will be on Tuesday and 5 classes will be on Wednesday. All of those classes will be 5th and 6th grade or the highest level of English speakers. I will teach my unit plan during these classes sometime in October. For the next 2 weeks I will only be in the English classrooms. After that I will spend one week in each of the following; music, science, 6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd, and 2nd grades. I will observe a few lessons daily and towards the end of the week (Thurs and Fri) I will be able to teach their class. My lessons can be something they want me to focus on or something that I come up with, either culturally relevant or curriculum relevant. In between all of this, I can observe in other levels of English classrooms as I see necessary. I am very excited about my schedule because I will get to teach a variety of different subjects in English :) Oh and I am joining the badminton club for teachers every Tuesday and Thursday! I need to get involved somehow!! Tomorrow is my first day to start observing and I am very excited. Whenever I see a student in the hallway they always say to me "Hello teacher!" It is adorable!

Besides all of this, I think every one of my colleagues is trying to set me up with a single teacher at the school. Did I sign up for teaching English or dating at Seokgye Elementary!? Hahah :)

English Classroom #1

English Classroom #2

My brand new laptop at school

~ E

Traditional Korean Markets!

Today I had quite the experience. My roommate, Ana from Guatemala, invited me to go to a Korean market with her and some friends. She said there were cheaper things at the market than what I would find in the department stores. So, Keely and I decided to tag along. It was myself, Keely, Ana, Kehk (from Laos), Vuthea (from Cambodia), and Joan (from France)! We were quite the group :)

We all took the bus from Korea University straight to the market. It was my first time riding a bus in Seoul but it was only three short stops away. There were so many sights and smells to take in, both good and bad! Kehk (from Laos) could not stop laughing at me because apparently I was "special sight to see" at the market since I am American, light skinned, and have lighter brown hair. Vendors would be speaking in Korean and then suddenly switch to some English just to say "hi" and wave to me. It was entertaining none-the-less. One man even saw that I had a camera so he wanted to take a picture linking arms with me! Too funny!

So, Kehk was our tour guide and she really knew her way around. I would have been so lost going to this market by myself! She is quite good at bartering, too! I saw many familiar products and many products that I had no clue what they could possibly be! It just shows you that a simple grocery store in the US is a small taste of what the world has to offer! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the market today...

Market entrance

Small booths and crowded walkways

Tons of green veggies

More grains than you can imagine

Bowls of small dried fish

Sad :(
These rays were for sale for people to eat...

As you can see, there are many delicious things that they sell and many not so delicious things (they also sell dog :( but we did not want to see that). I ended up buying a bunch of bananas (₩ 1,000), 4 apples (₩ 2,000), 4 sweet green peppers (₩ 2,000), and a bunch of green grapes (₩ 3,000). Instead of spending an insane amount for these at Home Plus or Lotte Mart, I only spent ₩ 8,000 or the equivalent of about $8. I was pretty happy about that :) I would call this day not only a success but a great event to have experienced! 

~ E

Seokgye Elementary

Well today was the day that I finally got to visit my school, Seokgye Elementary! I was very nervous to say the least. One of my Korean Buddies took me so I wouldn't get lost (and without her I probably would have never arrived!). It is 5 subway stops away from my KU and then about a 10 minute walk or so. It really is not too bad. Let's just hope that I can find my school again come next week. The school itself is HUGE! I think it is 5 or 6 stories high and there are many different "wings" to the building. Sadly, I could not take any pictures of the school today because we were running late and it was raining. So, I do not officially start at my school until next week Thursday because there is a holiday this upcoming week. It is called Chuseok, which is basically the Korean Thanksgiving but it is observed over three days.

Let's just say that everything is not figured out quite yet. My supervisor at Seokgye Elementary was very confused on my requirements for the course so she had me doing things that would not fulfill my requirements. I made it very clear what I need to accomplish over these next three months so she is going to re-work everything over the holiday weekend. She gave me some sort of idea though. The school wanted me to be able to observe and co-teach in many different classes and grade levels so I could see what different subjects are like and also get a good taste of Korean education. I thought that was a great idea. I would be with a teacher who can speak English, but the teaching would be in Korean. The teacher would allow me to co-teach and help out in every lesson where needed. I could take small groups aside or help individually etc. I did not want to be stuck with just English lessons so I really liked the idea of this. Also, they wanted to put me in an English class. The students have English for three 40 minute periods a week. I would be with the highest achieving English students in the school so communication would be easier. Within this class I could teach my required unit plan that I will come up with during the semester. So if I am doing something of this sort for the next three months I would be happy. I will find out come next Thursday.

Overall, I think the school is excited to have me but nervous as well because I am a native English speaker. The woman who is my supervisor has many questions and is rather nervous. It is her first year at this school and she is taking on a native English speaker and trying to fit me into the program. She has a lot going on so I can understand her frustrations and feelings of being nervous. We all want to get the most out of this program as we can and are staying positive. There will be more updates on my school in a week :)

Before I left for my school!

~ E