Ahhhh, parents.
So, today I continued with my observations of classes, which was fine. Some of the kids I observed on Monday saw me today (kids come either for two hours on MWF or three hours on TuTh), and waved excitedly, which was supercute and which I totally didn't expect. Some of the teachers said that the kids behaved better when I was there, so I think that is a good sign. I had a meeting with the parents of the honors club (which I was nervous about all day) at 6:30, and I think it went well.
But I am not totally sure, because it was conducted 99% in Korean. I introduced myself, they said "nice to meet you," and from then on, it was all Korean. I can sort of understand that, because they wanted to express themselves completely, and I understood about 2% of what they said. Here are the words they said that I knew: sonsangnim (teacher), haksang (student), hakkyo (school), chayck (book), sookjae (homework), Steebu (Steve - the current teacher) ottoke (how), numbers (il, ee, sam, sa), and loanwords like "book report" and "essay writing." Esther (the VP, who was at the meeting with me) kept writing things down, and it didn't take me long to figure out what they were doing: writing my curriculum for me.
This was not really a problem though, honestly. They want their current events information to come from Time and CNN. They want vocabulary quizzes at the beginning of each class. They want their kids to learn essay writing. And they want the kids to read four books a month, and write reports on them.
All this makes sense. Steve's curriculum is a bit...um...unstructured? I guess that's the nicest word. And I think the honors kids deserve a more demanding curriculum. The only thing I was worried about was the four book requirement. So I said that I wanted a 400 page maximum. Their storybook for September is The Giver, which is GREAT, but it's 178 pages, and since this is a 9-hour-a-week course and they already have regular school with homework, I think reading that much per week is a bit much. I think a hundred pages per week is more reasonable, and the best way to improve vocabulary.
So now I have a few days off. I have to go get drug and HIV tested again tomorrow, then maybe hang out at the COEX mall for a while. Probably I'll check out Lotte World just for kicks, but from what I hear it's like shopping at Copley Place, ie unaffordable but fun to look at. On FRIDAY I wanna go bike by the Han River, or at least take some pictures down there. And I think later I am going to see Jiyoung and her family.
Mmmhmm.
This morning I had a disaster with my iron. It was new and it had a piece of plastic over the part that heats up. But. I didn't notice it until the plastic started to melt. And I was like, why does it smell like burning plastic?
Yeah. It was a special morning. Jason and I also tried to get my VoIP phone working, but to no avail. So I was already kind of frustrated. But work was really good, so I think everything will be okay. I talked to Bart, the other American, about how to make friends, but he said he didn't really have any except his fiancee, who works at ReadingTown (she's kind of adorable in a geeky Korean girl kind of way), and he didn't do much outside of work. Sooooo, I am gonna have to find other people to suggest adventures.
I read about a place you can go for free Korean lessons on Saturdays at 4:30, so I might try to do that. And there are concerts and things to attend. But I'd wanna go with a friend, you know? I think I can drag Jiyoung and Wonwoo to some stuff, but they're both really busy. I need some bored friends.
But I am not totally sure, because it was conducted 99% in Korean. I introduced myself, they said "nice to meet you," and from then on, it was all Korean. I can sort of understand that, because they wanted to express themselves completely, and I understood about 2% of what they said. Here are the words they said that I knew: sonsangnim (teacher), haksang (student), hakkyo (school), chayck (book), sookjae (homework), Steebu (Steve - the current teacher) ottoke (how), numbers (il, ee, sam, sa), and loanwords like "book report" and "essay writing." Esther (the VP, who was at the meeting with me) kept writing things down, and it didn't take me long to figure out what they were doing: writing my curriculum for me.
This was not really a problem though, honestly. They want their current events information to come from Time and CNN. They want vocabulary quizzes at the beginning of each class. They want their kids to learn essay writing. And they want the kids to read four books a month, and write reports on them.
All this makes sense. Steve's curriculum is a bit...um...unstructured? I guess that's the nicest word. And I think the honors kids deserve a more demanding curriculum. The only thing I was worried about was the four book requirement. So I said that I wanted a 400 page maximum. Their storybook for September is The Giver, which is GREAT, but it's 178 pages, and since this is a 9-hour-a-week course and they already have regular school with homework, I think reading that much per week is a bit much. I think a hundred pages per week is more reasonable, and the best way to improve vocabulary.
So now I have a few days off. I have to go get drug and HIV tested again tomorrow, then maybe hang out at the COEX mall for a while. Probably I'll check out Lotte World just for kicks, but from what I hear it's like shopping at Copley Place, ie unaffordable but fun to look at. On FRIDAY I wanna go bike by the Han River, or at least take some pictures down there. And I think later I am going to see Jiyoung and her family.
Mmmhmm.
This morning I had a disaster with my iron. It was new and it had a piece of plastic over the part that heats up. But. I didn't notice it until the plastic started to melt. And I was like, why does it smell like burning plastic?
Yeah. It was a special morning. Jason and I also tried to get my VoIP phone working, but to no avail. So I was already kind of frustrated. But work was really good, so I think everything will be okay. I talked to Bart, the other American, about how to make friends, but he said he didn't really have any except his fiancee, who works at ReadingTown (she's kind of adorable in a geeky Korean girl kind of way), and he didn't do much outside of work. Sooooo, I am gonna have to find other people to suggest adventures.
I read about a place you can go for free Korean lessons on Saturdays at 4:30, so I might try to do that. And there are concerts and things to attend. But I'd wanna go with a friend, you know? I think I can drag Jiyoung and Wonwoo to some stuff, but they're both really busy. I need some bored friends.