Things my students say part III

Hi everyone! Fluke and I got new glasses!! (Post about that later...) and since my new glasses are much different than my old ones, I had some pretty funny reactions from my students. 


Student reactions on my first day of wearing my new glasses...


Student: Oh, teacher! new glasses!
Me: Yes! I have new glasses. Do you like them?
Student: Yes, of course! They look like mine :)


S: Oh! (points to glasses) Nice! (thumbs up)
Me: Thank you!


S: Oh, Jennipa teacha...you have new glasses.
Me: Yes!
S: talks in Korean to friends...and doesn't say anything else to me :)


S: Teacher! Why new glass?
Me: Why do I wear new glasses?
S: Yes.
Me: I wanted new glasses...and now I see better!
S: Oh... Good!


S: Looks at me for an awkward amount of time trying to figure out what is different....and then walks away.


S1: (points to glasses) glass? (looks to friend)
S2: new glass? (S1 and S2 look to S3)
S3: New glasses!
Me: Yes! I have new glasses! (I knew they would figure out what to say, so I waited for them to figure it out together)


Ok...that's all the ones I can remember! Because the students come to my classroom, I am able to welcome them at the start of every class. I always say, "good morning!" or "hello!" A few of the students and I have special routine greetings. Because I welcome the students this way and they are used to it, whenever they want to tell me something, or ask me something, they have the opportunity to do so before the bell rings. When they noticed my new glasses, they were able to speak enough English/use body language to have a short conversation. Overall, my favorite conversations are when a small group of students work together to say what's on their minds. Between 2-3 of them, they are always able to tell me what they want or ask me their question. It makes me feel good too because they work so hard to tell me in English instead of going to my Korean co-teacher for help to translate. 


I always learn something from the students during the conversations too. In the past two days, I've realized that the students need to learn the word... "glasses!" ^-^*


And here's a pic of us in our new glasses!

Today Was a Good Day Volume III

Well...it wasn't really today, but I didn't have time to write about it on that day, so here it is now! Today was a good day volume III:


I have this particular class of 5th graders who, let's just say, are very difficult to teach. They are usually 5-7 mins late to class (not really their fault), which makes my lesson more rushed. When I only have 40 minutes, being 5-7 minutes late (plus 1 minute to get seated and organized) is a significant time to lose. They are a noisy bunch so it takes me (and my co-teacher) longer to get through the required textbook exercises (really boring, but apparently necessary to learning English). They know when they finish the textbook exercises, there is a game/activity. Yet, they still take forever to do the textbook exercises. Basically, this class is challenging in many ways. The part that is significant to why this day was a good day, is the part where...they walked into class 4 minutes early. Yes, I looked at the clock because I was SHOCKED they were early.


I always have a short interesting/entertaining video to show classes when they arrive to my classroom early. Some classes are always early (because in the previous period they were only next door and not in P.E. or a classroom 2 buildings away) and after giving them a couple minutes of playing/chatting/whatever it is those boys do, I start a video. Some students choose to talk quietly, go to the bathroom, or whatever. For the most part, all the students want to watch the video. 


Let's just say...this particular class hasn't seen a video in months. So when they walked in early, I said, "everyone sit down...I have a fun video to watch!" They looked at me like I was crazy...they weren't really sure what I meant. I pressed play on the "art with sand video" (Check them out--they are amazing) and watched the students watching the screen. The entire class was focused on the screen. They were quiet. They were entertained.  The best part is...when the video finished...I told them, "I always have a video before class. If you come to English class early, you can watch a video." Then the bell rang. We started class right on time. They finished the textbook exercises in record speed and efficiency. I gave them a "+1" on their class point chart for being such a good class. They had plenty of time to play the game. It was an amazing class. I reminded them that when they come to English class early, they get to watch a video. 


Cross your fingers that the next time I teach this class, they are at least 2 minutes early.

Cooking yummy dinners in my really small kitchen!

So basically, ever since we got packages from home containing taco seasoning, ranch dressing, hot sauce, pasta sauce packets, gravy packets, more ranch, more taco seasoning, and more hot sauce...our dinners have greatly improved. (THANKS FAMILY--YOU ARE THE BEST!!!) Then after about a month of being here, we got a Costco membership. Yes--it was necessary. Everything not part of Korean cuisine is expensive in the stores. Makes sense since it has to be imported. So everything we want to eat for dinner (we rarely eat Korean food for dinner--I mean, we have Korean food every day at lunch) would cost us a fortune if we bought it at the local E-Mart. Anyway, we buy pretty much everything we want that can be stored in the freezer or pantry at Costco once a month. Because of family-sent seasoning/sauces and our Costco food, Fluke and I have made some amazing dinners. Sometimes, we even impress ourselves with our cooking skills! We only take photos of the good-looking dinners though. We even have a "homemade food" picture album! I thought it was time to share some of these dinner pics with you!

After we bought the huge cheddar cheese block from Costco ^^

That's right...we made french fries!

Guess what the holiday was??

Happy 4th of July dinner!!!

Chicken parmigiana sandwiches 

The salad has amazing balsamic dressing (thanks dad)

Ravioli courtesy of Costco, pork chop courtesy of Costco,
and tomato/lettuce  courtesy of the local grocery store.
Yes, that silver thing is the space next to the sink meant for drying dishes,
but when we cook, it's where we put the cutting board/assemble our dinner plates. 

Taco night!!! We even fried the tortillas!!
Guess whose plate that was? heehee

Mashed potatoes and gravy!!!
The other stuff was good too, but the highlight was definitely the potatoes.
That's the space in front of my laptop. It's our "dinner table" when we eat! We could eat somewhere else, but then we couldn't watch our T.V. episodes haha

That's mozzarella cheese that hadn't melted yet haha 

Flowers from Fluke...just because! and those blue things are  like thunder sticks!
We bought them at the Samsung Lions baseball game. 

Today Was a Good Day Vol. 2

Hi everyone! This is my first "Today was a good day" blog entry! Enjoy :)


I have a student who last semester was extremely difficult to control and this semester, still refuses to do anything, but is more quiet about it. Today I said, "Please open your book to page 132." I know he understands me. He opens his book and then says, "No, teacher. I won't do." Instead of *trying* to make him complete the exercises by staying beside him the entire time, I decide to do something new. I looked at his drawings on the inside of his torn book cover. I asked, "What's this?" He proceeds to tell me all about the monsters. I ask him to name the body parts, to count the body parts (I think there were 6 arms and 3 eyes???) and to label his monsters. We have a short conversation about his life. (I knew his living situation was far from ideal.) And he told me he is happy living with his grandparents (I don't know what exactly happened to his parents, except that under their care, he was not happy.) He walks to school (like most of the students) and has breakfast every morning.


I always knew that connecting with students and having meaningful conversations with them is the best way to motivate and teach them. Until today, I had not done that with this child. I'm embarrassed to admit this because it should have happened much, much earlier in the school year. Anyway, later in the period, during a partner creative writing activity, his partner asked me how to spell a word. I always ask the students to try to spell the word first and then I will help them. Well, this boy blurted out the correct spelling! (For a difficult word too!!!) Partners are supposed to help each other and learn from each other. Until this activity, I had never seen this boy be a "partner" or participate in a cooperative learning activity voluntarily. No, I don't think he will suddenly do all the textbook exercises without being prompted. No, I don't think he will suddenly be volunteering and raising his hand all the time. BUT, I do hope that his participation improves and he has more of a desire to learn English. I look forward to the next time I teach him. I wonder what short 2-minute conversation I will have next time???

It's not always fun and games

When Jenn and I started this blog, we had the intent of talking about our time here in Daegu. Which consists mainly of teaching, teaching, and...teaching. Instead, we ended up writing mainly about our weekends, and our recent vacations and almost nothing about our everyday lives! So what is it like on a normal day for us? What are some of the obstacles that we have to deal with everyday? Well, I can't speak for Jenn, but here are some of the struggles that I have to deal with when it comes to teaching Middle school students.

I read somewhere (don't quote me on this) that the lowest level of motivation across grade levels occurred during Middle School. I remember reading that and thinking, dang,why am I not surprised? My main struggle in class is getting students motivated. Sure they like me, yeah I'm "Handsome" teacher, but as soon as the class starts, its a daily grind getting students to care. The textbook might as well be covered with fire ants, judging by the way the students look at it when it's time to do one of the exercises. Noise level and classroom management are also pretty difficult. I'm not gonna lie, its hard as heck sometimes trying to get 40 8th grade boys to be quiet right after their PE class. I guess if I could say anything about teaching, it would be that it is mentally exhausting. You put so much effort into your classes, that sometimes it can be pretty disheartening when things go wrong or students just give you a blank stare. But...one thing that was told to me at orientation has helped a lot. Be prepared to fail. One of our lecturers told us that, and he was right. Classes are going to suck sometimes. Nothing to be done about it except get back to the drawing board and figure out something that does work. 

But then you get the classes that are just out of control. Maybe its right after lunch, or the final class before the day ends. Whatever it is, it just doesn't flow. That's when you can't really do anything but make the class write lines. Literally. Last week, I made one of my boys classes write lines for the last 20 minutes of class. That's right. 20 minutes! That's how awful they were. And today? I had to teach them again! Well, I walked into the classroom determined to do better than last week, and bam. They were so much better behaved! Maybe I should be a hard-ass more often huh? 

Anyways, writing this post has made me realize why I don't really write about the bad days here. It's kinda depressing! And I like to stay positive you know? But, in any case, these are some of the things I have to unfortunately deal with on a daily basis. I don't mind to be honest. I keep a short memory, and it helps to remind myself that they're just kids and that middle school IS kind of a drag sometimes! Boys will be boys right? Besides, out of all my classes, only 2 or 3 give me struggles like the ones that I've mentioned above (doesn't seem like much, but those classes can really drag you down man!). The majority of my classes are awesome! Seriously. They are. Especially my advanced 9th grade classes. Anyways, Jenn and I will try to write more about our time here in Daegu, and not just our weekends away! :)

Bye!