A Day in the life of Ati Teacher No.1

I always get these ideas for annual blog posts, so we have a reason to update more frequently. Anyway, here is another idea, lets see if it sticks this time eh? So the title says it all. I'll update this blog post periodically through the day, and hopefully you'll see what school life is like for me (and Jenn!) on a daily basis.


- Rode my bike to school today like usual, left my apartment at 8:00 AM, rolled up to school in about 10 minutes. I have to be at school by 8:20, but I like to get there early so I can avoid all the kiddos.


- No 1st period today so I got time to make some copies and lesson plan. 


- Gotta check email first though. Then facebook. Then drink my coffee. Oh crap. It's time for 2nd period. Whoops! There goes my productive hour...


- Just had a bunch of 9th graders for 2nd period. Man...what a bunch of zombies! They didn't even get into the game I prepared for them. Wish I could say that they're normally an awesome bunch, but nothing new here. Oh well. Gotta keep trying!


- So mentally drained from that one class. I try so hard to get them to speak just anything and it just sucks when a class doesn't participate. Sigh...


- Oh well, got a break until 5th period. Made 300 more copies. Just killed a tree right there, this industrial-sized copier is wicked though. Took about 3 minutes. Super fast! Finished powerpoint and lesson plan for part 2 of lesson 1 for 8th grade. Going to do a board game activity, 1st time ever. Lets see how that goes. Stayed productive, started part 2 of lesson 1 for 9th grade. Gotta make this lesson active, maybe I'll try to get them out of their seats so they're not such zombies. 


- Lunch time! Curry and rice. Kimchi too (of course!). And some cole slaw thing and when I refer to it as cole slaw, I mean that in the most distant of comparisons. It tastes nothing like it. o_O But it's not bad. 


- Finished lunch quick today. Just going to chill until 5th period at 1:20. Going to try out that board game activity. Wish me luck!


- Well...one period later, and I gotta say I'm not disappointed with the results, but not happy either. They played the board game, and played using the rules I gave them, BUT only when I was at their table. Aargh! Next class, I will have to be more stern about them following the rules, and give a bigger incentive probably. Overall, not bad for a first try.


- Gotta watch it though, there is a spot on the board game where you can "Get some candy." A lot of the boy students (of course right?) lied and said they landed on that spot. So I told them if they really wanted candy, they'd have to follow me to my office (on the other side of the school) and give me 5 sentences about themselves. No speaking mistakes. Ha. Let's see who wants candy now.


- 10 minutes later, 8 boy students later, and I'm out 5 pieces of candy. I can't believe they followed me to my office! But this actually made me happy, because I got to hear them think up 5 sentences on the spot about themselves, and they were correct. These were all my troublemakers too so just hearing them speak English made me super happy. 3 of them didn't speak all their sentences correctly, but I told them they could try again tomorrow. Let's see if they do! 


- On a side note, I don't actually get to give them grades here. Don't get me started on how unfair and stupid this is, just know that I strongly oppose it. So, I do have to occasionally resort to candy prizes/rewards. A reward stamp sheet has helped a lot as well. But I would get so much better participation if students actually had an incentive to try in my class. All I got going for me is that they like me and that I got candy. When they don't like me...hey, I still got candy! Haha. Enough about this topic, it just makes me angry. -_-


- Got a break right now before 7th period. Easy day today, only 3 classes. Normally have 4-6 a day. Going to prepare for my last class now. Will be trying the board game again, but this time I think I'll have them do a few textbook activities beforehand to reinforce their knowledge. See ya after 7th!


- What a difference a class makes! This class took to my board game instantly, and it was a complete success. Once I realized that the girl groups would follow my directions, I just switched back and forth between the two boy groups to make sure they weren't goofing off too much. Anyway, I felt really good about that class just now. It's always nice to have a good class before the end of the day!


-Speaking of which, the day ends in 20 minutes! I get to leave at 4:20 PM. So I'm going to finish cleaning up my desk (it always accumulates so much random items somehow), and then call it a day. Bye!

Happy Pepero Day!!!

Today is November 11th in Korea, which means that...it's Pepero Day! Pepero is a type of candy that is really popular here. And I can't honestly tell you what or why it is celebrated as a holiday here. It's sort of like, one of those holidays that are celebrated, but not a National holiday. Anyway, I'm not really sure how it works, but basically, teachers get a ton of pepero candy, and so do students? 

For Pepero day, Jenn made out good. She got a ton of Pepero from her students, and even had some of her students asking her for Pepero. Which is why I'm not sure which way it is supposed to go! Regardless, here is a pic of just HALF of the Pepero candy that she received. Pretty nice huh? 

However, since I work at a Middle school, I was preparing myself to get absolutely no Pepero. Probably because I'd heard from some of my other friends who had been here last year that Middle school and up usually get no love. Middle school kids are too "cool" to give Pepero on Pepero day. Anyway, long story short, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of Pepero I got! Check it out! Nice huh? So...Happy Pepero day. Just thought I'd share this new Holiday with you all, and hey, I'm probably going to celebrate this back when I get home. Because I LOVE Pepero!!! :)

Also, not to forget Veterans day back home, much thanks and appreciation for all the Veterans back in the USA today! 


*Update: So, after talking to my co-workers, Pepero day is also a day where the boys get their girlfriends/crushes a really elaborate Pepero construction. Seriously. I'll try to find a pic later, but some of them are arranged in flower bouquets or mini-houses of Pepero.


Also, teachers apparently really dislike Pepero after Pepero day, because students give them so much. At the same time, some students will ask for Pepero too (knowing that teachers will have a surplus), so the Pepero flow goes both ways. And lastly, Pepero day has been known to be banned at some Elementary schools b/c the Principal is well, just no fun. 

Today was a Good Day Vol.1

I thought I'd try something new and maybe start a series of posts about a good day that Jenn or I have had. It'll give us a little break from writing about our super awesome weekends, and give you guys a little more info about what goes on in our lives daily. Let's begin!


Today was a good day,
                 I started off the morning with a nice cup of coffee, and had my favourite 7th grade girls class. I taught them how to use the "Would you like to ______" phrase, and then we played a Pokemon review game about it. They were really into it, and were shouting out Pokemon names and yelling "oooh, so cute!" every time they saw Pikachu. It was definitely a great way to start the morning. After their class, I had 2nd period with one of my 8th grade boys classes. They are one of my favourites, and I had a good time teaching them, "What's the matter? My blah blah blah." I always like my 8th grade boys, because even though they can get a little rowdy sometimes, they always have the most energy and enthusiasm out of all my classes. The trick is to get them to focus all that energy and enthusiasm into learning English.  After 2nd period, our school had an English festival for the next two hours. I judged a student presentation contest, in which they made awesome powerpoints and speeches about what they wanted to do with their future. (Mostly awesome. Haha). One student even talked about a popular PC game called Minecraft which I thought was really creative! 
                  After a solid lunch with corndogs (nice!), I had 5th period off so I used that time to prep for next week. Ok. So really, I used that time to relax and do some Fantasy Football. Which was so much more important! Hehe. Then in 6th period, I got to play a music trivia game with some more of my 8th grade boys. I was a little nervous at first because I thought boys wouldn't be as into music as my girls classes were, but they loved it! It's probably one of the benefits of having an all-boys/girls class? The boys can be boys, and not have to worry about acting "manly" all the time for the girls. School gets out in an hour, and after grading a couple newspaper articles, I should be able to use the rest of my time to just relax and maybe grab a cup of  coffee. All in all, not a bad day at the office! 

One of the few pics I have of me teaching!

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!