Sunday, June 10, 2012

I Survived Open Class!

Hello all!

I've been so busy over the past month(s) with school work, open class and exploring Korea that I haven't been blogging very faithfully - tisk, tisk.  However, now that open class is finished, I can finally relax.

Field Trip
Open class, in case I haven't explained it before, is a day where my Kindergarten student's parents come to school and watch us. Originally, I was supposed to go in May, but my open class got pushed back to June because I got some new students recently.  It seems like I am acquiring a new kindergarten student every month. In March I had only three students, then four, five and starting tomorrow I'll be up to six!  I love having more students in the class so my kids have more play partners.  BUT, it takes at least 1-2 weeks for a new student to adjust to the school.  It is a little inconvenient when a 4-year old student starts late.  Before they can even try catching up on the English expressions, numbers and letters we have already learned, they need to learn to share, not steal blocks, say please and thank you, and to not use their friends as punching bags or scratching posts.  I really wonder what goes on in some of these children's heads.

Anyways, so we practiced and practiced for open class.  The rehearsal we did the day before went really well and I was feeling pumped.  Unfortunately the real open class didn't go as well.  Half of my student's were really shy in front of the parents and the rest were just like crazy little bunny rabbits.  The girl who was scheduled for Show and Tell that day is the smartest girl in my class. I mean, this girl is reading English and Korean at 3 years old.  Alas, when it came turn for her Show and Tell, she was so nervous that she said nothing, absolutely nothing....gah! Luckily, the parents are all really understanding and know that young children can't always act on cue.  My director said that I did a really nice job in any case, so I am satisfied.  

staff party!
The real fun last week started with our celebratory Staff Party.  Our school director is so generous!  To thank us for our hard work on open classes, she took everyone out to eat beef kalbi with beer and soju.  Good times were had by all.  And, the party didn't really stop because the next day was a Korean holiday - Memorial Day - so there was NO SCHOOL! Whoo hoo! The night was filled with drinking, a little dancing and a lot of laughing at the bars in Suji.  We ended our celebration at McDonald's with some late night/early morning french fries, ice cream cones and even Big Macs for a few.  Plain ice cream cones are only 500 Won = 50 cents!  The chocolate dipped cone is only 700.  Yes, please!  Fun fact: did you know that in Korea McDonald's will deliver food for free.  Once I figure out how to give my address in Korean, I am definitely going to do it, just so I can say that I did (-:

The next day, most of the staff went to a baseball game in Seoul.  It was crazy fun!  The Korean fans get really into the games. Everyone comes dressed in team attire, bearing coordinating noise makers and ready with an arsenal of team cheers.




Hmmm...this post is getting long and boring.  Maybe I'll edit it later. lol.

2 comments:

  1. Whats up,

    You dont know me but I lived and worked in Suji for 3 years in 2006-2009. I was randomly checking out blogs about teachers in Suji and I found yours. The reason I'm writing this is I think I recognize the Korean girl in the picture labeled "Hiking Field Trip on Childrens Day." I could be wrong but is her name Lee Yu Young? She didn't work at LCI at the time but she could have changed jobs. Anyway if that is her could you pass on my email address and tell her Jordan says hi? Email is JTZemke@gmail.com.

    If it's not her totally disregard this message.

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi, my name is Grace Geiger and I will be teaching at LCI Suji this coming Fall! I´d love to connect via Facebook and chat about it...

    ReplyDelete