EPIK 365 Day 188: It's Christmas!

Ok, it's NOT Christmas….but when my middle nephew was a toddler that Christmas every Christmas-y thing was "it's Christmas."  So when we went back to the zoo the following spring he actually remembered that we had gone to see the Christmas lights there and shouted "it's Christmas" when we pulled into the parking lot.

Anyway, I got another shipment of books and games for my class today.  I'll spend my free periods tomorrow getting them on my new bookshelves.

EPIK 365 Day 187: More Spring!

Spring is just exploding everywhere!  And its beautiful!

EPIK 365 Day 186: Family Hanbok

Really, they're just beautiful….and the kid's version is too cute for words!  I can't wait until I have saved up to have one of my own!

Did I Just Make a Prison Analogy?

Grading papers…and I came across one that I literally had to stop what I was doing to share.

First, a little back story.

I am insanely lenient and indulgent with my classes…mostly because they are really fantastic kids, smart, sweet.  But last week was not good for two of my classes.  They were not on their best behavior and, what's worse, is many did not even try the assignment.  I really like when my classes come in and are talkative and energetic (I know, I know, that is not the Korean way to conduct a class), but I love the good energy that my students bring.  And really, the only thing I ask of them is that they try their best.  They don't have to be perfect or write epic prose, but I just want the effort.

Anyway, I didn't get that from two of my classes last week.  So, I decided that before it gets out of hand I would have hold a (as we say in the South) "come to Jesus meeting" with them.  I made list of the things I wanted to talk about and took to my co-teacher to ask for help talk to them.  He took the list and said he would take care of it.  I meant for it to be combined effort, but I can't complain.  Whatever he said put the fear of God into them.

They were so good this week!  I mean seriously GOOD this week.  Some even apologized for being naughty.  They looked so sad I had to tell them that I still love them and this a was a second chance and we will start over from here.

But to drive my point home, I made those two classes re-do the assignment from last week.  Not exactly fair to those who were good and did the work, but effective.  One of my students wrote:

      "Actually I write on this letter twice because a lot of my classmates do not conduct this work therefore foreign teacher seems to be angry.  I'm really sorrowful to her."

So sweet!  And that is one of my best and favorite students.

Apparently teaching is like prison…errr, I've never been to prison, but I have been told that if I ever go to prison on the first day pick a fight with the biggest, meanest person there to gain respect and have others leave you alone.  Teaching school you have to be mean and strict the with biggest, worst behaved class to get all the others to fall in line.

EPIK 365 Day 185: Buddhist Pride

In my Western, ethnocentric world it is easy for me to become alarmed when I see this flag or see the symbol drawn on desks or students make it into temporary tattoos.  Then, I step back and remember that I am an Anthropologist and that the swastika is actually a Buddhist symbol that Hitler took and bastardized (the "arms" point in the wrong direction on the Nazi flag).

EPIK 365 Day 184: Filing System

Don't be jealous of this sophisticated filing system!  My classroom got new bookcases to display some of the new books I ordered for my class, so the "spare" desk that used to hold pamphlets from home had to be moved.  Now it is behind my "working" desk and I use it to organize papers by grade level and if they are marked or not.  It definitely makes the stack of work on my desk look more manageable.

EPIK 365 Day 183: Spring is Here!

The weather has finally been warming up…and spring is creeping in.  The trees are starting to bloom…just beautiful!

EPIK 365 Day 182: Tiger Pride Selfie

Memphis may be out of March Madness…and I may always and forever be the only person in SoKo rocking' Tiger Pride…but I will bleed Memphis Blue forever!

EPIK 365 Day 181: Ok, Random...

I was grading papers during cleaning time when a student slipped in and snuck up on me (I was looking down and the door was open so I didn't hear her come in).  She walked right up to me, thrust a tea kettle in my hands and said "now you can drink tea" and left.  It felt pretty random.  Anyway, now I can have tea in my classroom.

EPIK 365 Day 180: Catching Up

Spontaneous trip into Cheongju to see the fabulous Marta, eat foreign (or, you know, not Korean food), drink the most delicious Frappe ever, and have hours upon hours of wonderful conversation!  Best Sunday afternoon I have spent in a while.

The fabulous Marta has a fabulous blog at: http://www.downfromthedoor.com/

Go, read it!

EPIK 365 Day 179: My Saturday

Filing taxes, drinking coffee, and grading papers...

EPIK 365 Day 178: Sometimes All it Takes...

It's been a particularly trying week…and today, after a particularly trying day I put my head down on my desk to have a moment of self-pity.  While my head was down two students (not my best, but still sweet kids) came in to say hello.  They saw my head down and were immediately worried, but I told them I was ok and felt better now that students had come by.

So, I went to the Grade 3 building during cleaning time to see my old students and cheer myself up.  When I got back to my classroom the same students were leaving the room.  I walked in and saw they had left me a message. :)

EPIK 365 Day 177: ChocoPie

Honestly, I don't know how I don't weigh a million pounds.  All I do is eat all these delicious Korean snacks.  I actually like Korean sweets better than American sweets because they are, well, less sweet.

Kids Say the Darnedest Things…Korean Edition

So, even though my kids may not be as inherently cute as those of teachers in elementary schools…the level of creativity and communication cannot be beat!

If you don't know…or a reminder if you do…my classroom is at the boy's end of the Grade 2 hallway. So, there are lots of teenage boys running around outside my classroom from time to time.  It has been a nice week so I like to leave my door open and get some fresh air.  I was working on lesson plans and I hear boys being boys.  Then one of them calls me and our conversation goes like this:

Student: Teacher, come here.

So I get up and start across the room.  (Because I have a deep-rooted belief that students come first in this line of work so I had damn well stop what I am doing and pay attention to them when they ask me to.)

Student: You have to see this.

He points into the changing room.

Student: He has nice chocolate (pronounced "choc-co-lat-uh")

My confusion must have shown on my face because then he proceeds to draw squares on his own stomach.

Me: You mean six-pack?

Student: Yes, six-pack.

Me: Ok.  Um, yeah, I should not watch students change clothes.

Oh!  The things my kids come up with never fails to amuse me!

EPIK 365 Day 176: Love Letters

The best part about worksheets…not the fact that I spend hours thinking them up, making them manageable, getting them printed, and having to grade them…is that sometimes I get love letters in the margins.

EPIK 365 Day 175: Margaret

So, I was a fool and ran off and left my classroom key at home.  I was sitting in the teachers' office waiting on my co-teacher to show up with the extra key and one of the teachers gave me these little snacks.  Let's look at the red and cream-colored one…

"We made Margaret with Mom's Love"

Well, that seems like a pretty good grasp of the situation to me!

EPIK 365 Day 174: Koreans Be Efficient

I don't know what it is going to be, but one week ago this was flat land.  Korean efficiency!

EPIK 365 Day 173: One for Sorrow, Two for Joy

Two magpies outside my classroom window.  I know they are not considered to be the luckiest animal there it, but I like them.

EPIK 365 Day 172: Pride

It's funny, but I really do get a sense of pride when I see the Korean flag blowing in the wind.  I would never call myself overly patriotic, but, I don't know, it just feels different here.  It's nice.

EPIK 365 Day 171: White Day

Today is White Day…in Korea Valentine's Day is the girl's problem, but White Day is the boy's deal.  I went all day without candy…sad…and had assumed I would not be getting any, but as I got ready to leave for the day one of my sweet students gave me my only candy for White Day.   Aww!

EPIK 365 Day 170: Busy Schedule

My schedule for the semester.  Busy, busy, busy!

EPIK 365 Day 169: Pajong

I love pajong or Korean pancakes!  They are delicious!

EPIK 365 Day 168: Expedition

Sorry to go retro and post and old photo, but I had a school dinner so I didn't have a chance to take a photo for today.  Anyway, this is a throw-back from the Trick Eye Museum.

EPIK 365 Day 167: Tea

I was feeling bait blah and went to the pharmacy for some medicine.  The girl at the counter gave me a little bottle of ginseng tea…or I think it is ginseng tea…for free.  So kind!

EPIK 365 Day 166: March Snow

Woke up to a light dusting of snow this morning.  At first I was excited for cold weather and snow, but, even though I still like the snow, I am over being cold.  Honestly, I don't know if I have been warm since I got here.

EPIK 365 Day 165: Care Package

Yay!  Big care package stuffed full of nummy things came today from home!

EPIK 364 Day 164: Scrabble

I didn't have a full schedule to teach this week…just my Grade 2 (former ally my Grade 1).  Since these are good kids I decided that the first day back we would just play a game.  So we played scrabble…the kids love it almost as much as I do…but then again, they like anything competitive.  Some of my students are very clever at the game, too.

EPIK 365 Day 163: Monster

A student gave me a little monster toy today.  I'm not sure he meant to, but it's sitting on my desk now.

EPIK 365 Day 162: Juice Box

I didn't mean to forget you, my dear readers.  I was just so tired I went home and crashed at the end of the day.  My apologies.

Anyway, we had the cutest little juice boxes with lunch yesterday.

EPIK 365 day 161: Bird's Nest

It's kinda hard  to see but there is a magpie nest in the tree outside my classroom.  If you look closely you can see the bird.  No filter on this picture (or any of my 365's) the coloring is courtesy of the springtime haze from China.

EPIK 365 Day 160: Good Morning

This guy greets me twice a day…on my way to school in the morning and on my way home in the evenings.  At first I thought it was just a dog thing to bark, but this morning he greeted me specifically.  He apathetically watched the person walking in front of me walk by and then when I got closer he actually jumped up to greet me.  Sweet, giant baby!

EPIK 365 Day 159: Required Reading

The Korean translations of two of the books I had to read in high school.  I was tempted to buy them, but decided to wait until I was more fluent in Korean.

EPIK 365 Day 158: Patriotism

Today was a holiday…March First Movement…Samil Movement Day…sorta a Korean Independence Day…it marks a resistance movement dating from Japanese occupied Korea.

EPIK 365 Day 157: Chicken Salad

So, I ate this weird chicken salad for lunch…thank goodness school lunches start back on Monday!  I mean, this wasn't "bad" just not good, you know?