TaLK Day

Note: I've decided to explain TaLK Day by recycling. Below are bits of all the conversations and posts I've made since I found out I'd have to help host this year. Hope it's not too confusing.
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Noooooo~! I have to do TaLK Day! Both my mentor teacher and I are crying. *big sigh* ... 화이팅! T_T

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My class is going to have a Skype session Oct. 30 at 2PM. Is anyone available at this time? I need someone who will absolutely do it (not forget), because this is for TaLK Day. Officials will be present during the class. o_O

If it's someone from Texas, it'll be around midnight between Monday and Tuesday your time. If you can do it, I'll give you more info.

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My school is hosting an open class where teachers from other cities will be invited to view a 40 minute ESL class. My topic will be self-introduction (meeting someone new). The class will be a mix of 3rd and 4th graders. Their English skills ranging widely. Some students are also shy about speaking.
The Skype session will 15 minutes long. During that time, students and the guest (you) will take turns asking and answering questions. The teacher will guide the conversation.
I'll make a short list of questions to pass to the students. I'll also send this list to the guest. Questions may include, "What is your name," or "How many sisters do you have?" You can ask the same questions multiple times. Assuming all things go well (internet connection, video streaming smoothness, sound, etc.), the whole thing should be really easy and fun for both the students and the guest. I just want to give the students a chance to talk to another native-English speaker. They can practice describing themselves to you. Hopefully each student will be able to ask (or answer) at least one question. ...Oh, I'm not sure yet, but I might have around 12 students.
The Skype session is scheduled for 2:18 PM (Korean time) in the lesson plan, but I'll want to connect with the guest early to save time. Also, I'll need to do a test run sometime before October 30 to make sure things will run smoothly.

If you're still willing and able to do this with my class, I'd really appreciate it! Thanks! 

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Here is the info. Please let me know if you're still able to do it after reading. If more than one person is able, I'll pick the person at random.  

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I flipped a coin and you won. I'm going to ask the other person if they'll be on standby.

Shall we schedule a day where we can do a test run? I think Tuesdays/Thursdays are best if we do the test run at the same time that the class will be held. However, I'd like to hear what works best for you.

Thanks for volunteering! 

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What times are you available???
The classroom I use is shared with my mentor teacher, so I can't come in and do test runs whenever I please. I WILL, however, see if I can hook my laptop up to some internet cord in another room if possible. (That way I won't need to worry about interrupting her). 

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The following are some questions I'll give them. They may come up with their own questions during class (so you've been warned). To answer them, you can repeat the question. Ex. What's your favorite food? "My favorite food is ___." Or you can just answer : Meatloaf. Then I'll have to explain what meatloaf is...lol.

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[insert loud scream]
Why am I freaking out? TaLK Day is tomorrow!!!!!!!! Only 30 mins tomorrow to practice/talk to/ retunite with kids I haven't taught since last semester. Let us work together and be comrades, kids! Even if just for one day... please? T_T *deeeep breath*

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[minutes before the mock class]
S: see you soon! >~<
T: Correct
S: my students are eager to see you ^^
T: Oh god, lol
T: Who calls whom?

[a few hours after the mock class]
S: Thomas, first of all let me say thank you very very very much for participating with my class. Sorry but something went wrong with the camera and it wouldnt connect, so i just disconnected. i wasn't able to stop the class and tell you about it so that's why i said the quick goodbye. my class was really happy to meet you! i'll talk to you again later. sorry again for the weird ending!

[the next day]
T: It was no problem for me. I had fun, and the kids were kinda adorable.
S: kinda adorable... lolol
T: Like that one girl who looked at me as ran back to her seat
S: lol oh yes. the one girl who asked you if you liked ice cream. she was too shy to get out of her seat, but when you asked her to repeat the question, she shouted it from her seat. so everyone started laughing and you still couldn't hear her. but it was funniest cuz she shouted "DO. YOU. LI.KU. I.SU.CU.REEM."
T: Well there was times when the sound just went quiet
S: oh really?? hmm. I'm still wondering what happened w/ the camera. cuz my MT was holding it, but she kept waving it around when students were walking up. maybe there was a sound and motion overload
T: Which is why I kept asking you to repeat
S: yeah, well that was fine. everything worked out pretty well considering. it could've been worse, for example.
T: it could have. i thought it went fantastically
S: yaaay~ XD thanks again, seriously.
T: it was no problem. I just felt bad for the lost of connection at the end. plus the parents got a kick out of my doing ganganm style when they brought it up  

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Below is part of an email to my mom about TaLK Day:

Yesterday (around midnight Monday, your time) was TaLK Day. As I told you before, I had to teach in front of supervisors from the Education office, as well as other TaLK scholars, their mentor and co-teachers. They said I did well.

I did a Skype chat with my friend Thomas from UTSA (whom you've met before during one of the many dinner gatherings at our house haha). We were able to get through many questions, before some technical difficulty with the camera happened, and we had to quit the conversation short. There was about 15 mins of class left so I had to fill time with a role-play game. I'd only thought of it the night before, but hadn't planned a game in any detail so much of it was very last-minute.

I recieved a lot of praise, as well as constructive criticism. I'm really glad it's over and that I was able to do it. I'm glad my students were able to participate (many of them were really shy once they tried to speak to Thomas).

What did I do to avoid nervousness? The night before, I listened to a song from Kiki's Delivery Service to calm my nerves. hahaha Then, the day of, I decided to ignore all the visitors during the mock class. I tuned them out and just focused on the students. So, after the students were dismissed, all the nervousness and adrenaline just rushed out and I was nervous and shaking a little and looked tired (people were telling me i looked nervous and tired).

Well, this has been a super long post! 'Til next time,
-Shirby

Last Week's Vacation Pt. 2

Monday came. A Japanese friend I met back in the States was visiting Korea with her sister for a few days. I was determined to see her for at least one of the days she was here. We met up in Seoul and spent most of the day shopping. After travelling by subway to Dongdaemun, we met up with another friend of hers and headed to this huge shopping mall with a million floors. I can afford to exaggerate. It was really big, and I think we went on almost every floor. We went to another, cheaper place with hawk-like shopkeepers who spoke the basics of at least three different languages (to attract all customers). They all call out to you and it's quite intimidating. Luckily, my friend's friend was a native Korean who knew how (and had to guts) to stand up to them all and guide us safely through their suggestive words. Did I buy anything? Yes! Surprisingly, I bought a pair of shoes and a blue wig (aside from the various food I usually spend tons of money on). The shoes.. well it's worth telling this story. It was the first stall I stopped at, and the guy was really determined to sell to me. I actually liked the shoes I looked at, but seeing as it was the first stall, I told my friend's friend... (we'll call her Kim from now on)... to let him know that I would come back after looking around. This guy would absolutely not let me leave. He kept taking a few dollars off the price and asking if I liked the price. I just wanted to look at the other shoes in the building! He kept asking, do you really, actually like the shoes??? Yes, and I would probably come back to get them if I didn't see anything nicer. Still, he got frustrated (I guess?) and jabbed some new numbers into the calculator. He showed it to me. It was almost $10 cheaper... 1/3 the price. I went ahead and bought the shoes to appease this man who might've keeled over in agony if I walked away without buying his shoes. Afterwards, Kim wasn't sure what to make of the scene, but she congratulated me, assuming that I'd successfully haggled down the price on purpose. No, I'm just indecisive and weak when it comes to shopping. Case in point: The wig. Well, I got a bit flustered. I mean, I'd really wanted a blue wig for a long time, but I really know nothing about buying a wig. I don't know what to look for. So this guy saw that I was interested and I just thought to myself, "what the heck," and let him talk me into buying it. After all the shopping, (rather, during the shopping) there was a lot of talking about tomorrow. Tomorrow, they were all going to the mud festival. I really wanted to go, but I was pretty sure I had an appointment the next evening. That meant missing out on an impromptu trip to the beach. So, after sending a few text messages, it turned out that I really would be busy the next evening and broke the news that I wouldn't be able to go the mud festival after all. That evening, before going our separate ways, we took pictures together, and I told my friends to talk tons of pics so that I'd be jealous of their beach trip. I saw the pics. I am still jealous. :) Tuesday was a dinner with some of the teachers at my school (and one who no longer works at the school.. the one who left suddenly). 6 of us formed a group, called "the different group" because we couldn't find anything in common to name our group with. Here is another small chance to build bonds with the teachers, and just hang out outside of school. I met with 4 of them, and we had pizza and watermelon and chatted in one of their apartments for a few hours. I ended up taking home some eyeliner. One of the teachers, long ago, kept asking me why I didn't wear makeup. So, while I was with them, I asked to borrow one of her extra eyeliner pencils and put some on to show her. After receiving her praise, I made a show of trying to wipe it off. I didn't look clearly at the label. It was waterproof. Darn. Wednesday was a farewell dinner with the other TaLK scholars in my town. Two of the 3 , actually, but I don't expect to run into the 3rd one. He's hardly in town when he's not teaching(long story). It was kind of hard telling them goodbye, and preparing myself to not see them so easily. One's heading back to California, the other to New Zealand. We actually shared a few adventure trips with each other, so I can say that I will really miss their company, their presence. 'Til next time, -Shirby

The Weekend

It's super early. Why am I here at school so early...? Ugh....

Actually, I had to come early to turn in my lesson plans for July. There wasn't any way to email them to my MT over the weekend, so I had to come in to turn them in. It's about 2.5 hours earlier than when I would usually get to school.On a normal day, I come to school an hour earlier... so today, I'll be waiting longer than usual for my classes to start. I should've brought my book.

I might get drowsy by the time my class rolls around. I couldn't focus on my work last night so I stayed up past 2 AM finishing the lesson plans. The night before, I had to get up early after walking around town for about an hour (it must've been an hour). This past weekend was amazing, by the way.

One of the other TaLK scholars hosted a paragliding trip in the next town over. Unfortunately, this weekend was the beginning of the rainy season. To signify such an occasion, it rained all day Saturday, the day of our scheduled excursion. However, all was not lost. On Saturday- oh, by the way. A bunch of other scholars came from other provinces for this trip. It was nice to see some people I hadn't seen since orientation.-  so, on Saturday, we went to a clay-shooting range and an aquarium that had recently been built. We (especially those who had travelled really far) prayed for a break from the rain tomorrow. We decided that if the rain stopped the next day, we could all wake up early and go paragliding before everyone had to return home. It worked out.

Before heading to Danyang (the neighboring town with paragliding), everyone met up in Jecheon. We all ate lunch together, travelling by foot through the pouring rain. Two scholars left that day, deciding that they wouldn't have time to get back home if they stayed 'til Sunday. The rest of us boarded a bus after lunch and headed to Danyang. After the aquarium, some of the scholars stayed in a hotel in Danyang, while the remaining (including myself) decided to stay (for "free") in Jecheon. Before I caught the bus back to Jecheon, I ate dinner with the scholars who were staying in Danyang. We had galbi and sam gyeop sal, in case you were curious! :P

This is the part where I was walking around town all night. I caught the bus back to Jecheon, decided to grab some more money from the bank before heading home, and ended up walking to two different banks (back-tracking, even) before I arrived home. The bank closest to my home wouldn't allow me to take out a smaller amount of money, so I had to walk in the opposite direction to a different bank. I should probably write a post about how banks work in Korea. There are different fees, and rules for taking out money, depending on the time of day and day of the week.

Anyways! ...Got home, did some lesson planning, went to bed and woke up early the next morning to catch the first bus back to Danyang. Success! It was cloudy, but there was no rain. Two vans came and picked up the group and we went paragliding! We split up into teams because some people needed to leave soon after they paraglided. The paragliding story itself should be saved for a new post, as this one is getting quite long. Here's a video of my paragliding jump! Enjoy!

'Til next time!
-Shirby

Open Class

Hello!

Today is Open Class Day for me. What does that mean? It's similar Parent-Teacher day in the States, where parents are invited to the school. However, with an Open Class, parents are invited to sit in class while it's being taught. ...... No pressure!

So, not only is this my first time teaching (this year, this experience), but now I must teach a regular class while the parents watch. I don't know if they'll understand what I'm teaching or saying. I'm not sure how many parents will show up. I'm not sure if my students will show up on time to class (they usually don't). I'm not sure how the students will act if their parents are in the class with them. For instance, they might be quiet, but they might be too quiet and not participate. Hmmm...

So I am thinking about these things and trying not to worry. Honestly, I'm not that afraid about it. I just have to do one class. Some of the other teachers have done much more than that this semester. Of course, they all speak fluent Korean and must interact with the parents outside of these scheduled events.

My Facebook post:
Last night, I had a dream that I failed miserably at it. Scared? No. Those kinds of dreams actually show you how to overcome your obstacles, not tell you it's impossible.

That really does sum it up. I've got God on my side, and I'll do my best today to put my trust in Him and work well with the kids. Besides, my mentor teacher said she'd help me out (especially with formalities) today.

'Til next time,
-Shirby

Understanding?

Ah, so my MT tells me I already knew about the teachers. Even though I don't remember now, I have to believe this is possible. If she told me, for instance, in the first week of school then that explains why I don't remember. Well, I met the new teacher today.

The new teacher is actually the original teacher. She had a baby and was on maternal leave. Just like the other teacher who came to school late. ...I honestly DON'T remember being told this. Still, I can't be mad. Maybe it was announced in Korean during one of the meetings I was somehow allowed to attend. Can you tell I'm still bothered by this? I'm trying not to be. No worries, I'll get over it!

Yes, so this new teacher. She speaks English very well (and of course thinks that she doesn't). She seems very friendly, and a good teacher. This is good because her class is a very rowdy one. A few minutes before I was scheduled to visit her class, my mentor teacher got a phone call. After hanging up, she told me that the 4th grade teacher had been changed, and that this new teacher would like to meet me today. I thought maybe I'd be told not to come to class that day, so this news was a bit surprising, but welcoming. I went upstairs to meet the teacher.  I guess we both had a lot of questions for each other. We paused between greetings before delving into the topic of English class.

I look forward to getting to know her. I don't know if we'll get to know each other past the topic of school. I now know that not everyone is privileged to such turnouts. (One of my friends, another TaLK scholar, goes on weekly dinner meetings with some of the other teachers at her school. They just hang out and talk).

It seems like I have bitterness towards this topic. Really, I'm just finding it hard to make Korean friends (and keep them). Luckily, the internet allows me to keep in touch with those I've met in other cities and towns in Korea. As for Jecheon, I may just have to wait for something that could come later... or not at all.

Goodbye?

This last weekend was kind of hard. For many reasons. I'll get started.

One:
You know that saying, "You are your own worst enemy?" In my case, not only that, but the weapons I use against myself are enough to make anyone want to give up. Anyone without confidence, that is.

So, as I face this obstacle once again- this SAME obstacle I thought I was overcoming- I am finding it hard to summon the strength to defeat it for good. Oh, this is why it's been reappearing. I never defeated it, I just turned around and walked in a different direction hoping to avoid it.

If life is about finding out who you are, then I have never found it an easy task. If life is about an important journey that we must all take, then I have never known where I was going, or why my past is so important to my future. My biggest supporter should be me, right?

What will I do with myself after teaching here? That is the big question of the hour. ...And even through all the turmoil my mind has wrestled with this weekend trying to figure it out, I was able to receive some lovely advice from a friend: Get a new outlook on life. So I ask myself, why have I always thought of discovering "the next step" as a painful process. Sure, it may never stop being tiring, but at least I should take advantage of this mystery and make use of the energy in a positive way.

Two:
So this, my Facebook post, sums it up.
"Another dose of culture shock. Not being told anything is bothering me this much? Well, back to the drawing board. Maybe I shouldn't try to make friends at school. REEEEEEEEAAAAAALLLLY wishing Seoul wasn't so far away. Or Chungju. Or Jochiwon."

A friend asked what happened. I tried so hard to keep the story witihin the unwritten "acceptable paragraph length of Facebook responses."

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i started making friends w/ a few of the younger teachers. then on friday i found out one of those teachers was leaving the school for good that day. usually, i don't get informed about stuff at school, but i somehow thought something like this would be announced early. i dunno if the other teachers knew beforehand, but how couldn't they? i dunno the story, dont even know if it's ok to ask... but if you make a friend you care about them a bit, right?"

There wasn't time on Friday to ask why this teacher was leaving. I walked into the teacher's classroom and couldn't summon of the courage (rudeness) to interrupt the steady flow of rummaging through papers and writing a million notes. Ok, I did say something.  Are you leaving? Today's your last day? A quick "yes" and then back to rummaging. "Oh," I said. The next reply, not from me, was (a seemingly careless) "Goodbye".

..Let me interrupt to mention that Korean people, for some reason, want to wave hello and goodbye with both hands. I reminds me of Mickey Mouse. That is all....

So, I felt dismissed from the scene. I left to go catch the bus home. I don't know if I'll be voluntarily told why this teacher left. Today is Monday, and I usually help teach in this teacher's class today. My mentor teacher hasn't said whether or not I'm suppose to help teach today. Like stated above, I'm not often told things. Yet, I somehow manage to play along as if everything is normal. Is this the right thing to do?

So, What Do I Think?

Am I ready to be a full-time teacher?

Is teaching the right career for me? No. I think I'm more suited to be a tutor than a homeroom teacher. I say this after a successful day of classes with my students, so it should be a fair evaluation on my part. I really have grown to like these kids. Even the naughty ones. ...Because, even the naughty ones are starting to behave. Even the bright ones who grow tired of me some days come back again to talk to me. Everything takes time. I think I'll feel more comfortable as a tutor, because it's easier to help people with whatever they need help with at that moment. It's easier to help students learn what they want to learn, when they want to learn it. As a part-time teacher here, I have to figure out what interests the kids, what they want to learn at that moment, and what other English teachers are teaching them. It's been a fortunate experience to be a helper in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes for the last month or two. I can better understand the levels of those who come to my class by seeing what they're learning outside. Then they seem to tune in better when my lessons are about things they're learning elsewhere. They can answer more questions at least.

Even so, I don't feel like teaching would be a great profession for me. I enjoy teaching people, but it's not something I can do full-time for the rest of my life. Saying that, I will continue to do my best with this job to the very end. I will Teach and Learn in Korea.

'Til next time,
-Shirby