Well another week over and a while since I last posted!Time to make some observations since I have been here a while now.
Teaching:
Once you have been here a while you realise that you are not here to teach your students anything. Your role is to facilitate speaking, listening, understanding and to some extent reading and writing.
Teachers amongst us may agree that some of the text books made available to teach from are almost entirely useless. The Korean teachers may have 10 lessons of grammar to teach while the native speaker has 5 lessons with perhaps 4 pages (if you are lucky) or 2 pages to theoretically teach over 2 lessons. So making or finding things to supplement your lesson is very important if nothing else but to maintain your sanity.
It appears that the best lessons have nothing to do with the text book and if you have only 3 - 4 students (if they are behaved) free talking is the best method of teaching.
For example this week the topic was accidents spanning over 2 weeks and having a content of 2 pages which advise the students not to blow dry their hair whilst they wash it. So it was teach accidents or.... Vampires. Being the conservative chap that I am and being all about conforming to the expected norm I chose to teach what was expected of me. So Vampires was quite a good lesson a few screams and look away's from the screen but afterwards there was a request for Ghosts next week so the lessons effectively teach and grow on themselves.
So really there is a lot that goes into a lesson be it a game a lesson with a video and or a word search relevant or even colouring for those younger classes. It aint a walk in the park where you can lean heavily on the text book.
I love the Subway:
Oh no! I am going to be late! I have arrived at the subway station at 13.02 and the train is to arrive at 13.04 have I missed it?
No. No you have not. What I like about the subway is that the train will be there at 13.04 and you can bank on it. You can always have an ice tea or a coffee (in a correct proportion not an obese proportion) while you wait for 2 or 3 minutes.
I also enjoy how it is cool and smooth and I generally get a seat which is not cramped and I can relax and just enjoy the ride.
The bus service is a little different. It can run a little late. It can be akin to a suicide run down the side of a mountain and it can be a little uncomfortable. However it has got me to my destination so far pretty much intact.
The other helpful feature is the lovely music that will play either at the end of the line for that train or a transfer point. So if you are ever wondering if the next station is the one you were to transfer at or if is just another stop on the line just use the cheat code and listen for the symphony heralding your next point of action.
The Sun:
Where I come from (New Zealand) you could go for a 10 or 15 minute walk and end up burnt to a crisp. In Korea you can go for a 4 hour walk and not even get a tan. I don't know what it is but I like it. Its hot but its not a focused under the microscope hot and I have not been burnt one day here.
White People:
Well... I think I will go more into this in a later post. I will leave this here to build up the tension.
R-16 2010 begins today with the press conference and is followed up with multiple events tomorrow and Sunday. I will be heading over to the Olympic gymnasium tomorrow and may meet a couple of exciting individuals if luck holds. I will hove some pictures and video's to post of the event so stay tuned.
Another busy weekend ahead as I plan to attend R-16 on Saturday and then on Sunday I may make a trip to Itaewon to see what clothing there is there so when I get paid I can get some shoes!
Well what can I leave you with this week?
Of course the flickr slide show link:
Perhaps this random clip....
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment