*Please excuse the poor formatting.... Weebly is not making us happy. There may be a move over to blogger soon... stay tuned!!*
This is not the first time I've come across this. I've seen it on YouTube - a very passionate version if you have the time to watch it, it's inspiring. There are various versions floating around the internet, many that are uncited. I found out that Taylor Mali wrote this poem. He is a "slam poet" who works as an inspirational speaker.
He says the problem with teachers is, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?" He reminds the other dinner guests that it's true what they say about teachers: Those who can, do; those who can't, teach. I decide to bite my tongue instead of his and resist the temptation to remind the other dinner guests that it's also true what they say about lawyers. Because we're eating, after all, and this is polite company. "I mean, you¹re a teacher, Taylor," he says. "Be honest. What do you make?" And I wish he hadn't done that (asked me to be honest) because, you see, I have a policy about honesty and ass-kicking: if you ask for it, I have to let you have it. You want to know what I make? I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional medal of honor and an A- feel like a slap in the face. How dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best. I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall in absolute silence. No, you may not work in groups. No, you may not ask a question. Why won't I let you get a drink of water? Because you're not thirsty, you're bored, that's why. I make parents tremble in fear when I call home: I hope I haven't called at a bad time, I just wanted to talk to you about something Billy said today. Billy said, "Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don't you?" And it was the noblest act of courage I have ever seen. I make parents see their children for who they are and what they can be. You want to know what I make? I make kids wonder, I make them question. I make them criticize. I make them apologize and mean it. I make them write, write, write. And then I make them read. I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful over and over and over again until they will never misspell either one of those words again. I make them show all their work in math. And hide it on their final drafts in English. I make them understand that if you got this (brains) then you follow this (heart) and if someone ever tries to judge you by what you make, you give them this (the finger). Let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true: I make a goddamn difference! What about you?
Jeff and I have accepted contracts at an international school in Mongolia (Located between China and Russia)! We’ll be teaching our subject areas – Jeff is teaching math, grades 7 to 10 (ish, we’re still not entirely sure), and I’ll most likely be teaching grade 1. One of the best things about this school is that it teaches the Ontario curriculum! When we get back to Ontario we’ll have had experience working with the curriculum and some of the textbooks – this is pretty cool (and rare)!
We’ve been working with a recruiter since February, applying to jobs and hoping to get ourselves employed by September. Our recruiter suggested that we look at jobs in the Middle East. She said that since we have such little experience that we would likely find jobs there since the international school industry is exploding. She originally suggested Dubai or Abu Dhabi. Later on she informed us that there is too much competition in those areas and that we should look to Kuwait or Qatar since we’ve only been teaching for a year, and because it’s ESL it doesn’t count towards anything! Qatar I was okay with, but Kuwait is just a bit too close to Iraq for me! So we applied, and waited. We emailed and tried to get things moving… but not much came out of that situation. If they had told us straight up that they couldn’t place us I would have been fine, we could have moved on and found our own jobs or anther recruiter. I was a bit disappointed that they seemed to have dumped us!
So, as we were dealing with the recruiter (or lack of recruiter… they were SO attentive in the beginning, but seemed to fall apart after a while…) we talked to people. It ended up that a close family friend’s daughter had just been offered a job at a school in Mongolia. My mom got some basic information from Megan (the daughter) and sent along Megan’s email address too. After a few emails back and forth with Megan we decided to apply to the same school where she had just accepted a job. We applied directly to the school. Our contact was interested in interviewing us, but wanted to make it soon – within the next 24 hours! He had already interviewed some other people who needed to know if they were being offered the job. They had received job offers from a different school and wanted to know if they from the school in Mongolia before they responded to the other job offers. (Does this make sense? It sounds confusing… sorry!)
We ended up having an interview on Tuesday night, we had contacted the school on Sunday. We spoke with the school contact (who is in Ontario) at 9pm (it was 8am for him…) He offered us jobs at the end of the interview. A day later we accepted.
So, we’re off to Mongolia. We’re excited! The only thing I’m not excited about is the fact that Ulaanbaatar (the capital city, where we’ll be living) is the capital city that records the coldest average temperatures in the world. I am going to freeze. I’m hoping there will be lots of yarn so I can knit my self warm! Mongolia will definitely be a change from Seoul. It boasts 2 million people – the whole country! Half the population lives in Ulaanbaatar. Seoul has a population of 14 million... more if you count the city suburbs. It will definitely be a change, but one that I are really looking forward to!
I've spent much of the past two weeks decorating my classroom. I've put up pictures of the weather, designed a cool calendar, and renamed the groups. Our groups used to be called: one, two, three... six. My co-teacher and I decided that something a little more exciting and fun would be a nice change for this new term. So we decided on county names - one country from each continent.
We now have Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Italy, and Uganda. I made signs with names and flags and hung them from the ceiling over each table group.
When I went in to teach my grade fives today I was shocked and dumbfounded to find out that some of them did not want to sit at the Uganda table. They kind of whined and moaned a bit when they were assigned to that group.
After class, my other co-teacher (not the one that made up the group names with me, but the new one... ) said (in her slightly broken English) that maybe the students didn't want to sit at the Uganda table. She seemed to indicate that perhaps we should change the name (at least that's what I was expecting her to say). She said that "maybe students don't like Uganda because it's a black country, it's in Africa". Well... my mouth just dropped. I had nothing to say to her... I was in complete and utter shock. Did she actually just say that?!! I got defensive, and mentioned that I had lived in Uganda for a year, and that it was a great country (I wanted to say that the people were much friendlier than they are in Korea... I was SO MAD!!!) I think she noticed my reaction because she then suggested that we teach the students a bit about Uganda because they don't know anything about it. She said that she couldn't tell the students anything about the country (hence her decision not to call them on their rude remarks and reactions to being seated at the Uganda table...) so I could do that.
Just thinking about the remark and that conversation make my blood boil. The Korean school system doesn't seem to teach multicultural education (I base this partly on the fact that I get pointed at and called foreigner by some of the younger students at the school - how inappropriate!!!) I know that Korea is still a fairly new country in terms of its independence, and that there are not a lot of foreigners here, but I am still shocked by the racism that exists, even in the teaching staff. It makes me so mad.
So, this is just a rant. I don't think that all Koreans are racist, and I am happy that my co-teacher is willing to help me teach the kids about Africa, but I am still in utter shock that this happened....
~Jen
I get such a kick out of overhearing two little Korean girls giggling and whispering in the bathroom stalls. It reminds me of my childhood, sharing very important secrets with my precious girlfriends. I can't understand what the girls are talking about, but I'm sure that it's serious business, considering they're in the stall together. My biggest question is "How do they both fit in there at the same time?"
Side note: One of the teachers in my office noted today that I was looking very fashionable these days. She thought that I had become more concerned about my outfits. Sadly enough, I've been wearing the same clothes throughout the winter, it's just that now I'm only wearing 3 layers instead of the previous 4 or 5, thus you can now see what I am wearing. (There was a point during the winter when I seriously asked myself why I bother to get dressed each morning since I wore my coat all day long. I could have come to school in my pjs and no one would have noticed!!!)
~Jen
P.S. After having neglected our photos page for over three months, I finally posted links to the pictures we have posted on Facebook. There are quite a few new albums for your viewing pleasure if you haven't yet seen them online! We'll try to be a bit quicker in posting them next time!!
Today the computer technician in our school came and asked me to come to her office to help her with something. I had no idea what to expect, but I decided to see if I could help her out.
I arrived at her office and she sat me down at her desk. She then presented me with a single spaced, one page English essay that she had written. She is applying for a working holiday in Canada. I pulled up the paper and began the task of gently correcting poor English. It's not that this woman has bad English, she has very good English, but it's hard to write in a language that is not your own. She usually had the gist of what she wanted to say but just needed me to help clean it up.
What I found most interesting was the fact that she spent four weeks in January taking a TESOL course when she was visiting Canada. I knew that she had been in Vancouver but I didn't realise that she had spent that time studying English. I did notice that her English was better, but had just attributed that to her having spent four weeks in an English speaking country.
At one point in her essay she talks about her experience in the Canadian school system (she spent one week doing a practicum). She was amazed that the other teachers spoke to her and didn't make her feel like an outsider just because she was Korean. She spoke about how great it was that Canada was a multi-racial society. The other point that she made was how different the school systems in Korea and Canada are. She said that Canadians focus on process, whilst Koreans focus on the product. She loved the Canadian system because it doesn't focus as much on tests... it focuses on students learning at their own pace. Although this may not be entirely the case, it is a pretty fair assessment of the two education systems, at least from my limited exposure to both.
My current situation gives me 40 minutes twice a week with each of my ten classes. My classes have at least 32 students, sometimes 35. All of my students are at different levels. Some of them can speak amazing English, others struggle to answer the question "How are you?" I find this to be a challenging job. I long to spend more time with my students, whatever level they're at, to help them along the process of learning English. For now, I will have to work with what I've got, to try my best to help my students become excited about learning English. I am excited to hear a Korean teacher talk about how much she enjoys the process education system. It gives me hope that one day Koreans will put less stress on getting good grades, and more stress on the process of learning.
Okay, I'll be the first to admit that we have been TOTALLY SLACKING on this website since the new year began. We have good excuses though... but they're still just excuses....
Since the new year began:
*We have been without internet for a week
*We have been without hot water for more than 3 days (December 31st - January 4th)
*Jeff has gotten sick and thus his normal food consumption has been drastically reduced... he is eating so little now, our food bill has been cut by at least 3/4!
*We have no hot water again - it just started this morning and we can't seem to get it back
*We have been working SUPER hard at camps and have been trying to figure out what the heck we are going to do with ourselves come September, which is quickly approaching!
My newly acquired knowledge is as follows:
*When it gets cold in Korea you are supposed to turn on your hot water and let it run all night so that the pipes don't freeze. We've been letting ours drip (it's so painful to let this happen... so bad for the environment!), but last night we were so tired that we forgot to turn on our tap, hence the frozen pipes today. We've been hoping that the heat fan that we've been blasting towards the pipes (which are hidden in our walls) is going to help, we feel really bad about telling our landlords that we have no hot water again!)
We have been busy, and the busyness is not slowing down. For the next week I have "camp", then I have classes for a week - Jeff has two more weeks of "camp". Our current camp is really just extra classes that we are teaching. I have 2 classes of kids and one class with moms - bonus - we get our afternoons off!
After camp/classes comes Lunar New Year (also known as Chinese New Year or Tet if you're Vietnamese!) We are heading on our week long "honeymoon" to China (I'm hoping we can get another honeymoon to a warmer place booked for our next trip...). It will be cold - I don't know what the heck we were thinking!!! Our other friends are taking their holidays in Thailand, Vietnam, Bali, Hawaii... us, we're going to Beijing - it's freaking freezing there! When we get back from China we spend a week teaching and then have 2 more weeks off. We are heading to Canada for my sister's wedding! Ye Haw! (Yet another cold destination.... again, what were we thinking!!! I'm freezing in Korea, why would we choose to go somewhere cold during the Lunar New Year!!!
So we will be busy.
But, we will try to check in with you every so often. If you don't hear from us for awhile it's not because we don't like you or we're trying to avoid you (at least that's the case for most of you!!!), it's because life has suddenly made us busy.
Okay, I'm off! We'll be sure to keep you informed of our trips (I'm super excited about both of them.... looking forward to seeing the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tiennamen Square, and the Terracotta Warriors in China, as well as our friends and family in Canada when we fly in for our brief and crazy visit!
~Jen
We have some friends who say that Korea is just a little odd.
*Motorcycles drive on the sidewalk
*Koreans grocery shop on weekend evenings - the later the busier
*Dogs here have their ears dyed hot pink or lime green
*Koreans advertise using white people - there are so many ads with Caucasians!
*Rice is eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner
*Couples dress alike as a sign of their affection towards one another
*Koreans use umbrellas to protect themselves from the snow
*Everything in Korea is healthy for you - anything you consume, as long as it is Korean, is good for you
*Banks are open Monday to Friday, 10am - 4:30pm, but most people work Monday to Friday, 9am - 5pm
*You need your ID card for everything
*Koreans know their blood type (they judge personalities based on blood type)
*Konglish - a mixture of Korean and English that results in quite an interesting language
While these things are definitely odd, I am able to take them all in stride. Today though, we experienced a part of Korean culture that was just a bit too freaky for me.
We went to the Paju English Village.
The village was financed by the Korean government in an attempt to improve the English skills of the Korean population. I was told that many Korean English teachers do not support the English Village. They feel that the village was a huge expense that does not pay off. This place is huge - and it must have cost a ton of money to create (and maintain).
The trip started off with us going through customs to enter the English Village - a fun activity, not too odd.
Next we visited a post office and a police station. The kids loved being locked up in the jail cell, though the programming left a lot to be desired. The hands on activities were sorely lacking - I could have taught a better lesson in my own classroom, but that wasn't the problem.
Walking through this village was just surreal. The village was designed to provide Korean children with the opportunity to speak English. Kids wander around the village (which is HUGE!) and participate in various activities with native English speakers (this could have been my job!) Throughout the village are speakers playing messages in English and English music - Pink, Britney Spears.... There are regular running coffee shops (we had coffee at Tom n Toms), pizza joints, and even a pub (though I'm not sure that they served beer... I hope not!)
The oddest part was the musical that we attended. The whole time that I watched this terrible show all I could think of was - this could have been me.... Think of the outrageous kids shows they have on TV in Canada - over the top songs, really uber energetic actors, and bad story lines. This was an attempt at that, but it kind of failed. The English was spoken too quickly, and the songs were terrible. Now, I love me a good show. I must admit, that even though I was appauled at the show, I was also intrigued. While some of the male teachers fell asleep, I couldn't look away...
I'm sure that I have not fully captured the oddity that was the Paju English Village. It was just freaky. Can't say much more than that... I wish that you could have been there to experience this oddity that is the English Village.
~Jen
So we've been out of touch for a bit. But it isn't really our fault. We lost our Internet for a week and it took three visits from two technicians to finally fix it. We had two visits from an incompetent technician who said that Mac computers can't connect to the Internet and that you can't have more than one computer connected to the Internet through a wireless network (incidentally, we've had our two computers connected to the Internet for the past four months). Anyway, we're just happy to have our Internet and our hot water back (did I mention that our hot water went AWOL again?!? Three days of no hot showers in the middle of winter!!!).
So aside from our home problems, Jen and I have been really enjoying the winter camp at her school. We have our fire back! Teaching normal classes at our schools has been tough, since we have hundreds of students that we see for only 45 minutes each week. But we get to spend our entire days at the camp, from 9 until 3, with the same students and we've been able to get to know them and form relationships with them. The students get three hours of English instruction each day and then they have activities like sports, drama, and cooking in the afternoons. So we're also a lot busier than normal and we don't have all the free time like we do during the normal school year. We come home exhausted after interacting with energetic students all day with few breaks, but at least we come home fulfilled and having enjoyed our days. We'd love it if we could teach camps all year long!
I teach 12 students and then run a sports club after lunch. This is where most of the boys from all three classes (Jen has 16 students, and Justin, another English teacher, has 12 students) get to run around and use up their energy. There are also three girls in the sports club too. I'm having a lot of fun teaching and interacting with these students. It's been a good week and I'm looking forward to the next week with them too.
These are the women I have been sharing an office with for the past four months. (We were at a noraebang - a singing room... so fun!!)
Two of them are my co-teachers who teacher English with me, the others teacher science and music. They are delightful women, however they don't speak that much English. I usually end up listening to Korean chatting at lunch time, and whenever we go out for a meal. Although I truly cherish these women, it makes it difficult to feel a part of the group when you don't understand what they're talking about. Every so often someone will lean over to me and give me a one sentence synopsis about what they're discussing, but that's not enough for me. I want to be able to participate in discussions and not sit there with a fake smile on my face, trying to act like I'm interested, and not bored.
One of the things I've struggled with most in this job is not being able to communicate with the rest of the staff. I am the only native English speaker at my school (which is not odd in the public school system). My principal and vice principal do not speak English which means that I rely on my co-teachers to help me communicate with them. I can't get materials out of the supply room without my co-teachers because you need to sign things out, and I don't speak enough Korean to do so. Even getting photocopying done here is a struggle.
Jeff and I both love Seoul. We have great friends here, we LOVE the subway system, and the city in general. But, we don't love our jobs. We don't hate our jobs, we just don't feel passionate about what we're doing. I don't get up every morning (or any morning for that matter) excited about the day. I would love to have my own class, and teach lessons that are no so regimented by the text book. I would love to be able to communicate with my students beyond "How are you?" And, I would love to know my students' names - I have 300 kids, which makes it difficult to remember all their names. I love teaching because of the relationships I get to form with the kids. My current situation does not allow for a lot of relationships to be formed. There are definitely some kids who are awesome, but I don't even know their names!!
I look forward to the weekends. It is for that reason that we are looking into other jobs for next September. Unfortunately Korea has recently changed their visa and immigration policies due to a Canadian pedophile who was caught after having spent time in Korea. These visa changes mean that we may not be able to work here next year. In addition to visa issues, there are not many (I've only found one) non-religious international schools we could work at. So, we're looking abroad.
Apparently New Zealand has a huge teacher shortage, and someone else mentioned Hong Kong having lots of international schools. A couple of our friends here are thinking about England (I LOVE England...)
So, our plans for the new year? Well, we're not sure. In some ways I hate not knowing what I'm going to be doing in less than a year, but in other ways I find it exciting. I would love to stay in Seoul, but who knows what the future will hold for us. (We'll let you know when we know...)
For now, I'd like to wish you all the best for the new year, whatever adventures it may hold for you.
I had my grade five class write letters to Santa as part of our Christmas class. I explained how to do it and gave them a sheet to fill in.
Let me share with you some of the final products.
He asked for a girlfriend.
After I took the picture I showed him, his reaction? "Ah, very handsome!"
What a cutie!
She called me over "Teacher, how do you say... um... push... push baby?"
As she was asking me this question both she and her friends were motioning giving birth.
The final product.... I can't help but laugh.
Notice what Santa is getting? Kimchi and pizza... mmm!
Just a few more pictures of my cute grade 5s. Enjoy!
RSS Feed