A quick bit on my new family...TOP SPINNING!!

Ok, so since I just took this video, I though I might as well put it up sooner rather than later and give you all two posts in a row to chew on!

I pretty much explain everything in the video...But in terms of my new host family, I believe they are a much better fit for me. At the very least, they have very different personalities than my last family. The host mom is a home economics teacher at my school ...although Korean Home Ec. is not at all the same as the American kind. She's very lovely. And I have a 12year old sister now and a 9year old brother who speak very serviceable English. They will be able to benefit from me much more than my ex-host siblings. The host dad works in construction and is away from home during the week and returns home only on the weekends. I will meet him for the first time this Saturday.

Anyway, here's me and the new brother having fun...in my new room by the way!

Hope you enjoyed that! More to come... :-)

Chuseok!

So this might be a bit strange because this place where I've spent Chuseok and this family are no longer my family, but I think I should still talk about what happened before I moved. Because Chuseok was really interesting... and delicious.

Basically, you need to know that Chuseok for American purposes is like Korean Thanksgiving...sorta. It's a lot more than that though, and that's really a poor comparison. In fact, Chuseok is more like an ancestral worship and big harvest get-together. It's a big time to celebrate family, bounty, and remember the dead. It's also the largest holiday in Korea; it's that important.

So it's a whole lotta cookin' and eatin'. In that respect, it's very much like an American Thanksgiving. It's also a lot like Christmas too!!! Because it's the big gift-giving holiday. Christmas in Korea is more like a romantic holiday for couples...fascinating. So people get all kinds of fun gifts for Chuseok. When I heard this, I dived right in and got lots of gifts for my (ex-) family!

Here's the spread!

Who's the Chuseok Queen now?!?!

So I got gifts for each of my family members. Basically just made a big E-Mart and Stationary store run. But they were very surprised and liked it a lot!! Of course, who doesn't like gifts?!

For Host mom and Host little sister...

For Host dad and Host little brother...

Chuseok landed on a Monday (Sept 12th) this year (since it's related to the lunar calendar, it changes every year), so on Friday the roads were jammed with people leaving. Saturday it was also busy...last minute shopping and more people traveling. On Sunday it was also busy during the morning, since people were all going to the eldest son's .house in their .family to cook and prepare for the .holiday and ceremony on2 Monday.

I helped to cook!

Host grandmother and host cousin making "chon" and other yummy fried in egg veggie dishes. We are in my host uncle's house.

Also!!! There was. this super cute little dog in the house! Her name was "Sarang" or love. Precious. At first, she was pretty ugly, but she was so loving and cute, I couldn't help it. Plus I really miss pets. Most Koreans do not have dogs...and certainly not cats. They are considered like dirty street animals...Anyway, we got along well since we both spoke the least Korean! :) Actually...I bet she understood more korean than me...

Isn't she cute?! Kinda...?

Anyway, then on Monday morning I arrived at Host Uncle's apartment around 9am. Unfortunately they had already performed the worship ceremony. >< But I got to see a lot of the food laid out. I basically just arrived for a big meal...for breakfast. And it was great!

Host grandmother, host aunt, and host little sister. Host mom didn't want her picture taken and is hiding behind  little sister.

Delicious.

After eating and cleaning, we headed to the Grandfather's tomb. I was very surprised that I was allowed to come. But they invited me along and of course I said yes!

The tomb...or grave. I think "tomb" is more accurate.

Offerings. Soju (alcohol of choice in Korea), fruit, and a lit cigarette.

Insa of the sons to their father. I also just realized in looking at this picture, that all the male family members are present. I'm not sure about my little brother, but I know my host cousin was there on purpose. Chuseok is a patriarchal holiday (like nearly everything else in Korea), so the wife will always spend the actual worship and meal service with her husband's family. She may visit her family later, but just to help eat more leftovers. ~Another interesting point this reminds me of, the children in a family are the father's - they take their father's surname. But the wife keeps her family name upon marrying. Fascinating...

Except for the 10 seconds of insa (formal greeting), everyone just sort of went around cleaning things, pulling moss off the grave, getting rid of other forest debris and trying to keep cool. It was very sunny and humid. It was an odd mix of somber and also just a "doing your duty" kind of feeling. But it was interesting.

Here's a video I took of it all:

Afterwards, we just went back to Host Uncle's House and ate more food. It reminded me a lot of any other holiday in America, lots of eating, cooking, lazying-around, and watching TV. It was great.

...And then two days later I found out they didn't want to host me anymore. After all of that... >< But it's better this way. I'll comment on the switch in my next post...

A walking tour of my new home! ...and pictures!

On a slightly more fun note than my last post, here is a video (I guess I'm vlogging now) of my new home at 상아 (Sang-ah) Apartments in Mannyeon-dong Daejeon! I had a hard time getting this video to work...so I went ahead and made a YouTube account...only people with the link will be able to view the video though.

The food was actually delicious afterwards...although the thing I had to fry actually was like a porkchop. No idea meat was involved until I bit into it...probably should have cooked it some more. But I ate everything else!

Generally food in Korea is very cheap, and so eating in and cooking for yourself is even less expensive than eating out! So hopefully I will have a chance to learn how to cook a few things this year!

...Also, since this video was made a while ago, I also have another web photo album to share: A trip with my family to the National Cemetery. There are two in Korea - one in Seoul and one in Daejeon.

Visit to the National Cemetery

My first Educational conflict in Korea...

So I've been at Cheongran All-Girls' High School for three days now. I haven't taught the last two days nor today since the schedule for my first grade advanced English students has not be finalized yet.


But already I've come into a very interesting conflict...Not only am I completely team-teaching (like literally back and forth with my CoTeacher for the entire 50 minute lessons), doing lessons solely from a textbook, and having very little opportunity to supplement the text with my own lessons, but I am in quite a quandry when it comes to sticking to my educational principles.


I am, it seems, not really needed for any speaking skills. Regardless of the entire purpose of having a native speaker (to get Koreans to actually SPEAK English with a live foreigner and to build confidence in that skill), I am needed only to provide the American cultural element to our lessons...Oh, and by "American cultural element" I mean a "fun video" at the end of every lesson. ><


(I should mention that I was already a little disappointed with the fact that I have to completely team teach anyway...and from a text. It seems there was a struggle to get a foreigner teacher into my school last for the first time last year. Most of the English teachers believed (and still do, in fact) that ETAs and EPIK teachers just play games and that this has no real benefit to their students' English ability. It is because of this misconception that I believe I am not trusted to teach any class on my own - since my students will obviously not benefit from such an instructor...sigh... There may also be some element of the Korean English Teacher being able to manage the classroom better. Basically, "foreign teachers cannot control their own classes and keep students on task" more or less. This last point hasn't been made explicit by my CoTeacher, but I think it may also play a part in the way she and others at my school view foreign english teachers. I should also point out that other ETAs around the country do not have this same situation at all. It varies TREMENDOUSLY! But for my own situation, I am kept under quite a tight leash.)


My main goals, the reason why I came to Korea to teach was because Koreans overall lack the ability to speak English with confidence and proficiency. They can read and memorize vocabulary like little English robots, but they do not know how to speak. My goal with my students was to encourage these skills through practice. My goal was to make them want to learn English and SPEAK English on their own. I wanted to instill in them a genuine personal interest in speaking a different language. I wanted to be a teacher that told them they could learn this difficult language. They could succeed and speak with a foreigner. I wanted to expand their conception of what it was possible for them to achieve. They could do it! In Korea, I might have been the first teacher to even say those kinds of things to them...I knew that I couldn't "get to" every student, but even one would have been enough.


But now it seems I may have to re-evaluate these goals. Or at the very least think of ways I can do these things outside of what is now a very controlled, text-based (ie: reading- and listening-based) lecture classroom...


CoTeacher came in today and told me that the Vice Principal (a lovely man by all accounts!) criticized them for the girls' English scores that came in today. Supposedly, they aren't so good. Basically, for me this means that we will be doing a lot more reading and listening than what we had initially planned. She says they need to improve their vocabulary, and that practicing speaking is good - but not as important. Classic teaching to the test basically. So I tried to make a case for the inclusion of the vocab they need to know in speaking exercises and getting away from using the textbook all the time ...(since its obviously not making a difference).  And CT was like, "Well, really we blame the students. From this area, their quality is not so good."

D:<

That kind of thinking just totally flies in the face of what I fundamentally believe about education...I know deep down, that even though not every student is as good as the other, EVERYONE CAN LEARN! They just need to find their own motivation/style to learn and decide they want to learn on their own. So I tried to explain this idea and the whole "life-long learner" thing.

And she just nodded.

So... I suggested that I could find real articles or live interviews that discuss the topics we are learning and rephrase them for reading practice and make fill-in-the-blank worksheets for listening practice. I tried to explain the concept of getting away from the textbook as a motivation factor and creating excitement. Like, weren't we always like HOORAY! when the teacher said.."ok, let's close our texts and do something different." I told her in that moment we can be teaching exactly the same things as the textbook, but since we've just made a more exciting  environment, maybe the vocab and grammar and whatever the kids need to know, can stick! Also - emphasizing speaking the words can get students to remember too. Even our Korean Language teachers were always like, "Your brain likes your voice" during Orientation at Jungwon. I totally proscribe to this...

...Still she didn't buy it. "Well, the students are changing. They do not study as well. And they do not want to listen when we teach." Which of course I can see...Young koreans are becoming more and more like young americans in the classroom. But still, I just don't jive with that "blame the students" mentality. I told her, maybe to help the students, the teachers should try to change what they are doing and come up with new ideas. Which she agreed with...she said it earlier herself when she was explaining the initial problem. But, she seems to think that the only other way you can teach without a textbook = playing games. Which is to be avoided at all costs. UGH! so frustrating...

Anyway, its interesting at the very least to have my ideals about education come into direct conflict and try to work that out. I really just what's best for the students. But obviously, there are very different ideas about what exactly is "best" for students and how to get them to achieve that goal.


Married to text vs. let's try something new and engaging...We'll see which wins in the end! Or more likely, which kind of marriage of the two I will try to strike up in our classroom.


Comments on this appreciated!

I've got a lot of making-up to do, I know! But until then....

FEAST YOUR EYES ON MY NEW LITTLE SISTER!

재 이 (Pronounced, "J" basically) is a (Korean age) four-year old, super precocious little girl. She's got her parents wrapped around her little finger...and I have to admit it's hard to resist her. She didn't take a nap today, so when the babysitter brought her home, she was asleep on arrival!

Cute, right?

My placement for the next year!

Just an hour ago I learned the name and nature of my school placement in South Korea for the next year!

I will be teaching at Cheongran Girls' High School, a private school in Daejeon. There are 876 students at my school, although I will likely not teach the 3rd year students (essentially seniors).

Here is the school's website! http://www.chran.hs.kr/

There are four other ETAs also placed in Daejeon with me, and my dear roommate is not far away in Cheonan. So we are all very happy and excited! Tomorrow I will probably have more information about my school and what kind of students these girls will be.

I will not find out any information on my homestay placement for another week or so though. But just knowing the school make-up and my location is great! Daejeon is basically in the middle of the country and situated right on the KTX line - the main railroad system in Korea. The KTX runs like an upside-down Y through the country and Daejeon is right in the junction of the three lines! So I'll be able to travel around the country easily and quickly! More on Daejeon here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daejeon

Basically, I'm super happy. More soon!

Samhwasa Temple in Mureung Valley, Donghae, SK

So this past weekend, the Fulbright Commission in Seoul paid for all of the ETAs to have a weekend vacation in Donghae. Donghae literally means "East Sea," and it is a little town considered "rural." Of course our walk through the downtown area made Donghae look much more like a city in American terms. But we've come to realize that Korean designations for urban, suburban and rural are very different.

Anyway, we got to visit a Korean Buddhist Temple in the beautiful Samhwasa valley. The Valley is very narrow, but filled with giant boulders and cliffs. Trees and other lush flora flourish on the rocks, and water runs down the valley from every spot. It's very lovely.

Here are some pictures:

Samhwasa Buddhist Temple in Mureung Valley, Donghae, South Korea

An awesome creek-thing ran through the middle of the narrow valley. There were lots of huge boulders everywhere and waterfalls all fell into the river from both sides of the valley side!

Fun rapids! And dry bedrock to relax on...

So these are all pictures of the Mureung Valley. We visited a Buddhist Temple, Samhwasa Temple, in the valley. We also walked all around on some of the hiking trails and took in the beauty of the valley! Hiking is THE national past-time of South Korea (besides drinking....seriously), so there were lots of fun paths to explore!

The rest of Donghae was great too! We visited the cave in the center of town - they had only discovered it in 1991. We had to wear hard hats and everything because the ceilings were so low, but it was a fun time. At the very least, it was nice to get out of the humidity.

Surprisingly, our single day on the beach was filled with great weather. A lot of us were expecting it to rain, but it was super sun-shiney! And we all got burned. The boardwalk was also a great hangout at night. We stayed at the Grand Tourist Hotel in Mansang, the most northern part of Donghae. The hotel was owned by the same people who created Jungwon, so we weren't quite able to escape the odd marble-mansion architecture. But it was a great stay!

On our way back to Goesan on Sunday (we took nice Jungwon buses to and fro), we winded our way through high mountains to a little museum. A more strange museum I've never known...There were lots of great pottery pieces and artifacts, but there was also a whole giant fake cave. Strange... But we had bibimbap afterwards for lunch and that was great.

Camp Fulbright is well underway, and I've already taught my first class. It went pretty well, but I still have a lot more to learn and practice!

The weather is now sunny and great in Jungwon, but since camp has begun I haven't gotten a chance to go out and take pictures. I'll get to it sometime...

But in the meantime, I might have post on Seoul soon...Although all the ETAs are going in a few weeks, a group of friends and I might try to swing our own visit this weekend! So the next post might be very fun... Stay tuned!