A Little Bit About Class

So today I figured I'd tell you a little bit about what it is like to teach here.

First off I work in a 'hagwon', which basically is an after school learning program. It is situated on the 3rd floor of a building with 6 tiny classrooms to teach within. I work with 5 very nice co-teachers (one foreigner, Ashlyn, who went to Bishops with me) and the director and his wife.

The one I work at is called Jeju ESL English Academy

Generally the kids come over after a long school day to learn english. (Are they excited to learn English? I'll let you figure that out).

Most of the kids are between 8-14 and have varying degrees of english. Keep in mind, just because they're older doesn't mean they know english better. The classes are no more than 12 people, but most of them are between 5-10 years old.

The kids... well they can be loud and rowdy as one would expect from the age group. Sometimes they can be real jerks as well. Basically they're just being honest, but they simply lack the maturity to realize that some truths don't need to be told.

Occasions When I Wanted to Beat Some Respect into the Kids:

-When we were discussing Jelly and a kid pointed to my leg

- Multiple times where the kid is 'testing' me by either ignoring me or just staring me in the face

- The kid who called me ugly

-Kids who make fun of me because I say 'yap' instead of 'yes'

-Kids that say my writting is very ugly

It isn't that I go home at night and cry myself to sleep, I just have a low tolerance for disrespect and I know that the kids usually know better than to say some of the things they do.
The kids of course aren't all bad. In fact, sometimes they're truly adorable and I just want to take them home and put them on a shelf. Some of the dresses they wear are absolutely gush-worthy and I just want to hug them for the entire class (until I notice them put a pencil up their nose as a way of holding it)


As I previously mentioned, there are intense punishments for those who don't pay attention or mouth off. These are a few of my favorite punishments (that I wish I could do, but can't).

- Standing on one foot while facing the wall and having your hands above your head. This is of course accompagnied by a good dose of yelling

- Holding a chair above your head for the rest of the class

- Touching your toes while in the middle of the classroom for the duration of the class

Often what I find is that their style of learning is complete memorization. Basically they can get to the point where they can pronounce words perfectly and know the meaning of most individual words, but at the end of the story NONE of them will know what it is about. This gets frustrating as even after they reread half the story they still don't understand what it is about.

Furthermore, many of the textbooks were clearly written in America. I don't like it when one of the test questions reads:

"What is California?"

a) A country

b) A city

c) A state

d) A province

No one got that question right, and I really don't expect them to. It is a useless question, and one that doesn't really test their English skills.

Anyways, this is a mere dose of what it is like to teach in Jeju! I'll have more stories later on I'm sure. And many more moments where I'll want to give a good whipping to the kids.

A Definite Learning Experience

So now I've been here for almost a week and I thougt I'd share some stuff.
So I'm in my apt which... Has it's quirks. First there's a big grappling hook [With the words: "Simplicity Descending Lifeline"] beside my window and an emergency rope system in case my apt goes up in flames. My...god. I'm not sure I could use it... Ever.
I got "sheets" for the bed. Thebed itself is a bunk bed but with a double bed on the bottom. I managed to pull my sheets on the bed and turned my tablecloth (since I have no table for it) into a snazzy bedspread. The hospital styled cover that came with it just isn't suffiscient. Because while the weather is warm, the amount of air conditioning I use makes it chilly at night.

The view from my window is admittedly gorgeous. You can see the island spread out and out and slowly elevate itself. And to the side u can see the volcano covered by clouds. The city... Well it's kinda how I pictured China to look like. Not unclean but always a sensation of uncleanliness. And a city with the same inspiration behind it as Waterloo and Kitchener. One of a dull and often non-sensical thinking.

I taught my first class, although not on purpose. I was supposed to sit in, but suddenly Chandra never showed up cus of the director. Voilà. First taught class. One of the kids in the class called me ugly... Well actually had no idea but the kids here rat each other out. They do that a lot here. We are not seen as real teachers so I've been told to expect them to not listen because I don't know Korean. Bleh. They're allowed to be louder here and hit each other. They stand. And while I'm constantly reminded that they're only kids... lets just say that this is not a place for Cades. I'm envious because all the other teachers bring in sticks to class, but I think I'll play out my role as JENNY TEACHER!!!' the foreigner.
The kids are often well meaning. It's just that the pressures of their parents force em to learn English after school. I've been warned that when school break ends to expect them to be tired and unfocused. One wonders why learn english when u consider that most of these kids won't ever leave the island. It really saddened me to hear that if one girl got a bad mark in school she would be hit. Of course they get 50$ if they do well.
As a goodbye party for Chandra we went out to a Korean style dinner. We sat on the floor while rounds upon rounds upon rounds of food came... My lord it never ended. It was a lot of raw seafood and things like kimchi, seasoned pumpkin, flavored tofu,soup, meatball... and unknown things. On top of that, the director was pounding back the booze and in turn so must I. No hangover luckily!

They have soju which is like a tamer vodka. And their wine which tastes more like white port.The most horrid food placed before me came in the form of octopus. I was ready to dig when I noticed that the slices were still changing colors. Yes... Indeed it had just been killed. So as I was trying to pry off the suckers from the plate I was reminded of the Japanese eating them and the hazard they cause if the suckers get ahold of ur throat and strangle u. Did it apply here? Yes it did.I was told to just swallow but instead I munched on that thing until all suckers were made obsolete. Ruined my appetite for much of the meal after. The meal was an art form in itself as you can see:



Ok thats it. This is actually copied from an email to my parents and brother. I apologize for the unoriginality, but I just don't get much time on a computer and not yet able to write out what I want.


[PS- Sorry for lousy english/grammar. Yes I realize the irony of it and me being a teacher; however, I wrote this quickly and initially on an itouch which is less than forgiving on poor grammar and sentences. So I've tried to edit it as much as possible but it wont be perfect! I'm sorry!]

Finally.... I arrive!

First off, I will add images when I get a laptop and actually move into my apt, so I apologize for the dull post.


So I'm finally here, but not without some huge bumps. I was initially to fly off to Shanghai and then transfer to Seoul on Sunday, but as I woke up that morning and checked the flight status I found out my plane had been delayed by 7 hours. NOT A FUN WAY TO WAKE UP. Poor Julia and Emily had come to go to the airport with me early in the morning and ended up getting to experience me freaking out instead. Especially poor Emily who had been to a concert the night before. In the end Julia saved my arse by knowing how to exactly sweet talk the demon company known as Air Canada.


Here is the thing. The flights were booked seperately and the second ticket was done through Eastern Chinese Airlines, which were closed on Sunday. On top of that I had to rebook ANOTHER flight from Seoul to Jeju which wasn't even initially booked by me. I hope this slightly outlines the disaster that day was.

So my first day in Korea was actually spent at an old petting zoo in Toronto! Woo!





I left the next day (awake at 3:30am with 2 hours of sleep) and didn't actually get into Seoul until 5pm the next day.

I don't sleep on planes.

Apparently when you're missing 24hrs of sleep the ground begins to move on its own.

So I finally arrived in Seoul the other day and went through customs quite easily despite the masked men taking my temperature as soon as I got off the plane. Poking something random towards my neck....

I got to Jeju but I am stuck in a motel until tomorrow. A motel that... well despite all the mold, is annoying with its bathtub setup which allows for no showering.

And this is important. Let me be clear... I very much underestimated Jeju weather. We're talking 30+ everyday and humidity that equals to me sweating about 5mins after stepping out of the door. It's disgusting...


So what is Jeju like you ask?



Here are things I've learned since being here:

-The sidewalk IS a roadway, and you're simply in the way



-A shower CAN and WILL have a toilet in it



-Taxis will honk at you on the road to let you know they're empty



-You are a foreigner, even if they 've seen a white person before they will stare



-They love to say Hi to you and laugh at you when you say hi back. Endearment or mocking, you be the judge



-Cold spicy squid tentacles are a healthy part of your breakfast



-Everything here is cheap. 8$= 12 sushi pieces, soup, salad, snack and drink











I best go now because this is just a break between my classes. I will write about it more, when this isn't such an essay!

The First Post

So here I am already with my blog. I figured I would create while I'm still in Canada, because by the time I'm in Korea I'll be so overwhelmed I'll have absolutely no time to be creating something like this.
I have my visa and will be flying out on Sunday! Which is all very exciting and making me slightly nervous!




If you are wondering about the theme of my blog, it is supposed to reflective of Korean fashion. Although I did later find out that the image I used actually was from a Singapore online clothing store called Girl2Beauty, apparently Korea is an up and coming fashion zone. If you want to know a little bit about Shoe fashion in Korea

Check out

http://ispyshanghai.com/2008/10/28/shoe-tuesday-korea-superlocal/

I guarantee you it will give you a smile.


I will try to continually update my blog, including different themes/images for my blog. Just to jazz it up and make it more interesting!

Wish me luck in my year long adventure!