Haha...

I noticed that if I said the word, "something" to my classes - they giggle and repeat, "sumseen".

I was confused - why was "something" so funny? I still don't know if I understand, but my co-teacher said that the English word, "something" sounds like a Korean word for a term used when a man and woman go out etc...

Then, if I ask questions and I say "tell me.... ", they start chanting, "tell me tell me ....t t t t t tell me". This happened in every single class. And I've finally realized what it is. There's a popular song sung by a Korean group called "Wonder Girls"...and in one of their songs, the chorus goes, "Tell me, tell me ...t t t t t tell me!" (the only English bit in the song).

...and today, with my Grade 5's, I was teaching them vocabulary relating to a phone call (conversation, dial, pick up, hang up etc...). I was trying to explain that a conversation happens between the "caller" and "receiver". They found this hilarious and couldn't stop laughing.

Why? "caller" sounds like "cola" as in Coca Cola (Coke) LOL

Eensy Weensy Spider...

Since my Kindergarten class perfected "Head, shoulders...knees and toes", I thought it was time for them to learn something new. My friend, Natalie suggested "Eensy weensy spider". I introduced this last week, but realized that "climbed up the water spout" was too difficult for them... so I changed it to "ran up the water spout".

The Kindergarten teacher wrote the English lyrics in in Korean for the children so that it made it easy to pronounce... and when I taught them yesterday, I was so impressed that they had improved! They were doing it with actions and everything...

Grade 2's

One of the Grade 2 teachers told me that every time her students see me in the corridors, they go back and tell her that I greeted them. She says they want to talk to me, but they can only say "hi" or "hello!" They are sooo cute!

She was going to teach a new section to the class ... all about "Famous things in Korea", so she wanted me to record a video message for the class saying that I want to learn about all the famous things in Korea.. she thought that it would be motivation for the class to want to study the section more... so that they could tell me (the foreign teacher) about all the famous monuments etc that this country has.

The video was shown at the Grade 2 Open Class and to thank me for the favour, the teacher gave me cake and the children wrote letters to me ... each one about something famous in Korea (example - the greeting, famous ice skaters, swimmers etc...).

This is what it looked like:

Disciplining & Rewards...

Disciplining

I've come up with something new with my classes... I tell them if I see them using their cellphones, I will use it to call my family in Na-ma-gong (South Africa!) *^^*

...Now, I count down from 5 to 0 ...if they have not settled by the time I get to zero, the lesson will be boring and we won't play games...

If I have to ask them repeatedly to be quiet, I say one of two things:

1) They will get homework, which will have to be signed by their parents
or
2) I will call their homeroom teacher to deal with them

It's hilarious - the class is absolutely quiet after I've used these lines!


Rewards

I bought a really cute square box from a stationery store, and filled it with Hershey Kisses. When it's time for questions in my classes, I have this box passed around while music is playing. (like "Pass the Parcel"). When the music stops, the student holding the box must stand and answer a question. If it's answered correctly, he/she gets to open the box and have a Kiss. I started this today... needless to say, I had kids follow me after class begging me, "Please teacher - kiss kiss kiss!"

Happy Call

I started another new program today called Happy Call. Every Tuesday & Thursday @ 5pm, I have to call 3 students at home (from different schools) and chat to them for a few minutes. The topics are already set out for me...since today was the first one, it was general greetings. Afterwards, I have to evaluate the call - easy...just ranking the student's confidence over the phone etc...

Hi Sweet Home

Elementary teachers in my city have to partake in a program called "Hi Sweet Home" where the English teacher visits the home of one of his/her students to meet the family.

Today I went on my first visit. It was a bit awkward at first, because of the language barrier. The mum was so kind and prepared various fruits, bread and juice for me. Her youngest son brought out various objects from his room to ask me the English name for them (dinosaur, soccer ball etc...). They were very hospitable and I was given a fantastic wall chart map of Korea.

Beyonce in Seoul!

Rachel and I were chatting away about nothing in particular... it was already past 8, and the show hadn't started yet. We both agreed that the concert tickets were pretty expensive so she had better be damn good!


All of a sudden, the auditorium lights went out and we just heard screams around us. And there she appeared. Strutting her stuff across the stage was BEYONCE! Now I'm not a die-hard fan, but I do appreciate good music, dancing and beauty. What I love about her is that she doesn't conform to the skeletal figures of today's pop stars. The woman has curves....and she aint afraid to flaunt it! She sang all her top hits... she was energetic and in my opinion - more beautiful in real life. Her stage presence was electric and Rachel & I both think it was worth every cent!



Beyonce singing Baby Boy



...singing Ring the Alarm / Beautiful LIar



...singing Independent Woman / Bootylicious
As she broke into Bootylicious, she ripped the silverish dress she had on, revealing a nude-colour body suit with only the silver top...