I’ve decided to be a meaner teacher when kids pull stupid crap :D The great thing about Korea is, they have come up with some great punishments. The most common is making kids stand in the back of the room and hold their arms up until they burn from fatigue. Another classic is making kids do squats until their legs feel like jello. I think another good one would be putting your back against the wall and doing a chair squat while holding your arms straight out in front of you… but I’m not THAT mean… unless someone REALLY pisses me off… muahah.
My 5th graders are great… they participate and never give me trouble. Even if they’re talking a little loudly they usually listen when I tell them to turn around. BUT my 6th graders are nearing the end of their elementary school career, and I swear they get crazier and more restless everyday. The boys love to talk about killing and death and video games, and their favorite English phrase has become ’shut up’. They think they’re way too old to be in elementary school (which is probably true), and too cool to listen to any teacher. Actually, I think the American system of starting middle school from 6th grade is better as far as maturity levels go. Yesterday I kicked this kid out of my class because he WOULD NOT shut up… and later I heard that when the Korean teachers try to kick that kid out out or punish him he never obeys… guess he’s afraid of messing with the foreigner.
Yesterday Alex and I got Korean-Mexican food in Hongdae! It was actually pretty good… lettuce, beans, sour cream, cilantro, cheese, rice, and the sauce they give you tastes smoky and BURNING HOT… the way I like it! I’ve had Korean ‘nachos’ before, and basically they were covered in sweet ketchup stuff (instead of salsa) and cheez whiz… gross. Many foreign foods that are supposed to be salty normally end up tasting sweet when Koreans make them, it’s weird.
Well autumn is officially sweeping through Korea, and the scenery is gorgeous! The trees are all brilliant shades of red, orange, and yellow, and the weather is getting cooler too. Alex and I decided to take a hiking trip before the winter weather sets in. There’s a company called Adventure Korea that arranges tours in English for foreigners, so we decided to sign up for a trip. The one we picked is a weekend trip to a mountain and fishing village in Eastern Korea. From the website it sounds like a really fantastic trip, and it’ll be during the peak of fall, so I’m sure we’ll have some colorful pictures to come back with.
The week after that Cirque du Soleil is coming to Seoul!!! I used to watch the performances on the Bravo channel at night and have always wanted to go, so I decided to treat myself. I’m ridiculously excited!
Anyway, yesterday during my after-school English program my co-teacher and I took some pictures of our class:
teacher mode
creating science geniuses... muahah
p.s.– Alex and I have officially voted! Our absentee ballots arrived in Texas yesterday… woohoooo
5 Comments
October 23, 2008 at 5:32 am
haha….funny you should explain those punishments…I utilize that style of discipline every day. We have these “warning slips” and there’s even a cartoon of kids doing the squats while holding their arms up.
October 23, 2008 at 5:37 am
Cool, if I was a teacher, I would enforce those punishments all the time. And I would probably have some really nasty ones when they really piss me off
Oooo, having power and being bossy.
October 23, 2008 at 5:40 am
Yeah, we need to get this f-election over! It’s getting REALLY OLD, like all this mud-slinging crap is going to end with Obama in office
The opposing parties always torture the president and his party in office.
Surprisingly, even the Republicans think that Obama will get it. But many people have concerns that Obama will create a socialist country.
I don’t know, but strangely, the Republicans don’t say that about themselves when they propose government healthcare and an economic boost through checks to the people. They have proposed that themselves.
After being involved with a government subsidized organization, I am very skeptical now of a government healthcare system. That is because the bureaucracy created by one may get in the way of its original purpose as with the organization that I experienced. But all I know is that the system that we have is not working either
October 23, 2008 at 5:43 am
Those smileys are supposed to be tongues sticking out. I keep forgetting that it doesn’t work on here.
Look at the times. Funny, we all answered at almost the same time. But the time is not correct for any of us. Just letting you know.
October 23, 2008 at 7:11 am
I know… I tried to fix the timestamp but it’s really confusing. Ron, do you know how to do this?