It's Basic Science Teacher!

I couldn't get the sound to work in my first class of the day, and it's the first class of the week. I seriously wanted to punch someone, however, my coolheadedness prevailed and I merely crossed my eyes and stuck my tongue out at my class while the sound of a creepy robotic man's voice talked about vietnamese food in the background. One of my students stood up and walked towards the computer stand, he glanced at the computer desk giving it a brief once over, then, he kicked the desk! The sound crackled and began blaring out at the appropriate volume. I winced and rushed to quiet the noise while my students laughed hysterically. Then one of them blared from the back of the class, "Teacher, Scienceuh!"

I love my students.

Anyeong!

Superheroes

So, like you all know (because I bothered you to make me a video!) my kids and I are talking about superheroes this month. We walked through a worksheet detailing, organizing, and creating the superhero that all my kids wanted to be. At the end of the period I had a couple kids stand up and tell the class about their superhero, one of my smaller boys stood up a little shakily, glanced around the room, took a deep breath, squared his shoulders and began to speak. There was nothing unusual about his superhero, in fact it wasn't really a superhero at all! Instead this boy was describing a normal human being, as he was nearing the end andI was beginning to wonder how this child had gone so dramatically wrong within the confines of my assignment when he concluded his presentation by saying,


My superhero normal is, BUT he can fist when attacked.

He glanced solemnly about him, his friends agreeing with him by solemnly shaking their head and furrowing their brows. I stared around the room before biting back my laughter.

Fisting?
I mean...isn't that just a punch?
Well, whatever I guess!

Anyeong!

Samgye (Sam-gay)

So i've been working on this website for what feels like an absolute eternity and I think that i'm almost finished with it...going to try to start it up the week after next once all my kids are finished making their comics....but here's one of the logo's i've been playing with. Ive been having a hell of a time sizing everything appropriately, my photoshop skills just aren't all that savvy tragically enough. Ah well.

Anyeong!

Inspirational Photographers

Someday I really do need to take some time and learn how to be a real photographer. These two photographer have really captured my attention recently, I just love the imagery that children can exude and that only photography can capture. *sigh* someday I hope to be as good as this guy and this guy.

Until then I suppose i'll have to settle for this shot and this shot of my own.

^_^

Anyeong!

Lemonstein!

I feel like THIS is how everyone should approach life.

Spring Has Sprung

It must be spring because i've seen two butts this week and it's only Tuesday. 

Yesterday I was sitting at my desk working on something unimportant when I happened to glance to my right and what do I see? One student mooning another across the quad.

 Lovely. 

Then today as I was returning from my 5th class in a row (exhausting) I happened to glance up and through a crack in one of the classrooms to see another one of my students drop trow at another student. 

Hysterical laughter ensued and i'm basically scarred for life. 
I'm presuming that this array of butts is because spring has sprung here.
Here's to hoping I don't see anymore pre-pubescent arses! 

Anyeong!

Some Thoughts...

These are some things I wrote while in Thailand:

The Self

We are in an age where all of my peers, everyone I know really, engages in themselves.

The age of the Self.

Everyone I know is selfish and concerned only with what they want. We all plug into our electronics and tune out the world, engaging in the acts of self-promotion, and though we find one another in bars and we relish those stolen moments of human companionship, when the morning arises and that last kiss leaves our lips, we realize that’s it, that’s all, there is no more human warmth or compassion. We’ve left it all behind in the heat of the night. We calmly and hurriedly embrace our cold electronics and continue on with our self aggrandizing acts.

The Playful Thief.

I sat there listening to live music as the small boy plied his trade among the foreigners. He hassled them, played with them and outsmarted their alcohol-leaden brains enough to solicit awes and oohs of appreciation. They veritably drowned him in gold and silver pieces.

Updatezzzzz

Since school started I've been crazy crazy busy! I've also been creating a website, i'm going to set it up as a space for my kids to go to to work on their English. I know English teachers who email with their students but it just seems so...awkward to me. So since I can see that my kids clearly enjoy the teacher interaction i'll set this up and then we'll see if they like it or if it's a failed idea. Doesn't hurt to try now does it? Anyway, i've been working in photoshop and I came up with a logo for my website. Thought i'd give you all a little sneak peak.

Anyeong!

Scattegories

I'm playing Scattegories with my kids at school and essentially in teams of two, they have to drum up words that start with the same letter, for instance, if the letter were "J" and the category was "clothing" they would write as many J-word clothing items that they could think of:
Jeans
Jacket
Jewelery

In this particular case, the letter was "F" and this student was on the "countries" category. He looked up at me as I passed, scrunched his oversized glasses further up his nose and asked,

"Molly teacher? peranceuh is spelled with an F?"

"Yea."

"Oh..."

His tiny little face fell with utter disappointment, my heart swooned and I stopped in my tracks. I looked down at his dejected little self and said

"But Japan starts with a "J""

His whole demeanor instantly lightened, he cocked his head to the side, thought about it a moment and then beamed at me, his glasses slipping further down his nose.

"Thanks Molly teacher!"

And began furiously scribbling it down.

Anyeong!

Power Teaching...

I might try whole brain power teaching...haha can you imagine my little asian students speaking enough to make this happen? hahaha... We'll see how it goes.

The main concept behind this idea (I can totally get behind this) is:
Ben Franklin (and an ancient Chinese proverb) said “Tell me and I will forget, teach me and I will remember, involve me and I will learn.”

It just seems like no matter what I do with my students, I can't reach ALL of them, and they just don't speak. So in order to alleviate that perhaps i'll try this. Maybe if I do something like this I'll be able to reach those ones that slip through the cracks and incorporate them into my lesson. I think that I frequently lose students because they are bored and they are bored because they don't understand. It's interactive lessons at it's finest.

Anyeong!

One of the many reasons I love korealand....

Love
Happiness
Emotion
Design.

Rice Cookers.

Anyeong!

Travelling

Hello hello!

Oh my it's been soo long since I last posted (shame on me!) Since January I've been to Thailand (see photos here!) I've also been spending some time hanging out and exploring Seoul, and skiing at High1.

 I'll post some photos later, but I WILL tell you that skiing in Korea is unlike any kind of skiing I've ever done. First off the lifties aren't surly, snarling twenty year olds doing it merely for the free lift pass, instead they are exuberantly happy, smiling Koreans frequently dressed up in animal costumes! Yes, we were frequently greeted by smiling and waving dinosaurs, spotted cows, and the occasional yellow chick.

haha

That's just one of the many reasons that remind me again of why I love Korealand so much.

Anyeong!