Seoul Eats

My next topic that I want to work on is Baseball. Here's the idea. I will draw a baseball diamond on the board and get them to tell me the positions like 1st base, 2nd, 3rd, shortstop etc. I should get some images of Korean Baseball players. Maybe a song? Take me out to the ballgame? I think it would work (but, I have to get it to work by next class...). The idea is to teach Abbott and Costello's Who's on first. Time for this exercise should be about 20 minutes but it could stretch to 30 minutes. I think I could get half the class to read for Abbott and the other half to read for Costello. Would they get the jokes? I think they would as long as I explain them. I could throw a ball and get them to yell out what positions people are at. I think this project would work for the my 5/6th grade classes, but my 3rd will be a problem. I don't know what to do for them....I could do sports, but I need to make something simplier for them. I think I can do baseball and do the p...

My Cops and Robbers class was kinda effective. I mean it was effective, but it could have been tweaked a little. Today, I brought in pictures of wanted posters and then asked them to make up a name, size, height, crime, etc. Their responses were all kinda boring though- Murder, bank robber, nothing really fun, but they did laugh. The paper from Exploring English was somewhat interesting, but getting them to read it was like pulling teeth. I don't like the energy drain when I try to get them to read or to try and participate in things. Oh, any my last class teacher 5th Na Ri didn't seem too happy with my teaching style. Just something to keep in mind. The students enjoyed it though. Oh, and in Na Ri I have a very...hmmmm...how to say this nicely....he is a very sensitive and hyperactive child. He threw a fit today, slamming his desk and crying. The other students just said, "He's a little crazy." They just seemed to accept it. So...the game worked like a cha...

My topic for my class today was cops and robbers. I had a page out of Exploring English that has a picture of a hold up. Sorry, let me restart (I'm sorry, if I'm a bit off today, but I've been sick since I ate some Turkish dip of doom on Saturday night.) I had three 6th grade classes and 1 3rd grade class. I started with a dialogue: A: So did you hear what happened to teacher Daniel? B: No. What happened? A: He got busted yesterday! B: Busted! You mean arrested? For what? A: He was tried to rob a bank yesterday. B: Really? How? A: He put a banana in a bag and told people it was a gun. B: Oh, that's not very smart. So I guess he won't be teaching for a while. A: Yeah. For real. Then I went into discussing the picture and reading the passages on the bank robbery. I asked them questions about the robbery on the back. On the opposite side of the paper was a picture with a courtroom. Well the courtroom was a bit...askew. Let me see if I ca...

Christian asked what it was like to be a gyopo in Korea, so here's my response: On 9/27/05, christian gonzález-rivera wrote: hey gyopo TEPers: i want to talk about gyopos this afternoon in my teacher's class. i collected some quotes by gyopos that i found in online newspapers, mostly related to the experience gyopo men and women have in finding romance here. do you (personally) have one or more quotes i can add to the collection? i can identify you as the author if you want, or you can choose to remain anonymous. my teacher's class is at 2:30 this afternoon, so if you're interested, please send me an email before then. thanks! cgr Christian and Gyopos and others... I was initially going to make this a private post, but I would like to know other people's experiences as a Korean/foreigner. Also, for those that know Korean, what does Jaemigyopo literally translate to. If I travel with a foreigner, the Koreans automatically assume that I speak Korean, even ...

Very interesting article on the Deconstruction of a iPod Nano Read the full article at http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/nano.ars/1 Sunday, September 11, 2005 Stress testing What does it take to destroy an iPod nano, and what's inside this tiny package? We wanted to answer both questions and strangely enough answering the first allowed us to answer the second. We could take our turns at purposely rendering the iPod nano broken, and then when it had endured more damage than it could handle we'd end its misery with a respectful autopsy. Now, we know that destroying the iPod nano makes some ( strange ) grown men want to cry. Rest assured, you can still buy one yourself, and the local priest said all iPod nanos go to heaven. Because of our initial apprehension about the breakability of our tiny new friend as well as reading about similar apprehension from many potential iPod nano buyers online, we decided to abuse our precious little nano for the sake of science. We...

On Friday September 23rd. I went to the Apple store in the COEX at 3pm to get a slip with a number on it. They said that they would start selling them in order. My number was 135. We were asked to line up by number and I was lucky enough to be near another gyopo and his wife. I forget the guy's name, but his wife's name is Jamie (I only remember that because my ex-girlfriend's name was the same.) So we talked the whole time about my ourselves and complained about how long the process was taking. Oh, and there was something that happened that defied logic. So...we were all standing in line according to the numbers on our tickets when an employee came around with a bag and asked us to put the slips into the bag. This made no sense what-so-ever because people who weren't waiting in line could have easy jumped the line or said that their number was a lower number like 50 or something. It just didn't make any sense to take the slips while we were waiting. But I guess it ...

I am changing my teaching objectives. I'm not going to be a piecemeal English teacher. What I mean is, I'm not going to go into a classroom and expect to teach 40 kids to speak English in 40 minutes. There are simply too many of them and it causes a very stressful atmosphere. Especially since they are all at such different levels. I always have a group of kids that gloat about their English and constantly interrupt my class. It's hard to keep focus and to the lesson. Trying to stick to rigid structures causes confusion in the class and ultimately I lose their attention. I've decided that I'm abandoning the book entirely. The book is boring and too easy. The CD's are in Korean and so are the books. I tried the books and I found them ineffective, so I'm going to put them aside and wait until someone says something. If they do ask I will them, "the books are ineffective as teaching material for a foreign teacher. They are designed for Korean te...

I love Shakira...I'm watching her video on repeat at school. It's my guilty pleasure like eating fried eggs off of asphalt. The tar is better than pepper and the broken glass has less sodium. Anyway....Stocks...I am way up because of Apple right now, but the constant hardware problems are getting me down. I'm hoping they will keep their upward trend until 2006, but they need to get their QA up. Jobs has a job to do. Google is back up to 311.00. I'm a little bitter that I sold. I should have bought again at 280, but I thought it was going to drop to 250. It would have only saved me a little money. I want to buy stock in Shakira's derriere. RUTH is still hovering around 18 and ADBE is not moving at all. My bluechips are basically staying the same. I should buy petro stocks, but I feel bad doing it - I shouldn't capitalize on other's misery. I am looking at Nintendo, but I said that I'm not going to buy any new tech stocks for a while. Sony is dropping li...

An Hikari is a Japanese style bathrobe, that they wear all the time...kinda like loungewear. Today my project is to develope new lesson plans for my classes. These are some hints from another teacher...Andrea... Teaching Young Learners 1. Activities - Listen and do - Mime - Raise your hand/ clap to practice a) comparative b) Likes and dislikes c) general knowledge Simon says - for classroom language/instructions: (i.e. getting book and pen ready, get them to be quiet etc) - for general instructions/imperatives - to revise body vocabulary - to revise prepositions - to revise action verbs 2. Word games - hangman or hang the teacher (categories: food, famous people, cities, clothing, animals) - pictionary - chain stories- oral or written - first and last alphabet chains - back to the board - 2 teams - tongue twisters - drama/ soap operas (bring props so they can role plan and make their own drama/ soap...

keep my students interested. I have four levels to teach, so what works at one grade often fails at another. I feel like I'm just guinea pigging it right now. Davesesl had some fun ideas under general discussion. I'm hoping that I'll motivate myself enough to do some actual lesson planning this vacation break. Happy Chusok. Dan

It's Friday before Chusak and all through the school, little rugrats are screaming thinking of all that special food. Eggplant and bean sprouts, dried fish and tofu, pumpkin and mushrooms, dried squid and some brown stuff and green stuff and other stuff I've never seen before. There are rice cakes with red bean or rice cakes with sweet seeds or rice cakes filled with an even more obscure goo. There are apples swelled like Anna Nicole's...eyes and grapes like punched bruises and a plethora of tempura that is left for feasting ancestors. When the meal is ready, Their ancestors leave their hovels in Soul and come to indulge in the indulgences offered. Being dead these great grandfathers and grandmothers smirk garlic and hot peppers. Kim Chi is left out of the Chusak supper! Everything is served in brass dishes with care and each passed on gets special chopsticks so they don't have to share. Incense are burned and a spoon stuck in the rice. Then, in hanboks, the father ...

If iRiver made a good offer, I think Apple would concede. If not, iRiver could at least make the player compatible with audible.com. If they did that, I would buy one. I'm going to go ahead and buy an iPod nano from America and ship it over. They still haven't set a release date for the nano. They say on the website that it will be shipped in the middle of September. The Apple Store says at the end of this month or next month. If I wanted to, I could possible order a bunch of them and sell them at a much higher price on the black market - which Korea has many of, but I'm just a simple teacher that likes iPods. Thanks for reading the blog, Dan --- Will will.mon@gmail.com > wrote: --------------------------------- iRiver will never be iTunes compatible because Apple will not let it happen. BTW, interesting commentary about the Korean market. -- Posted by Will to Philosophy of Go! at 9/14/2005 06:52:15 PM __________________________________ Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Ed...

5th grade and 4th grade classes. 5th grade first...I am teaching about rooms. This is a bedroom. I am going to draw a picture of a big house and ask them what furniture belongs in each room. Then I will ask them about houses in the past. Actually, lets try that. Old style house, new style house, and future house. The problem I am frequently having is that all the computers just don't work. I could spend my entire time planning something only to find out that the lessons won't work because the computers are unreliable. It's a bit frustrating. I could bring in my computer to every class and plug it in, but I don't know how safe that is. Not that anyone wants an Apple computer. The Alphabet game doesn't work in a big group. There are too many students and they can't hear each other. I need to think of other games. The Dice of Fortune game works well because they work together and because there is the element of chance. The Witch's Brew Story worked ...

I am going to keep a daily journal of what is happening at my school because I want to figure out the most effective way to teach students in Korea. I will do my best to keep you informed of stuff that is going on. My first class today was wonderful. They were attentive and nice. They listened to the lesson well and they participated with answers. Overall, the class had a very positive attitude towards learning and teachers in general. This is a complete contrast to my 2nd class, which was disruptive and utterly chaotic. I could place the blame on myself, but I think it goes much deeper than that. The teacher maintains order in the class with a bell that he must ring insistently - like the students were dogs. I simply couldn't get the class to settle down until a student told me to ring the bell. After I rang the bell they listened for a second and then I they started up again. My third 6th grade class was much better. The teacher stayed in the classroom, so there was more ...

I checked out the online Apple store and I checked every international online store and every country on the site EXCEPT for South Korea is currently selling the iPod nano. What's up with that! I was really looking forward to buying one today. I called the Apple store today and they said they don't know when they will have them in inventory. I think this is all a crock of dung because EVERY country has them including Hong Kong, Japan, Spain, even Ireland. (I'm just throwing Ireland out there because it's a remote island. I have nothing against those crazy Guiness guzzling, potato munching, log tossers.) I think Apple is trying to move inventory, so they are bundling ipod shuffles with the G4 ibooks. Which doesn't sound like such a bad idea but the rest of the world has been bundling the ipod mini with the laptops. I know that Koreans are mac fearful, but I think it is for other reasons other than reliability. I really think many Koreans don't like Apple b...