Thursday 24 May 2012

How they see us...

I love 신새개 ' s (shinsegae) dept stores Loves Britainia campaign I especially like the punk drinking a pint of Guiness... I never associated punks with Guiness. The only thing I have ever seen punks drink is white lightning or tennants super... enjoy




audio clips

just got asked to record about 3 pages of random sentences as an audio clip on the principles mobile phone.

it took me 2 attempts as the sentences were just so random... “She's my girlfriend“ “I ate a hamburger and salad“ ”put your clothes on quickly“ Just another interesting and unusual thing to have done in my interesting and wonderful life...keep smiling I may post the highlights later!

Friday 18 May 2012

/////// O P E N \\\\\\\\\\ CLASS!

We had our open class on Wednesday!  
It went really well about 8 parents came to watch.
 The pace of the lesson was good and my "Time challenge game" worked brilliantly. The challenge was against the other classes that we had already taught the lesson to and on attempt 2 the open class group beat the previous quickest time and all the kids cheered and were so happy. The fact that the record has now been beaten considerably by class one doesn't matter...  Class for rocked it on the day!
 I was a bit worried about this task as in 2 of the 3 classes we previously did the game a kid ended up being blamed by the others and  there were tears.

The highlight for me was that the style of the lesson changed and became more focused on the kids speaking, it should BE like this all the time.  I knew that, it was drummed into us at the CELTA training and the GEPIK orientation...   So why did it slip our minds.  I guess the biggest reason was that the kids were so well behaved; there was no one getting out of their seats, running about, calling me FAT or any of the normal things we have to put up with. Don't get me wrong I think the students in my school are awesome - Even the naughty ones  genuinely have something that I do like about them, but it disrupts the lesson so much with this going on that you struggle to just get the crappy pages from the textbook done so you have time for a game that THIS becomes your priority rather than maximising their learning.


The feedback forms came back with all positive comments on them from the parents.

My co-teacher said that I did a really good job and I thought she did too.


Wednesday 16 May 2012

P E R S O N A L S P A C E !!!!!

P E R S O N A L     S    P    A    C   E   !!!!!
I have always kind of had an issue with personal space... I mean in.a "its mine get out of it" kind of way! Korean people seem to have no concept of this. This is obvious by the way boys and even grown men will be seen holding hands and wrapping their arms around each other in public without any sense of it bekng wierd. It will probably be "never" that there is a time when I am comfortable with the thought of talking a walk by the river holding hands with a guy! But I have noticed that even after 3 months here I no longer really notice it but become increasinly shocked when a young couple embrace on the subway!

Any way back to personal space...

Link: toilet etiquette for men!

Korean men will always stand at the urinal next to you even if others are empty at a safe distance. They will seem to peer at you will you are taking a piss and they will think its ok to start a conversation or make excessively loud noises of relief at taking a leak... 

In school multiply this by 10! 
The girls shout hello from their toilet block next door while I take a leak! And expect an answer!!!
And yesterday while in midflow at the urinal next go the window I heard "Hi Rob teacher" and looked up to see 4 boys waving at me from the building opposite. I mean come on I am taking care of my business here!

The subway into Seoul is crowded and this is when i feel the invasion of my personal space the most "Do you have to stand with your arms around me? With your leg between mine. breathing down my neck"  Who is wrong? why are we so protective of our personal space? This is definitely a cultural difference.

Tuesday 1 May 2012

keeping scores!

today was sports day and I was tasked with keeping scores.  The scoring system was crazy points were awarded left right and centre for no apparant reason. The team that won fair and square on sporting ability ended up losing by 10 points after the other team were awarded 160 points because they cheered a lot...?

Needless to say it was a good day even though i ended up with a sun burnt forehead and nose...

some photos of the day...