Even the Children Have Better Style Than I Do

A near tragedy occurred last Monday (like two weeks ago by now): my favourite student, the parrot Sally (Yu Min) quit Kang Tae Woo. It seems as though her mother (rightly) assumed there was better ways to spend money on her daughter (unless she is being sent to a different hagwon: that would be upsetting to me). I was much saddened, although I must admit there was a moment of excitement at the thought of not having that class three times a week. However, just as Sally dropped out, a new student enrolled. Jaemin, and he is adorable. A young boy with unruly longish curly hair. A fur lined jacket, sweater vest with shiny shoes. He is a master of style and he is only (seven?) years old. He is really cute. His English is not too bad either. I was pretty worried, I had just kind of figured out Sally limits and now I have to start over again.

However, Jaemin has proved to be a most excellent student and an even better dresser. I would like to meet his mother. Today he was wearing a pink zip up hoodie that had light cuffs and a dark blue hood. Over the hoodie was a dark blue corduroy vest with a plaid lining and brown buttons. His jeans were dark blue with factory creasing around the shins and ankles, slim fit. He was wearing white Velcro Puma sneakers. He is also missing a couple of his front teeth. If there were one kid that I could take home, I would pick Jaemin. We are motoring through the Spell and Write book. I think he has finally understood that the period and question mark come at the end of a sentence and that a capital letter comes at the start of the sentence. Although I asked him how he was today and he said his name was Jaemin.

Learning about how to deal the students is sometimes tricky with some hits and misses.

Hit: word searches. I didn’t really have much faith; they are very boring. But Sally (the teacher) gave me a sample of one she had done. Using the stupid book I had to read with one class, I first made them find the word in the book by giving them sentences with a blank spot where the word belonged and a page number where they could find the word. They had to search through the book to find the word and then find it in the word search. It was amazing, one of my most feared and hated classes were quiet and intent for a 50 whole minuets. I did not have to scold one student for FIFTY MINUTES. It was amazing. That class usually hell (HELL!) and that day they were almost angelic.

Partial Hit: Hangman with a twist. I write whole phrases on the board. The students roll a dice and then guess a letter for every letter in the phrase they get as many points as the dice indicates. For example if they roll a 5 and the phrase has four “E’s” they get 20 points. I divided the classes into two teams. They like competition. Two of the classes with whom I tried it, loved it and got really into it, one class not so much but class is full of a bunch of douche bag kids.

Hit: connect four. I made a big grid on the whiteboard, filled it in with words. Again, I divided the class into two teams, X’s and O’s. During their turn they have to use on of the words on the board in a complete and correct sentence, if successful they get the square. They need to get four in a row for a point. This brought out some very interesting results. Like, discovering that some students have a lot of English in their brains that does not come in class: “This afternoon, I will go to the park”. WTF, that is better then I would have done. Also, the set up takes a long time and is interactive because I ask students for suggestions. I played this with my Tuesday speaking class, and we played the whole time. Sally gave me this game. Again, I was skeptical, but the kids really like it. It gives them a chance to be a bit creative. (I played with a couple of classes today and again, it took up a whole fifty minuets.)

Miss: any course work that I have to do. I have already ranted about the crappy curriculum that I am forced to teach. However, it does take away a lot of the pressure on me. If the course work sucks, its not my fault. And it is better then if I were to make up my own classes from scratch; that would be a disaster.

This week and last week, most of the middle school kids are preparing for testing that happens in real school. The hagwon helps out with the preparation. However, some of the kids have already finished their testing, depending on their age. So, I have to teach the kids that are already done. It is pretty easy to do, for two of the classes all I have to do is press play on CD player. Occasionally I torment them by forcing them to give me answers, one by one. I walk around the classroom and ask each student to tell me what they wrote. It is super boring, but I have been greatly amused by the CD, it is really lame. For the other class, I have to prepare a class based on a English newspaper that the Kang Tae Woo head office puts together full of “news” stories and “editorials”. The paper is full of mistakes and crappy writing in general.

I taught a class based on articles about a forum for international students to discuss how to make Seoul a better city for foreigners. This was actually the best and most teachable article in the paper. I lectured them on how these kinds are forums are more to make governments look good then to actually be of any use. I am positive that no one understood me. This class was difficult because I don’t think any of the obnoxious boys are cute. However, there is one geeky boy with ridiculously nice glasses that tries really hard and gets super embarrassed very time he talks to me. I really like him. I also like that in Korea even the geekiest of geeks have super styling glasses.

I find that in most classes, I have come to rely on a few select students to get me through the class and more or less ignore everybody else. I try to be inclusive, but when there are just two or three kids that are actually trying, I just end up teaching them. This is ok in some situations, like with a lot of the middle school kids, they don’t try and they don’t care, so to just focus on the kids who are trying, everybody gets what they want. However, with the younger kids, I find that some of the kids who aren’t trying don’t actually understand. But it is exhausting trying to get them to listen and to explain everything. And the kids who know that answers always yell them out, even if I am asking a specific student (in that teacher of way of trying to humiliate a student by asking a question that I know he or she can’t answer because they have not been paying attention, the things to which I resort, like the other day I almost asked a class if they thought I talked because I just like to hear the sound of my own voice. I stopped it before I came out; they wouldn’t have understood anyway, but still that is such a teacher thing to say).

Oh, and I have a cell phone now. I will no longer be forced to make plans way in advance. I can just call. And I no longer have to fear getting separated from my homies while clubbing in Hongdae. I can just call and be all where you at? I don’t have to worry about getting lost in Seoul, because I can just call somebody, I already have the numbers of six Koreans on my phone. I feel much safer and much more connected. Plus, now I have a timepiece.

My phone is pretty cool. I didn’t get to choose, which was kind of a bummer. But still. It has a Korean English dictionary, which I already found kind of helpful (I’m trying to learn emotions and fruit names). It has a subway map (in Korean so not that useful, but still cool), it has a fun game, and it makes cool noises, and it is a slidey phone. I’m hooked up Korean Style. And the phone feels like it could handle being dropped a few times.

I am continually amazed how my students bang up their phones, frequently dropping them or throwing them around, and how they never break. I am excited to get some cell phone ornaments with which to decorate my phone. I have seen a few gems out there and am looking forward to finding the perfect one or five. Also, it is possible to get t-money passes that you put on your phone. I might invest in one of those. I would feel so like I actually belonged here. I was pretty pumped on my T-money card, the cell phone charm subway pass would be even more awesome.

Mr. Kim took me to get my cell phone. An outing I assumed would be incredibly awkward. I was a little bit right. Kim is single man in his mid thirties. He is a computer nerd who does not own a computer. He does all his gaming at PC bangs, that is, Internet café’s. He seems like he may have never had a girlfriend and probably never will. He is awkward and a little strange. No a bad dude, just strange. Anyway, he took me to get my cell phone. Instead of going to one of the many (MANY!) cell phone stores around the school, we had to take the bus to one that was by the subway station.
Kim and I on a bus.
At the store, he doesn’t fill me in on anything that he and the cell phone guy are talking about, he gives me a phone, I sign some stuff and half an hour later we leave, cell phone in hand. Instead of saying, ok, see you later. Kim has to take me out for lunch. To Burger King.
Kim and I at Burger King.
He buys me a Jr. Whopper Meal (JR!). We sit and eat and soon I realize that I am offending him by not trying to make conversation. He thinks it is because of this English that I have trouble talking to him. It’s not, his English is passable, the problem is that I don’t what to talk about with him. It start with a safe topic; I talk about school. I ask him about his job. We talk about how much he loves the Internet. He shows me his English journal that he keeps to help improve his English. Burger King! Do you realize that almost any restaurant here has meals that are cheaper and way more delicious then any fast food joint? Never mind, even the street food is better and cheaper. I would much rather eat a kimbob, which is faster and tastier, then a fast food burger. I know, I am missing the point, he took me out, I should be grateful. Still. Burger King?

Anyway, Kim actually went to school to study, in his words, the Internet. He loves cell phones and the Internet. He has had a few jobs with various Internet companies and has done website support for some of the big Korean websites. I asked why he was now working in an English hagwon. He said he didn’t know. He has only worked at Kang Tae Woo for about two months. I was super curious, but tried not to pry. It’s just a job he said. He mentioned something about grad school; I think he wants to go back to university. I suggested that maybe he wanted to improve his English, but no, that is not the reason. He rarely gets to speak English at KTW; all he does is office work. Too bad. Anyway, like I said, not a bad dude. Did I mention that he ordered me a Jr. Whopper meal? Jr.! It actually wasn’t too bad.

He forgot that I had to buy the charger separately, so on Wednesday evening I had to find a cell phone store near the school and buy one on my own. I walked into the LG store and held out my phone and said “Charger?” The dude working had no idea. Then I said “battery?” He repeated it back. He seemed to think that I just wanted to charge my phone at the store and showed me the wall charger. No, I said making the no gesture (cross your hands to make an X). “I want to buy one”. He wasn’t sure, giving me a skeptical look, but took a charger out of the closet. I smiled “Yes, that’s it!” He told me “chil” and repeated it in English “seven”. Seven what? Chil Man won? Chil choen won? What? I took out my bankcard, my Korean bankcard, and he looked at me as though he had never seen one before. So I handed him a 10,000 won note. This was acceptable. I guess it was chil choen won. That’s like seven bucks. That is cheap isn’t it. Don’t chargers cost like thirty at home? And my phone came with two batteries and a holder so that I can charge one battery while the other is in my phone. Korea is awesome. (I discovered later that there is apparently a law in Korea that all cell phones have to be compatible with the same charger. Why is there no law like this in Canada?)

On Wednesday evening, Sally and I went on a really long walk because I wanted to search for cell phone charms in Nowan. We walked all the way to Nowan and through Nowan. A little too long, but pleasant. The temperature was perfect for walking. We were gone for like two hours though. I slept really well, that is always a bonus.

And this morning (Thursday) I walked to the Suyu subway station, one stop over in the opposite direction of Nowan. Suyu is happening, they have a Starbucks in Suyu. I only had 3000 won (sam choen won) in my pocket. On purpose so that I wouldn’t be tempted to buy expensive coffee if the opportunity arose. I have no will power so I have to make it actually impossible. The measure of how hopping a place is could be based on weather or not it has a Starbucks. Nowan has lots of coffee shops and also lots of beautiful people but now Starbucks. So it is only semi-hopping. Ssangmun has few coffee shops and few beautiful people. Coffee shops equal beautiful people. I drink fancy coffee at fancy coffee shops so I must be a beautiful person. Right?

I wrote this post over a couple of days, it started sometime last week. That is way everything is out of order and also why it is so long. Sorry. Also, I have moved on from Big Bang and am now all about Rain. He is a singer/actor/dancer. Check it out, he’s awesome. This one is good and so is this one. I look at it this way: Rain is like the Justin Timberlake of Korea and Bryan looks like Justin Timberlake so basically I’m dating Rain. I don’t need real logic; I’m a student of rhetoric.

Rainism.

I love Korea.

Dee


Babes. All of them.

Written between December 4 and December 8, 2008