Friday, January 23, 2015

#ELTworkplaces in Cheorwon County, Gangwon Province, South Korea

Happy Friday everyone! I've about a month to go before I leave South Korea, so it's time to get those last Dispatches out. One of them concerns a pictures of where we English teachers teach. I'll join the fray! The photos below are some of the classrooms I taught in while in South Korea.

August 2011 to August 2014: Gimhwa High School

I started out at this desk on the second floor of the high school.

The high school classroom. You can't see the windows, but they looked east, so the blinds had to stay down for the afternoon classes because the light caused too much glare on the screen. I'd usually have to have one set of lights turned off. The lack of light caused many students to get sleepy.

2011-2014: Gimhwa Girls Middle School
The "English Zone" classroom at the Girls Middle School. The room was too big most of the time, but the extra space really helped for the "visual puns" lesson and anything else that necessitated movement. I also conducted my teachers classes at the rectangular table. I'd usually sit at the head with a rolling whiteboard behind my chair so I could turn and write stuff on it as needed.

Another quirk of the room: The computer that connected to the smartboard was set up inside a small office in the room. Its awkward placement precluded doing anything with the keyboard or mouse during class.

August 2014 - February 2015: Sincheorwon Middle School and High School

The high school classroom on the first day of the fall semester.




This may be stretching the definition of workplace, but I figure it counts since I did plenty of thinking while walking on the streets and on the track outside the school.

The park near the school. I did a lot of thinking here this semester.




*I might return. It's been good.

Monday, January 12, 2015

Reblog: westwoods travels: Temperature Tantrums

She says it well. A former Cheorwon teacher explains why Korean builders are bloody cold in the winter...

westwoods travels: Temperature Tantrums: Emart sells bubble wrap with cute little designs on it. This is not so you can skip the wrapping paper. This is so when you put bubble wrap...