Scheduling fun / Scrabble, revisited

Not so fun Friday: Out sick again thanks to knots in the stomach and a pain in the neck. 

School's "begun" in the sense of teachers and students returning to the school for classes, but I can't ascertain what, if anything, we're supposed to be doing these days. I wish I was making this up. The scheme so far has been that the students go to classes for a half a day and the teachers stay the whole day. I've overheard teachers talking about the students calling one movie shown in class "not interesting." None of my teachers have said anything about what to do in classes. Some don't even know if we have classes together. I find this strange: How is this possible that teachers don't know if there will be classes?

Or this one: One coteacher was out on a business trip and didn't tell me until an hour before we had class. This was Tuesday. I was at school all day on Monday and could have been informed in advance, but, like a lot of things over here, it didn't happen for whatever reason. Things like this have happened so often that I'm numb to the annoyance. Maybe this coteacher didn't know she had to teach? It's entirely possible.

What's been going on in the absence of lesson advice: I've been carrying on with bringing in sets of Scrabble and showing the students how to play it. So far so good!

For prospective EPIK teachers--I can't stress this enough: Get used to living with uncertainty.

Fourth and final Christmas on the DMZ / Final posts ahead

Two posts in one day. The post about McCourt and storytelling had been sitting in the drafts folder and this is another one that should go out along with it. This one's more personal and that one's more professional...
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Let's begin with two quotes. Here's one from John Lennon:

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun

"Happy Christmas (War is Over)"

Fellow Cheorwon Trooper DMZ Jazz recently wrote on his blog:

I guess it's been a minute.  The reason I haven't updated has been a series of immensely stressful, physically and emotionally painful, life-changing, but ultimately- positive changes. 

Same here. A quick look at the sidebar of Dispatches shows that a fraction of posts have gone up this year compared to 2012 and 2013. There are reasons for that.A major relationship has concluded and I've chosen to resign from EPIK at the end of this semester. These two things go together, and yet they don't.

I'm going to be leaving in February of 2015. The easiest explanation would be that I've been feeling homesick and especially out of place in the past month or two. Wait--that's not all of it. I've just been unhappy with being an EPIK teacher for a while. It's hard to figure out when it started, but it's been going for a year. Teaching English as a Foreign Language has been fun and challenging, but it's not where my passion lies. Joining NCTE in November and reading about unit plans for The Great Gatsby reminded me of how much I miss teaching literature and language arts. EFL has plenty of language arts in it, but it's not where EPIK (and my school) seems to care about now. Therefore, moving on would be best for all parties concerned. Making this choice wasn't easy, but I do feel better now.

Making this choice wasn't easy, but it's best thing for me to do. The past year has been fraught with stress at school over the direction of lessons, teaching philosophy, and administrative issues. No single person's to blame. It was my choice to renew for this fourth year and switch schools and it's not working out for anyone. This is not to contradict the Thanksgiving post below, for the coteachers have been helpful and have done things to the best of their abilities. We only played the cards we were dealt. I just don't think I'm the right man for this position anymore.

Why not?  This might further explain why: I finally got around to watching Dead Poets Society this September. The movie focuses on Mr. Keating, the magnetic, maverick English teacher who shakes things up at a prestigious prep school. His youthful and unorthodox style puts him immediately at odds with his colleagues because he teaches differently than the rest of the faculty does. I found the film heartbreaking on one hand and a moving portrait of inspired teaching on the other. It also made me consider my place as a teacher within EPIK. Was I like him? I certainly harbor different views on teaching and, let's face it, I'm a stranger in a strange land. Keating was a former student of the school; I'm an outsider in most every way.

No, I never set out to become a Mr. Keating and change the world. Far from it: I boarded that plane excited to learn about Korea and have a full-time teaching job. And that's what it was for a long time: Learning about Korea and transitioning from an English Language Arts teacher to an English as a Foreign Language teacher. And, let's not forget, working with a plethora of coteachers and all the attendant issues that that entailed.* What a time. Like the ZZ Top lyric, "I've been up/I've been down/Take my word, I've been 'round."

I found I couldn't reconcile who the teacher I'd like to be with the teacher my school wanted me to be. Combine that with a rampant strain of homesickness and equals "it's time to go." Korea's been great. No other word comes to mind. What a thrill, to get to spend some time here and have all of these experiences.

So...happy holidays, everyone. This is the first of the last Dispatches from Gangwon. We're caught in that No Man's Land between Christmas and New Year's Day. I'm still carrying on with a vacation to the States to visit family and friends. For a a while, I'd thought that the trip would provide the refresher necessary to charge through another semester here, but no, it won't. It's best to move on come the end February.

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Enjoy some music:

Ah...J Rabbit. Cool duo. Here they are covering "Winter Wonderland" and having a fun time doing it. I should get some more posts out about Korean music; there are some good groups here.

Here's Chuck Berry doing "Merry Christmas Baby," a song I never knew about until this year.

The Beatles and their Let It Be gem "I've Got A Feeling," which may not be about Christmas, but it's about the peaks and valleys we experience in any given year.

My Morning Jacket - Moving Away. A good slow groover. I cannot thank a certain aunt enough for giving me this album.

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*If memory serves, I've worked with around 25 coteachers in the past 3.5 years.

Frank McCourt's "Teacher Man" / Reflections on storytelling in class

A persistent question in ELT is teacher talk time. Many teachers worry about talking too much for fear of not giving their students enough time to talk. Some, myself included, fear becoming the archetypal “sage on the stage” who monologues his way through the class. All of that teacher talk precludes any time for letting the students talk. And if they aren't talking, then their speaking skills won't be getting any better. I’ve written about the “sage on the stage” stuff before, but it’s time to approach it from another angle.

The quote below shows a case in point. It comes from Frank McCourt’s excellent memoir Teacher Man, where he writes of his early days as a teacher in New York City and how he often told stories in his classes because they held the students’ attention better than the day’s lesson.

I argue with myself, You’re telling stories and you’re supposed to be teaching.  

I am teaching. Storytelling is teaching.  

Storytelling is a waste of time.  

I can’t help it. I’m not good at lecturing. 

You’re a fraud. You’re cheating our children. 

They don’t seem to think so. 

(P.26. Link to e-text at Google Books here)

Though I’ve never kept track of how often it happened, most every class over here has included at least one story or anecdote. Many of them got told on Mondays or Fridays because those days lent themselves to that time honored topic of weekends and what people do on them. Sometimes the stories would relate to the lesson and sometimes it wouldn't. They were fun to tell and the students enjoyed them. At least, it seemed like they did. Unlike McCourt, I had some basis for telling stories because of how EPIK teachers' classes are set up. Many EPIK teachers are encouraged to tell stories from or about our home countries because it lets the students hear real live English from a real live English speaker. The students still don't have much exposure to English speakers and hearing stories and anecdotes allowed them to hone their listening skills. Indeed, sometimes I or a coteacher would stop and quiz the students while I talked, Like the aforementioned quote goes, "storytelling is teaching."

Yet as fun as it was to tell stories, I started wondering about whether it was good to do so when my EFL studies turned to TTT, or teacher talk time. Suddenly I'd think, "Hey! Let them talk!" A lingering memory of a speaker at my EPIK Orientation would come to mind. He'd said, “Your job is not to speak English to the students. Your job is to have the students speak English to each other.” Questions mounted in my mind and I'd end up arguing with myself like McCourt:

• How will the students know what to do if they don’t have any examples?
• What if they know what to say, but they lack the vocabulary for it?
• What about speaking itself? Korean and English have different rhythms and timbres. Shouldn’t I be doing some modeling After all, they would need to hear examples of correct pronunciation.
• What does all this matter if the students are enjoying the story? They're getting vocabulary and syntax, right?

These questions would go on and on until I'd think, Fine, but it was one story that lasted for 5 minutes in a 45 minute class. The kids were engaged. Let it go. And I would. I should remember that stories and anecdotes have their place in the classroom. Storytelling constitutes a form of teaching. One form, anyway. It may be teacher talk, but as long as it doesn't dominate the class, it should be fine.

*ELT = English Language Teaching. It's quite similar to EFL, or English as a Foreign Language and ESL, or English as a Second Language. Or, if you want to go longer and more detailed, TESOL, which is Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.

Related: ELT Rants, Reviews, Reflections: Reducing Teacher Talking Time

Pop song ELT: MAGIC!'s "Rude"

One of the best lessons of 2014. Originally written in early July 2014.

In my experience with teaching in Korea, virtually anything related to English can be brought into the classroom. As it's the end of the semester and exams have concluded, the students have been in dire need of some refreshing lessons. This particular one has worked well.

The lesson began when a boys middle school CT suggested that we do a pop song in class. I happily agreed to do so, but questions came to mind: Which one? And for what purpose? Things must have a purpose in the classroom. They must have some kind of practical application. As much as I love music, I cannot simply bring in any song without a purpose for using it. And just what pop songs were out there? Despite my affinity for older kinds of music, the students like newer stuff, so I consulted the Billboard Hot 100 and started at the top. If I was going to bring something into class, it might as well be popular in the USA. I knew I had something with #3, MAGIC!'s song "Rude," for it had simple lyrics, a catchy melody, an expository, humorous video. Moreover, it had an interesting topic: A boy wants to marry his sweetheart, but her father says no.

I sent a link to the song to my coteachers, who watched the video and approved it for class. Next, I typed the first verse of the song into a PowerPoint file. The song, the PPT, and the handout below are what I made for class.

Why only the first verse? I'd read in Teaching Unplugged about showing a block of text for one minute, having students copy it, and comparing their versions with the "correct" text on screen. The one minute time would make copying a kind of race, which my boy students enjoy. It would also save me from printing the song's lyrics for everyone. Once the students had the lyrics down, they then had a text to work with.

How the class worked

We walked in, said hello, loaded the PPT, and began. I said we were going to do a class about a pop song. "We'll ask questions, make predictions, and learn some new phrases. We'll also talk about what you would do..." and got to work. I showed the first verse, had the students copy it, and checked their writing against the original.

I and my coteacher then asked checked the students' comprehension of the lyrics, phrase by phrase. Since the verse includes a simile, a line about a suit, and the pronoun you, we had plenty to talk about. What does raced like a jet mean? Who's the you in the song? Who is the narrator? We asked these questions and got the following answers:

• Raced like a jet = Drove fast
• The narrator's a man because he wears a suit. When I pointed out that women can wear suits, the students held fast to their answer/
• You is either the man's wife, mother, company boss, or friend.

Having answered the questions and pondered the verse, the students were now ready to see what happens in the song and whether it matches their predictions. I played the song and cranked it up.

The song:

After the song concluded, we went back and went through the lyrics, line by line, so everyone knew exactly what MAGIC! was singing about. We briefly discussed the idea of the father giving his blessing before setting up the group discussion. We asked the students, "What if you were the man in the song? What would you do? And what if you were the girl?" and handed out the table below. The students got into groups and discussed the problems.

Facimile of handout

Questions: Imagine you are the boy in the song. What would you do? Write four ideas: 1. 2. 3. 4. Best idea? Why?

Imagine you are the girl in the song. What would you do? 1. 2. 3. 4. Best idea? Why? What if you are not so serious about your boyfriend?

We gave the students around 10 minutes to discuss and prepare their answers. Each group presented their papers, often to laughs from everyone. We circulated around the room and helped whenever needed, but overall, the students did a good job of figuring out the writing themselves.

We thought things went well. The students enjoyed the music and many felt good at having figured out a foreign pop song by themselves without any translation. All of us had fun discussing the best and worst courses of action for the narrator.

My CT and I placed no rules on grammar or the kinds of sentences the students should write. The groups were mixed ability, so some wrote more or more in depth than others. Some groups wrote entirely in Korea, which I took as a chance to help them with translating. My Korean's good enough to recognize some words and phrases, so I worked with the lower-level groups and helped them rewrite their notes into English. In doing so, I learned some Korean slang that's since proved fruitful for jokes in class.

As a side note, I also got to do this lesson at the girls middle school with the 3rd graders. Doing so allowed me to compare to boys' answers with the girls', which showed some stark differences. The boys overwhelming favored "Killing the father" if they were the boy. The girls, by contrast, thought "Pleading with the father would be best." It seemed as though the boys and the girls wanted to play up the drama.



Reference:
Scott Thornbury - Teaching Unplugged

Screen time: Me versus the students

Coteacher: So, how much time do you spend on your computer?

EPIK teacher: Hmmm…maybe 6 hours a day?

Class: Whoa! 

Coteacher: Really? What do you do?

EPIK teacher: Everything. Lesson planning, shopping, sports news, email…

[Coteacher and class nod] 

--Demonstration lesson video at an EPIK workshop, Yangyang, circa 2012.

I’ve written about phones and “screen time” on here before, yet…lately the idea of comparing my screen time to the students came to mind. It wouldn’t be right to complain about something others do when I do it, so let’s take a look at how the numbers compare. Bear in mind that this is completely unscientific...

I started with the overly cynical and unrealistic idea that students spend every spare moment on their phones. And how many spare moments do they have? Let’s see: There 10 minutes between classes, 60 minutes for lunch, 20 minutes for cleaning time, and 60 more minutes for the dinner hour at school. Considering the hours between 8:30am and 7pm, the timetable looks like this:

Breaks between classes (6 @ 10 minutes each)	60
Lunch break	60
Dinner break	60
Cleaning time	20
Total	200 minutes (3 hours, 20 minutes)

And me?

Breakfast: Emails and blogs	20
School: Planning, research, emails	60-180
After school: Emails, videos, music	40-90
	120-290

Well then. We both spent a lot of time in front of computers or phones...but to be realistic, there's no way the students can spend all of their time in front of computers or phones. It's impossible. It only looks that way sometimes. And as the cliche goes, looks can be deceiving. I probably spend more time in front of screens than the students do. It'd be good to remember that.

Lotte World observations

1. We arrived around 10:15am. There were no bag checks or security lines. The students got together and the teachers doled out tickets. I got one that said "guide pass." We passed through the turnstiles and wenot our separate ways. That is, I followed the teachers and the students went every which way. Our instructions were simple: Be ready to go at 3:40pm. I marveled at the amount of freedom given to middle schoolers.

2. Lotte World is indoors and outdoors, and while it bills itself as an amusement park, it also has plenty in common with shopping malls. I was surprised to see cosmetics stores and chain coffee shops here and there.

3. I think my past trips to Six Flags Great America have spoiled me. That park had more than five roller coasters; coasters that were much bigger, taller, and longer than the coaster I rode at Lotte World. Not that the Lotte World coaster didn't have its thrills--it was just too short.

4. Lotte World has a Folk Museum inside and a pretty good restaurant sits next door to it. I joined the teachers for lunch at that restaurant and enjoyed the bossam (steamed pork) and bibimbap. Both dishes are excellent by themselves, but the combination of the two made it one of the best meals I've had here.

5. Students and young people everywhere. One coteacher explained that October's usually a time for school trips, which explained why the place was packed on an ordinary Wednesday.

6. The Folk Museum: I got tired of the noise and rush of events in the afternoon, so I went there and spent an hour enjoying the exhibits from Korea's past three kingdoms of Gogureo, Baekje, and Silla. I honestly hadn't expected much from a museum that was attached to an amusement park, but I was wrong. The museum's worth visiting for anyone interested in Korean history, especially in seeing scenes from its past monarchies or its many temples and palaces.

*Lotte World is located next to Jamsil station on Line 2 of Seoul's subway system. It is less than 20 minutes from the Dongseoul Bus Terminal.

**Seokchon Lake is nearby as well.

Teaching tip: never contradict your co-teacher

[Note: This is not a new post. I originally wrote it in the spring of 2012. It probably got listed as a new post when I was rereading it and noticed a few typos. I fixed those types, clicked "update," and saw later that it became a "new" post.

As it happened, Jane transferred to another school when that semester ended. I never heard where she went. She'd be in the final year of high school now.]

One of the joys of teaching is that no one day's ever the same as the next. Monday's conference with a student sparked this post.

The military has a rule that says "Always obey your commanding officer." Teachers have a similar, yet unwritten rule that says "Always support your fellow teachers. Do not contradict them unless you absolutely have to." Teachers need to back up other teachers to establish consistency both within the school and within the classroom. To contradict or go against another teacher means that the student(s) can exploit a weakness and play teachers against one another. It invites power struggles. Power struggles are never good because all parties invariably lose face.

Being the foreign (Guest) teacher only amplifies this point because the language barrier and not knowing all ins and outs of school culture can lead to students playing the Guest teacher against the Korean teacher(s).

I thought of this rule when a student, Jane, came to my desk yesterday to ask about an exam question. It seems she thought the question had more than one possible answer. Right away, I knew I had to tread carefully because although I proofread the exam, I did not write it. I didn't know the answer to that particular question either because Ms. J the co-teacher had written the instructions in Korean and had said not to worry about it. I asked her to explain the question. She did. She asked about whether the expressions she used were right. In my mind, I knew they looked okay, but I also knew that the co-teacher had had a different answer in mind. To say I agreed with Jane would mean contradicting Ms. J'a answer.

After she finished talking, I said, "Okay, I understand, Jane, but I can't help you here."
She nodded and asked, "But, isn't this the right expression?"
"It may be. I don't know. I didn't write the exam. Ms. J did."
"Yes, but you're a teacher too, and I thought you could help..."

I thought she might say that because she didn't know the difference between my job and the Korean teacher's job. We're all English teachers to her, and while yes, we all do teach English, my status as an Guest English Teacher puts me on a different plane than the other Korean teachers. Guest English Teachers follow different procedures than Korean English teachers. For instance, I'm not officially obligated to write exams or record grades for my classes. It's possible, but I don't have to. This alone means that I have no say with other teachers' exams.

This would be hard to explain to her, but I told her, "Yes, Jane, but the rules for me are different. I cannot help you here. You'll have to talk to Ms. J."

I had no real sway in the matter. To do otherwise would be to put Ms. J in a bind because Jane could say, "Well, Ben said this, but you said that" and put her on the spot. She persisted anyway. She wasn't arguing to argue--quite the contrary, as a passionate learner*, she's dedicated to knowledge for its own sake and simply wanted further explanation. And I couldn't give that to her. Jane eventually said "Okay" and let it go. She thanked me for my time and walked out of the office.

Fellow teachers: back up your colleagues.

*Jane transferred to Gimhwa HS from a high school in Chuncheon recently. She's a teacher's student: she comes to class early, takes good notes, beams a smile everywhere she goes, and studies hard. Her English is nearly as good as the Korean English teachers themselves too. Her advanced abilities play into why she came to my office because students rarely ask me about anything in their regular English classes because they lack the English necessary to explain themselves. They go to their Korean teachers instead.

High school poetry action

For Kevin at The Other Things Matter, whose post “9 Tanka” inspired me to try using some poetry in my 1^st grade high school class a couple of weeks ago. His post was also where I learned about Tanka.

Tanka is short Japanese poetry. There’s likely a more technical explanation, but for our purposes here, tanka means short poems about everyday life. In his post, Kevin writes about a few poems he’d used in classes over the years. He used them because they contained things students could relate to, like loneliness, and they did it in a way that was direct and easy to understand.

The poem I used was this one:

because I thought

it was the girlish thing to do

I pretended

until my 2nd year of high school

to love strawberries

-Mayumi Satou, Kitto Koi no Sei

Please note that the poem was translated from Japanese by Kevin.

I chose the poem for these reasons:

l  In other words, I thought the students might appreciate being able to read and understand a poem in a foreign language. I know how good it feels to understand a bit of Korean and figured that the students would feel the same way.

l  It’s about time and how people change. It might spark some thoughts about how people change over time.

l  It’s about being a girl—or doing the girlish thing, which the students might enjoy discussing, so we can lead into gender roles and ideas about being a boy or girl.

Kevin had included some thought-provoking discussion questions that he used in his classes. I used them as well:

1. What do you notice about the poem?
2. Have you ever pretended to like something?
3. Do you think there is a way to act like a boy or a girl?

...to which I added:

1. What are girlish things? Boyish things
2. Why does the poem end with the word strawberry
3. Could you change the poem to be about you?

We spent more time thinking of differences and similarities between boys and girls than we did writing, but we did end up with some detailed Venn diagrams in all four classes. My coteacher also stepped in and translated the poem for every class. This was good of her to do, since maybe not everyone understood exactly what the poem was saying. I hadn’t accounted for translating the poem.

As for the questions themselves, I listed them on the board and distributed copies of them to small groups.

The groups eagerly listed anything they could think of. After they had time to discuss the questions amongst themselves, I called the class to order and made a master graph on the board. I wrote everything down, from differences in appearance (long vs. short hair) to attitude. The group and class review took longer than I expected, so there was little time for writing. This wasn't a big problem, for the list generated plenty of vocabulary and discussion amongst the groups.

Something else that came up: Few if any of the students said they’d pretended to like anything in the past. They were surprised to hear that I've pretended to like or dislike a few things. One of those things is in this attempt at rewriting the above poem:

because I thought

it was a cool thing to do

I pretended

until age 26

to hate going to bed early

The students seemed to understand it. The bell rang right around this time in all four classes. And all four classes did go well. We may not have gotten to do the poetry recitals that I’d envisioned, but we got somewhere. Ideas came up. Words were spoken. They got on the board. The big thing in my mind was the students had read and understood a poem in English. They’d read and commented on a piece of literature. I count that as a success.

Notes:

l  For the rewritings, I made this model:

n  because I __________________

it was a ____________________

I pretended __________________

____________________________

to __________________________

l  And couple of students did attempt to write their version of the “because I thought” poem. One girl wrote this:

because I thought

it was a good sister thing to do

I pretended until the movie Frozen ended

to love the prince

l  Though I did highlight the poem’s short lines and show that it’s one sentence that’s divided into lines, I didn’t highlight the the girlish thing part. The difference between a girlish thing and the girlish thing amounts to something in general versus something important. Maybe it doesn’t matter as much as I thought, for such a distinction might have been too much for the students to bear at first. 

A quick hit courtesy of DPS / Kick that ball and say something

It's Monday afternoon. Time for a jolt of energy...

I finally got around to watching the classic film Dead Poets Society last night. This scene resonated with me:

Mr. Keating has each guy read a quote from a poem and kick a ball as hard as he can. It combined physical activity with poetry in a way that got me thinking of how (if?) I could do a similar thing in my classes here. At my previous school, my boys middle school teachers suggested going outside and using the soccer field for a lesson or two on sports, but nothing like that has come up at the new school. Not yet, anyway.

Still, while I'd have to change the language used, having the students come outside, yell something life-affirming, and kick a ball sounds like fun. Maybe they could yell something like "I am Min-su and I love my phone!" or "I am So-young and I can run!" I bet the kids would like a chance to get out of the classroom.

More on the film later.

Some assorted links and thoughts

Thoughts

"You don't need to use the book." 

Virtually every coteacher I've had has said some version of this sentence. In my experience, hearing "you don't need to use the book" usually gets followed with "You can play games." I heard it again today after a first grade middle school class. Perhaps my coteacher said so because I referenced a page in the textbook and had the students review it. I'd said, "Look at page 100. What are they talking about? What expressions do they use? We're going to use those expressions today." That part of the lesson was included for review.

Actually, I rarely follow the textbooks the students use, but I do reference them from time to time so to keep abreast of what they're studying. I've found that incorporating grammar points or vocabulary from the text into my "free" lessons has increased class participation and attention. 

And yet, why disregard the textbook? I understand that the Korean English teachers use the textbooks in their classes and wouldn't want the EPIK teachers to repeat the same material in their classes, yet the texts do have good content in them and they can provide useful supplementary material for classes. 

Finally, regardless of if I use the textbook's contents or not, in most classes the textbook is also the notebook. Most students don't carry notebooks around with them. They write in their textbooks. I should note that Korean students buy their textbooks and are free to write in them. Or rip them up. It happens.

Classroom etiquette 

I'm continually amazed at how many liberties some students will take with classroom etiquette: Turning around to talk to the people in the preceding row and nonchalantly walking in minutes late without materials are two sticking points with me. There's one more, and though I've said this before, it bears repeating: Materials in general, or lack thereof. How I'll see backpacks and pencil cases galore, but no notebooks or textbooks. I know this problem isn't limited to Korea or America, but I'm still amazed at how pervasive it is here.

Having a working bike again

The rear tire got punctured a few months ago and I got lazy about getting the bike fixed. I finally took care of it last weekend when I rode into Wasu, got the bike out of the old apartment, and took it back to Sincheorwon on the bus. The bike's fixed at last. It certainly makes getting around a little easier. And now I can resume the after-school rides around town. They were always good for unwinding. Woohoo.

"Is your beard real?"

It had to happen some time. I knew growing a beard while living here would prompt a few questions or provoke a few stares. For one, Koreans don't usually have facial hair, or, if they do, most Korean men are clean shaven. What's more, beards reside in the realm of older men, not those in their late 20s like me. This isn't so much the case in the USA, but the facial hair culture's different here.

And it shows, for two things have happened in the first two weeks: One was a boy who asked if he could touch my beard and another was a boy who actually went ahead and did it. The second boy took me by surprise. He quickly apologized for it. I said, "Okay, I know you're curious, but ask first." 

"Is your beard real?" was an actual question from a class.

Links

http://how-i-see-it-now.blogspot.kr/2014/09/do-i-teach-communicatively.html

A Czech EFL teacher reflects on a few questions about what communicative teaching really means. She posits her thoughts on some principles of Communicative Language Teaching. I'm linking it here because it's a good reflective piece about teaching and how a teacher's approach can shape a class.

http://how-i-see-it-now.blogspot.kr/2014/09/diversification-in-mixed-ability-class.html

She writes of how best to work with upper and lower level students here. I found this one especially relevant to EPIK teachers, for our classes have a wide range of students as well.

http://divyamadhavan.com/2014/09/14/the-parent-pedagogue/

A teacher in France writes about the tricky relationships between teachers and parents. She herself is a parent and has seen both sides of parent- teacher conferences. It also contains some bits about how conferences work in France.

Stuff I did on the first days of classes (of year four)

The first week is over. I've begun my fourth contract for EPIK and have started teaching at two new schools: Sincheorwon Middle School and High School. Here are some things I did in my first week of classes:

• Greeted students with a smile and a hearty greeting. Some teachers have said "Never smile until after X time," but I disagree, simply because I am indeed happy to have the students in class and am happy to be their teacher. Also, Harry Wong strongly recommends this practice in  his book The First Days of School.
• Set an agenda and a dedicated place for it. In the middle school, the agenda's on the right-hand side of the whiteboard. It's separated from the "main" board by a nearly-invisible vertical line. The high school classes have the agenda written on a whiteboard next to the door. In every class, I wrote the agenda either in advance or in the first minute of class if there wasn't time to do it beforehand. I also took a minute to explain what an agenda is and how it shows what we'll do in class every day. In some classes I drilled pronunciation by clapping the syllables a-gen-da.
• Established one or two quiet signals: Clapping and flicking the lights on and off. Clapping came easily because the students have done it in their other classes. I often lighten the mood by clapping different rhythms for the students to copy. The light flicking is for the high school classes, for the students consider clapping too juvenile for their tastes.
• Used some Korean words and phrases while addressing the class. Some teachers have debated this practice, usually because the class is English and the focus should be on speaking English. As much as I agree that the focus should be on speaking English,  I did so for the following reasons: 

1. To catch their attention and show that I know or am learning some of the students' native tongue. 
2. To demonstrate that I make mistakes with pronunciation and syntax. As the students learn English, I too learn Korean. Experience has shown that (1) and (2) can be powerful motivators for the students. By speaking Korean and admitting to not being perfect at it, I'm demonstrating that mistakes are okay and that practice is the only way to get better.
1. I usually said, "We're both learning! I learn Korean, you learn English. 우리는 함께 배우자!" [Uri neun hamkke bae uja! = We learn together!]
3. For easier explanations or for showing that I might have idea of what the students are saying when they talk to each other.
4. My Korean is far from fluent. It's limited to words and phrases and thus doing an entire class in Korean is impossible.
5. Asking at intervals, "What's X in Korean?" has proven a good way of focusing students' attention and for learning new words myself.
• Furthermore, I do keep on the focus on speaking English. If students respond to a question in Korean in speech or writing, I always say, "English please" or "Use easy words." Sometimes I invite the class or group to help. If a student writes something in Korean, I usually say, "Okay, but what is it in English? Can you tell me?"

• Moved around the room as I talked or while the students were working. Teacher textbooks call this proximity control, but moving around is what it is.
• Held a questions and answers session. In some classes I called this KWL and in others it was simply Questions. As I'm a new teacher in a new school, but not new to Korea itself, the students had many questions to ask me. I either handed out Post-Its or asked the students to write questions in their textbooks. The students were free to discuss their questions and how to write them (in English, of course) in partners or with their neighbors. While they wrote and talked, my coteacher and I moved around the room monitoring students and assisting with questions. At times I stood back and watched. Moving around is fine and good to do, but sometimes its best to stand back and watch from a few feet away. The students should have some room to breathe at times.
• Doing so also established that the students are expected to write in class. Speaking, reading, writing, listening...it all goes together.
• In some classes, I wrote question stems on the board to give the students a starting point:
• Who/what/where/when/how/why...?
• What's your favorite...?
• Do you like...?
• Noted students' goals for the class and ways of learning English. This too was done in small groups. I had a little trouble here, for "Improving English" is too vague a goal; it lacks specifics like "Improve English by doing x." I usually gave students a hint by saying, "I'm learning Korean. One way I learn Korean is by listening to Korean rock songs and reading their lyrics." Saying so resulted in the following ways to learn English:
• Reading books
• Writing Kakao messages
• Listening to pop songs
• Watching movies in English
• Drama/dialogues/role plays
• Ended the class by asking for specific things the students remembered from our discussions.

Altogether, I'd say it was a good start. There's still room for improvement, but compared to my earlier "first days" this one established a few classroom routines and produced tangible products. I ditched my earlier introductory lecture and accompanying PowerPoint presentation in favor of letting the students ask the questions. Sure, telling them X, Y, and Z is fine, but letting the students ask questions (and reviewing question stems) put the focus on the students and gave them a voice in the class. Did strange questions arise? They did. Depending on the question, I either said "I don't know" or "No comment. Let's think of something different." I figure it's just some students wanting to test their new teacher. Teens will be teens. We'll see what questions come up in the lessons to come. So far so good though!

Resuming writing a teaching journal/class log

Which is why I’m writing this book. To think. To understand….I have to write things down to feel I fully comprehend them.             Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood.

Early in my teaching career I decided to keep a journal of my thinking after each day of teaching. No matter how exhausted I was at the end of the day, no matter how well or badly the day went, I sat down and considered the following: What worked in that lesson? What didn’t work in that lesson? Did my students take what I wanted them to take from that lesson? More than any suggestion from a master teacher, more than any conference or workshop I attended, more than any professional book I have read this reflective log advanced my teaching more than anything else I have done in my career. It taught me the value of reflection.             Kelly Gallagher, Write Like This.

I thought of these two quotes this week because I began keeping a dedicated teaching journal again. I’ve kept one before, but around two years ago, I began including thoughts on teaching in my regular journal. It seemed simpler at the time; having one comprehensive journal instead of separate ones for different topics. That thinking has changed now. When I arrived at my new school this week, I saw a brand new black journal lying on the desk and thought, “This is will be the teaching journal.”

I’m glad I did it. My previous entries about teaching were usually short and general things like “Good class. Lots of participation.” They didn’t say much because I’d usually be eager to write about other things. But with a dedicated book for teaching, there’s no need to cut observations or riffs short.

And like Gallagher writes above, I’ve been keeping track of classes and how they've gone. What was good, what was bad, who said something particularly interesting, who might need extra attention…it all goes in there. Maybe it’s overkill to write a half page or more for every class, but doing so has forced me to remember what happened and what I might do the same or differently in the future. The extra time means extra care goes into the lessons. I suppose that writing has cut into planning time, but then again, I find it difficult to plan for the future if I don’t understand the past or present. Like Toru the narrator writes in Norwegian Wood, writing’s something I have to do. It helped when teaching high school in America and it’s helping now in Korea.

Rock on, everyone. More posts are on the way.

*Keeping a journal helps satisfy one of Wisconsin’s 10 standards for teachers, which is that of being a reflective practititioner.

Reblog: How I see it now: Eat, Pray, Love (Plan and Reflect)

How I see it now: Eat, Pray, Love (Plan and Reflect): “You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day.” Elizabeth Gilbert. Eat, Pray, Love ...

Excellent post about the fine line between reflection and self-flagellation. See also the blurry division between concern and worry. I completely agree with her, for I moved into a new apartment to begin a new contract in a new school in a new town. There are new coteachers and hundreds of new students. Not only that, but as Coordinator, two new teachers have arrived to replace the two who transferred out of the county. It's important to see that they're settling in, for as lovely as it is, Cheorwon's rural-ness can be difficult to adjust to. Though the two of them have coteachers and neighboring EPIK teachers, they're in my thoughts this week. Going overseas to teach is a big jump. I hope everything works out okay. And the same goes for my school. The past few days have been a whirlwind and it's taxing my mind and body. Moving schools is exhilarating, but it's also tiring.

At least I'm better prepared now than I was last year, let alone three years ago. The books that I read over the summer have come in handy.* I've the plans and the procedures ready; next week's plans are almost finished, and I've a clearer idea of what ELT is. And so begins another year in Korea.

[Addendum: I wrote most of the above this morning while in a hurry. It probably wasn't the best way to write, but I wanted to get the link up along with an explanation. I don't normally reblog things on Dispatches, but this post from How I See It Now warranted a mention.]

* Some of them have been mentioned in the "Books for ELT" pages on the sidebar, but more reviews and recommendations are on the way. One I can recommend right now is Teaching Large Multilevel Classes by Natalie Hess. Special thanks to Joel from China for recommending it! The book's packed with dozens of speaking and writing lessons for the language classroom. Most require zero-to-minimal preparation, too.

Moving on and moving out III: Last days in Wasu

Good morning! It's my final week in Wasu. Some notes and reflections:

I didn't post much this month because R and I went to China on vacation  for a week. It felt good to get away and explore a new place. Planning our days and getting around left us both exhausted at the end of the day. We were simply too tired to have any nagging thoughts in our heads. All of the stresses of transferring and beginning a new semester got subsumed under the new maps we read and places we saw. I slept better than I had in months. 

Teaching and school came back to mind toward the end of our trip. "Out of sight, out of mind" only works for so long, I suppose. Buying Frank McCourt's memoir Teacher Man in Beijing and reading it during the trip played its part, yet that wasn't completely it. No, a number of things we saw or did sparked ideas for lessons or anecdotes in class, like how I went from teaching the summer class ways of saying "I'm not interested" and "No thanks" to saying it every 15 minutes in China. We encountered hordes of hawkers there. I remember thinking that I have learned those phrases in Chinese. By the last couple days, I was feeling refreshed and eager to resume work.

The school days this week have been good. The high school's having a staff dinner tonight  for me and the health teacher because we're both leaving the school. I'm going across the county and she's moving to be with her husband, who's been in another country on business for a while. While I'm grateful for the dinner and the goodwill, I hope that the drinking doesn't get out of hand. Soju and beer can taste good, but only for a glass or two. We'll see what happens. I don't want to be rude or ungrateful. It's just that I'd rather drink Chilsung cider to keep a clearer head.

I've been cleaning and moving things out of the apartment for some time now. The place looks and feels bare. The posters have come down from the walls and the books have been stashed in boxes. It felt good to throw out old and unnecessary papers and clothes. Moving also meant mailing out things I'd long delayed. Moving spurs action. Having to move meant doing stuff I'd put off, which I can't do in the future. The little maintenance work here and there will save time in the end.

The new apartment in Sincheorwon will be smaller, but that will be okay. What it lacks in size, it makes up for with two things: A side window in the kitchen and a cross breeze. The Wasu place, despite its large windows, never received much of a breeze, but the Sincheorwon apartments do. What's more R lives in the same building, so we won't have to take different buses home anymore. We'll be able to have more time together. I'm looking forward to cooking more dinners for us.

There's one last thing to do with Gimhwa HS: Update the summer class page. I didn't write anything about the final class.

Two of Cheorwon's teachers will be transferring this month. I wish them both well. We're at semi-annual time of people arriving and departing. Some of our friends have already left the country for new endeavors. I wish them well, too. 

Finally, I noticed my post about the Trick Eye Museum in Hongdae has received hundreds of hits lately. I'm happy to see that. Who's linking the page? Why the sudden interest? I'm just curious, for many bloggers (expat and Korean) here have featured the Trick Eye Museum on their blogs and surely others have done it better than I have. 

Moving on and moving out part II: Onward to Sincheorwon / Updates

The transfer list has arrived, so the wait is over: My request went through and I'm going to Sincheorwon to teach at the middle school and (most likely) the high school.

I'm relieved. Like I said here, I'm eager to take over for the leaving teacher and work with her coteachers. Next semester's looking like it will be an important one for EPIK, what with job shadowing and our continuing efforts for professional development. Staying as Coordinator means more work, but I'm ready for the challenge.

Updates

I'm slowly working through the (self-made) backlog of posts and post ideas. Two of them have made it online: The "pages" sidebar on the right of the screen has links to my notes from the summer class as well as a page about books for new or prospective EPIK teachers. The book page came to mind last year, for late July and August mark when the EPIK application process gets serious. I thought it'd be good to list some things to read or pack in the suitcase so applicants could prepare themselves for teaching in Korea. The page will get updated at intervals.

As for the class page, it represents something I'd long thought of: A web resource for the students, my thoughts on each lesson, and notes from the lessons.

Moving on and moving out

“Stand! You’ve got a cross to bear

There are things to go through if you’re going anywhere”

-Sly and the Family Stone

My plans for Korea have taken a sharp detour in the past week. See below for the soundtrack to this post, too.

After three years at the high school and the girls middle school, I'm transferring from Gimhwa. Such a choice did not come easily. It came suddenly and it wasn't entirely my choice, but it had to be done. At first, I was angry at the sudden change because I’d been reflecting on how to improve for next year, but after some deep reflection, moving on represents the best choice. Though I had some excellent classes and coteachers, some unresolved problems loomed ahead for several classes, and it’s best to move before they get worse. I had actually considered transferring earlier this year, but thought it best to stay. At the time, I couldn’t justify moving. Now I can.

I am transferring to either another school in my county, or to another county in Gangwon-do. It's likely that I can move across the county to Sincheorwon and take over for Jaquie, who's transferring to the east coast. I've visited her school and met the teachers and administrators there; it's a good school. Moving there would allow me to continue serving as District Coordinator, a position that's challenging yet edifying. EPIK's making changes and this group of teachers is dedicated to making them happen. They work hard and care deeply about their students. It's a privilege to work with them.

However likely staying in Cheorwon County is, it isn't certain. I may be placed in another county. It all depends. The Head Coordinator will be notifying all the transferring teachers of their placements in the coming days. He knows about my situation here. He’s a fair man, but of course, he can’t promise anything. If I have to move somewhere else in Gangwon-do, it’ll mean a brand-new school and a new area. Being away from Cheorwon won’t be easy, but I’ll take the challenge, should it happen.

Now is not the time to wallow in worry, but to prepare for the future. My contract ends in 30 days, so time is tight. By this time next August, I will have:

• Attended this weekend’s International Tesol Academy workshop at Sookmyung Women's University in Seoul.
• Taught an hour-long conversation class with ~10 1st grade high schoolers.
• Taken a vacation to China with R.
• Turned 28 years old.
• Moved to another town or county

The next month will test the time-management skills. The conversation class marks the last of my major responsibilities at Gimhwa High. It should go well, for the 1^st graders worked hard all semester. I’ll miss them. The semester went well, but this class means we can finish on a high note. I’m eager to experiment with some new lesson ideas and learning strategies. More on that in future posts...

I've enjoyed my time teaching here. It's been challenging and edifying. I've grown personally and professionally since arriving here in August 2011. I’ve taught some excellent students. Saying goodbye to them this week has been difficult. Emotional doesn’t begin to describe the students’ reaction. At least I’ll be able to visit Wasu and Gimhwa in the future. It consoled them, but only so much.

Now it’s time to apply everything I’ve learned to a new school. Like Bob Dylan sang, “Strike another match, go start anew.” Starting fresh at a new school, with new students, coteachers, and administrators sounds an exciting way to spend 2014-2015 in Korea.

======================= 

Moving will entail plenty of work, but we’ve already begun getting the place ready. R has been understanding and helpful. She has her own camps and classes to do, but she's making time to help me. I can't thank her enough for her help and support.

More posts are on the way….

Soundtrack to this post:

Link Wray’s cover of Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.”

Sly and the Family Stone’s “Stand.”

Motorhead’s "Live to Win."

Minor Threat's "Salad Days."