White Day

Yes, South Korea has a holiday called "White Day".

For Valentines Day in Korea, it is regarded as a day for girls to give presents to their boyfriends. And then, a month later (March 14) the boys reciprocate (in double) to the girls. This is known as white day.

This year, we did not have school on Valentines day (we were on "spring break") but we DID have school on White Day. I was given lots of candy and stickers from my students. But what was probably the highlight of White Day was the lesson plan a fellow teacher and I planned...

As you know, I teach at the all girl's middle school on Mondays and Tuesdays. Well, another teacher in town, Jaclyn, teaches at the all boys middle school on Thursdays and Fridays. And since White Day landed on a Thursday this year....she had her students write white day cards to my girl middle schoolers. Now, while that is cute in itself, what is even better is what happened during/after.

Jaclyn has a student who has a crush on my student. Like, a MAJOR crush.  He decided to use this activity to express his feelings. After they made their cards with Jaclyn, he spent the day going back to forth to Jaclyns desk to "fix" his card. Sign his name, cross it off, sign again, etc. Fix the grammar, write more, etc. Of course, during this, he was chatting with Jaclyn about this dream girl...who in turn, was messaging me what was going on. When Jaclyn asked him how I would know which she was, he responded "she is the most beautiful girl in the school". Ok, we HAD to make sure I gave it to the write girl. He also made sure that Jaclyn told me "April Teacher, please don't ruin my life". Ahh, young love. How fragile.

So, to protect my girl I had to find out about him. Was he a big dork? Was he cute? and so on. Jaclyn gave him high reviews, so I agreed to pass the note along.

On Tuesday, when I had her class...I started my lesson with the cards. I called each student by name, and they read their white day card to the class. The cards were basically:

Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
You are beautiful
Be my girlfriend

(yeah, rhyming didn't seem to be their thing)

There were some pretty memorable ones too, though:

Dear future girlfriend,
I am handsome. I am very handsome. But I am handsome.

and then...

I love you.
I really love love love you.

(but I hate you)

and also...

You are beautiful.
I saw your white skin.
But I am fat.
You do not love me.
I have money.

so yeah...it was pretty awesome.

The card to dreamgirl? Yeah, it even had at the end "I will give up PC game for you"  - even I was schocked! YOU MEAN YOU WONT PLAY ANYMORE COMPUTER GAMES?!?!?! WOOWWWWWW!!!

So, after class, I went up to dreamgirl to tell her about the card. She had a question as soon as I saw her..."Teacher, you write my name?" I replied "No! It was a boy, he wanted to make sure you got his card. He thinks you are the MOST beautiful girl in the school" Well, if that didn't make her day. The rest of the day her and her cronies asked me a MILLION questions about him. Of course, I had no answers since I didn't know who he was all. The only info I had was "he is handsome, plays soccer, and you have a reading class after school with him". She was to message him (he left his number on the card) so they could meet.

When I left school...she was still excited, but hadn't messaged him yet. Hopefully she has, and they have already fallen in love...I mean, I AM a great matchmaker (just ask the Jenn Fransen and Mike, Dawson and Brittany, Dave Lee and Cynthia = all 3 are still together, 2 of the couples are engaged!).

I'll be checking in with dreamgirl next week to see how this has progressed.

HAPPY WHITE DAY!!
Apes :)

A day in the life...

So today happened to be White Day in Korea (more on that later). That doesn't make a difference in my teaching, but here's a typical day at my Thursday (Elementary) school.

8:00am - Catch the bus to school. Surprisingly, no Korean decided to chat me up today.

8:30am - Arrive at school.

9:00am - Realize I prepared the wrong chapter to teach, and log onto www.waygook.org for a quick lesson plan matching the CORRECT chapter.

9:20am - first class starts (Grade 3): These are little kids (9 years old - but in Korea, they look more like 6 year olds). Review the alphabet and counting. Play a counting game, then watch a youtube clip of a "Going to the Zoo" song (next week we learn about animals).

10:00am - Grade 4 class starts. Go to class, no students. See them in the library with the teacher, so head back to the teachers room to play on the internet.

10:20am - Grade 4 teacher comes in, tells me that the class is ready (and apologizes for being late). Once in class, the kid who only knows English words that deal with poop (poop, dung, poo poo, etc) gives me candy for White Day. The smart girl in class (tries to teach me a new Korean word each class) tells me she will find me a "couple" since I am "solo". Yeah, good luck lil girl. She also gave herself the English name Juliet. She must love romantic tragedies.

10:40am - Whew, teaching wears me out. Time for a 30minute break to play on the internet again (said Hi to Poppa Dukes and wished a high school buddy Happy Birthday - he told me he'd be a millionaire one day, still waiting for that announcement, Gerard!)

11:10am - Oh, class again. This time it's Grade 5. Do some book/CD work. The chapter is "My favorite subject is English" At the end of the lesson, only 1 student actually said English was her favorite language (stupid PE class swept ALL the other classes). But, good sucking up, Lora. That's the closest to an English name I have in that class. The rest of the names are: Ghost, Galaxy, Ladybug (yes, this is a boy), Korea, MP3, and my favorite: God. Yup, Mexicans might name their kids Jesus, but Korean kids pick God as their English nickname. I'm always afraid to call on him in class: "What's your favorite animal, God? Where do you live, God?" One day I am going to throw out "What's the meaning of life, God?" and record his answer. Should be pretty epic. I will be the only one that gets the joke.

11:50am - Last (and smallest) class of the day. It's Boss' (yes, he picked that name) birthday, so of course we sing to him. 5 minutes of class...completed. Then it's on to book and CD work. Today we learned "Where do you live?" After practicing, I asked it to each student at the end of class as as a wrap-up. Best answers go to Tolstoy for his answer of "Space" and Lezzi's answer of "April's house". I HOPE I don't go home to find a new roommate (Lezzi). But if I do, maybe my dishes will get washed more frequently.

12:30pm - LUNCHTIME! Today I was feeling adventurous, or maybe I drank too much coffee, so I sat with the 1st graders. The 1st graders do NOT have a native teacher, and I am the ONLY "wagkook" they see in their tiny town. They kids were mesmerized by me. I knew however, that they knew I was an English teacher (no, not because I knew they could see I have white skin), but because I heard them say "young-o songsangnim" which means English teacher. Woo hoo, I can understand a 1st grader! Then the little boy in front of me started saying any English words he knew: banana (while I was eating an apple), yellow, and so on. Then I looked at him, took a bite of my seafood-type dish and said "mashisoyo" (delicious) to him. HE GEEKED OUT!!! His eyes went HUGE, he mouth broke into a HUGE toothless (he only had a few teeth in there) and laughed so hard I thought he was going to choke. Then he started repeating to his buddies what I think translates to "the crazy white woman said that the spicy squid tentacle was delicious!" Yeah, pretty epic. The rest of the kids sitting with me just started at me, and when I would look at them I would say a random Korean word "Hello" "Water" "Teacher" and boy did THEY freak! This was causing such a commotion that the kindergartners decided to come over and see the fuss. So I gave a Korean hello and they scattered back, so excited! On my way out, Juliet (grade 4) grabbed me and pointed to her apple and told me "apple is april's friend". Hmm..I sure am hoping that the Apple isn't the "couple" she is finding for me.


1:00pm - And I'm done with work. Time to play on the internet and get some lesson planning done (hhahaahha).

And that's what a normal day in the life of Apes is like. In case you were wondering.

Ghamsamnidah,
Apes:)

"Teaching Clothes"

So in each country I have been in, the teaching attire is different:

Thailand
Each day of the week you are supposed to wear a certain color.

• Monday = Yellow: wear this color to show respect to the Royal Family
• Tuesday = Pink: wear this color to show repect to the King
• Wednesday = Green
• Thursday = Orange: I'm not sure, but I assume it's to show respect to the Monk's (they wear orange robes in Thailand)
• Friday = Blue: wear this color to show repect to the Queen (my school let us choose to wear yellow OR blue on Fridays, as blue was my school's color)

There are specific "teaching shirts" that are the colors for the days of the week. They look like hawaiian shirts, and all the teachers wear them. You can even see workers of other industries wearing a similar style shirt.

Along with the shirt, I was required to wear a skirt - NO PANTS for me!!

Left to Right: Our Boss Mel (in the school polo), Angie (you can see the blue under her blazer), Me in my "Teaching shirt" and Meghan (she's a rebel!)

Myanmar
In Myanmar, I was there for an English camp, so the dress code was not specific. Even still, business attire was expected. Dresses, skirts, dress pants were the daily wear.

South Korea

In South Korea, there is no uniform and being in a rural area, the dress code is even more lax. Most of my schools are ok with me wearing jeans and a sweatshirt (not even a dressy top!). The "different" thing about the attire here is the shoes. It doesn't matter WHAT shoes you wear, as soon as you get into the school building, you change into a pair of slippers. Didn't bring any? Don't worry, each school has a supply of basic ones with their school name on them for visitors.

School "slippers" for guests (or me, when I don't bring my own)

It's interesting to see the different uniforms in each country!

Ghamsamnidah,
Apes :)

Amazing Supporters! (Wk 1)

So I have 60 days to raise the funds to get my flight home to get home for the holidays this year. So, after week 1, I've already got some people to thank!!!! WOO-HOO!!

1st donator/supporter/backer: KERRY GALLAGHER! My Burma Bestie/Myanmar Mate (and roommate) who is living in Thailand. She got me hooked up with PeerBackers, and has started off the donations...all the way from the Land of Smiles! Thanks for the support!

Biggest donator (so far): BIG SHOUTOUT to my cousin Mark McEntee!! He must want a buddy when all our crazy cousins get together! He was the second to donate - and went for the biggest reward! That's right, he's getting a bottle of SOOOOJJUUUUU. I'll be sure to give a big thank you hug and to show him the ways of the Soju!!!

Shoutout to my old college roommate and sorority sister, LK! She knows every little bit helps, so she made a donation while telling me "I know how much skyping over the holiday sucks, so I'm donating - Get home!" She also spread the word on our Alumni page, so hopefully I get some "diamond" donations from the sisterhood!

I am at 6% of the goal right now...so keep the donations coming!

Need some motivation to donate? Just look how uninterested my baby girl is when I'm on the computer and not there in person to rub her belly. Don't you want us to reunite!?!?!?

If you need the link again: click here to send me some donor love!!

Ghamsamnida!
Apes :)

...and the first week has finished!

Whew. After a LONG break from students, I survived my first week back...and it wasn't so bad. I was reminded that I actually LIKE most of my students, and they like me back (DUH!).

My first comment about this: I AM SO HAPPY TO BE STARTING AT THE BEGINNING OF A NEW SEMESTER AND NOT HALFWAY THROUGH THE YEAR!! And now that that's out of the way....here's my recap:

Monday/Tuesday:
I teach at an all girl's middle school. They range from Grade 1 (14 years old) to Grade 3 (16 years old). To me, they all seem 12 years old. I guess that's Korean aging for ya! My goal with these students is to actually LEARN their names this year. Makes it MUCH easier when you want to call on someone, or make someone be quiet. So, I made a seating chart and called on them by name to introduce themselves to the class. So far, so good. Well, good-ish. There was tons of laughter of my pronunciation (no surprise there), but I'm getting it! I am making sure to bring my seating charts to each class.

Grade 1: ALL NEW STUDENTS! Well, I have 2 that come from my elementary schools. But other than that - ALL new! This should be fun. Plus, I have a new co-teacher for these classes. He is Korean and his English name is Steven. He does not hesitate to put the girls in their place when they are being loud (YAY!!!) AND he told me my class was "fun" and that he was excited to be part of my classes. So far, so good.

Grade 2: My grade 1's from last year. Surprisingly, not as bad (behavior wise) as they were last year. BUT, it was only day one. This year I have my Grade 1 co-teacher for this class, and I mostly feel like she is one of the students. She sits in the back and reads, unless she's goofing off with the students when I am trying to teach. I will be working on her "co-teaching" this term.

Grade 3: I loved these girls last year, and nothing has changed there. They are AWESOME! To start the class, I handed out cards from American students that had written to them (part of a postcard exchange last term) and they LOVED them! They didn't believe that they were really from America at first, but I put them at ease. They really enjoyed the cards (Big thanks to Mama Dukes for participating in the exchange!).

Wednesday:
This is the day I have trouble with the bus. Luckily, there was NO PROBLEM this morning!!!! As it was the first day I was worried about being late. At this school, I teach 2 grades at once, for 2 periods (40 min each). I have 2 new co-teachers (3/4th grade) and they are young (just out of their required military service) and have GREAT English! The teachers gave the students nametags for my class, so now I can actually call them by name! Woo Hoo! Except for my 5/6th graders - they got English nicknames.

Grade 3/4: My grade 4's I had last year for Grade 3 (they are 10 years old). My grade 3's were new, and when I mean new - I mean NEW! They are VERY VERY VERY low level, which is going to be hard to plan for since my grade 4's are MUCH MUCH higher. Think like this: Grade 3 - can't write their name. Grade 4 - can write full sentences. So this is going to be tough to plan for.

Grade 5/6: These are ALL returning students for me - except for the "new-to-the-school-students" But those kids are GREAT! They are really excited for an English teacher, and ARE NOT shy about practicing their English. They pretty much followed me out of the classroom to keep talking to me. Last year this class was 7 students, and now it is 14 - which will be easier to plan for, but I do miss my small class. They gave themselves nicknames (English) and wrote them on their nametags. They are excited to be called random English words.

Thursday:
I no longer have my driver to take me to school...so it's another bus day for me. It comes at 8am, which is the time I USED to get up to meet my driver. So, that part isn't too fun. All the co-teachers at this school were around last year, but now have swapped grades. But, they are accustomed to my teaching style, so that's nice.

Grade 3: WOW. Last term I had 8 students in this class for 10 year olds. Now I have 14...WITH BASIC ENGLISH SKILLS. I am pretty sure next week we will be going over the alphabet. But, they are all excited to have me as their first native speaker teacher, so they are full of energy (not ALWAYS a good thing!).

Grade 4: My grade 3's from last year, plus a few new faces. They have quieted down a little since last term...but still love drawing poop pictures all over the place. Looks like another "shitty term" with them.

Grade 5: Most of my grade 4's from last term - with a few missing faces. Last year there was about 18 in class, now only 15. Not too bad of a class size, so that's good. They also got English nicknames. Going over "What did you do over vacation" I drew a picture of me snowboarding and wrote "Muju" (the name of the resort) in Hanguel, and they were all "WOOOOOOW!!" "OOHHHH TEACHER!!!" "VERRRY GOOD TEACHER!!!" and clapped at my writing in Korean. It is a SUPER easy word to write (무 주) but, it made me feel good that I impressed my little 12 year olds.

Grade 6: My EXACT class from Grade 5 last year - no new faces, no faces that dropped out. I am excited about having them again because there are only 8 of them, and they are AWESOME! They love to participate and ALWAYS try to converse with me. Plus, they bring me candy (and today, tea).

Friday:
I never have problems with my bus this day - and today I have hope for the other days! As I waited for my 8am bus, my Thursday bus driver came up to me and pointed at his bus, I told him (in Korean) - No. Donghyeong (the name of my Fri school). He replied with an "Ahhh" and moved away. And then my Wed driver came over - pointed to his bus and said my Wed school name. I replied with a "No. Donghyeong" again. Then he moved away. Looks like my bus drivers are looking out for me!!!

Grade 3: A teacher from my Wed school is now my Friday Grade 3 teacher. All new students, and very low level. Hopefully starting the book with them won't be too hard.

The rest of my Friday classes were cancelled - but my students saw me at lunch and were so excited to see me again. My student from last year, Chris, had me eat lunch with him, and told me how tall I was now. After lunch, I get to leave....I love starting my weekends around noon on Fridays instead of 430pm!

Whelp.....time to recover this weekend, and get used to having day work weeks again.

Ghamsamnidah,
Apes :)

HELP ME!!

Yes, I am asking for help.

I am trying to get home this year for Thanksgiving thru Christmas. It's been about 3 years since I have been home in the states for these holidays, and I am always celebrating it via SKYPE with my parents. Not as awesome as being there in person, I can tell ya that. So now that I have time in my schedule, I am trying to GET MY BUTT HOME to holiday-it-up with my oh-so-crazy-but-awesome-family (and friends). Feel free to help a sister out...you've got 60 days to make me your "good deed"!

Click here to show me how awesome you are: Get Apes Home!

Ghamsamnida,
Apes :)

....and we're back.

That's right. School is back in session.

Last night I was sitting at home, comfortable on my couch with episodes of CSI playing on multiple channels (Asians seem to LOVE that show) and then it hit me. THE STUDENTS ARE BACK TOMORROW!!! AHHH, after 2 months without students (they were full of SE Asia, snowboarding, and half days of deskwarming), am I ready for a 5 month stint with Korean rugrats and middle schoolers?!??!?

Whelp, I manned up and showed up at school on Monday, not sure what to expect with the new middle schoolers (even though a couple of them had been my elementary students). Once at school I was told "only 2 classes for you today", after a welcome ceremony. The ceremony was just introducing the teachers (new and returning). It was nice to see my returning students though, and I was feeling less "OH MY GOD" about teaching again.

Then it was time to teach my class, and being true to its nature - it was cancelled. They were having "homeroom lecture" at that time, so I now only had 1 class today. But I was told lunch was not in the cafeteria, and I should have brought my own. The cafeteria is closed for 2 weeks for some reason. So, I went with the rest of the teachers and had my FAVORITE soup (kimchi jiggae) and am stoked that I found out that the restaurant is close to my apartment. WOO-HOO.

And then back at school, it was time for my first class back to teaching.

I got into class (grade 1) and WOAH - they were already all seated waiting for me. Ok, so far so good. So I jumped right into my "introduction to me" lesson and had the students tell me about themselves. At the end of class my new co-teacher (english name - Steven) told me "Your class is very fun." Well, now I feel ready for the new semester! I also made a point to have my students write down their names on a seating chart so I can call them BY NAME. Big improvement from last term. Plus, they are cuter than my grade 1's from last term, so I wanna remember them :)

Day 1, done. Now, I just have to get through 4 more days before my first weekend....and then 5 months of that before my next holiday....wish me luck.

Ghamsamnida,
Apes :)