Thursday, July 31, 2008

"My Summer Vacation"


A few weeks ago, my school published its first English newsletter, with articles written by my evil coworker, some students, and the rest put together by the foreign teacher (that’s me). One student wrote an article describing his best friends, one wrote about global warming (we were in the middle of a pretty dreadful heat wave), and one of my best students wrote about her plans for summer vacation. Instead of talking about the beach, or sleeping in, or trips to see family, she talked about vacation homework. And really, for many of our students, summer vacation is more a time to study than to camp.

During my summer vacation, I’ll be teaching three weeks of summer camp. These two weeks, I have four classes every day – two with a group of seventh graders, two with eighth graders. When we return from Japan, I have another week of camp – four hours a day with the same group of seventh graders.

In winter camp, many of my students were students who had been in my after-school classes during the year. Some were A students, most got B’s, but we managed English-in-English classes together fairly well. Imagine my surprise, then, when I found that most of my students this vacation were C or lower level students. I have kids signed up for these classes who can’t read, write, hear, or speak English. (In the Korean school system, no child is left behind – they pass from grade to grade as long as they keep the seats warm.) It was a mind-boggling first few days, trying to imagine how to teach the students who couldn’t understand anything I said to them.

The seventh graders, though overwhelmed the first day, managed an attempt at understanding. We’ve had relatively good classes since then, with worksheets and games. My eighth graders, though, have been a bit more trouble. They seem to go in and out of class – some coming only for the first period, others coming only for the second period, so there’s no consistency between the classes. Usually, I do the learning and worksheet for the first period, then the game second period, but the game doesn’t work so well when the students haven’t done the learning. Games also don’t work so well when only three or four students come; or, not the large-group games I had planned for my fifteen-student classes. Yesterday, I had four students come to my eighth grade class. One can’t read or speak, one was a C-level student who was rather sick, and two were A level students who refused to talk. (There is no sense of ‘speak when you’re spoken to’ in the Korean education system. When there are 40 kids in the class, someone else will always answer the question.) I attempted 20 questions with this group, since its an easy game that most English students here can play. Getting them to ask questions was like pulling teeth. It was a dreadful class.

I’ve been wondering what the purpose of summer camp is – or, perhaps more poignantly: why would any parent sign their child up for an English-in-English class when the child can’t read or speak? Why would my school allow parents to do that? It’s yet another one of those quirky things about the Korean education system that I will never quite understand. If we put our kids in a room with a foreigner for two hours a day, they’ll come out speaking fluent English. Learning through osmosis. So, I have them memorizing the Gettysburg Address. That should have them writing something more interesting for their essays in the fall.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

A Brief Update

There hasn't been much to write about lately. It's been pretty hot recently so we've taken to staying indoors. The humidity is disgusting and even when it's cloudy I find my clothes completely soaked with sweat by the time I walk home from school (about 25 minutes). Similar to Nashville, the nights aren't much better than the days.

Our school term has ended (well mine ends on Tuesday) and so we both will be teaching a Summer camp for the next couple of weeks. Our reward will be another two weeks in Japan. Unfortunately, the heat in Japan won't be much better (at least down in the Kyoto area where we'll be spending a good deal of time).

I've been organizing my photos again, and I wasn't sure if we ever posted any from Vietnam (I think I only put up our Angkor photos from that trip). While Angkor Wat was definitely the highlight of the trip (and probably our year here - for me at least), Meg and I preferred Vietnam to Cambodia and Thailand. We'd both love to go back and spend more time there.


A flower in front of a temple gate.

Ho Chi Minh's Palace in Ha Noi.

Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum



A man sits in his boat at Hoi An harbour.

Hoi An harbour.

Torn Vietnamese flags in the harbour at Hoi An.

There were propaganda poster all over Vietnam that Meg and I thought were pretty cool.

An HIV poster in Hue.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Culture Tips

These are 33 tips on adjusting to Korean culture, from our board of education. The Gyeonggi Board of Education employs over a thousand native English teachers. You would have thought they could have gotten one of them to read the list over before posting it.

(Click on the tips to see them a bit larger and more clearly)


My personal favourites are:

2. People are usually kind, but sometimes not to Africans and South-east Asians.
10. Schedules and plans are often subject to change. (This is perhaps the understatement of the year)
11. You may be insisted to drink alcohol beyond your capacity.
31. When you drink alcohol with seniors or elder persons, you'd better turn your head around.
32. There are rarely polite "excuse me's" when people bump into you on the street. (Very true. We get bumped into a lot and maybe once or twice someone has acknowledged it)
33. Koreans sometimes say yes when they are confused in speaking English. (I suspect the root of some of our problems).

Monday, July 7, 2008

Into the Belly of the Beast

Well we finally found our way over to the protests on Sunday afternoon/evening. There wasn't a huge gathering (though on Saturday night police estimated 50,000 people - organizers estimated 500,000). Of course the numbers might have been hampered by the buses and police blocking entrance (or exit) from the park. We actually had to squeeze between riot police to get out (while angry Koreans trying to get in yelled at them). It was an interesting experience.

Riot gear being prepared for the night.

Riot police wait for nightfall.

Some graffiti on the wall.

The protests are actually candlelight vigils. Someone put one of theirs in the ground.

Parents even bring their kids to the events. Not sure I'd bring mine....

The protesters start to gather as night begins to fall.

A man argues with the police. Another man was running around without a shirt yelling at the police. This is when we decided to make our exit. Tensions were definitely running high when we left, although I read today that only minor scuffles broke out.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Confucianism & The Ajumma

In Korea, Confucianism is still a fundamental part of Korean society. One of the bases of Confucianism has to do with the relationship between young and old. While we are taught to respect our elders in the West, this idea is taken to a whole new level in the East. Any age difference can be a stumbling block between people.

I teach a Special English class that has kids from grade 3,4,5 and 6 in it. My students will always sit in groups with other kids their age (even if they are a different gender) rather than sit with someone of a different age. Sometimes they'll converse with the students from the grade directly above or below them, but even that can be rare. Whenever I try and make teams for us to play a game the kids will refuse to be grouped with kids of a differing age, even if it means losing. Last semester I tried to operate on a 2 team basis and every week I fought with my kids over the teams and every week they'd refuse to play until the two teams were Grade 3 & 4 vs Grade 5 & 6. I'd tell the younger kids every week that they'd lose. This didn't phase them at all. They'd rather lose by a wide margin then break their social norms (and it's hard to blame them if that's the way they've been raised). By the way, this system doesn't only apply to children. We've been told that adults of differing ages can't be friends either. Someone we know here was told they couldn't be friends with someone because they were 30 and she was only 27.

A more annoying byproduct of the Confucius system is the Ajumma. Ajumma means, literally, "woman old enough to be married." Although the term usually isn't applied to women until they are in their mid to late 30's or early 40's. Ajumma's basically exist above the culture. They can pretty much do whatever they like and nobody will say anything to them. It can be maddening at times.

They walk three across on a street and don't move to let you pass. They push you out of the way to get to a seat on the subway. They get in the elevator and push "door close" so that they don't have to ride the elevator with you. And most commonly, they push past you in line at the grocery store (or any store for that matter) and check-out no matter how many people are standing in line.

The Foreigners here generally find Ajummas to be particularly annoying, yet since it's deeply rooted in the Korean culture, nobody else blinks an eye at their actions. It's quite interesting (and usually frustrating) to watch and experience firsthand.

The reason I'm writing this blog on Ajummas is because Meg sent me a youtube video earlier today that made me laugh and I thought most of you would enjoy it too. It's from a Korean wedding ceremony (it starts a little slow but is definitely worth the pay off).

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

The Violence Continues

It sounds like the protests are actually being reported internationally now. Which, in a way, is nice to hear. I wasn’t sure anyone back home would ever really believe our stories about the violent outbreaks in the streets of Seoul.

The protests are actually occurring in the nicer part of Seoul. An area where we spent a fair bit of time in during our first few months over here (The Anglican church we sometimes attend is actually just a block or two down the road). I’ve thought about going a few times to take some photos. I’m not sure if this is a great idea…

I’m curious as to how the protests are affecting tourism. I read that Seoul had launched a campaign to try and attract visitors to the Beijing Olympics either on their way to China or on their way back from China. With the protests occurring in front of the country’s most popular Palace and down the street from two others, they can’t be helping. I’m glad my parents came when they did. If they had come in May or June we might have had to skip visiting the historic (and in my opinion the most interesting) part of Seoul.

It seems that misinformation what has caused most of the problems. I’ve read things in the newspapers that seemed to have no basis in fact and yet it was presented as if it was definitive. I’ve read things ranging from “Koreans are much more susceptible to Mad Cow Disease than Americans” to “Americans don’t eat American beef. They export their beef to other countries and import all the beef they eat from Venezuela.”

I read last week that the President (who was elected last December and took office in February) has an approval rating of under 10%. Korean Presidents are limited to 1 five year term. I can’t imagine how little he’ll ever get anything done over his next 4 ¾ years.

With the Beef deal renegotiated last week, it’s hard to argue that the riots aren’t simply pure Anti-Americanism. Korea definitely hasn’t been our favourite place, but it kind of sinks to a new low when there are open protests against your country on a daily basis for over two months. Especially when they escalate to the levels they have these past few weeks. Every Monday I come into work and read in the newspaper about the hundred or so people injured in the protests. There’s usually a video or two that I can watch as well. It’s hard to believe that these actions are taking place in a city and area we’ve frequently visited.

Interesting Statistics
I’ve read some interesting stats in the newspaper the last few weeks. It’s helped me understand the country and how and why the people here haven’t always treated us the best. I think some of you might find the following statistics to be interesting:

Middle School Students
“In the latest poll, 57.1 percent of the secondary school students cited the U.S. or Japan as countries that threaten our national security most. Only 24.5 percent named North Korea. Despite the fact that 54,000-odd Americans were killed in the Korean War, young people are as hostile to the U.S. as they are to North Korea.”

High School Students
“About 14 percent picked Japan as the nation responsible for the Korean war; 13.4 percent, the United States, and 11 percent Russia.”

“28 percent said the United States was the key ``threat'' for national security, 4 percentage points higher than North Korea.”

Military Academy Students
“It is no coincidence that when Korea Military Academy freshmen were asked in 2004 which country their nation’s main enemy is, 34 percent named America and 33 percent North Korea.”