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beccatoriaSo. Thursday is over.
*1,000 yard stare*
I have to admit, I've broken down in tears upon coming home twice and wondered what the fuck I've let myself in for on a near...hourly basis. It's probably only 30% more terrifying than I was realistically expecting, but about 60% more terrifying than I was hoping for.
The good news is, while the learning curve is a bitch, I do think I'm learning. Only my first day was truly horrible, the next three were just...crazy. And this is me on 65% of my normal schedule. Then starting on the 18th I'll go up to about 85% of my normal schedule then in September I'll be up to teaching like....38 forty minute classes a week.
Which to be honest is what I'm really panicking about by now. With four to five classes a day, I'm actually doing okay. It gets a bit crazy when I have three back to back and I'm running all over the school, but I'm getting better.
I'm learning how to spin an A4 picture of someone saying, "I am reading!" into a 40 minute lesson for six year olds who can't sit still for more than three minutes and who don't speak the same language as me.
I would note that the smaller schedule to start is the ONLY concession to my utter lack of experience (which they knew about) in my first two weeks of "training." I put "training" in quotes because there is no training. I got there the first day, two minutes before my first class because I'd been sent to the hospital for my health check and it was going to be ages, and they said, "Don't worry if you're late just get here as soon as you can." So I busted my ass in the SWELTERING HEAT to make it on time if I possibly could anyway, at which point I got thrown into a class of nine six-and-seven year olds, a book, and NO IDEA what was going on.
STILL on a daily basis the Korean co-teachers (that means basically, they teach the exact same stuff as you first to the same kids, and then you get to go in and teach it to them and have to somehow make it more interesting so you don't have a RIOT on your hands) tell me stuff that I had no idea I was doing wrong. Really basic crap like, "By the way, they have home study work books and you need to check they've done their homework and mark it." OH THANKS. Literally, no one has told me anything about the actual classroom workbooks they have, except for one teacher mentioning, "Oh and mark their workbooks," which, it turned out, meant she was asking me to check the work they'd done at the end of her class because she hadn't had time. So, um, I did. And I get them to do their workbooks and mark them in my classes to because that seems sensible, but I swear, I have no idea if I'm right. It seems basically, get them to open the books and see if anyone's done any work, and if they haven't...make them do it?
Really. A SINGLE DAY of observing people teach and learning tips about how to spin out material would have been useful. AS WOULD BEING GIVEN A DRYMARKER BEFORE MY SECOND DAY. Or, you know, scissors and glue since it seems everyone else uses them all the damn time, but when they hired an extra teacher this year it didn't occur to them to actually get extra materials so I share a scissor pot with someone else and I didn't even find THAT out until today.
I think it's well-meaning chaos and as long as my kids are learning stuff and aren't vandalising anything it's all good, but...I think this is culture shock, you know? I'm not sat at home freaking out because I can't read the signs and had to get my wrangler to write "bin bags" in Korean on a post-it note to find some. That stuff, I'm fine with. But the happy-go-lucky-just-get-on-with-it-throw-you-in-the-deep-end approach to stuff is...like a total shock to the system.
I'm paranoid I'm doing a bad job and no one's telling me. I would like to know if I'm doing a good job. I can't tell if the co-teachers are pissed off with me for not knowing stuff or for mistaking her tape recorder for the room's tape recorder, or if they figure, hey, no big deal. One of the co-teachers is REALLY nice, but he's the one co-teacher I never co-teach with. Three of the co-teachers are at least nice to me even if they're not always very helpful and we don't always understand each other very well (apparently being a english language co-teacher doesn't actually require a very high level of english fluency). And then there's the one that me and Kev are learning to hate. Who threw a book at him five minutes before his first lesson EVER and ran off without speaking to him or explaining anything. I think I'm just afraid of them because there are all sorts of clauses in our contract that we can get fired if the co-teachers decide they can't work with us. And I don't think SHE wants to work with ANYONE.
So, yeah. Basically I hate or am afraid of most of it right now because I am a panicky person, but I am convinced that even though I can't currently imagine it, I will not always feel this way. I mean, I didn't come here because it was gonna be easy, right? So suck it up, Becka. *whimper*
Though, I gotta say, the one part of the job I actually kind of like - as in, I still panic before class and have spasms of "GOD I DON'T WANT TO GO IN THERE," but when I am in the class, it's usually actually kind of fun - is the Kindergarten classes.
Which is a misnomer, because they're actually six and seven, but they're my favourite classes. Because the kids are really great fun and very friendly and they'll try stuff. Like, okay, you have to keep your eye on them ALL THE TIME and they WILL NOT sit down, they just get up for no reason, and constantly bug you for bathroom passes, and don't listen and try to eat the glue or stab each other with scissors. But when I ask them to sing a song they enjoy it. When I ask them questions they answer, and they LIKE answering. They like being picked out to come write on the board or give the answer.
And they're very honest.
Once they hit nine or ten they get...I dunno. Shy, I guess? Ask them to play a game or sing a song and they look at you like you're from MARS or something. It's really disheartening and frightening since I have to teach so little material each lesson, games, drawing that sort of stuff is kind of what I rely on.
The younger kids love doing intonation like music to get sentence intonation right. The older kids pretend they don't even understand what I'm asking them to do, even though I'm sure they do. OH which reminds me, the other frustrating thing. The older kids - I'll ask them if they understand something I've explained, and I'm sure that they do because I know it's something they're supposed to know already. But the lesson requires I teach them the definitions of these words, so I try to with pictures and pantomimes and stuff, and then I ask, "Do you understand?" AND THEY STARE BLANKLY AT ME. What the hell is that about? It's not a multiple choice question!
Argh. Sorry. Venting frustration. And the fact that I magically, tomorrow, have to teach an entire forty minute class on "These are curtains." And then on Monday, I HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN WITH THE SAME CLASS. o.O
Unfortunately I think I'm already teaching a Kindergarten class in every available slot during the times I work, so when my classes increase, I'll be getting more older kids.
So, um, yeah. To sum up, I really don't love it, I'm homesick, it's getting better in tiny, tiny amounts but it is getting better every day so I'm hoping if I can keep that up, eventually it will be all right. Smaller Children > Bigger Children. And I'm mostly terrified at this point of how I'll manage all my lesson prep and how I'll handle teaching like, eight classes a day with only two half hour breaks in September. o.O
If any of y'all wanna cheer me up, play this meme with me that I gacked from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pellucid! Any show I watch (I know it's not a huge amount, but if you ask about a show I haven't seen, I may still know the characters, or, um, I'll make it up!)
Pick a fandom, and I'll tell you which character(s) I would
1. bake cupcakes for:
2. trust with the keys to my car (if I had a car):
3. put thumbtacks on their chair:
4. have a crush on:
5. pack up and leave if they moved next door:
6. vote for President:
7. pick as my partner in a buddy movie:
8. pair up:
9. vote off the island and into the volcano:
10. wheedle into fixing my MP3 player:
And that's all for now, folks!
*1,000 yard stare*
I have to admit, I've broken down in tears upon coming home twice and wondered what the fuck I've let myself in for on a near...hourly basis. It's probably only 30% more terrifying than I was realistically expecting, but about 60% more terrifying than I was hoping for.
The good news is, while the learning curve is a bitch, I do think I'm learning. Only my first day was truly horrible, the next three were just...crazy. And this is me on 65% of my normal schedule. Then starting on the 18th I'll go up to about 85% of my normal schedule then in September I'll be up to teaching like....38 forty minute classes a week.
Which to be honest is what I'm really panicking about by now. With four to five classes a day, I'm actually doing okay. It gets a bit crazy when I have three back to back and I'm running all over the school, but I'm getting better.
I'm learning how to spin an A4 picture of someone saying, "I am reading!" into a 40 minute lesson for six year olds who can't sit still for more than three minutes and who don't speak the same language as me.
I would note that the smaller schedule to start is the ONLY concession to my utter lack of experience (which they knew about) in my first two weeks of "training." I put "training" in quotes because there is no training. I got there the first day, two minutes before my first class because I'd been sent to the hospital for my health check and it was going to be ages, and they said, "Don't worry if you're late just get here as soon as you can." So I busted my ass in the SWELTERING HEAT to make it on time if I possibly could anyway, at which point I got thrown into a class of nine six-and-seven year olds, a book, and NO IDEA what was going on.
STILL on a daily basis the Korean co-teachers (that means basically, they teach the exact same stuff as you first to the same kids, and then you get to go in and teach it to them and have to somehow make it more interesting so you don't have a RIOT on your hands) tell me stuff that I had no idea I was doing wrong. Really basic crap like, "By the way, they have home study work books and you need to check they've done their homework and mark it." OH THANKS. Literally, no one has told me anything about the actual classroom workbooks they have, except for one teacher mentioning, "Oh and mark their workbooks," which, it turned out, meant she was asking me to check the work they'd done at the end of her class because she hadn't had time. So, um, I did. And I get them to do their workbooks and mark them in my classes to because that seems sensible, but I swear, I have no idea if I'm right. It seems basically, get them to open the books and see if anyone's done any work, and if they haven't...make them do it?
Really. A SINGLE DAY of observing people teach and learning tips about how to spin out material would have been useful. AS WOULD BEING GIVEN A DRYMARKER BEFORE MY SECOND DAY. Or, you know, scissors and glue since it seems everyone else uses them all the damn time, but when they hired an extra teacher this year it didn't occur to them to actually get extra materials so I share a scissor pot with someone else and I didn't even find THAT out until today.
I think it's well-meaning chaos and as long as my kids are learning stuff and aren't vandalising anything it's all good, but...I think this is culture shock, you know? I'm not sat at home freaking out because I can't read the signs and had to get my wrangler to write "bin bags" in Korean on a post-it note to find some. That stuff, I'm fine with. But the happy-go-lucky-just-get-on-with-it-throw-you-in-the-deep-end approach to stuff is...like a total shock to the system.
I'm paranoid I'm doing a bad job and no one's telling me. I would like to know if I'm doing a good job. I can't tell if the co-teachers are pissed off with me for not knowing stuff or for mistaking her tape recorder for the room's tape recorder, or if they figure, hey, no big deal. One of the co-teachers is REALLY nice, but he's the one co-teacher I never co-teach with. Three of the co-teachers are at least nice to me even if they're not always very helpful and we don't always understand each other very well (apparently being a english language co-teacher doesn't actually require a very high level of english fluency). And then there's the one that me and Kev are learning to hate. Who threw a book at him five minutes before his first lesson EVER and ran off without speaking to him or explaining anything. I think I'm just afraid of them because there are all sorts of clauses in our contract that we can get fired if the co-teachers decide they can't work with us. And I don't think SHE wants to work with ANYONE.
So, yeah. Basically I hate or am afraid of most of it right now because I am a panicky person, but I am convinced that even though I can't currently imagine it, I will not always feel this way. I mean, I didn't come here because it was gonna be easy, right? So suck it up, Becka. *whimper*
Though, I gotta say, the one part of the job I actually kind of like - as in, I still panic before class and have spasms of "GOD I DON'T WANT TO GO IN THERE," but when I am in the class, it's usually actually kind of fun - is the Kindergarten classes.
Which is a misnomer, because they're actually six and seven, but they're my favourite classes. Because the kids are really great fun and very friendly and they'll try stuff. Like, okay, you have to keep your eye on them ALL THE TIME and they WILL NOT sit down, they just get up for no reason, and constantly bug you for bathroom passes, and don't listen and try to eat the glue or stab each other with scissors. But when I ask them to sing a song they enjoy it. When I ask them questions they answer, and they LIKE answering. They like being picked out to come write on the board or give the answer.
And they're very honest.
Once they hit nine or ten they get...I dunno. Shy, I guess? Ask them to play a game or sing a song and they look at you like you're from MARS or something. It's really disheartening and frightening since I have to teach so little material each lesson, games, drawing that sort of stuff is kind of what I rely on.
The younger kids love doing intonation like music to get sentence intonation right. The older kids pretend they don't even understand what I'm asking them to do, even though I'm sure they do. OH which reminds me, the other frustrating thing. The older kids - I'll ask them if they understand something I've explained, and I'm sure that they do because I know it's something they're supposed to know already. But the lesson requires I teach them the definitions of these words, so I try to with pictures and pantomimes and stuff, and then I ask, "Do you understand?" AND THEY STARE BLANKLY AT ME. What the hell is that about? It's not a multiple choice question!
Argh. Sorry. Venting frustration. And the fact that I magically, tomorrow, have to teach an entire forty minute class on "These are curtains." And then on Monday, I HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN WITH THE SAME CLASS. o.O
Unfortunately I think I'm already teaching a Kindergarten class in every available slot during the times I work, so when my classes increase, I'll be getting more older kids.
So, um, yeah. To sum up, I really don't love it, I'm homesick, it's getting better in tiny, tiny amounts but it is getting better every day so I'm hoping if I can keep that up, eventually it will be all right. Smaller Children > Bigger Children. And I'm mostly terrified at this point of how I'll manage all my lesson prep and how I'll handle teaching like, eight classes a day with only two half hour breaks in September. o.O
If any of y'all wanna cheer me up, play this meme with me that I gacked from
pellucid! Any show I watch (I know it's not a huge amount, but if you ask about a show I haven't seen, I may still know the characters, or, um, I'll make it up!) Pick a fandom, and I'll tell you which character(s) I would
1. bake cupcakes for:
2. trust with the keys to my car (if I had a car):
3. put thumbtacks on their chair:
4. have a crush on:
5. pack up and leave if they moved next door:
6. vote for President:
7. pick as my partner in a buddy movie:
8. pair up:
9. vote off the island and into the volcano:
10. wheedle into fixing my MP3 player:
And that's all for now, folks!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-08-07 10:00 am (UTC)And as I think I'm first commentor, it seems obvious to say Battlestar for your meme. :)
no subject
Date: 2008-08-07 01:46 pm (UTC)Yay for Battlestar! Okay!
1. Make cupcakes for: Caprica Six. I think she could really use a few cupcakes. On that whole show I don't think anyone's ever done anything as nice for her as giving her cupcakes. Oh! Maybe when Boomer agreed to foment revolution, that was pretty nice. But it ended with the neck-snapping, so that was sorta sucky. Actually, she has a thing about neck snapping doesn't she. Perhaps cupcakes from a distance...
2. Trust with the keys to my car (if I had a car): Helo. He's just about the only responsible pilot out there (and I know we never see him pilot, only act as an ECO, but everyone else seems to multitask if they're assigned to raptors so I will assume he's at least qualified to pilot a raptor too). So yes. Helo. It might even come back with with a fresh coat of wax and new tyres. Perhaps he could get his wife to give it a tune-up.
3. Put thumbtacks on their chair: Gaius. I'm sorry, man. Last season I wouldn't have picked you. It's just this season...this season, you need thumbtacks on your chair of religious pontification.
4. Have a crush on: Laura Roslin. DUH.
5. Pack up and leave if they moved next door: Again, Gaius. And again, I wouldn't have said so last season. But he'd have all those girlie-groupie-sex-whatever-they-ares around all the time at all hours and I really couldn't be having with that.
6. Vote for President: Laura Roslin. DUH.
7. Pick as my partner in a buddy movie: Lee. It'd be easy to say Kara, and I'd probably have a better chance of survival, but she'd show me up. I'd end up being her sidekick. Lee, on the other hand, could have manly angst about pointless stuff and behave very effeminately while I blew things up. And then I could convince him that he ought to go after Laura, because I could totally vote his dad off the island and into the volcano (see below).
8. Pair up: Lee and Laura. Oh, or Laura and Maya. Oh, or Sam and Chief...yeah that one's new and sort of inexplicable. But mostly Lee and Laura. Cus clearly Laura and Maya sekritly really happened on New Caprica, and I'm good with her year long torrid affair with her co-teacher. But Lee is for keeps. You know, after I vote Adama off the island and into the volcano (see below).
9. Vote off the island and into the volcano: Adama (see above).
10. Wheedle into fixing my MP3 player. Chief. He's good with machines CUS HE IS ONE! XD
no subject
Date: 2008-08-07 01:49 pm (UTC)5) Plus you just know after they have sex, he makes his creepy groupsex girlies chant about how wonderful he is. And that would totally wake you up.
9) Poor Adama!
10) Chief/MP3 player: OTP!
no subject
Date: 2008-08-07 10:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-07 10:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-07 10:56 pm (UTC)although usually also involving a big ass tub of axle-grease... ;)
no subject
Date: 2008-08-07 10:12 am (UTC)Vent here anytime! Oh, okay, I notice one fandom in your tags that's intriguing for this meme: Harry Potter. Feel free to make it up. :-)
*hugs*
no subject
Date: 2008-08-07 02:12 pm (UTC)Yay for a fandom! And thanks for reminding me I need to update my tags. Haven't done that in AGES.
1. Bake cupcakes for: Tonks. Then maybe her POINTLESS DEATH won't seem so awful to her. Because at least she'll die having recently eaten cupcakes.
2. Trust with the keys to my car (if I had a car): Professor McGonagall. I imagine her having all sorts of crazy and unlikely and utterly accidental adventures in it and being far too embarassed (though she'd never admit to ever feeling that emotion) and uptight to admit that she accidentally got off on the wrong exit of that muggle motorway and didn't know how to use the pumps at the petrol tank and accidentally blew up a service station and had to confound seventeen members of a S.W.A.T. team, and why couldn't she have used her broom anyway, it was far more efficient! Of course, through the power of transfiguration, the car would be returned completely unharmed. Ahem.
3. Put thumbtacks on their chair:
Snape. I hate him. Interesting character. Loathsome human being. I mean, he basically bullied the shit out of an eleven year old child he orphaned and then doomed to an abusive home because the kid's dad - who had been horribly murdered so it's not like he was still out there being smug - picked on him at school. I really don't understand why people think he's more "redeemed" at the end of 7 than he was at the start of the series just because he was always working for Dumbledore rather than Voldemort. If anything, I used to think he'd started working for Dumbledore out of genuine remorse for his behaviour and real regret for the actions of the death eaters. Finding out he only turned coat because someone he personally cared for was in danger, and that if it had been any other child, he would probably still be happily death eating away really...undercut that for me. But, um, anyway, my VIRULENT ANGER at Snape, while a credit to the series and his characterisation, is probably overly long at this point. Moving on!
4. Have a crush on: Tough one. I don't really have a huge crush on anyone in the Potterverse. I was always too old for crushing on the kids not to be squicky, even though I love them all passionately at various points of their journeys. And most of the adults are...far too old. I get the sexy thing with Sirius, and I loved the character when he showed up, but I guess I'd actually go for Lupin. Sure he occasionally acted like a bit of a dweeb in later books, but he was compassionate, quiet, understanding, intelligent, and approached his horrible situation with a really expansive and graceful acceptance in the book in which he was introduced.
5. Pack up and leave if they moved next door: The Weasley Twins. I LOVE them, but my house would end up exploding or stinking or turning into a small rodent at odd intervals.
6. Vote for President: During the series? Dumbledore, even if he didn't want it. Once she's grown up? Hermione.
7. Pick as my partner in a buddy movie: Ron. It would be hilarious until the final climactic battle when he'd totally get nails and step up to the plate and be awesome and brave. I'm so glad that he didn't die in the last book. I really, really thought he might.
8. Pair up: Tough one again. The only couple I was really invested in was Ron and Hermione and that happened. I suppose that I would have liked to see more of Dean Thomas and I also think it would have been sweet if Luna got paired up with someone who realised she was actually pretty cool, so um, Dean Thomas and Luna Lovegood!
9. Vote off the island and into the volcano: Well, I suppose if I said Voldemort it would save everyone a lot of blood, sweat and tears. But instead I think I'll say SNAPE! (See above for raging Snape rage!)
10. Wheedle into fixing my MP3 player: ARTHUR WEASLEY! I mean, sure, I'd never see it in one piece again, but watching him try would be worth it... ;)
no subject
Date: 2008-08-07 10:17 am (UTC)Okay.
1. Breathe. It gets less scary. Just breathe.
a) the kindergarteners are actually five years old. They calculate age differently here, so that when you're born you're one and your age goes up on January 1st, not your birthday. It's unique.
b) Do you have any foreign coworkers besides Kevin? THROW YOURSELF UPON THEIR DOORSTEPS AND MAKE THEM HELP YOU. Ask to sit in on one of your coworkers' classes during your spares, if you want to pick up some teaching techniques. Ask to look at their old lesson plans. That nice coteacher! Ask to watch them teach while you have a free period, and see what they do.
c) Little kids love four things: shouting, running, hitting, and points. If you can somehow award points - buy stickers and stick them in the kids' workbooks if they do their homework properly or win a game, maybe - that can help with classroom control a LOT. You may need to get some help to actually explain the system, but if the kids can follow what they need to get stickers (which you can buy at a stationery shop - they look like either office supply stores, or the stores with rows of bright plastic sandals out front; DC Mart also carries stationery), especially if kids get to CHOOSE what sticker they get, they can be shockingly obedient.
d) Kids hate change. The students will settle down and be a little easier to manage once they get a better sense of you. When I first showed up, I needed my coteacher to do almost all my classroom control for me, now I can mostly manage a group of 20 students on my own if I need to.
e) Re: making quiet kids talk. Acting like a jackass helps. You have to just. . .be VERY VERY excited because ENGLISH IS YOUR FAVOURITE. And you have to believe that. This sounds horrible, but kids can smell fear, so don't be scared. Just - you know, fuck it. They're ten. You're smarter than them, and you're the teacher, so they're going to play a game. And you are REALLY STOKED about this game because it's going to be the FUNNEST EVER, so shut up and do it.
There are some good tutorials on the best ways to approach teaching songs at GenkiEnglish.
The kids that just have The Shy and won't talk (this is rare, but I have had a couple) just need some time to warm up to you usually. Focus on the kids that do look like they're making eye contact and trying to work with you, and hopefully the others will eventually follow.
f) if you need a hand lesson planning, send me an email. I have a handy little emergency kit of games that require virtually no supplies that you can play if you're trapped for stuff to do with the kids.
Part 1 (cus I'm a crazy panicking person! :P)
Date: 2008-08-07 02:45 pm (UTC)a) THAT WOULD EXPLAIN WHY THEY'RE SO SMALL. I figured I just didn't know that many kids and hey, maybe I was wrong about what they looked like at whatever age, or Korean kids were really small or something, but yeah. I remembered thinking a couple of times, "That old? REALLY?"
b) There are three other foreign teachers. A couple from Canada who are - I think - in their fifties? They've been teaching there for a few weeks but have been doing TEFL for about seven years, and the dude says that a) I'll get used to it and shouldn't panic and b) it's the most bizarrely organised and chaotic school he's worked at, though neither the most unpleasant, understaffed/supplied or unreliable. There's also a woman from South Africa who I think is also in her fifties (she has an adult son in university) who has been teaching there for two years and is the head Foreign Teacher. She's really nice, though she also has a killer bad throat at the moment so I feel guilty for making her talk. She was also reassuring and gave me some tips. Some of which work, some of which I have no idea how other teachers pull off. I like the idea of sitting in and observing, though since I don't speak Korean I'm not sure how well that would work with the coteachers' lessons. I wouldn't be too shy to ask, but also I strongly get the impression that the request would confuse the hell out of them, and confuse/distract the kids too.
I kind of think they're less interested in turning me into a good teacher and more interested in keeping the school running quietly with a minimum of fuss (even though their administration system is insane). For instance, I was going to ask about old lesson plans, but I don't think they have any. They don't ask to see mine, they just give me the workbook and the teachers' guide and expect me to get on with it. Similarly other teachers seem to scrawl some notes but that's about it.
c) OMG STICKERS THAT IS A MARVELOUS IDEA. I've already been given stickers by some of the kids for my notebook so I guess I should reciprocate.
d) Yeah, I think that might be part of it. Though the older kids are at least quietly rebellious by speaking amongst themselves rather than being outright horribly disruptive and are generally pretty easy to shut up for...at least the next few minutes. The littler kids are, I think, already calming down a some and getting used to me, though honestly, that's a relative statement, and "not acting out horribly" isn't the same as "not acting out."
It sounds like your coteacher actually co-teaches classes with you? I am absurdly jealous. Our co-teachers don't. They teach all the material to the kids first and then we teach it to them again, through the medium of English. Honestly I have no idea why that idea makes sense, but I'm not in charge so I'll just go with it. I certainly know that it makes explaining any game that has more than one or two very simple rules impossible. None of my classes except my free speaking conversation class for MUCH older kids, is even at an intermediate level in terms of what I'm teaching (though ironically, I think the Kindergarten kids are some of the best that I teach: they're sponges at that age.)
Part 2!
Date: 2008-08-07 02:46 pm (UTC)I will check out GenkiEnglish though because I have to teach "Sing Sing English," twice a week and today I didn't even get the tape recorder with a tape whose track titles I couldn't understand. Fortunately I can read music and sight-sing, otherwise I'd be totally fucked in that class.
f) OMG I WOULD LOVE AN EMERGENCY KIT OF CRAZY GAMES. I will totally email you.
Anyway, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for reassuring and elucidating and educational comments on my LJ. :)
Mysteries of Korean ageing
Date: 2008-08-11 08:50 pm (UTC)So... if you're born on December 31, you immediately go from 'non-existent' to 'aged two' in just two days?! *boggles*
Re: Mysteries of Korean ageing
Date: 2008-08-11 10:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-07 12:58 pm (UTC)I was going to pick BSG for the meme, but Gonzo beat me to it. How about Star Wars?
no subject
Date: 2008-08-07 03:13 pm (UTC)I think it's partly being a lazy, spoiled Westerner. On the other hand, they did know we were showing up with no experience, and when it's your first day and they can't even find you a drymarker so you have to teach a class without the benefit of a whiteboard and one sheet of A4 handout, I think there's an objective argument for a general state of chaos? Though...that's sort of the point, like you say, that is the culture clash.
Yay for Star Wars! But, to be awkward, I'm probably going to include the Expanded Universe because I find it hard to separate the two. Sorry, I know you don't know who half these people are, though if you're curious (and pleased don't feel you ought to be) Wookiepedia (http://starwars.wikia.com) is the source of ALL KNOWLEDGE.
1. Bake cupcakes for: Padme. Someone needs to apologise to her for the Prequel Trilogy.
2. Trust with my car keys (if I had a car): Han. Obviously. He could do another drive-by on Darth Vader with it!
3. Put thumbtacks on their chair: The Emperor. During the throne room duel. INSTANT HILARITY.
4. Have a crush on: Zayne Carrick. From the Knights of the Old Republic comic. Because OMG, he is the definition of hero, and somehow, he never comes across as smug or overly perfect. Probably because he's a total klutz who basically washed out of Jedi School and is now on the run after being framed by people a bajillion times more powerful than him, but he just never gives up, and he approaches every situation with hope and optimism and good intentions and, well, love, I suppose. Why yes, it does hit all of my John-loving Farscape buttons, why do you ask? :p
5. Pack up and leave if they moved in next door: Jabba. Srsly, the pet rancor? No.
6. Vote for President: Leia. Not because I actually necessarily think she's the best politician evahr but because I love the way she's written when she's written politically. This combination of pacifistic policies and a remarkable capacity for horrifying personal violence. Really, Luke is the one who takes after Padme. Leia is all Anakin.
7. Pick as my partner in a buddy movie: Again, Leia. I could rescue her and then she could snark at me about my shitty rescue plans and we could shoot up the place. She'd totally outsnark me. But I would have better hair.
8. Pair up: Jariah Syn and Morrigan Corde! XD Though I doubt anyone reading this will get that... (I'm shipping Luke's distant descendant's pirate best friend and said distant descendant's double-dealing villainous mother). But for real! It's sweet! It could totally work!
9. Vote off the island and into the volcano: George Lucas. Yes, I feel guilty, yes we owe him a lot, but please, George, for the love of your fans, step away.
10. Wheedle into fixing your MP3 player: Anakin Solo, if I can catch him before he dies horribly!
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Date: 2008-08-07 01:37 pm (UTC)As for the meme, I think I remember that you watched this, but apologies if I'm wrong: X-Files.
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Date: 2008-08-07 03:24 pm (UTC)Yes, I did watch the X-Files. I think I told you about how it was the thing that really drew me into fandom in a lot of ways - I watched it growing up. But in the end it burned me, and...I haven't seen the second movie.
But anyway, YES! Meme! Though I fear my answers may not be that varied.
1. Bake cupcakes for: Scully. Mulder would be a dick and pretend he didn't want them before eating them all when I wasn't looking. Scully would at least say thank you.
2. Trust with my car keys: Scully. NO ONE else on that show would ever return it except, perhaps Skinner, and he'd be pissy about it.
3. Put thumbtacks on their chair: CHRIS CARTER, you should have ended at season 7.
4. Have a crush on: You know, no one really. I think it was that I started watching it when I was so young? I never got the fancying Mulder thing. Or Krycek. Scully's pretty fucking awesome though, so we'll say her.
5. Pack up and leave if they moved next door: Cigarette Smoking Man. I WILL LIVE IN A LUNG CANCER FREE ZONE, DAMMIT!
7. Pick as my partner in a buddy movie: MULDER! He'd totally take the pressure off me to solve whatever shenannigans were going on with his whole genius investigator shtick, and if I got captured in the course of the movie, I could totally rely on him to get all ANGSTY about how it was HIS FAULT thus ensuring he moved heaven and earth to save me from Antarctica whatever ridiculous situation I'd gotten myself into.
8. Pair up: Mulder and Scully. Not only am I easy, it's really the only ship there I can see on that show. Peripheral romances would be...too peripheral for me to care about, I think.
9. Vote off the island and into the volcano: Whoever had the boneheaded idea of killing the Lone Gunmen. WAS THAT YOU AGAIN, CARTER? WAS IT?
10. Wheedle into fixing your mp3 player: Um...no one? I think I'd get either Mulder or Scully to take it into the FBI and make one of their tech heads do it for me. :D
Yay for memes! Though I have no X-Files related icons!
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Date: 2008-08-07 10:30 pm (UTC)well, apart from the fact that hes dead...
and come to think of it - ...
8. frohike & scully - you know it makes sense - from a geek point of view, at least ;)
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Date: 2008-08-09 04:05 am (UTC)6. Vote for President: Well...from the limited palate of characters available, probably Scully? She seems the most sensible of the lot? Byers from the long gunmen would probably be okay too...
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Date: 2008-08-09 08:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-07 10:59 pm (UTC)ok, so its a slightly different country, but the guy certainly had some interesting experiences...
also - firefly?
or possibly B5?
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Date: 2008-08-09 04:03 am (UTC)Okay, I'll do Firefly!
1. Bake cookes for: Kayleigh! She's always so happy and we could eat them together and I could help her fix machinery even though I wouldn't have a clue what I was doing. She always struck me as a great person to hang out with.
2. Trust with the keys to your car: Again, Kayleigh. She'd treat it with appropriate respect and probably hand it back in better condition than I gave it to her.
3. Put thumbtacks on their chair: Mal, but only when he angsts too much so that I could watch him yelp, jump up, and mutter something about his "hindquarter not being cut our for any such thing." HEE.
4. Have a crush on: THE OPERATIVE. ALWAYS THE OPERATIVE. ZOMG. GUH. *POINTS TO ICON*
5. Pack up and leave if they moved next door: The reavers. They're redefine "housewarming" party. *shudder*
6. Vote for President: Inara. She seems levelheaded. None of the others really do, except Book, and he's too religious for Presidenthood.
7. Pick as my partner in a buddy movie: WASH! The quipping! The quipping would make the film, and he'd be the best getaway driver ever!
8. Pair up: Kayleigh and Simon! They're so ADORKABLE. Or if we're talking about pairings we haven't actually seen on screen, then the Operative and Laura Roslin in the inevitable crossover when BSG finds out that "Earth-That-Was," got all used up, but at least there are humans around.
9. Vote off the island and into the volcano: You know, no one. I don't get irked by anyone on that show. I'll pick a cop-out answer: Jubal Early.
10. Wheedle into fixing your mp3 player: Well, Kayleigh, natch. ;)
Thanks!
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Date: 2008-08-09 08:19 am (UTC)the one where i asked him cor a completely random pairing - galactica/ moya - AND HE BLOODY WELL DELIVERED!
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Date: 2008-08-07 11:18 pm (UTC)P.S. I cannot write in Korean in Paint.
P.P.S. I hope it gets better for you soon.
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Date: 2008-08-09 03:55 am (UTC)Also, are those the Wonder Girls? Because they look like the Wonder Girls who we saw on subtitled TV our first night here talking about how the sound on their new mini album had matured because "some of our members are in their twenties now."
Feel shame, dude. FEEL SHAME! :p
And thank you. I hope it gets better too.
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Date: 2008-08-09 10:13 am (UTC)Seriously though, guys, we're all rooting for you back here. Take care!
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Date: 2008-08-09 04:55 am (UTC)I have no words of wisdom to offer, since I would probably be equally terrified in this situation.
but if the meme is still cheering you up: Farscape!
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Date: 2008-08-10 02:47 am (UTC)1. Who would you bake cupcakes for: Rygel! Rygel with sugar is the funniest thing EVAR.
2. Who would you trust with the keys to your car: Early seasons, Aeryn. She'd hate me, but the car she would respect. Later seasons, Aeryn or D'argo. Early seasons D'argo would probably smash in parts of it when he got frustrated though.
3. Put thumbtacks on their chair: I'd say Scorpius but he'd probably enjoy it... o.O
4. Have a crush on: Can I have a crush on the awesome entity that is John-and-Aeryn? (Except not season one John: he didn't get attractive until he put on that PK uniform and started with the British accent, I'm embarassed to admit, and not S4 Aeryn when she had...bad hair and looked ill the entire time.)
5. Pack up and leave if they moved next door: The Peacekeepers. If they started "protecting" the planet "next door" I'd move pretty sharpish...
6. Vote for President: ...none of them. Oh, well, maybe Sikozu actually. She's very smart, practical, rational and a bit ruthless. I don't really blame her for deciding to go with Scorpy though I am FOREVER bitter about what happened to her in the PK Wars miniseries especially since it was, apparently, something not originally planned but requested by Wayne Pygram because he wanted Scorpy to be a more obvious villain. *stabby*
7. Pick as my partner in a buddy movie: D'argo. Obvs.
8. Pair up: John and Aeryn. The DOOMSHIP that cannot be avoided.
9. Vote off the island and into the volcano: Probably Noranti. I really, really, really loved her in the season three finale. Then she came back in season four and they pulled a Stark on her. She used to be a quietly, elegantly, sorrowfully wise-and-mad guide character but suddenly she was a walking plot device played for laughs, gross-laughs, and as a weird pseudo-antagonist. GRR. I think I'm bitter because I really wanted to love her, and very occasionally I saw that awesome part of her and did. But bah. Stupid old druggie woman!
10. Wheedle into fixing my mp3 player: Pilot! Via the DRDs! Hooray for the DRDs! Whatever happened to One-Eye? Poor thing, upstaged by 1812. :(
Teaching
Date: 2008-08-11 08:58 pm (UTC)Also, she tells me that when she had only just started teaching, she used to be so scared she got off the tram one stop early every morning so she could vomit and then use the few minutes' walk to calm down a bit - she was so scared.
(Yes, she got better eventually.)
Re: Teaching
Date: 2008-08-13 11:14 am (UTC)It's still getting better. Still not good but still getting better, so who knows, by the end of the year I may actually like it. ;)