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Semester wrap up reviews

School is wrapping up and it is near the end of the school year. I’m reviving my blog now because I found learned what was required to update my wordpress installation. My host is security conscious to the point that updating anything was a chore. So I’ve been wanting to do a review on my teaching experience in South Korea.

Compared to the first semester this second semester has been much more successful. Challenges in the first and second semester summed up to mis-planning, mistrust, and miscommunication. Ultimately I was caught in between the miscommunication between my native coworker and my Korean coworkers. Looking back on it now I think that some things could have been handled a lot better but because of the cultures and personalities involved there was not much that could be fixed.

Looking back at these two semesters I am pleased with the results that we received. I think that the students had many opportunities to practice their speaking and writing. They had many chances to interact and learn about Western culture and for the most part have enjoyed the experience. I wish that I could have been able to interact more with my co-teachers and plan lessons together but due to their limited time schedules it was never feasible. They did provide some commentary after lessons finished but were not able to be part of the planning stage. We could teach anything that we would have liked but having a book might have brought some stability to the lessons that we planned.

The students have always been good and I’ve rarely had any discipline problems. I find it difficult to be hard on some of these students. Sleeping in class is the worst that tends to happen and for the most part I just feel sorry how tired these students are. Some areas where I would have liked to explore learning might have involved using some computer based lessons but coordinating anything is very difficult. Everything is planned at the last minute and making a plan is fruitless.

I have enjoyed my time here in South Korea, specifically, Suncheon. However, I am ready to move on to other endeavors. I would like to use my Masters’ of Arts in Library Information Science for some other purposes. I think that user experience, interaction design, and traditional librarianship are areas that I would be comfortable working with.

Fall has begun in South Korea

Well I have certainly put this blog post off for far too long. It has been 5 months since I have committed a blog post to this website. In our modern times it is just easier to be active on a social network and making minimal posts than the typical gargantuan meandering posts I would tend to post here.

The Fall semester has begun! A month in and a writing test is already completed. Soon we’ll prepare for our speaking test at the Girls’ High School. Last semester was a mess in several ways. The coteachers were new, the native speakers were new, and the format was new for students. So it was quite a struggle to adapt to each other and complete our tests in a fair and just way. So some mistakes were made and we spent extra time making sure that everyone had a fair grade and fair chance.

You may not be aware if you’re not in South Korea but high school is an extremely stressful time for students. Being accepted into a good university is essential and a small grade percentage can have a huge affect on a students future. This weekend I traveled with my girlfriend to the buddhist temple and saw many people praying for their children to do well on the national University entrance exam or Korean SAT.

For the most part my inclination to write has been tamped because there are quite a bit of Western teachers in Korea. It’s not such a unique position to be in and writing about how unique my situation is is a little difficult. There are many other better blogs that explain what living in South Korea is like. It’s a nice place and I am enjoying my time. If I am going to write about anything especially here it is going to be about my experience and not about retreading the same topics.

Overall I am glad to be teaching and I feel like it is a good experience for me and my future career. My masters’ degree is in Library Information Sciences and a big part of that is instruction. Librarians or information professionals have to be instructors at times and teaching information literacy or any other topic is not a simple task. This trial by fire in teaching is pushing me to adapt my skills and abilities to a varied audience. Hopefully I can incorporate that into a path in the future.

Suncheon is a good place to be and the food is enjoyable. It is a small town though compared to Coalinga it has more entertainment and shopping to offer. Nature is close by and hiking is a favorite activity for many people.

I’m trying to learn Korean but it is quite hard. Until I can find a someone to tutor me it is going to be slow going teaching myself. However, I am quite interested in learning and the little I do know helps me greatly in this town. In the next blog post there will be more pictures.

Moving on

Many things have changed since the last time that I have updated. The main delay in my updating was because I was changing jobs. I did not want to write about any of the changes until they were already completed. I had started work with the private English academy and I feel that I did my best and was responsible during my time there. However, due to differences in personalities I just felt that I was not a good fit at that institution. I gave my thirty days notice and finished working there in mid-March. I am now working at Gungnam Girls’ Private High School. The classes are bigger and the student’s English is not as high level as the private academy but overall I am happier where I am at now.

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Suncheon overall is pretty great for a city of its size. I am always surprised at some of the new things that I find in this city. There is a plethora of cafes some featuring gelato and waffles. One excellent find was a microbrewery that features various wheat beers. Overall I’ve been pretty disappointed with the Korean beers available. Most taste just like budweiser and the only ones that stand out are a brand called Stout Black Beer. Though its only passable as a stout. However, the beer at Song’s Beer here is amazing for Korea. It would be really great if it were bottled. The coffee shops are fun to go to though they do feature some mangled English at times. For some reason mangled English comes out rather poetic here.

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Wrapping up an old year and starting a new one

Seasons greetings are over and I still have a few Christmas appropriate photos to show. I have two students named Chris and Christina that have wonderfully giving parents. Their mother would send along goodies to my class such as crushed dumplings and hot tea. One night she invited me to join her family at the Green Tea Festival in Boseong. It was a fourty minute drive back and forth but they treated me to some Gimbap and I spoke with Chris and Christina along the way. Once we were there we toured the green tea fields adorned with festive lights and some treats. One was called pondaegi which is silkworm cocoons consisting of a creamy taste.

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Tis the Season

This entry has been long over due. I put it off because I have a poor habit of not bringing a long my camera. Teaching English here has been a fun and rewarding experience so far. The children are great and the city of Suncheon is a nice place to live. I have met many other English teachers here and it has been great getting to know all of them.

During the Korean Thanksgiving I was invited to attend a local church’s Sports day. It was fun to watch many parents play dodgeball and foot volleyball with their friends. I especially enjoyed eating Bulgogi afterwards outside the sports complex. P1020684

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Starting the trip

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I started off this trip at a very early hour. My parents dropped me off at the Fresno Airport and I checked in around 4am. I grabbed a quick bite and a coffee before my flight departed for San Francisco. The flight to San Francisco was quick and I met a nice woman with some incredible vacation plans. During my time at SFO I spent it working on homework and for the flight to board. While the flight began boarding I noticed that an acclaimed Starcraft 2 professional gamer was on my flight and it was a little exciting. The flight was 12 hours long and I was lucky to have a seat mate that I was able to talk to. This woman was visiting her boyfriend that worked at one of the American military bases. We discussed living in California and what South Korea is like. The majority of the flight was spent sleeping and listening to music.

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