This week, my friends and I stood by for field day, or "Sports Day," at our respective elementary schools. All of the students, teachers, and even parents congregated at a local park and participated in team activities facilitated by an external organization. Not sure if all schools follow this protocol because Daebul's student body is bigger than other schools'. My school boasts 300+ students, while most other schools consist of 50 students (give or take a couple dozen).
We arrived at the park by 9am or so. Most kids wore white sweaters and sweatpants and put on red or blue jerseys to indicate which team they were on. From a distance, you'd think that they were donning America's red, white, & blue ... but Korea's national colors are also red, white, and blue (and black!)
Students lined up by grade, waiting for Sports Day to begin
1st grader
1st grader
2nd grader
3rd graders
Me: Make a funny face! Them: *confused*
4th graders
The opening ceremony lasted almost an hour. I'm calling it an "opening ceremony" for lack of a better term. Maybe it was a prolonged introduction. The students marched up and down the field. At some point, everyone closed their eyes and tilted their heads down. They spoke the pledge of allegiance with their right hands over their hearts. I remember doing the pledge of allegiance once upon a time. Do they still enforce that in American elementary schools?
The parents sat on plastic tarps that they brought and set up on the perimeters of the park. I randomly sat on the grass and wished I had a tarp. Where was everyone else sitting? An hour later, I realized that my school's administration was sitting together comfortably on chairs, under a tent, in front of the Sports Day procession. I nonchalantly meandered over there to find two of the office staff eating pork belly, tofu, and kimchi and drinking makoli (rice wine, 막걸리). They invited me over to join them, and I kindly obliged
VIDEO: Students marching up and down the field
VIDEO: Snippet from the Opening Ceremony
Lining up Red vs. Blue for the first activity
The guy in the yellow was our host/facilitator
Our host exuded a lot of energy and an upbeat attitude. He sported a curly perm, most commonly seen on older women and young children whose parents think that toddler perms are a cute idea. Bright yellow t-shirt. Lime green pants. And the Korean flag for a skirt. The combinations that Korean people wear in public never cease to baffle me.
The sky grew progressively darker until it started pouring. The kids gathered under two tents across the field, while the heaviest rain passed. Not everyone fit under those tents, so parents opened their umbrellas to create more coverage. The festivities ensued despite the rain.
Parachute activity
Parachute activity
Parachute activity
The host tallied up the colored red & blue pieces after the kids scrambled to flip them over during a timed period
Relay race
Everyone took a lunch break before resuming the games. The teachers and staff ate Korean food as usual. Kimchi, rice, and side dishes -- all day, e'rrryday. Sports Day ended with a raffle giving away heaps of prizes wrapped in red Lotte gift wrap or tucked away in gift bags. The kids took shelter under the tents across the field, while the facilitator read off names from the teacher's tent. Then the kids needed to run across the muddy field and through the rain to claim their prizes. It was pretty hilarious.
One of my 2nd grade students won and excitedly ran across the field. The gift required both of her arms to carry, so when she turned to run back, she folded in half because the box weighed down her entire upper body. Everyone laughed as a teacher came to her rescue and helped her back across the field.
Luckily for me, I didn't have to play nor teach English that day. Just went home early and took a nap. Pretty awesome by my standards!
Organic tofu with sliced mushrooms & kale
stir fried in organic chopped garlic & olive oil.
Mexican Style Rice A Roni
More of the same veggies. Different kind of rice.
I found this gem in my cafeteria soup yesterday. I don't care what people say -- clams, oysters, whatever! I swear it is a snail. There were 2 of them in my soup. Ahhhhh, it was so gross. Usually there are small clams floating between the seaweed, but these things were huge! I cautiously covered them with the seaweed so that I wouldn't have to look at them. Ughhhhh.
Life with the little nuggets is going well. My students always say "hi" when they see me in the halls.
"Hiiiii Kureestin!!!"
"Hallo!!"
"Kureeestine!!"
"Teeeacha! Teeacha!"
"Seungsengnim!"
"Kureeeestin Seungsengnim!"
"Hallo teacha!!"
I'm a celebrity.
They even sometimes bring me candy or stationary, which reminds me that I should reward them with candy and stickers more often.
Kindergarten is my most difficult class because the kids have no attention span. They just want to watch random YouTube videos, stare into space, and/or hold my hand. During the first couple classes, I tried teaching the kids by having them repeat what I said, but then I had kids yelling the answer one minute and staring at the opposite wall the next. One girl sat backwards in his chair. Another boy played with a paperclip. In the middle of my lesson. No bueno. So now I start the class with a Hello Song, the ABC song, and some phonics songs. Thank goodness for YouTube. We stand around the television and sing for 15 minutes. I figure it's more interactive. Some girls think it's an excuse to hold my hand. The rest don't pay attention or seem confused. And after 5-10 minutes, half of the kids look like they've run the marathon and sit down where they were standing. Ay caramba! More recently, I started playing ABC BINGO with them. One day I had them color the the letters for 15 minutes --15 minutes that I didn't have to sing songs or hold hands. The next day, we played BINGO for 15 minutes, and I rewarded the winners with stickers. So easy.
1st grade is great. About 4 of the girls bounce into my class 10 minutes early to say "hi" and hug me and ask what I am doing (in Korean). I'm always doing the same things: Kakao, Facebook, Gmail, trying to figure out which PowerPoint I'm going to present. One of the boys in my class has a perm and a mullet. He is like the Benjamin Button version of this:
JOHN STAMOS
Today is Wednesday. On Wednesdays, school ends 40 minutes earlier, which means that classes start 40 minutes earlier. I often forget this. And so do my students.
Only 7 of my 1st graders showed up today, so we puttered around for most of the class.
2nd grade is good too. I often get them confused with 1st grade. Some of the boys are too cool for school and avoid eye contact when I want them to participate. Other boys repeatedly raise their hands to repeat the vocabulary after they have already had their turn.
3rd grade is one of my smaller classes. 3 boys and 2 girls at most. 2 of the boys are too cool for school. 1 boy likes to goof off. It sucks for the girls because they actually take my class seriously. This is admittedly the least fun class (for all parties involved).
4th grade is hilarious. Those kids always make me laugh. 4 of the girls practice/perform the dance for miss A's "Goodbye Baby" before class. Meanwhile, the boys run around or try to mess up the girls' routine by stopping the music or getting in the way. The boys would rather listen to "Mr. Simple" by Super Junior. The class as a whole is very loud. Very, very loud. But very cooperative and easy to teach.
4th grade girls practicing ... and then the boys arrive
These videos were actually taken in late September
Not much has changed since then
Madness. Notice how some of the boys are pressed up to the television
That's how much they love "Mr. Simple" by Super Junior
5th grade is perfect. They are bigger versions of my 4th grade class minus the dancing. Last week we played "Heads Up, Seven Up" for the 2nd week in a row --I see them 3x's per week-- and they couldn't get enough of it. When class ended, they begged me to let them play it 2 more times. Someone in the crowd yelled, "10 more times!" Another hollered, "20 more times!" I jokingly added, "50 more times!" After 2 more rounds, they were begging for another 2. Then one more. In light of the lesson, which taught them phrases such as "Let's go upstairs" and "Let's go across the street," I finally said, "Let's go home!" Then half of the class got on their knees and begged for 1 more round. It was already 10 minutes after class. I had to cut them off. I told them to go home and that we could play again tomorrow. Crazy kids. (I think there are about 17.) Then the next day we stayed 5 minutes after class playing "Heads Up, Seven Up." They begged to play for another 5 minutes, but my translator for the day cut them off and told them to go home. Then she took me downstairs to a teachers' BBQ that I didn't know about. What a pleasant surprise.
6th grade is smaller than 3rd grade. 4 boys. Pretty mellow and easy to manage. Sometimes only one student shows up, so I make the executive decision to show him random YouTube videos. One day I introduced him American pop music videos, but didn't realize that Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Ke$ha, and Lady Gaga videos needed censorship. My bad.
Spotted at Emart: Samples of sandwich cheese. It costs $6.60 and doesn't taste like anything.
Spotted at Emart in the Organic Section: Chocolate covered raisins & almonds for $9-$12
DINNER:
Organic sweet potato stuffed with red bell peppers, gochu (hot green peppers)
Omelet with red bell peppers & gochu
Cubes of acorn jelly with gochu & soy sauce
DINNER:
Homemade soup with a mushroom flavor base
Cubes of organic tofu
Slices of organic carrot
Slices of organic green bell pepper
With a side of organic sweet potato
