Every semester, TaLK scholars are taken on a multi-day cultural trip with the other English teachers in their province. Our group of 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th gens traveled to Busan and Gyeongju for 3 days and 2 nights. Food, transportation, and hotels all inclusive! Plus, we got Friday off.
Photos taken with my new camera and my cell phone.
My thoughts on the trip? It was nice. Relaxing. We hit a bit of traffic, so we spent a lot of time sitting on the bus and sleeping. It takes about 5 hours to travel to Busan, 5-6 to get to Gyeongju. We covered a lot of ground in 3 days. And I'm to lazy to write much else...so here are some pictures. Enjoy!
FRIDAY (28 October)
6:35am bus from Mokpo to Gwangju
5am woke up at the buttcrack of dawn. I wanted to throw my comforter in the laundry, then hang it up to dry before heading off to Gwangju. I also burnt my last piece of toast in the frying pan.
I'm teaching the kids basic Halloween vocabulary this week: black cat, bat, pumpkin, jack-o-lantern, ghost, witch, zombie, vampire. The older kids also learned: Frankenstein (they actually already knew that one), broomstick, tombstone, skeleton. I supplement this lesson with some fun Halloween videos that I scavenged up on YouTube.
VIDEO: Halloween Songs for Kids
This song has been stuck in my head since Monday.
VIDEO: Trick or Treat. It's a monster. Halloween!
The kids scream like crazy during "Ice-cream. EYES!"
BUAHAHAHA
During the last 10-15 minutes, I give the kids time to color, so I can put up their work on my bare walls. There is a "school festival" this weekend. In my brain that means "Open House," but I can't be sure with this language barrier. I'm not going because the Jeonnam TaLK Scholars will be on a cultural trip to Busan and Gyeongju. If anyone does check out my class, my bases will be covered.
PHOTO: A 5th grade ghoul brought a mask to school.
Today one of my 5th graders wore a mask to class. I was pretty excited because none of my other students have even tried to dress up, let alone indicate that they knew Halloween was fast-approaching. (It's not a well-known holiday in Korea.) I let him hide in the closet behind my desk. A couple girls arrived, and I gestured for them to come over because I needed to show them something. Then I opened the closet, and he scared the crap out of them. Too funny. They both screamed and fell on the floor laughing. One was clutching her chest in fright and trying to catch her breath. I love Halloween!
We planned to scare the rest of the class. But after everyone came in and Hannee took roll, the computer teacher came in to take pictures of me teaching. Perfect timing. I couldn't stop laughing as I began my lesson. I hoped the boy didn't think that I left him in there. Awkward. Half-way through my PowerPoint, the kid jumped out of the closet for a breath of air. I think it got stuffy in there. We all laughed it off, while he took his seat.
PHOTO: Pictures on the left colored by the Kindergarten class.
Pictures at the bottom colored by the 1st grade class.
PHOTO: Ghouling around before class
PHOTO: Most of those jack-o-lanterns were made by me.
The other two were cut and colored by two of the 3rd graders.
PHOTO: Drawing courtesy of a 5th grader
When I am not preparing for Halloween, I am getting into the Christmas spirit. I played this on loop off of RyanSeacrest.com shortly after it debuted in America. Amerrrricaaaaaaa.
AUDIO: "Chestnuts" by Justin Bieber featuring Usher
