Grading Papers - Korean style!

I got to my desk this morning and was promptly told that my 3rd and 4th period classes were cancelled. Then, my 2nd period class never showed up! AWESOME! Just when I thought I was free and clear to have the whole day to play around, I was handed a GIANT pile of tests to grade!  7 classes worth to be exact, with between 30-40 questions each.  That's 245 questions to check if you do the math! This wouldn't be such a big deal, except for the fact that Korean's don't just check the wrong answers, they circle the right answers too!  (Grading tests this way literally takes about 10 times longer!) Oh, and it has to be done with a red crayon,  Nothing else will do!

After grading for a couple hours, I said to one of my co-workers, "In America, we only check the wrong answers.  Circling all the right answers like this is taking me forever!"  Her response was, "Oh, I never thought about that.  It does save time, doesn't it?"  How has that never crossed anyone's mind around here?!  Seriously!

Ah, Korea!

3 Truths and a Lie

I teach an after school English class for some of the more advanced students in my elementary school.  Today, we played the game 3 Truths and A Lie.  I told them to write down 3 true sentences and 1 lie.  We didn't have enough time to read them outloud in class today and guess which sentence was the lie, so I collected their papers and tucked them away for next week's class... but not before reading a few to see what they came up with!  

This one caught me off guard, for OBVIOUS reasons!  Check out # 4.

I'm REALLY hoping that was her lie sentence! 

Fingers crossed!

Fifth Grade Friday!

There's no better weekday morning to wake up than Friday!  Not just because it's the last day of the work week, but because I LOVE Friday's at my job!  I teach (3) 5th grade classes (which happen to be the SMARTEST and most well BEHAVED group of kids I've ever taught in Korea) and that's it... Just three classes!  Since the huge elementary government test was yesterday, I decided to let my classes do something a little less strenuous and intense this morning... Their little minds need a break sometimes!  I debated throwing on a movie, but I feel like such a slacker when I resort to movies, so... I made a writing/drawing/coloring assignment that went with this month's lesson and let them take the full 40 minutes to complete it.  Easy for me, fun for them!  I wasn't planning to snap pictures, but it was such a mellow, rainy day, and I realized I won't be in Korea forever and wanted to remember days like these...  So, there you go.  

Welcome to my 5th grade English class.

Molly and Ji-ji... BEST FRIENDS!  

My lovely co-teacher, Loola, who was enjoying today just as much as I was!

 I have (60) 5th graders, so I chose the top 30 papers and taped them to the archway in our classroom.  Koreans are uber competitive, so I knew this would push them to work harder and harder in my class! Heck, if their papers can be chosen to be posted on the wall, they'll study English during all their free time!

I've got quite a few lil artists at my school.

Teaching English can have it's bad, boring, and frustrating days, but days like this make it all worth it!

Happy Friday from the other side of the world.

Crack The Code

This year, I took on an extra class of 1st and 2nd graders who didn't know a lick of English!  I knew I was crazy to take it on, but getting paid $100 a week for teaching an hour and 40 minutes was just too good to pass up.  I remember the first day of class, when they all came in and looked at me like I was a crazy lady, mumbling things that didn't make any sense to them! One by one, they would get up from their desk and start walking around the classroom while I followed after them redirecting them back to their desk! Even when I spoke Korean to them they looked clueless! I knew I was in for a rough semester! 

I'm proud to say that I have one week left with them and all 13 of us have survived!  

Not only have we survived, but we've managed to learn a good bit... Me, how to manage a classroom full of little people who don't understand English, and them, how to learn English from a lady who doesn't speak fluent Korean! It was a joint effort, and I'm a lil proud to say the least! 

In the last 3 1/2 months, they have successfully learned: 

1. Their ABC's and the sounds that go with each letter. 

2. Numbers 1-20 

3. All 12 Colors in a crayon box. 

4. Classroom items (book, notebook, pencil, eraser, computer, desk, chair, clock, stapler, tape, glue, box, board, TV, etc) 

5. How are you? I'm fine/okay/great/sad/tired. 

6. How old are you? I'm 5/6/7. 

7. Can you _________? 

8. I like _________. 

9. What's your favorite color/food/animal? 

10. What's the first letter of (blah blah blah word). 

11. What's a word that starts with A/B/C/D/E.... 

12. Please / Thank you / You're welcome.

Can you believe it?! Their little brains are such sponges!  For today's class, I made a little worksheet I like to call CRACK THE CODE!  I was such a puzzle freak as a child that I could only hope that the lil ones would like it!  Good news is, they loved it, and it ended up being a huge hit!  I gave them this HINT paper, which showed the Korean alphabet next to the English alphabet, in case they forgot.
 (iphone photo)

Then, I gave them this back to back paper with Korean letters written under blank lines.  They had to crack the code and write the English word.  They could check it with the picture next to it... which I drew!  LOL  BTW: The yellow circles are how we "check" things in Korea.  Teachers don't just write X's when something's wrong, we circle it when it's right!  As you can see, sweet lil Lisa (1st grader) got "beg jom", 100%! 

 (iphone photo)

Can you believe they did it?!  One little boy, who's the social butterfly of the class, liked it so much that he asked me if he could take his "hint paper" home so he could study with his mom!  Aaaaahhhhh.... 

(iphone photo)

I'm so proud of my little Korean babies and a little proud of myself too!  :)