Snapshots from Teaching: Student Comics

Sometimes, giving students full unlimited access to draw and create whatever they want can yield some wonderful results. Other times, the things students come up with would send any American student to psychiatric help faster than they could finish their comic.

Out of all the classes to work on their comic project this week, these were the ones that captured my attention the most. While some of the comics and writing may seem strange and possibly offensive, remember, these are high school boys whose view of the world is still limited. This is something that will hopefully mature and change with age and wisdom.... hopefully.

Even food deals with high school pressure

Moral of the story: If you're not gay you will die in an auto accident.

Suicide is easy as pie!

Sometimes military assistance comes from some of the most unlikely sources

In this story, a fish goes back in time to swallow the nuclear bombs that would destroy Japan.

Don't eat my home!

Prostitution is a piece of cake!

Our school principal is capable of jump kicking students

It's an arm and a leg bitch!

Snapshots from Teaching: What is Love?

Sometimes my students write about being tired. Sometimes my students write about their future plans.

And sometimes, my students write about crazy fucking love. I can't blame him though. Sometimes, love is fucking crazy.

(5) 90 in 90: The Short Goodbye

One of the sad and ultimate inevitable things that every foreign language teacher runs into while teaching overseas is the flurry of goodbyes that comes from teachers leaving the country to return home.

The amount of time teachers spend overseas varies. Some spend just a year abroad before heading back home. Some spend several years living overseas, carving themselves a nice little lifestyle that lets them do something different and separated from the norm of their country of origin while still having a comfortable life.

The reason people come to teach in Korea differs from person to person. Out of every person I've talked to, each person has had a slightly different reason for being here. Some come here to pay off student loans. Some come to find a better job and a means to escape from their country's economic situation. Some even come here due to a love of Korean culture and a desire to immerse themselves in it for a period of time. Each person has a slightly different story on what led them to Korea, making each person's back story all the more interesting.

For these reasons, you come to meet some pretty cool people living here with you. Teaching is not really a job for introverts. To succeed at teaching you need to be somewhat sociable and able to communicate with other people. Working and living in Korea has not only given me the opportunity to meet many native Koreans, but native English speakers from all over the world. It's been a wonderful experience to meet many people and see perspectives from other people and customs. I can honestly say that becoming friends with people abroad has broadened my horizons and views of many things that I would have never achieved staying inside my own enclosed bubble.

However, for as many people you come to meet and become acquainted with, an almost equal number you come to part ways with. Being a English language teacher is not a long term job, nor is it an adequate career for someone to have. People eventually have to return home.

People go back to find a job related to their major. Some leave to explore other opportunities. Some even go because they've become quite fed up with Korea and want to leave while they still can.

Whatever the reason, it doesn't make the goodbyes any easier nor does it make the reality that all the teachers face any less brutal.

Lifelong friends are difficult to make abroad. While it certainly is not impossible, the ratio of people who leave on a yearly basis compared to the amount of time it takes for someone to become comfortable and form a close relationship with someone does not match up. There are several people I consider to be on very good terms with. Despite our closeness though, I can already tell that the people that I have a chance to see again or keep in touch with in a meaningful way is very small.

This leads many teachers to become introverted. Not going out of their way to make friends or make a strong effort to become close to people. After all, what is the point if they're going to leave in a year (for other teaching programs in Korea, sometimes even less).

For me however, it stands a constant reminder to cherish and remember the times we have together. Value the little things that happen everyday and appreciate the moments you share with the ones you care about. While they may not be around forever, the memories and experiences you create will.

I was once told that years from now, we won't remember the names of all the people we met or the places we all met at. What we will remember are the times we had together and the reasons we remember these events to begin with.

I may not see all of you forever, but the memories we shared in this sometimes great, sometimes horrible and sometimes strange country called Korea will last forever.

So with that, I say goodbye to all of you leaving. Take care, and to quote a favorite game of mine: "I'll see you when I see you."*

I'll see you when I see you Gordon!

The quote is from Half Life 2.

Korea: Year 2

It's time to start again. Time to break out my lesson plans, brush up on my power points and wake up when the normal people do to head to work. After spending a month back home in the states visiting friends and family, my rest period and vacation is over. It's time to come back to Korea. It's time to teach again.

In a way I am excited to be back. The overwhelming sense of dullness and monotony than can come with any job had been replaced with new expectations and hopes for a better year. A new year is essentially a reboot to toss out the awkwardness and rookie mistakes of the first year and the opportunity to improve and make an even better impression on the youth of Korea and their impressionable minds.

I am entirely optimistic in regards to the new additions and changes to our selection of teachers. This year, our school added 11 new teachers, four of which are English teachers. While last year's group of teachers have either moved on to teach in other schools or retire, two of the English teachers were promoted to heads of the English department. Having worked with them for year and seeing where their stand in both their work ethic and stance on education, this is a good choice. 

The new teachers are all young and friendly. After spending only a few hours getting to know them, they all seemed very happy, enthusiastic about teaching and very willing to get to know this foreign teacher a little better. They left a very good first impression and I cannot wait to get to know them more as the year continues on.

My schedule had also been updated as well. Last year, my biggest hurdles came from messages lost in translation and trying to teach material to classes that were not intended to be taught. There were often many time that certain classes were missed or my presence was not necessary due to the messages getting to me too late or in some cases, not at all. My grade three students were entirely focused on preparing for their college entrance exams, and not interested or finding the necessity to learn new material that would not be featured on the exam. This led to mixed messages and sometimes wasted time and resources where they could have been applied in other areas.

My new schedule seems to eliminate the grade three students entirely, instead focusing on the more impressionable students: grades one and two. This would allow me to focus all of my time and energy on students who are constantly learning new material that will eventually be relevant to future testing.

This year also brings forward the new criteria for high school students called NEAT. NEAT is designed to teach students the necessary skills primarily used in speaking, writing and reading. The eventual goal of NEAT is to provide Korean English teachers the requirements and materials needed to teach students necessary English skills with confidence and if necessary, without the need of an English language speaker.

For me, and I suspect other high school teachers taking this seriously, this allows us to cut away the fat and uncertainty of what to teach and instead gives a clear and concise map of what is deemed necessary to teach students in order for them to do well on future testing and university opportunities. It streamlines the necessaries while still allowing flexibility and creative breathing room to teach each class how I see fit. It seems like a comfortable median of compromise between the two and I could not be happier about that.

If there are any warning flags so far, its the lack of teaching or a personal schedule that worries me more than anything. It is the second day of school, the first official day of teaching and I sit here writing this instead of teaching a class. I have yet to receive a schedule of any kind nor any idea of how many classes I will have and when I will have them. While this may seem like a BEST FIRST WORK DAY EVER, this has me slightly worried. 

With the addition of new English teachers at our school bringing the new total to seven including myself and the greater focus on having Korean teachers teach English without assistance, the need for a native English teacher seems limited and at times, unnecessary. Combined with rumors of the major language programs closing up shop in increasingly more cities, the paranoid side of me feels like this year may be my last at my school and whether I want to stay or not may not be left up to my own choices.

However, no matter what happens in the end, it still stands that it is indeed the 'end'. The last part and the last thing I should even be thinking of now. I have a whole year ahead of me and as long as I go forward with the right people and willingness to do well, I think I will be ok. 

It's a brave new world, but its my world. It's a fresh lump of clay, but my hands yearn to get dirty.

I want this year to be great, I want it to be memorable. I want to make this to a great year.

So, I think I'll go do that. 

An epic photo of my school's front door. Actual epicness of school may differ from photo. 

The Comeback (Vacation Time and Thanks to Korea)

I like how I look here, despite the beer in hand. 

Tomorrow I fly back to the US to spend a month revisiting family and friends before starting the new semester in March. It’s become a cliché statement for people to casually throw around thoughts and surprise on how fast the year has passed by. It always seems to come crawling to back to people, as they look back fondly at the year that has quickly passed them by, so many happy memories like the chapters from a book read long ago.

I can’t speak for those who had a rough year, for those who endured a year of grueling cultural differences and hardships that didn’t equal the long venture from their country of origin. I know quite a few people like this and for them, I feel sorry. Life has a tendency to be a real bastard sometimes and giving someone a difficult time in a foreign country is a cruel fate to subject a person for a year.

Luckily, my experiences have been incredibly positive in Korea. Sometimes it seems that your attitude is instrumental in determining how you will respond to differences and challenges, and that a positive attitude triumphs over all eventually. If anything, a year working overseas has helped to change my attitude towards many things in life, gaining new perspectives and depth on all aspects of life. A year working overseas has made me realize that in the end, no matter where we come from, we all want the same thing.

We all want to be happy and healthy. We want success for our family and friends. We want to wake up every day with a sense of purpose, asking ourselves “What are going to do today?” rather than “Why am I waking up today?”

We all want fulfilling experiences. People always have a way to fall into the trap of becoming set on a routine, choosing the ordinary and safe route to achieve goals and make their way through life.  Many of us yearn to break out of our daily grind, to do something different and exciting, to prove to themselves that their life is more than a factory assembly line.

I understand that for some, the daily grind can be difficult to stop or alter, especially when others depend on their routine for survival and support. That is why I appreciate the opportunities constantly presented to me. For I have an advantage others do not: I have age and time on my side to branch out and explore. To truly take chances in my life and test just what I can and cannot do.

I’ve meet wonderful people I can’t imagine being without. I’ve traveled to places I previously only read about, never once thinking that I would be able to witness their intricate beauty and majesty, putting even the most high resolution photos to shame. 

There are times to act silly and times to be serious. This was a  hybrid of both. 

Going home and marking my one year anniversary of working abroad stands for much more than a relaxing vacation and reuniting with friends. It stands as a timestamp on my memories for a point in my life that served to create an incredible year. It stands as a place in time where I was able to shrug away the restrictions and routines that we can so quickly become accustomed to.

That’s not to say this isn’t possible anywhere but Korea. Whether you go to a town just outside your own or the deserts of the Mojave, a new location with new faces always helps to invigorate your life again. A cleansing of the soul and chance to start over, to forget the vices and missteps of the past and strive to become a better person. To achieve the person we all dream of being, but some never seem to make. It could have happened anywhere, but Korea just happens to be the country I ended up in, and therefore making it a place that will never be forgotten in my mind.

There are too many people to thank, and not enough gratitude to express in these short paragraphs. I hope a simple thank you will suffice.

Thank you Korea for providing me with the life experiences I will never forget. Thank you to the people who have entered and stuck around in my life. Thank you to my co workers and those willing to help me with my first awkward steps.

I didn’t do things perfectly, and made plenty of mistakes. I didn’t get to say my goodbyes to all the people I wanted to. I didn’t get to travel to all the places I wished to, nor did I always take advantage of situations presented to me. However, that’s the great thing about vacations with old friends and family, time to think and process. Time to improve for the future.

I will enjoy seeing old friends and family, but I am always anxiously looking forward to the future, for even better days than those I have had and preparing for the times where it can possibly get worse.

I dream of tomorrow, an even better year. An even happier year.

Ended the last night of the old year singing and being merry. Bring on 2013!

Fall time in Korea

When I was younger, I used to be relatively unbiased when it came to having a favorite season. To me, each season brought a new and refreshing take to the world outside and would always seem to come at a time when things were beginning to become stale. Just when I was becoming tired of the heat, the cool autumn breeze would come to greet me every morning. When I was beginning to tire of the cold and slush that hit me like thousands of needles, the spring would begin to appear and the once grey and cold landscape would begin to show signs of green and the promise of another year.

To an extent I still do appreciate the seasons, they all bring some variety and change that we all need. As I have become older though, and especially since coming to Korea, I have come to appreciate the fall season, my fondness for it increasing every day.

For one thing, I appreciate the cooler weather even more than I did back home. Summers in Indiana could be hot, but in Korea it’s not enough to just be hot, oh no, it’s the blazing sun and the stifling humidity combined that made the simple act of walking to and from school a miserable  experience. Before I had the sense to take a taxi or bus to school, a simple fifteen minute walk early in the morning often left me drenched with sweat and barely able to breathe without taking in a full breath of dry air.  Spending time in Korea had taught me to hate the heat and hate the humidity even more.

With the arrival of autumn the heat and humidity have slowly begun to vanish, making the walks to school much more pleasant and the morning chill in the air a welcome and refreshing wake up call. As much as I dreaded walking outside during the summer, I welcomed the opportunity to spend as much time as possible outside during the fall.

Fall also seems to have the largest amount of holidays and free days in Korea. Chuseok, Korea’s own Thanksgiving takes place during the beginning of October. Since I teach in a high school, a vast majority of time is spent preparing for exams and final projects, making the situation very stressful for teachers and students. I really do not mind as much as it offers a break from teaching classes all through the day and week after week.

I’m spending time having closer and more interactive lessons and conversations. It takes longer to prepare for lessons and sometimes provides a more difficult challenge of delivering higher concept lessons, but the results are much more satisfying. A majority of time for these students is spent studying and preparing for exams. The number of lessons that contribute towards that are much lower than the Korean teachers at my school simply due to the language barrier and the impossible task of being able to explain everything perfectly to them in a language they do not fully understand.

However, I discovered that my efforts are not a waste of time, but rather another series of lessons and things for them to learn. I have striven to teach my students to think critically and think for themselves. I’ve taught them there’s more to learning English than doing well on exams. I have taught them that learning a language is not an ends to a means, but rather a gateway to more opportunity. I tell how I have traveled, the wonderful experiences and people I have met and how my life has changed for the better since I began my journey overseas. I try to teach them that happiness is not always achieved in life through success, but personal goals. I try to teach them that it is sometimes appropriate and necessary to fail.

I seem to enjoy everything more in the fall. I enjoy going out a night more. I enjoy spending time with people more and I seem to be in a better mood on a more consistent basis.

It may not have the Halloween costumes, apple cider or drives down a leaf strewn road like back home, but I’m still finding ways to enjoy the season in my own unique way.

Happy Fall everyone. May it last until the winter season. 

The perks of having a school nestled in the mountains: beautiful scenery

This week in being busy and excuses

You hear it all the time. You hear it as an excuse and you hear it tossed around by people who really are not, but rest assured everyone, that when I say this week, no this month is incredibly, it is not an understatement in the least.

Of course, I'm not complaining, my school is keeping my busy but with actual work that will have an actual impact on the students and staff. Despite the language barrier, I have become a almost full-functioning member of my school staff. I make the tests, decide the criteria and am even in charge of giving them a final grade along with my usual responsibilities teaching classes. It's a lot to juggle and I partially blame the fact that I am in a high school where exams, exams and more exams are right around the corner. I also blame the fact that my school is a private school where high test scores take a high priority over everything else.

Again, I don't mind. It's nice to feel like I'm a part of the school and my input is important enough to be considered valid. I hear stories of many teachers being little more than glorified Mp3 players and simply regurgitate information from the book given to them. Here's a tip to some new teachers interested in teaching in Korea, if you're sent to a high school, prepare to work hard.

My other life, my writing life has also recently gotten a shot in the arm with another publication for me to write and submit to. My plan of continuing to build and supplement of writing resume while overseas continues to go over very well and continues to provide my life with a sort of counter balance and time management both during and after school.

Despite all of this, I find myself still managing to have time for personal enjoyment on the weekend. I usually find myself with more options and things to do than I have time to do them. It is possible to have a normal life along with a busy one, its slightly tiring but always worth it.

Back to work for me now, I'm booked for the rest of the week preparing for exams and helping to prep my school's first digital lesson plans (the future!) This might be the shortest and most self indulgent post I have ever done on here, but as of right now... I really don't have anything else to say. Sorry about that! Life can't be terribly exciting all the time I suppose.