Summer Camps

As I've mentioned in a previous post regarding the Korean education system, most students here attend summer and winter academic camps during their vacation time. I had two weeks of camp at my school, as well as one week of sleep away camp run by the Andong Office of Education out in the country.

So, here is a little of what I have been up to over the past three weeks. My first camp at school consisted of 3rd-5th graders. The students were there for three hours in the morning, but I split my time between two classes. I taught 3rd and 4th graders with my co-teacher for the first hour and half, and then moved rooms to teach the 5th graders for the next 90 minutes. I taught with the other Korean English Teacher, who is the younger teacher who helped me a lot in the beginning with setting up a bank account, cell phone, etc. She was lovely to work with. We instantly connected, whether it was from our proximity in age or similar personalities and teaching styles. Either way, it was a great environment to teach in. I taught a different topic each day, including olympics, healthy vs. unhealthy foods, appearance, and baking, where we made no-bake chocolate peanut butter cookies. Of course each class' level varied greatly so I had to modify my lessons accordingly. Overall, it was a very relaxed atmosphere, and I tried to make it as fun as possible for them, since it's the summer and all and these kids are sitting in a hot classroom/gym. Oh yeah- my school was under construction during the entire vacation, so half of the classes had to be in the gym, where we had no computer, t.v., etc. So I wound up bringing in my laptop everyday so that my co-teacher wouldn't resort to worksheets. I put a lot of time into preparing those lessons and didn't want the lack of technology to cause them all just going down the drain.

Making cookies!

The second week was QUITE the experience to say the least. After waking up twenty minutes before our bus left, I ran to meet seven other native teachers to drive to the camp site. It was about forty minutes out in to the countryside of Andong. Some fun facts on the site: No mattresses (just a pillow and comforter for us), no hot water, no a/c. Despite that, we were exhausted each night, so sleeping on the hard floor never seemed to be a problem, at least for me.. haha. Quick showers were taken, and many fans were being used. Assimilation- it's an amazing thing.

As far as actual camp went, we each had our own homeroom class where we taught with a Korean co-teacher, though we were barely with that class, because we were all in charge of a specialty class as well (Two Native Teachers to a class.) That's where we spent most of our time teaching. Mine, which I volunteered for, was P.E. So my friend Angel and I taught them famous western sports, did soccer and basketball drills, then finished with playing insane games of dodgeball. These kids are BEASTS when it comes to this game.

Losing team of dodgeball had to give piggy back rides around the b-ball court

A few girls from my homeroom class

There were about 7 of my 6th graders from my school that attended the camp, so it was fun to see them in a different and more relaxed environment. Students were in classes for 8 hours a day, including meals and break times, so they were constantly go go go! They slept in their classrooms, moving if needed, so boys and girls were separate. My co-teacher there was a man, whos English name is Jack Sparrow, after.. yes.. Pirates of the Caribbean. I've vented enough about him over that week, but here's the quick lowdown. He had earphones in his ears listening to something on his phone the ENTIRE time. I knew no one would really believe me, so I snapped a few pictures of my kids, making sure to get him in the background doing what he does best... sitting on the floor, listening to his phone, completely checked out. (There is one picture below.) So yes. I was the lead teacher, and basically had no co-teacher, especially when he decided not to show up for the entire class. Other than that, I had a fun time with the students. There were a few times a week where all of the classes gathered in the auditorium and did interactive events, including mini olympics, a garage sale, and song contest (which I was MC for). I taught my class "Payphone" by Maroon 5. They were awesome! (Video below.)
These situations have taught me to learn to enjoy things for yourself and with your students, despite the fact that you have absent, oblivious, rude, completely unprofessional co-workers. I'm sorry. I don't care what country you're in, you do NOT just sit there and say absolutely nothing for 40 minutes, with your earphones in, and let your co-worker do all of the work. Bt no, he did, and got the same paycheck as me. Breathe. I'm lucky my students were responsive and somewhat high-level. They were great sports!

There's Jack Sparrow

Spotted again..

garage sale

"It's cheaper than everything. Please buying it!" 

Some of the boys in my homeroom class. The one in the middle, Brian- hysterical! The one on the left-so smart!

These are three of the sixth graders from my school

mini olympics

being silly

Angel and Leandi being really supportive

mini olympics- jump roping

mini olympics- onion ring contest

My wonderful homeroom class!

and again

My student from my school. She's the best! Beyond intelligent. Happiest kid I know. Always smiling

Here are three videos from the Song Contest (Payphone (mine), Do Re Mi, The Lion Sleeps Tonight):

Week 3. This past week I had the same hours as the first week at my school. However this time, the first ninety minutes were spent teaching a group of five extremely low-level sixth graders. They were all of my students, so I knew them, however I was worried because these girls had not said one word to me for the past six months in class. They are very below-level, so my co-teacher (once again the young co-teacher that I love) and I decided we should go back to basics and focus on simple phonics. So thanks to a powerpoint I made up and starfall.com, we reviewed sounds and by the end of the week, they were able to put together small 1 syllable, 3 letter words. By day three, they were opening up to me and we were having some laughs. That is what teaching is all about, and I live for it. These girls were so scared of English and so noticebaly nervous in front of me in the beginning. Then just like that.. they broke out of their shell once they, themselves, realized that they were capable of learning English. Those are the moments that I remember why I went into this field in the first place. I love seeing students' success, but most of all..when they see it in themselves and they realize that they truly can do something. Watching them start to believe in themseleves and gain confidence is beyond rewarding. You can't get that with any other career.
The next two hours were spent with the complete polar opposite. About eight super advanced students ranging from third-fifth grade, worked with me and Ms. Oh on their speech contest speeches. Most schools take their advance English students and host speech contests, where the students have to prepare a speech, choosing from 3-4 topics, and are judged by Native teachers like myself. Some of their speeches were dead on. Made total sense. But I also took notice very quickly, the speeches that were translated directly from something like google translate. Some of the sentences made absolutley no sense, to the point where I had to just cross the whole thing out because they couldn't even tell me what it meant in Korean. I also read a lot of speeches that had these huge mature words in them; far too advanced for even high school. I was reading a girl's paper one day and came across a word that I didn't even know, let alone pronounce. So I turned to Ms. Oh, and said, "I don't even know what this means. How is a 3rd grader supposed to know what it means?" We had a big laugh about it. So my job all week was to edit these speeches, so that they actually knew what they were saying, record myself reading them so they could practice with my voice and intonation, and listen to them practice giving their speeches.

By the end of week three, I was exhausted! I had three days of freedom before the second semester started. Here I am on day two, easing back into it. I don't know how these kids do it. They barely get a vacation. Most of the States get 10 weeks total. They get 1. If they're lucky. They're kids. They need to be kids. They need to go swim, play with their friends, stay up late, forget about homework for a while. A break from all the academics, stress, and pressure. But then again, this is Korea. It is one of the most fast-paced, competitive, education-driven countries in the world. These kids are used to this schedule, and somehow they deal with it. I really do admire them for it, but I am also once again.. thankful I was brought up in a country where I had 10 weeks of relaxation.