A little bit of this and a little bit of that.

I thought I would blog about all sorts of things.

I'm not entirely sure if I have given you the lowdown of my neighborhood. Oryudong is its name and SW Seoul is its location. It comprises of a very long and wide birthed high street. On one side of the street we have a subway station, many bus stops, restaurant after restaurant, noraebangs, Family Marts, apartment blocks and shops selling stuff ranging from fishing rods to dog accessories. The most significant thing is the countless Motels that are set back from the high street - Motels are where middle aged men take their paid ladies or their love affairs. On the other side we have banks, restaurant after restaurant, Family Marts, apartment blocks, noraebangs, many bus stops and a large parade of old ladies selling a wide range of groceries. The ladies sit on a small stall surrounded by, mostly, vegetables and are fixed there on a daily basis. The joy of the street market is that there's a rotation system that you will only notice with a delayed stay in the area. In the past 6 months I have seen Monkey nuts, squid, mint candies, socks, rotary chickens, chestnuts, FAKE North Face jackets, pots and pans, gold painted piggy banks and a whole host of other unique necessities.

OK, something else. I started teaching my new kindergarten classes last week. So far, so hectic. We had two new teachers come and go within the space of three days, and to date, they haven't been replaced. Needless to say our schedule is choker-block at the moment. So much so that on Thursday I taught from 9:30, to 5:30 without a break. I'm sorry, I did have 10 minutes but in that time I had to photocopy some homework sheets, brush my teeth, drink a cup of water, breath 6 times and run away from the sticker crazy elementary kids. BUT, I'm not here complaining, I'm merely documenting the facts. My new red class have an average age of 3. No jokes, they're 3 years old and yes their parents have sent them to an English school. They can't even read VERY simple Korean words. They go by the names of Jeremy, Cherry and Sarah. Sarah is the single most cutest thing on this planet -FACT. Her laugh, her smile, her babyish mannerisms, the way she says "I'm happy", when asked "How are you?", the way she falls back into her chair when I put a sticker on her nose, the way she falls into fits of laughter as I say "Hello, my name is MR. Pink" as I hold up the pink color pencil. The way she stole a candy from my candy box today, she saw that I saw her and she KNEW that I wouldn't say anything. They way she holds my hand on her way to brush her teeth after lunch time. The way she licked her student book today and then tried to lick my face. Her name is Sarah and she brings the hugest smile to my face when I go into school. I hereby introduce you to Sarah - Everyone say "HELLO, Sarah".

I will now introduce you to one of my new afternoon classes. They go by the names of Bookie, June, Jeffy, Wendy, Emily, Olivia, Yunha, Justin and Sara - they're all 7-8 years old. They are all kids that graduated from our kindergarten. I have never taught them before, but have been around their company for the last 6 months. They are phenomenal. Chris and Jeff teacher have trained these kids in true professionalism. They don't speak a word of Korean in class. Sometimes I find myself just sitting there and listening to them. One conversation went like this the other day.
They were talking to eachother - NOT ME.
Emily: "Teacher, Wendy spoke Korean"
Wendy: "Emily!! NO, I don't. I say any, not anio"
Sarah: "Korean, yes. You say anio, anio you said, you said, I hear, you said."
They did this about three of four times with a slight variation each time. Then others joined in.
June: "Wendy speak Korean one time as well. She many times in Yellow class.
Wendy: "Yes, but you say Korean every day, I see you."
June: "No, I say."
Toby Teacher: "It's OK." (Then I start to attack them all by tickling them.)
All class: "arrrggghhhhh, TEACHER, NO, hehehehehehehehehe, TEACHER!!!!!!"

This class is going to be a joy to teach. I find my main job as a teacher is getting the kids to say stuff in English. "Repeat after me" is one phrase that I say around 300-400 hundred times a week. "Stop speaking Korean" is another over used, but essential phrase. I have no fears that I will need to ever use it with these set of gems. Everyone say "HELLO, gems".


My last documentation today will be very brief. I finally have some very significant evidence as to why Sean's English ability hasn't improved, at all, in the last 6 months. The picture below clearly shows that whilst my attention is on the white board Sean is taking his opportunity to look elsewhere. I'm now lead to believe, following this evidence, that he does this every time I look away. This helps explain the lack of progress made. I'm now taking extra teacher training in 'How to write and draw cack handed whilst not looking at a white board'. It's obvious which one Sean is....... Everyone say "OI, Sean".