Update (May-June)

Finished

Wow I can't believe it's already the end of June. The semester is over and I finished inputting all my grades on thursday. We gave out the elementary final a couple of fridays ago and the intermediate final this past monday. It was a marathon finish to the end for me to catch up on grading old assignments and getting the finals all graded and such. I had three weeks where I didn't get much grading done. For two weeks I was getting over my sickness and I pretty much just slept the whole time. The third week we had a teacher training seminar that lasted until the evenings. Thank the L I got it all done just in time. Whew! While inputting the final grades it's kind of tough to see a student on the borderline for passing or being between a "+" to a "-" grade. We have a methodical grading rubric but we have some small leeway to be subjective. I try to remember if the Ss put some good effort in and ended the 2nd half of the semester with a strong finish.

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Copying

Something I didn't mention before is that we had a problem with "cheeting" during the midterm. We ended up busting one of the biggest rings in the history of the conversation dept. Though the ones we catch aren't the most sophisticated in their methods. It's sad cause we try to set a good example and such but some are still compelled to bend the rules. What's worse is that our courses are required to graduate so then these same Ss have to come through our dept again in the summer or the following semesters. I had one Ss who we gave some grace to but decided to stop coming to class after the midterm.

During the middle half of the second semester one Ss kept on looking to his left and right during a unit test. Despite my repeating warnings he kept on bending his neck. He tested my patience before so I was not pleased to say the least. I only took off half his points though other teachers would have given a zero. So during my sickness when I gave out the next unit test I was rather short tempered and impatient with my Ss. I hope I didn't come off as being unkind. The combination of my raised suspicions, lack of trust, overall bad health and some Ss blatant lack enthusiasm/work ethic all kind of piled on to fuel the flames for me towards that particular class. The majority weren't doing anything wrong, some were doing great actually, so I should have been more patient.

For the elementary final I caught a Ss in my class with a very small cheet sheet. It was sad since this wasn't even a failing Ss and would have done much better if they hadn't used it.


When it comes to homework writing assignments some Ss try to use the internet to copy their essay. I don't understand what they're thinking because all of sudden their writing is great. Can't they see that the teachers can tell their writing is too good? We then google part of their text and sure enough there it is for us to see. Other times Ss copy another Ss homework so then I must penalize both of them with zeros. I hope by the time Ss graduate we will have instilled some integrity in them.

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Summer Session

The summer session begins this monday and we have ten volunteers teaching the five week English conversation summer courses. We have less help than from previous summers but we are grateful for their presence cause we really need their help. I still have to teach, but only one class a day and with much less Ss (hopfully). We have good screening process so all the volunteers are in the L and seem pretty solid. The average age is also older than what I thought they'd be. The youngest is at least a junior in college (I think) all the way up to 30yrs. They all seem rather enthusiastic about being here. I hope they can adjust quickly cause they are not only teaching one to two classes but are doing "English House" where they live in the dorms with Ss. The Ss can only speak English while in this program. It's totally immersive cause they will all be eating, sleeping, bathing, etc. together. These volunteers can get much closer to the Ss in that short time span than us regular semester teachers who live separately from them. I haven't found an "advanced" English prospect yet, the one possible candidate is going to be an exchange Ss next semester, so perhaps I can get a reference from one of the male volunteers. Getting a referenced Ss is a great way to get some "advanced" teaching done. If you have 6 weeks free in the summer or know someone who is this would be a cool thing to do. They also offer this "house" program in German and Korean.

My main overseer is leaving for the states early next month. He will be there for about a year. I hope there will be opportunities for the mixing of the two teams I represent.

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Dancing

I will have to say they really like singing and dancing here. With all the circles (clubs) they're in and the homework they get these might be some of the busiest students I've seen. Every May they have something called a May Festival. It's pretty much a grand production that mostly freshman present with skits, singing and lot's of Janet Jackson type group dancing. We teachers also had to do a skit. I ended up having to wear a blue silk shirt while dancing to "I Will Survive." Pictures of that may never be released.

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SK-BS

I ended my SK study a few weeks ago. (These are exchange Ss) Perhaps the day and time we held it was not the best since at that same time some Ss were regularly invited by other professors to have dinner or there were other end of year productions going on. However, some of the yarper requests that they shared were answered and this study did lay a foundation of material for me to teach if I do get some 1 on 1 teaching opportunities. So I am thankful for the opportunity to lead it.

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Language and Catching Up

I am happy to say I have ordered food for the first time in Korean. Though my words were scripted I can trust that I may some day go solo in my ordering take out food. I hope I can study much more in the summer. I also noticed that I am the only ethnic Korean person born in the states. Every ethnic Korean person here who can speak English fluently was born in SK and can at least speak Korean decently enough communicate if not fluently. There was a good bro here that just left who was born in Canada but he was studying Mandarin and Korean rather diligently and could get by on his own in both languages. For our summer volunteers who aren't caucasian they can speak mandarin or korean. I very well may be the only ethnic asian person here(including the Oozbeks who speak Russian fluently) who can't have a decent conversation in an asian language!

There has been a lot I have not done during the semester. I was only able to meet the Oozbeks once for each person last semester. I hope to have some catch up time this summer. Thankfully most of them will be here.

I have not had a haircut for what is getting close to 6 months. Though I haven't felt compelled since most Ss have an Asian fro anyways and some of my Ss actually like my hair long. Those not from Asia feel differently though.

I hope I will have much better sabbath rest. I have some books I've been wanting to read as well as ver5ses I brought to memorize.

I have tickets to go to a gym but I have barely been exercising. I will need to pick up running again sometime.

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Regret

I do have one regret from last semester. I wish I had spent more time with Ss outside of class. We do have office hours but they rarely come if ever. One teacher who left just recently said he offered up pronunciation practice during his first semester at the cafeteria during a set time once a week. That was a great idea since the cafeteria is less intimidating than an office full of teachers and the Ss can just casually walk by to chat. (Ss study at the cafeteria often). Hopefully I'll have much better relationships the upcoming summer and fall semesters.

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Yarp

One thing you can yarp for (In addition to the card you have) is patience and forgiveness of heart. The "honeymoon" stage of all the new teammates I've met is over and sometimes some peeps can can on one's nerves. Yarp that I will have patience with co-workers sometimes less than encouraging words (myself included) whether the cause is cultural, misunderstanding of words or just flat out rude.

This would apply also to Ss who may get on my nerves due to language or cultural misunderstanding.
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Thanks for reading, despite the workload I am very thankful for being here and I wish I could stay longer. Take care and send me some safe emails to let me know what' s been up with you.

In Himm

E

Food #1

So I've been promising to show some food pics. I have a bunch which I'll eventually post. But this was one of the first places I ate at once I got here. It is a really tasty 24hr Bibimbab restaurant. At a lot of the good places to eat you have to wash your clothes afterwards, this place is no exception.