Native English Teachers

Half of Native English Instructors Quit After a Year

"According to Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, Tuesday, 144 of 273 foreign English teachers who were eligible for a renewal of their contract have signed to stay on another year.

Lee Young-chan, an education Ministry official in charge of native teachers said it was not necessary to renew every contract. ``They are neither regular teachers nor lecturers who can conduct classes independently. They are `assistant teachers,' hence their teaching experience doesn't matter much,'' he said. ``Rather, it's better for students to have more new teachers so that they can meet various kinds of foreigners,'' he added.

Last year, the city education office also saw about half of its foreign teachers renew their one-year contract, however, it had only 11 who had more than three years teaching experience.

``Some foreign teachers did not want to renew due to the devaluing of the won, while others cited worsening relations between South and North Korea,'' said Choi Chun-ok, a supervisor at the education office.

...

`` Of course, some employers don't want teachers to stay. In fact, with some it is an unstated policy not to employ teachers for more than a year, no matter how good the teachers are,'' Thomas said. ``These employers are more concerned with managing their businesses than providing an education. New teachers often have lower expectations and are easier to manage.''

The total government budget for native English speakers has risen to 147 billion won this year from 105 billion won in 2007 and 69 billion won in 2006. This year, the government is expected to spend some 180 billion won to employ about 4,500 - 5,000 foreign teachers at elementary and secondary schools nationwide. A native English speaker who has just started to teach English in Korea can receive a salary equivalent to that paid to a Korean teacher with five years of experience, an official said.

Some education experts are skeptical about the effectiveness of the system.

``Native English speakers have to get through a certain period of training and need experience and know-how,'' said Jeon Byung-man, an English education professor at Chonbuk National University. ``I don't think native English speakers are helpful for our students. If they need native English speakers, they should hire those who have teaching licenses.''"

The information above doesn't particularly surprise me. Many people come here for cheap travel, attractiveness as a foreign culture, and a working vacation. I myself didn't plan on staying for two years, but now the thought has occurred to me and become more attractive. I'm not particularly worried about the North Korean threat and the won will recover eventually.

If you are thinking about coming here to teach, now is the time if you read the later paragraphs. They're offering a lot more incentives to attract teachers. I also do agree with some of the sentiment of the last paragraph. Like any working environment, you'll have good workers and bad. Everyone has a different teaching style and some work and others don't. I don't know how to evaluate myself, but my students like me and I think that they have learned quite a bit so far. I have a lot of room to improve and develop my abilities, but I know I'm not terrible.

There is another English teacher that lives in Danny's building. His name is Steve and he's been here since 1997. We've managed to talk to some of his students and they hate him. Apparently he just gives them passages to read and translate for every class. He has been here for a while, has years of experience, but is still a bad teacher. As to the quote from the education professor, most of us probably have no business teaching here. But a teaching license does not guarantee a quality education. Any one who's been to school can attest to that.

For Grandma Dody

Merry Christmas.

KPop

This is the sort of music that I'm subjected to on a regular basis. Tormented is a better word.

News Roundup

From the oh so terrible Korean Times

Foreigners to Be Fingerprinted From 2010
"The government plans to require all foreign nationals visiting Korea to have their fingerprints registered starting as early as 2010 to fight terrorism and crimes committed by foreigners.

If the measure is implemented, Korea will be the third country to do so, following the United States and Japan.

The Ministry of Justice said Saturday that it will propose to revise the Immigration Law so that all foreign nationals, either for short-term stay or long-term, are obliged to provide their biometric information to the Korean authorities when they come to the country. It will submit the revision bill to the National Assembly in the second half of next year, and the new regulation, if passed, will take effect as early as 2010."

Non-Natives Can Become English Teachers
"Non-native English speakers from India and other countries that use English as an official language will be able to teach at public schools from next year.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Justice said Sunday the government is opening the door for English teaching positions wider to secure more foreign English teachers at primary and secondary schools nationwide.

The government has so far allowed English teacher assistant jobs at public schools only to native-English speakers who had completed more than two years of their college courses; and the nationality of the eligible applicants was limited to seven countries ― the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Ireland.

``There are about 50 countries that have adopted English as an official language. However, we will not open the door to all teachers from the countries,'' Oh Seok-hwan, an official of the education ministry, told The Korea Times. ``Only foreigners whose countries have trade agreements with Korea can apply for the positions. These include India, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines,'' he added."

US Agency Uses 'Sea of Japan' Again
"A U.S. government agency in charge of translating foreign data has again started using the ``Sea of Japan" label, less than a month after it first dropped that reference in favor of the ``East Sea" label when describing waters between the two Asian nations."

Sledgehammer Politics

Here's some thoughts from Michael Breen about the latest political kurfuffle in Korea. He's a wonderful writer (Full disclosure: I've read one of his books).

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2008/12/137_36738.html

"When a group of politicians in the National Assembly last week turned fire extinguishers on another group wielding sledgehammers, the world got an inside look at democratic debate in Korea.

This particular debate, which was more heated than usual, came as the Assembly's foreign affairs committee discussed the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, which remains to be ratified by both countries.

The deal is better for Korea than for the United States, but is controversial here because people sense trickery in a pact that would allow them to buy beef and rice at cheaper prices.

The debate began when the ruling Fire Extinguisher Party (FEP) of President Lee Myung-bak took the wise precaution, after the opposition Sledgehammer Party (SP) threats of barricading the committee room with furniture

When Sledgehammer officials armed themselves with a sledgehammer, which is the symbol of their party, and set about clearing a way into the room, aides to Fire Extinguisher Party representatives sprayed them with powder. Photos of this scene made foreign news pages around the world, prompting the New York Times to politely refer to Korean democracy as ``feisty."

Talking to the press, Sledgehammer officials said their action was necessary because the FEP has more seats, which renders voting futile. Chief policymaker Park Byeong-seug was quoted in this newspaper saying, ``We now realize that we are unable to represent the voices of working- and middle-class citizens properly in the legislature, where all decisions are made based on votes."

The SP appears to have turned against the concept of voting after the so-called ``free elections" earlier this year in which it got sledgehammered. The former ruling party in the previous administration, it now has only 82 seats in the 299-seat parliament.

In Korean political practice, democracy requires a party with a majority to resist voting on issues in the National Assembly until it has negotiated with minority parties to avoid hurting their feelings. This contempt for voting explains why the people are contemptuous of their elected representatives.

Last week's battle seems to have struck a chord with the people. In the days that followed, kindergarten teachers all over Korea explained to puzzled pupils that they should not discuss which television program to watch and other important family matters with their brothers and sisters at home like this.

Middle-school teachers reported a rise in career advice queries by school bullies looking to enter politics. Most citizens, however, remain simply puzzled as to why National Assembly people behave so badly.

The explanation for this situation is that, despite the last two decades of democracy, politicians have not adjusted their view of the meaning behind the electoral process and the job they are elected to do. They are still stuck in the 1980s when the noble calling of democrats was agitation against dictatorship.

They fail to see that they are selected, through fair competition, by their peers _ but not because God considers them special. That means they should uphold the system that selects them, not flout it.

Second, they fail to grasp the concept of being sent to the National Assembly to represent their constituents' interests, which involves proposing, debating, and passing laws. They are not elected because their constituents think they would make a good president and should not posture in front of the media for the next job.

The Sledgehammer Party in particular needs to appreciate that it failed in the last election because its main platform of engagement with North Korea was irrelevant to the interests and needs of most voters.

Just as with liberal-left parties in Europe and elsewhere after the collapse of communism, they have to internally discuss how to remain relevant. That discussion will almost certainly lead to the conclusion that the new focus should be economics and entail a philosophical move to the center.

As for the Fire Extinguishers, they should stop pussyfooting around and accept that they were elected with a majority of votes that they have every right ― and that the people expect them ― to use.

That's democracy."

In Which a Seal's Penis is Ingested

This is reposted from my friend Tane's Blog. I have it linked on the right hand side of this and if you're craving more information about our experience in Korea, give him a read. He is somewhat of a journalist, so the quality is top notch.

"For men in Korea, sexual power is a big deal.
Perhaps I should clarify.
For men, sexual power is a big deal.
No, still not totally accurate. Let's try this...
For the living anywhere on Earth, sexual power is a big deal.

The difference in Korea is that men talk about it openly and have a plethora of secrets to increase said power. Nearly anything you ingest that remotely resembles a phallus is supposed to charge up your loins, including eel, sea slugs and dog. (Yes they eat dog here... and if you eat pig, cow or rabbit I don't want to hear about the horror of eating 'man's best friend').

Last weekend I might have had the ultimate in sexual-power elixir. At a holiday party for some members of my gym, my friend Master Lee brought a special bottle of the traditional Korean liquor, soju. This massive vial of soju held a male seal's genitalia, supposedly infusing the drink with near magical sexual energy. This picture was taken after we'd finished about half the canister.

And getting this wasn't cheap. Apparently this one seal-unit infused tube of soju cost about $2500, which we figured made each shot about $75. This was a rare luxury I was really lucky to be able to try; most of the Koreans at the party admitted they'd never had the opportunity to try such a drink before.

It was about the best tasting soju I've had; it was incredibly smooth and easy to drink. But I didn't suddenly feel like a bunny in spring time, nor did women flock to me as I walked home.

As for the leftover seal parts, Master Lee is planning to refill the canister with more soju and let it absorb the remaining energies for next year. If you're interested, drop by my gym and mention my name... maybe the folks there will invite you to next year's uniquely Korean holiday party."

Spices UPDATED!

Christmas rolled around and I received a rather nice gift from Emily. My spice collection is now approaching respectability thanks to her and some heavy searching in the city.

I apologize if someone has something currently in transit that is similar or duplicate, but I feel the more the merrier. I will gladly make use of it. :D

Spices Requested
Cumin - Check
Chili Powder - Check
Cayenne Pepper
Paprika - Check
Old Bay Seasoning
Fish Rub
Lemon Pepper - Check
Garlic Salt - Check
Garlic Powder - Check
Cilantro - Check
Mrs. Dash in just about any form
A lime (Though highly unlikely/wrong, I would love you for this. I don't know if it would work or survive, but I would be ever most gracious if it works.)

Christ and Punishment (Get it?)

Merry Christmas to you, as I'm typing this the holiday is just puttering out for you. I had a rather nice holiday. Danny, Rie, and I went to the batting cages and hit some baseballs for a while. Next, we went to the arcade, but left when we saw that Peter was there. (Peter is a Korean who tried to be our friend. He is emotionless and annoying. So, we passively avoid him.) We then went shopping at Home Plus, bought some ingredients and made one helluva vegetarian chili. It was quite delicious. All we were missing was cumin, garbanzo beans, and jalapeno peppers. Tane arrived when we started making it. He told us about the Church service we went to, he let us in on the secret, and then we ate Chili. Forgoing the normal holiday classics, we enjoyed our chili with Scrooged, and Champagne courtesy of Tane's parents. Thanks for the stockings you two! And now for something completely different.

Punishment
Korea is a rather odd country in terms of how students are disciplined. Many practices that are common here would lead to rampant firing and high class lawsuits in America. Corporal punishment was officially banned by legal decree several years ago, but its use is still widespread. I felt uneasy during orientation when I was told that it still occurs. I felt that I could not take the sight of adults hitting children with switches.

Upon arriving at school, I soon realized how prevalent and integral it was to the education system here. Every teacher has a small arsenal of different implements to use when doling out punishment. Some sticks are meant to look intimidating, some are meant to make scary *Thwaking* sounds, and others try to increase the damage area. Not every teacher practices these methods, but I'd only need one hand to count them.

All of the punishments are not carried out with weapons. Many of them involve putting students in stress positions or making them do calisthenics. Students that are late each morning are corralled and forced to stand at the entrance gate of the school and do squats as their peers trickle in to join them. The stress positions involve students sitting on their knees for long periods of time writing the same lines over and over and over for as long as an hour. Other punishments involve relocating your desk to the hallway outside of the teachers office. This cold drafty hallway is spent in near isolation except for the transition time and those using it for access.

At first, all these practices shocked me, seeing them over and over again. Occasionally hearing yells and screams from the hallway was very unnerving. But now, I don't seem to notice or even mind. Seeing a student get his ear tweaked or receive a short noogie seems in order in some cases. What do you do with a student who yells during class, punches to person sitting next to him, or tells the teacher, "Fuck you." Here, you'll get a slap on the wrist or you'll spend a lot of time in the hall to think about what you've done.

The main idea in all of these cases is applying negative reinforcement. It's simple psychology. You reward good behavior with praise and bad behavior with punishment. Both need to be an appropriate level of stimulus as you wouldn't buy a student a new car getting an A or burn down the house of a student who burped in front of you. So what is appropriate here? I started thinking about this today because of this news article that I read. It also brought to light two older articles.

http://koreabeat.com/?p=3286
"Sixth-grade Seoul English teacher Kim Yeong-hwa has written a book about the trials Korean teachers are now facing because of the impossibility of imposing corporal punishment. Apparently she doesn’t read the newspaper; corporal punishment keeps getting banned because teachers keep using it in ever-more creative ways."

The other articles that are referenced are stories on punishment. One of them is about a day-care center that punished children by stripping them naked and locking them out on the fire escape for 10-15 minutes. This is abhorrent and may seem barbaric of Koreans, but it's not anything different than from what can be found in the US. In fact, I'd wager that the US has far more cases such as this that are even more extreme.

For example, a current practice in place in US prisons and schools is the isolation room. These have been around for a while and don't seem to be going away. Isolation is an interrogation method used that's designed to break down the mind. It's designed to disassociate you from the outside world and break down your thought patterns. They are especially cruel to those with mental handicaps as even shown in Iowa. Many of these "tombs" have been green lighted as okay, but child psychologists have given strict recommendations and requirements that make the use of these okay, such as constant supervision, wall padding, and discretion that the punishment is used appropriately. Many times these guidelines are not followed.

How are guidelines like these made and how should they be enforced? Voluntary enforcement only works if people have a good sense of of morality or are trapped in the panopticon. As reported here, educators are still grappling with this issue even though it has finalized as law over a decade ago.

"In the future, principals at schools involved in corporal punishment-related incidents must make immediate reports to the appropriate board of education.The Seoul Office of Education announced on the 5th that it plans to implement a system to punish teachers, principals, and other educators who have been concealing such cases rather than quickly reporting them as required.

The Office also plans to conduct inspections through the end of the year on the regulations at individual schools regarding corporal punishment and hairstyles.

The inspections are intended to discover and ameliorate cases of violations of students’ rights. The inspection committee will be made up of educators experienced in guidance counseling as well as human rights experts.

Corporal punishment regulations will be inspected to see whether the rules are being observed, what the reaction would be of school committee members to creating or revising the rules, whether there have been cases of corporal punishment, and how such cases ought to be handled. Hair regulations will be investigated to see whether they are used in the most limited degree necessary for educational purposes, whether students’ opinions have been taken into account, whether the regulations are appropriate and can be applied at the actual time, and whether there are forcible haircuts."

I wouldn't hold my breath over this issue. It doesn't seem like it will be resolved anytime soon. I do wonder though how this is affecting people though. I've read that Child psychologists demarcate the line between punishment and abuse with the use of an object. If a parent strikes a child with an object, it's considered abuse. If they're spanked with the hand or scolded in some manner short of punching, then it's not. I wonder what sort of long term affects all of this punishment has on the students if any. When I see them get punished, they bounce back really quickly and just take the punishment as any old thing. I wouldn't guess that they're developing a psychological victim complex that will affect their upbringing into adult hood, but I don't know. I've prattled on for too long now, tell me what you think.

Sickness

Yesterday, I got home at around 1 am and after getting ready for bed, I vomited for the next 8 hours. That storm has seemingly passed, but I still have a 101 degree fever. I've been laying around all day and have been sleeping an hour or two at a time throughout the day. I clawed my way out of the apartment and managed to get some Gatorade, crackers, and some knock-off Sprite.

Last night, I ate almost continuously from 6:30pm until 12:00. We went to a Christmas dinner sponsored by our recruiting agency. That was a several course meal that lasted for sometime. Then, we went over to Soemyeon, because our friend, Rie, from Japan is in town. She had prepared a lot of different Japanese food that I ate as well. We sampled 4 different types of Japanese liquors and then went home at 12:30. I started to feel sick in the cab, but thought it was just due to heat. This was not the case however. I hope that I recover.

Christmas Lessons

For the next week, I'm going to be teaching the children about Christmas in America. I've been going over simple customs that are done in America. I also present different things that my family does. With the help of my mom, I've dug out a lot of different Christmas pictures from the distant past to show the students. I'll post them later.

I've also been explaining the difference between Santa Claus and Sinterklaas. For those who need a little refresher, the esteemed David Sedaris has kindly provided a lecture on the subject, entitled, "Six to Eight Black Men."

Here's what I did on Saturday

First I climbed a Mountain. As seen here from the road near my apartment.


I went with these people. Danny and the family of one of his teachers. Husband, wife, and two middle school girls.


Not quite the top, but its close.


That's the other half of the island.

This is where I used to live. Of all those similar looking apartment buildings, I lived in the top left one.


This is my general neighborhood. I live in the building directly behind that large red roof in the center.


Here's a fussy little critter I managed to snap a photo of.


Here's a very sweaty me at the top. Notice the chest sweat.


Here's the opposite side of where I live on the island. It's the over half of Youngdo-gu and just across those bridges is Nampo-dong where we spend a lot of our time. This is only a small section of the city. Much more of it is to the left, right, and behind those mountains.


This is an abandonded school that we walked past.


Then we went to a restaurant along the coast of Taejeongadae.


This is what was on the menu. Those are all filled with critters. Click to see a larger picture.


The appetizer.


Our little grill to cook food. But what kind of food?


Ah, splendiferous shellfish garnished with vegetables and spices allready.


How did we cook that? Watch this video.


It ended up like this. We grilled shrimp, used the shells as little plates, and dumped all the hodge-podge into the tray to stew together.


We'd cut the little muslces and stire them around.


Later, we received a large plate of different types of raw seafood. A video below will show you what's so special about it.


Up close and still slimy.


Watch and relish what you're missing.




One last video of what our food was.


Here's a door behind Danny's apartment. It's just a free standing door with no wall. I just don't understand.


Later, I went to the market. I think you can guess what's going to happen here.


I found a shirt for Nick Rempe.

Horse Fighting

http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=7w0Q-JS9RME

From the description:
"June 1999
A fighting ring, a mare on heat and two stallions fighting to the death. It's the new and popular South Korean sport of horse fighting.

On an island where horses are usually traded for meat and medicine few are sentimental about watching the proud animals fight. Promoter Kim Byong denies the sport is cruel "Horsefighting simply brings out that basic instinct in an animal," he says. In the midst of the cheering crowd the stallions rear and kick to win the mare. They are awarded marks for the number of bites and kicks they land on their opponent. Weaker horses are occasionally killed. The organisers are hoping the sport will catch on with tourists. And if the spectacle of the fighting fails to draw them there's always the celebratory horsemeat barbecue to follow."

I've heard nothing about this since coming here and doesn't seem like it's a mainstream activity. I would assume it has it's place in bear baiting, cock fighting, or dog fighting like in the Middle East and America. It doesn't seem to have caught on very well.

Slides

Shamelessly stealing this from Brian at http://briandeutsch.blogspot.com/ I don't know him, but I found this interesting and would like to give him credit for it.

"Korea Beat has been covering slides lately. They're actually emergency exits used at preschools, although I admit that when I first saw them fixed to the sides of 유치원s I thought they were for fun. Anyway, playing around Naver I found a few awesome ones, too.








"

Thanks

I just realized, that every morning the principal walks through the teachers office thanking everyone for coming that day. He always says, "Good morning" to me, but he said something different to the teachers. While reading through my book, I came across the phrase 고맙습니다 or komapsumnida, the polite way to say "Thank You." So he individually thanks all the teachers each morning. Interesting.

Spare Time

I've got quite a bit of spare time at the moment. The end of term exams are next week and my co-teachers have requested that I don't come to my classes. They want my time to teach the students more of the textbook before testing time next week. This means that my work time this week is virtually zero. I do still have my 9th grade classes, but that's little more than babysitting. They took their final exams a month ago and are just hanging out until then. They do have a school wide dance competition that they're preparing for, so sometimes I watch them work on choreography. The rest of the time is spent teaching them card games or CPR. I've also been showing them movies with English subtitles. They don't really like that and the class degenerates in chaos occasionally, but there's not too many alternatives because they will do everything in their power not to learn.

I've heard that the President recently became an outspoken critic of showing movies because they lack lots of education merit. I agree whole heatedly. I've shown the Disney film Pocahontas to one of my classes and for the most part it's a terrible film. It's disservice to call it a historical film or even one that has it's roots in history. It's a romanticized version that's full of distortions and out right lies. Quick history lesson: The people that came over to Jamestown were largely idealists and layabouts who did everything in their power not to work. They spent most of their time bowling in the palisade square. Thus, many people starved to death. Later, they would go on Indian raiding parties and despite starving to death, they would burn the Indians crops and food supplies and run off, not taking any of it. John Smith, a hard ass, comes around and starts putting people in the stocks and whipping people raw to enforce discipline in order. He's "saved" by a prepubescent Pocahontas who later marries some rich doof and she moves to England to become a spokeswoman for big tobacco; shilling lung cancer to anyone who will listen.

So, why show it? It's full of catchy songs, has cute animals that run around, a talking tree, adventure, and will give the kids the most trivial understanding of American society which is more than they'd get if I tried to force them to watch a more accurate historical documentary. Tane says showing them Finding Nemo was successful. Perhaps I'll do that tomorrow.

Also, if you're feeling generous, I am in the need of different spices. I've started cooking a lot more and feel primarily limited by the amount of dried herbs I have to sprinkle. I made roasted tomato soup last night with as many fresh ingredients as I had. I was able to buy 4lbs of tomatoes for around $2.50 and whipped everything together. I'd like to branch out and make more dishes if possible, and here's where you come in. I'm not sure about legality of shipping dried goods (whether or not they'd get through customs), but I did receive some Gouda cheese from my grandmother and I know that's surely banned. Spices are cheap and so is postage. The way I would go about doing it is putting the container in a manila envelope and just fold it up. With the cost of the spice, shipping this can't be more than $5. If you send me something, I'll send you something in kind.

Spices Requested
Cumin
Chili Powder
Cayenne Pepper
Paprika
Old Bay Seasoning
Fish Rub
Lemon Pepper
Garlic Salt
Garlic Powder
Cilantro
Mrs. Dash in just about any form
A lime (Though highly unlikely/wrong, I would love you for this. I don't know if it would work or survive, but I would be ever most gracious if it works.)

If you want, I can even send you Asian spices that you are unable to conveniently locate. Just include your request in my package. I can also send you something that's a surprise that you may not know that you like. Trust me, I won't send you anything bad or disgusting. I will, in fact, send you something most palatable and delicious.

LA Times - Eat Your Heart Out

Apparently, one of the girls in my classes got a hundred on her English midterm exam. She's also very poor, but her story was featured in the newspaper. They owe her success to an unidentified English mentor and then me. All the teachers clapped for me but I didn't know what was going on. I don't think the article identified any names of these "mentors" like myself, but I heard my name mentioned several times, all the teachers looked at me, and then they clapped. Shortly after the Vice Principal came by to congratulate me, but I knocked her off course by giving her a home made muffin.

The Greatest Invention

A story, as told by Tane.

[4:05:41] Tane Soeldner-Danger says: I had a tarded third grade class today.
[4:05:45] Perhaps the most tarded ever
[4:06:00] And that doesn't bother me, as much as their contentment in being tarded.
[4:06:08] Tane Soeldner-Danger says: I asked "What's the greatest invention of all time."
[4:06:12] Brandon Boat says: haha
[4:06:15] Tane Soeldner-Danger says: Two minutes of silence.
[4:06:28] Finally one student says flatly, "Elephant."
[4:06:35] No on laughs. Because it wasn't a joke.

We'll All Burn to Death

I'd like to repost an entry by a man named Culturebook. He has another blog at http://culturebook.livejournal.com/ The mistakes are his own and I have no idea who he is. I just stumbled upon it and thought you might enjoy it.

"So I spent 12 years as a grade school student in America and just about 12 years as a teacher in Korea. And yesterday was the first time I witnessed an actual "fire drill" in a Korean public school.

My co-worker asked me, "do you have this kind of thing in America?" and I'm like "Fire drills? Of course we do." He's all "Really!" He's really surprised, like he couldn't believe that we actually do that. He's kind of a knob, he's an Engish teacher of 20 years studying for his PHd, yet his English is terrible. I taught him 2 words that day 'Fire Drill' and 'Evacuate'.

So I answer him, yeah schools in America have fire drills several times a year but they're done a little differently. He wants to know how, so I tell him. First, it's always a a surprise, that is, you'll be sitting in math class and then boom fire alarm goes off. The teacher quickly establishes order and makes the children walk single file.
"Single what?"
Single file?"
"What's that?"
"One at a time, in a row."
"Oh." (this guys gonna have a PHd in English literature in a few months)
I continue -- The kids walk in a single file line, the teacher at the rear, to the nearest exit and into the yard everyone goes, still in line, so the teacher can do a head count to make sure no one was left behind. The goal/lesson of a "fire drill" is that in case of a real fire, children should exit orderly, not panic and run.

Well in Korea, things are a little different. I had a break period and I saw my middle school kids milling about the hallway so I asked, "Hey, why aren't you in class?" They say, "Fire." I'm all "Fire?" And they're like "No, No No" and they explain in Korean what would probably translate into Fire drill, yet they're just hanging out in the hallway. Like, they know what's coming. Finally the alarm goes off and everybody just kind of ends up in the yard. Normally, everybody wears slippers but I saw that everybody was wearing shoes, as if, they had time to go and change. I was still wearing my slippers.

Outside there was a fire truck. Then all of a sudden smoke begins billowing out of the school. I'm thinking,
this isn't a drill, this is a real fire and then upon closer inspection I realize it's this chemical smoke coming out
of some smoke machine. I guess, the effect was, "If this were a real fire, this is how it might look.' Then two
teachers, not firemen, but the PE and the Science teacher, pickup up firehoses and began blasting water against
the side of the building. There was a woman teacher still inside and she quickly scrambled to shut the windows, to prevent them from drenching the inside of the building.

Many pictures were taken by one of the lackeys in Administration. Like this is going to be a documented event.

But wait, it gets better...

So the kids are all sitting or standing on the grass field and Fire marshall Bill begins his lecture on fire safety. Of course, no one is listening. And he's got this fire extinguisher, several of them actually, and this big metalwastecan full of wood that he pours kerosene into and lights up. Then he lets various students take the fire extingusher and put out the fire. Relight, extinguish...relight, extinguish. High and Middle school boys and girls armed with a fire extinguisher and putting out the fire. As if.

As if, quick orderly evacuation is meaningless. As if, in case of fire, some middle school girl or boy is expected
to grab the extinguisher and put out the fire. As if teacher are actually going to be manning the firehoses.
It's all very comical until you realize that in case of a real fire, I know my students are going to scream and push and bumrush that exit and little Suji who looked so cute firing the extinguisher is probably gonna get trampled and I seriously wonder if anybody in Korean public schools ever learns anything of practical value.

The entire "drill" was nothing more than some drama with lots of flair and zero substantive knowledge. Kind
of like my co-teacher having a PHd. in English literature."

Adventure

On Tuesday, I was asked if I wanted to go to a cooking class with some of the students. Occasionally when I arrive at school in the morning, I will find a baked good or some other manner food on my desk. I would now be accompanying them on their trip. It should be noted that my school has no cooking facilities. All the food preparation is done by an outside contractor. Also, this was the special education class.

I met them in a van outside the school and they were very excited to see me. I knew some of them already. They have a habit of talking to me at my desk, pointing at different objects and asking me to identify the English. It wouldn't be a bother if I didn't have to do it over and over again ever single day. But they're fun for the most part. So, we rode in the van for 15 minutes while they learned one English phrase, "My name is ____" and proceeded to call each other "My name is" for the remainder of the trip. We arrive at a Social Education center. I'm not sure the main responsibilities of the center, but it seemed to be like a social worker place where needy people are helped. We went upstairs and everyone changed into their aprons. I noticed that they all had tupperware containers with them.

We then went into the kitchen where we received lecture and instruction from a professional chef. I have no clue as to the conditions of the other students. I was surprised that many of them have a minor grasp of English and we could talk with each other rather than me just reciting lists of objects.

We were to make Jajammyun.

It's a Chinese recipe that translates literally to, "Fried sauce with noodles." It's standard garbage food. Lots of different vegetables, some sauce, and rice noodles. It's delicious, but still garbage food.

The lady demonstrated how to make this. She handed out a recipe that I couldn't read, but I watched and followed along with everyone else. She was skilled as she knew how to cut properly and she had a flair for presentation. We were divided up into two groups: boys and girls. The girls only numbered two, so I joined them.

We made our food and then for some reason ate it. This was only 2 hours after lunch and I was feeling quite stuffed. Everyone dove into their their noodly goo and wolfed it down. They then filled their tupperware containers with the leavings. Most of the time was uneventful. We cooked, sang songs, and made a mess. It was a lot of fun.

Also, today it snowed twice for about five minutes each time. Apparently, it's a big deal because it usually snows once every 6 years. Most of the snow melted before it hit the ground though. Everything stopped when it first happened though. All the teachers got up from their chairs to look out the windows. The students from all over the building started yelling and going nuts. It may be the last snow of the year. I certainly hope not.