Some Teaching Moments

When I switched to my new school, I didn't know what to expect. I had very little information about my school, but I knew it would be fun. It's hard not to have fun teaching in Korea. After being introduced to my school, it was clear that my class would be a lot different than last year. Whereas at my old school, my class was pretty widely recognized to be a "fun" class where students would play (by both teachers and students), this school meant business. I would give grades that are worth 30 percent of my students English grade. Other than the grade, my class is entirely independent from their actual English score. The school made it clear that this class was 100% my own creation. No co-teacher would ever step into my classroom and no one would decide my curriculum except me. 

This was really excellent news for me. One thing that had brought me down at my old school was not feeling like I was accomplishing much with my students. We played games more than we had class and it was a struggle to keep them slightly engaged. But, this did mean I needed to create a curriculum and grading system. 

After 6 months of experimenting, I found quite a few things that worked really well and I know a few things that I really need to improve on. I was lucky enough to have my students complete 2 big projects, one presentation on Korean Culture and one Mini-Drama. Then, they did 1-1 interviews as speaking tests. While these projects were fun, they did take a lot class time. I'm still debating how to incorporate them in the future. They were valuable, but definitely need to be structured better in the future. 

My students also did a weekly journal. For many of the students, they seemed to forget the importance of the journals until the end of the semester. For others, however, journals became a way for them to express themselves that was less scary than speaking. I have a few ideas of how to improve the journal time in the future as well, but there were some successes. Here are some cute entries:

An extra-credit free journal entry

The question was "If you could change one thing about Korea, what would it be?"
The answer is "I want to change prejudice of Koreans to more positively. For example, prejudice about kidney, appearance, and so on."
Yes, that Kidney Prejudice is killer here. 

My third and final unit at school was my most successful. At Fulbright conference in the fall, Mimi Sison talked about a "First Impressions" and prejudice lesson. I decided to bring it to my students. The lesson is very simple, but worked very well with all of my classes. First, you choose pictures of people your students probably will not recognize. I had people like Debra LaFave, Ted Bundy, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Trayvon Martin, Oscar Pistorious, etc.
Then, each student should get up close with each photo. I had 9 tables with 2-3 students at each table. Each table would get one photo and the students would write their first impression of that person. Then, they would switch photos. For each photo, the students would answer 3 simple questions.
1. What are two words that describe this person's personality?
2. Would you like to be friends with this person?
3. Why or why not?
I was constantly busy during this time because the students needed help with vocabulary.
"Teacher, how do you describe someone who is...ah....uhm...like....grease?"
"Greasy? Oily? Slimy? Sleazy?"
"Ohhhh Ok!"

"Teacher, what is a word for someone who...ah...like...if you are walking, they might flash you no clothes?"
"Uhm...I don't know if we have a word for that?"

"Teacher, is 'gangster' a personality word?"

This part of the project was really interesting for me, but just silly for the students. A lot of kids were putting "Good at HipHop" for Trayvon Martin or "Mafia Killer" for Neil DeGrasse Tyson, which was a little disheartening. The best part of this part, however, was how honest the kids were.

Then, it was time for group sharing. I put the pictures on the board and the students would write their first impression. The pictures are a little blurry because of my phone camera, but you can get an idea:

 This is one of my favorites for Debra LaFave: "She looks so materialistic but I want to be her friend because if I want to get a refund, she'll help me!"

Then, at the end, I told them the stories of the people. I had them tell me who they were most shocked about and what they learned from the lesson. Many students said they learned about their prejudices and that first impressions weren't important. Most students were most shocked about Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Jenna Talackova, Ted Bundy, Hillary Clinton, or Trayvon Martin. 

Some quotes: 

"I was most shocked about Neil DeGrasse Tyson because I thought he was an actor or a comedian. I didn't think he could be so smart!"

"My most shocking person was Jenna Talackova. I thought she was just materialistic and pretty. Really, she (he?) had a difficult life and was a fighter and better than I imagined!" (This was an uplifting quote. There were some that were less...open.)

"My most shock was Trayvon Martin. I thought he was good at hip hop but his story was just sad. He was just a boy who wanted iced tea and skittles :("

A surprise shot from a K-Pop Bomb Game! I played games with my students after we finished a big project (so that all the classes could catch up before we started the next unit). We frequently got off schedule.

 For the second project, making a drama, some kids got really into doing costumes. Here is one of the those classes:

And these were 2 sneak shots from a teacher during my first week of school.

 

Some Seoul Moments

Living in Seoul these past 6 months is the only time I have lived in a big city. I mean, I love you Burlington, but I don't know if I can call you a "city" and definitely not a "big city." Coming from a rural area, I've grown used to spending a lot of time outside. When the sun is out, my dad trained me that you should play outside. One of my favorite times of the year is early spring when you can finally start laying outside. Of course, if you are in Vermont, if you want to play outside in early spring, it usually involves several layers of clothing...

But, being in a big city, it is a little more difficult to find a play to just lay outside and read a book. Luckily, in Seoul, there are a few really pretty parks in Seoul. My favorite is the Han river that has a huge bike path and many places to play outside. Actually, the Han River is probably my favorite place in Seoul. Now, it is a little too cold to enjoy them, but here are some pictures from fall. 

This is from the "Seoul Dream Forest." Here, they have a few fields, wide open fields, and a deer park. This, obviously, is the deer park. 

 They also have a place where you can check how high you can jump. My jump was embarrassingly low, but Olivier was reaching for the stars.

 Another cool park is the Seoul Children's Park. A few months ago, my school had a field trip day. I went with one of my favorite classes, 2-3, to visit this park. Unfortunately, it was raining, but they were pretty good sports about it. After, we went to an all you can eat meat buffet and a noreabang.

Because it was raining and a weekday, the park was mostly deserted. This park did not have a lot of wide open green areas. Instead, it is basically a zoo. While going with my students was a blast, the zoo was still a little unsettling. There are a lot of animals in not a very large area.

One student gave me her umbrella because I left my at school. They had to share after. Also, one student is wearing a hat that says "Pervert XXX." She's a super sweet girl...

Group Shot in the Green House

The very rare and exotic Canadian Goose!!

The best part of the park is probably that it is Woman Friendly! I don't really know what this means...I mean...I didn't see any kitchens or shopping malls.... 

In all seriousness, Seoul has taken some measures to make it more "Woman Friendly." These measures include special women parking spaces, different toilets, and softer walking streets so walking in heels is more comfortable. You can read about it here. 

Oh, and some more pictures of Changdeokgung. Changdeokgung is really beautiful. Visit there if you have a chance. But, in case this feels like "deja vu" it's because I have so many pictures of this same castle before. This time, featuring my mom, aunt, and Olivier! Oh and some adorable children.

 

Here's a little boy climbing right behind the sign that says, "Do not go on stairs."

Double doorway shot

Yes, I take creepy photos of Korean Children.

Ok...maybe I have a problem. But he was digging with a spoon! How cute is that!

Aaaand the obligatory Secret Garden Shots:

This cat was wandering around. He looks exactly like our cat at home.

For the First Time in Forever...I can see?

I got my first pair of glasses when I was in third grade. Since then, I've had new prescription after new prescription until I couldn't even see 6 inches in front of me without glasses or contacts. So, when my friends started popping up with testimonials, "Oh yeah, I got LASIK last week. So cheap here and so great," my ears immediately perked up. It became one of my new goals for my time in Korea.

So, with my students exams approaching, I decided to do some in depth research. Exams for my students meant time off for me. I had a 6 day break, and I decided I wanted to spend it in bed letting my eyes recover from having lasers shot at them.

So, after looking around, I settled on "Dream Eye Center" in Seoul.
This is their website: http://www.hellolasik.com/eng_site/

They were not the cheapest option, and they were pretty clear about that from the beginning. But, I decided when it comes to a surgery that involves shooting lasers at your eyes, I didn't really want to go with a clinic that advertised "cheapness" above everything else. So, I scheduled my appointment with Dream Eye to check it out. There are 2 locations and I chose the one in Myeongdong because it is closer to my school. The Myeongdong location has a few English speaking nurses so the scheduling and testing went without problems. For the first appointment, I went through 2 hours of testing to determine what type of surgery I could have. It involved everything from the pretty standard "puff of air to the eye" test all the way to numbing and touching my eye with a stick.

When I left, I had extremely dilated pupils, a price quote, and an appointment for surgery. Since my prescription for glasses were very strong, my pupils are particularly big, and my eyes are fairly dry, my quote was higher than what I've heard of friends paying. The total cost would be 1,400,000 won. That comes out to about $1,200. I decided to go for it. The surgery I would get is "LASEK." There are 2 different surgeries, "LASEK" and "LASIK." Basically, LASEK is more painful, but has fewer long term complications. LASIK is instant recovery, harder to qualify for, and not good if you plan on boxing or scuba diving.

Two days later, I was back at the clinic for surgery. The actual surgery would be done in about 20 seconds, but the prep time took a little longer. I had some more standard tests, my face disinfected, and before I knew it, I was laying down and focusing on the "green light." Before the surgery, they numb your eyes and put gel on them, so everything looks really blurry. So, you're laying on your back, looking at a whole bunch of blurry lights while a voice is saying "1 minute until surgery...30 seconds until surgery..." I felt like I was being abducted by aliens.

Before the surgery, the nurse kindly asked me if I needed her to hold my hand. I had declined, and decided to clutch the teddy bear instead. When the lasers started, however, she held my had anyway. It was really cute, and comforting. The actual surgery was completely painless and the only discomfort was smelling my burning cornea. Before I knew it, it was over, and I was laying in a bed to rest before being released into the outside world. Instantly, I could tell my vision was already better.

The doctors had warned me the next 2 days would be rough, and my vision would take a full month to get to 20/20. So far, they have been totally right. The first 2 days were extremely rough. It felt like I was cutting onions 2 inches from my eyes for hours straight. But, after 2 days, I felt fine. After 4 days, things were pretty much totally normal.

Now, it's been about 3 weeks since my surgery, and my vision is almost 20/20. I still have to take eye drops every day (3 times a day), and I will for 6 months. I've been back to the clinic 3 times for my check up appointments and everything is healing as normal. I look forward to having perfect vision, but after needing glasses for over half my life, it's just nice to wake up and be able to see!

So far, Dream Eye has been fantastic. Not only has their medical attention been great, they have been very sweet. They even gave me a Christmas card. They offer discounts if you are recommended by a friend, so feel free to say "Alessandra Hodulik" recommended the place to you if you find yourself needing surgery!

Thailand...6 months later!

About 6 months ago, I went to Thailand with Olivier to celebrate his cousin's wedding. I was looking through my old photos and I found the pictures from Thailand. These are my photos, but they don't cover too much of the trip. I didn't carry my camera around too much (considering Olivier always had two of his), but there are some pretty beach photos. We were on the small island of Koh Samui. The entire island was gorgeous, and it was really easy to travel through the whole island. We rented a scooter and would drive from our side of the island to the richer area. The wedding party had rented out quite a bit of a really fancy hotel (for about $120 a night for a double room) that had access to a private beach and many private pools. Our area was only 10 minutes away, and also really pretty. We decided to go on the cheap ($20 a night for a double room), but we used a lot of the hotel facilities.

There are also some pictures of his family. I guess since it is the dead of winter and below freezing for most of you, enjoy the beachy photos. For me, I'm using it as motivation to get excited for my trip soon.

The view from the bridal suite. Well, in this case, it was a bridal villa. The bride, groom, maid of honor, and best man shared a 2 room private building.

 The private pool for the bridal villa. :) They were very nice about sharing their pool with other guests. It was great for the little children who liked the water to escape the heat.

 

 The bride and her adorable daughter.

 Fruit is the best dessert, especially in tropical places. However, when we arrived at the fruit market, it was already closed. Luckily, that did not stop Olivier's family. Here they are reopening the fruit market to negotiate prices for dessert and snacks.

 'This guy was at our last hotel in Thailand to wish us a happy goodbye! It was the end of a pretty beautiful trip.

Vacation

Finally, it has has arrived. This week, my vacation started. Originally, I was supposed to have 2 weeks of winter camp starting next Monday. Because of a lack of interest, my winter camp was cancelled! Instead, I have to go to work 2 times next week. Then, I'm free until March. 

My goals for vacation have been to exercise more, update this blog, and plan my trip to Vietnam in less than 20 days. Instead of planning, since my vacation started on Tuesday, I've finished 2 books (Room and Missing You), a video game (Arkham City), and found 2 new hiking paths. Oh, and made blueberry mascarpone pancakes! They were delicious! 

My "artsy" filter of my new camera.

The view from one of the walking paths. It looks...like almost any view from any walking path in Seoul...except the panorama messed up and it's actually 2 different images. 

The blueberry pancakes and blueberry sauce. Yummmmmm.

Christmas Celebrations

 Christmas away from home is never ideal. In Korea, for Christmas, you only get one day off. So, I had to take my one day vacation and make it as fantastic as possible. The morning started with a mega skype session and crepes. Crepes are Hodulik family tradition for Christmas eve. So, when I was skyping my Christmas morning, it was their christmas evey, and it totally qualified. I skyped with almost all the Hoduliks by reaching out to both Vermont and Pennslyvania.

 We made good use of the Selfie Stick to get picture with the whole family...in the computer.

 After Skype, I went on a baking marathon. My lovely siblings had sent me some cookie mix packages and since this was my only day off, I decided to bake them ALL! It was...a lot of baking for the next few hours. Here are my sugar cookies and Olivier made a Buche de Noel. We were going to a potluck Christmas party so we both decided to make dessert.

 

 My Sugar Cookies

 His Bouche de Noel. 

 

The party was pretty cool. We had pizza, falafel, chicken, potatoes, and a few other dishes. There was a balloon artist who kept making really big hats. We even had a "White Elephant" gift exchange at the end. Despite really wanting the plant, I got a lint roller. Well, that's always useful!

The next day, I was back at school and it was time for celebration. Many classes were doing their end of the year parties. A few classes invited me to theirs. Here are my 2-6 students doing a "Miss Korea" pageant. The girls broke up into teams and chose a few boys to turn into Miss Korea. Here are the results. 

  

 They revealed one by one to astounding cheers!

 

All of the boys in a group shot.

 Owning their makeovers!

 While many of the kids were celebrating, there were a few students who were very stressed out. I had chosen 5 groups of kids to do a live presentation for their entire grade. During the semester, we had done a 5 minute presentation and a 5-10 minute drama. The students wrote and performed their own material. The presentation was about Korean culture and the drama was supposed to be loosely based on Halloween. When the vice principal told me we had to do an hour long presentation, I chose the 5 best groups. It ended up being 3 presentations and two dramas.

Since I would be on stage and controlling the powerpoints, I could not take photos. I gave my camera to one of my students. I got it back with many selfies from before the presentation.

 

Here are the photos from the performances, I gave each group a small introduction, so there's me.  

The first presentation was "Korean Ghosts." My two students, Jae Young and Seung Hyeon, made a Prezi. First, they introduced ghosts and monsters from many countries. Then, they talked about some traditional and modern Korean Ghosts.

 

 The next group was "Popular Korean Names Over the Years." KyeongRae and HyeonYeong looked at different names over the decades and why they were popular at that time. 

 The third presentation was "Korean Folktales." They looked at 2 main folktales. One was KongGi PatGi, which is similar to Cinderella. The other one was Simcheong. They were trying to show themes that are universal in all cultures and some that made Korea special.

 Then, it was onto the dramas. The first drama was originally called, "The Night of Halloween," but in honor of the holiday, it became "The Night of Christmas." The story was really funny. One girl can stop time and she uses her magic power to beat up her friend and frame her other friend for the injury. Then, she steals her friends boyfriend.

The girl with the magic powers, "BangSuk"

The girls buy their costumes for the "Christmas Party." Yeah, this was better in the Halloween party version.

 

The rich and handsome boyfriend...with broad shoulders. He entered the stage throwing around 50,000 won notes. 

 

The stupid police officers collecting evidence. 

Here's Bangsuk waving her magic wand to stop time. She switches the evidence to frame Jieun and totally confuses the "stupid police officers."

Minji demanding the police arrest the criminal!

Taehwan discovering the beautiful Bangsuk and leaving Minji!

The last scene is Minji asking, "Am I alone on Christmas?" Since Christmas is a romantic holiday, this is a horrible fate for poor Minji! 

The last drama kept their Halloween theme, although they added a lot more jokes. The drama was called "Return Human Project." Basically, a mad scientist created a candy that can turn a ghost into a human. Also, he lives next door to Dracula, Frankenstein, and Chucky. He offers them the chance to turn into a human. 

The opening scene to the play.

The mad scientist, Myeonghun, created the candy.

Chucky playing with a toy...while creepily singing BINGO.

 

Dracula says "Give it to me!!" which makes everyone on do the dance to the hit song!

 And here are the students enjoying the program! 

 

Here's everyone after the performances~! 

 And some posed shots!