The Good Stuff Recently I had to end one of my grade one classes early to tell them I was disappointed in their behavior. The next day I had to hold 4 students back after a grade two class to tell them that their lack of effort was disrespectful. Doing that in terms that…
Apart from celebrating my birthday and starting English Camp, July was entirely uneventful. The beginning of the month at school was all coming up with ways to entertain the students because we were effectively just babysitting them for two weeks after they finished their exams but hadn't started summer vacation yet. My birthday was the…
Continue reading ➞ July Update: English Camp and Birthday Fun
When The Shine Wears Off This is year two for me living and working in Daejeon, Korea. So that means that, for two-thirds of my students this is their second year with me. It means that the novelty of me has worn off for most of my kids. That manifests itself in good and…
So close to one year! At this very moment in time I'm 26 days away from my trip back to the US, and even fewer from my last day at school for the year. This month, and to be fair basically the past 3 months, at school have been pretty much a joke. It's been…
Continue reading ➞ Korea Month 11: School Festival and Even More Snow
I'm sure I'm not alone in this, but for many of my classes I can pinpoint the exact moment that things took a turn for the better. For some of them, it was right of the bat. The little ones, for example, aren't hard to please. They like me because they just like everything. The…
Being the single non-Korean person in an entirely homogenous workplace is quite a unique experience. In some ways I feel like I benefit greatly from it, and in other ways it's quite difficult. So today I'd like to talk about the relationship between the Guest English Teacher/Native English Teacher/Foreign Teacher however you like to call…
For better or for worse, this is something that gets a lot of attention when it comes to teaching with EPIK. Most people hate it, and to be fair I do too on the grounds that it is completely arbitrary and inefficient. Why do I have to be at school when English Camp is finished,…
What to Expect From Your First Semester Teaching English in Korea My kids have officially finished their final exams for the semester and we are now in the this weird two week limbo where they still have to come to school, but won't actually be tested on anything we teach them. Basically we…
Continue reading ➞ What to Expect From Your First Semester Teaching English in Korea
It wasn't until about 5 minutes after class had already started, as I was standing in front of the classroom greeting everyone, that I finally decided what we were going to do that day. It was Friday afternoon, I was completely exhausted, and the idea of going into my afterschool class and trying to force…
Continue reading ➞ The Moment of Truth: After School English Class
Yesterday afternoon during one of my free periods I was sitting in the office working on some lessons for today and going over the grade one speaking test grades. It was a very hot day so we had the windows open to let in any breeze that might be passing through and everyone's little desk…
