5 Types of Classes You'll Have as an EPIK Teacher Every class I teach has a distinct personality which is the puzzling combination of all 30 something personalities in the room. And despite the fact that often those personalities are each perfectly pleasant on their own they can sometimes combine into something truly bizarre.…
Continue reading ➞ 5 Types of Classes You’ll Have as an EPIK Teacher
9 months in Korea. That's dangerously close to both double digits and also unbelievably close to a year that I've been here. The leaves have changed and in the past few days the weather has taken a turn for the "absolutely freezing" so I've been trying to navigate that as best I can. This…
With EPIK placements for the Spring 2018 intake coming up I know that many of your are in the horrible in-between waiting period. With nothing much to do other than think about packing and study Korean, I know that I spent a lot of time just desperately trying to envision what my life was going…
The weight of being a "foreigner" in Korea comes and goes. Some days it's heavier than others. Some days the term 외국인 feels like jab. Like when a co-worker who I'm close to calls me 원어민 쌤 instead of my name. Some days it can start to feel like all I am is my "foreign-ness."…
I made a post a few weeks ago about a lesson that I did that went surprisingly well. It was called The Oscars lesson. The activity is essentially just "write a dialog" but disguised as "we're all going to the Oscars next week and you have to present a script." And it worked shockingly well.…
The Oscars Lesson (One matter of housekeeping before we start. I accidentally just published a post that I was still working on titled "Things my students have said to me part 2." So if you are an email subscriber, you might have received it. I've removed it from the site as it is not yet…
This has felt like the longest month I've had in my time here. Because I haven't had to teach any regular classes this entire month, the days have been very slowly, but happily, and peacefully passing by. It's incredible how the constant stress and tension of the regular semester schedule makes the weeks fly by.…
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,…
February 12th I landed in Incheon airport with my entire life stuffed into two oversized suitcases. Now those suitcases sit pushed into a corner in my utility room holding my no longer wearable winter clothes. The past five months have been both the fastest and the longest of my life. I still remember landing in…
Welcome to another update post. Since my last update we have started (and by the looks of it just about finished) the rainy season in Korea. It started very abruptly, like some flood gates had been opened two Sunday's ago and it rained for about four days straight without letting up. Since then it's been on…
Hours and Miles 