What Korean Middle School Students Are Worried About

What Korean Middle School Students Are Worried About (Or: What my kids wanted to tell me when they had 2 minutes of my undivided attention.)   I'm just about finished with all of the speaking tests for this semester and as always it's been the most fun I've had with my students so far this…

Tips for Surviving Your First Day as an EPIK Teacher

Tips for Surviving Your First Day as an EPIK Teacher   If walking up to my school on the first day amid a literal sea of students staring and gawking at me wasn't enough to make me nervous, then standing in front of my first class of 30 something 15-year-old boys was. Your first few…

Story Time: Teacher’s Trip to Tongyeong

Story Time: Teacher's Trip to Tongyeong. Alternatively, the first time I was, within the bounds of Korean workplace culture, forced to do some embarrassing in front of my co-workers.   It involved a bus full of teachers, soju, and the US national anthem. But I digress. Let me start from the beginning. So on occasion…

Korean in Real Life: 역시

역시 is a word that I've spent a lot of time trying to work out its exact meaning. Before I moved to Korea I remember asking some of my Korean friends what it means and they had a very difficult time giving a particular definition for it. And now that I live here, and I listen…

Building Relationships At Work

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…

Story Time #1: The Time I Embarrassed Myself In Front of a Student

Story Time #1: The Time I Embarrassed Myself In Front of a Student   In an effort to diversify my posts on here, today I come to you with a story. This is the story of how I embarrassed myself in front of two students at the bus stop. It was last Tuesday, Korean Independence Day,…