Strange Occurrences This Week!!

This week has been interesting. Monday to Wednesday there were no grade 5 or 6 students and teachers because they were away on a field trip. Jiny decided to take the day off on Tuesday, so I basically had the entire fifth floor and office to myself. I was very tempted to leave early, but I didn't want to risk getting caught. This week I'm with the grade 4's and the grade 3's. I'm having a very hard time working with the grade 4 English teacher because her English is really bad and she speaks to me like I'm a child. I think she forgets I know how to speak English and I'm the one there to teach it. I really dread to school on the days I have the grade 4's. The students aren't that bad, but the teacher is a real struggle. The one good thing about her is she knows how to discipline the students, so they don't act out in class again. In every class this week she has made the students who don't listen hold their arms over their heads until she tells them to stop. Some students had their arms over their heads for a good 15 minutes. In one class today she busted a student using her cell phone and made her come to the front of the class, give it to her and then go back to her seat and put her arms over her head. It makes the students really sad, but it's good discipline to make them stop talking, etc. Strange Occurrences: Tuesday on the train on my way to taekwondo this older Korean man was walking down through every train compartment saying, "Jesus Christ is with you!" He was basically trying to sell us on his religion. Then when Jiny and I were on our way back to school from the bank yesterday Koreans were standing on the street corner handing out religious pamphlets, again trying to get us to convert. The last strange religious occurrence was with an older lady on the bus. She was reading the Bible andhad pages of the Bible highlighted. That's pretty intense if you ask me, but no one is. Ok, so back to teaching talk. I love love love the grade 3's and this week they started the unit, "Happy Birthday!" Since I get complete control of teaching when I'm with the grade 3's you can imagine how much fun this unit is to teach. I made a great powerpoint presentation of how we celebrate birthday's in Canada and I played the most adorable youtube video of the 'Happy Birthday' song. The grade 3's thought it was so cute and laughed through the entire video. Mrs. Kim and I got to wear birthday hats and exchnage pretend gifts, it really was quite fun. Random students kept saying, "Teacher Julia, Birthday?" I'm like, "No. No. I wish, but my birthday is in winter." The thing about the grade 3's is that are actually interested in learning English, they have fun learning and their units are usually pretty fun to teach. Some of them speak better English than the grade 5's and 6's and the teachers. The grade 5's and 6's just don't try to learn English and just memorize the dialog from the textbook. The less work the better I guess. As for the grade 4's, they have the most boring units imaginable and it pains me to teach them because I'm bored out of my tree and they are bored out of their trees. Plus, the teacher is so monotone and boring to listen to and watch that I can understand why they are bored. They are on the unit, "How Old Are You?" and nothing in the textbook relates to the topic. The key phrases are, "Can you help me, please?" and "Sure, I can." Doesn't that just sound so enthralling? It's hard for me to even talk about it outside of class without wanting to fall asleep. Tuesday while I waited for taekwondo to start I went shoe shopping in the Bupyeong underground. I ended up buying two pairs of shoes from this one store and the guy that sold them to me gave me a discount. He was so great. I think I might end up going home with more shoes than I know what to do with because I bought a pair of sandals 15 minutes later. Oops! I also took my camera back to be fixed, so fingers crossed I get it next week, so I can start taking and continue taking more great Korea pictures. Wednesday night was bowling night as per usual. I came home from school and took a two hour nap and then I headed over to Tracy's to have some pre-drinks. We had an hour and a half before we had to meet everyone for bowling, so we watched popular Korean music videos by Jewelry, Wonder Girls and Big Bang. Then we headed for dinner of which I didn't eat because it was too late, so I ate beforehand and then we headed to bowling, which I did great at the first frame, but sucked in the second frame. I woke up this morning sick to my stomach because I had such a restless sleep, no I was not drunk/hungover. I was so tempted to call in sick and use one of my 15 sick days, but I couldn't do it. I went to school sick and Jiny told me I could go to the nurses' room after my classes were done or I could go home early if I was really in pain. After the little bit of lunch I ate I decided to stick the rest of the day out. I watched Mary Poppins and an episode of House while I waited for the day to end. I decided to skip out on taekwondo tonight because I didn't want to chance getting sicker, so I went to Lotte Mart after school and bought some necessary groceries then came home and blogged :) I couldn't end this blog without adding a link for the lastest Korean song and dance craze. This song is called One More Time by Jewelry. The dance move called, "E.T." is huge here it even has us waguks (foreigners) dancing along. I actually can't get enough of the song, but unless you live in Korea, it doesn't quite have the same effect. I hope you enjoy it: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=KenqrbWuGIQ