Teaching at the LEC

Teaching at the Language Education Center (LEC) at the university has been an interesting experience. I went in a few days prior to actually beginning to get an explanation of what my schedule was going to be like. It was here that I found out I'd only be teaching five lessons. The classes themselves are split into four classes, and the teachers rotate through them with their lessons.

So my first day teaching I walked in to see a fancy podium and a stage in front of the class. I was like, what the heck is this? I guess I just expected it to look something like my classroom.

So I started class by introducing myself, explaining where I am from, and sharing that I am an elementary teacher, and then we got started. I jump right in with some ice breakers only to find that the students came to class COMPLETELY UNPREPARED! No one had any paper. It killed me. They were worse than our elementary students and their stupid mechanical pencils.

So we jump in with the rest of the lesson which focuses on dating and love. (Clearly something I'm an expert at. . .). So there was a video clip that the students were supposed to watch, which of course didn't work. So this entire section of my lesson wasn't going to work, and I had to come up with something to do for the final 45 minutes. . . . since the clip was supposed to be from the show HOUSE, and about speed dating, I decided we were going to speed date in our class. So I had the students draw a picture of their ideal mate, and THAT is who I had speed date. We talked about questions they could ask, and then I made all the girls get up and then take their imaginary man around and speed date the imaginary person the guys drew.

Then today I went in (to a completely new set of students) and was supposed to be teaching a lesson focusing on Obama and elections. We first did a Venn diagram comparing Obama with President Lee of Korea. (Which made me really miss my interwrite pad...). Well, first I had them tell me the things that were the same. They came up with the obvious...they are men, they govern their nation. Then we went to the things that are different. They told me that Obama had big ears, and that he liked piss. I was like WHAT? The poor kid goes piss....you know, world piss. OH, world peace I said. Seriously....I hope I was able to keep a straight face with that comment. Then I had them tell me things about President Lee. They said he was ugly and a liar. I was like whoa, don't hold back!

The next part of the lesson was provided by the university. This is the video we had to watch and discuss:



I watched it before, and was like, what the hell. This is so inappropriate....but I guess this is college, so I just played it. I don't know what their reaction really was....because to be honest, they seem to be able to control their facial expressions much better than I can.

So we continued our lesson, and I had the entire lesson built around this one project they were going to work on at the end of the trip...only to find out that the teacher who taught this class on Tuesday did the exact project that I was going to do. This left me with a problem...1.5 hours to fill. Well crap. Thank goodness for Youtube. We watched some videos on Rock the Vote. Then I had them do a poster to fill the time. Here are some examples of their work:

From Gwang-Ju

From Gwang-Ju

From Gwang-Ju

Here are my assigned topics for this summer:

June 21st: Love and Dating
June 22-27th: Leadership and Obama
June 28 - July 1: Personal Environmental Impact (AKA Pollution)
July 4-July 7: Computer Addiction (really?!?)
July 8: International travel

Just to give you a quick idea of what else is being covered this summer, here are my favorite topics that I am NOT teaching:

~ Conflict Management (Dealing with conflict, and resolution)
~ Student and Teacher Relationships (including appropriate and inappropriate student/teacher relationships)
~ Anger Management (identifying and controlling anger)
~ Addiction (substance abuse...p.s. Binge drinking is apparently a huge problem here)
~ Depression (defining and overcoming depression)

Things I've Noticed

Here are some random things that I've noticed about South Korea and South Koreans

1. I get looked at and watched a lot. It is very apparent that I am "not from around here". Clearly.

2. Some things are way more expensive (hello $14 watermelon and $9 paper towels) and some things are pretty much the same cost as in the US ($2 small ice cream cone). Nothing is cheaper.

3. Their beds are super hard. Like I wake up after sleeping on my side and my whole arm is asleep. Every night.

4. In the large cities, there are no old people. In the small towns, there are no young people.

5. As a foreigner, it is YOUR obligation to get out of the way when walking on the sidewalk. They WILL plow right into you.

6. I am not used to hearing English much anymore, and it almost takes a minute for my brain to say "wait...I actually understand what that person just said!" What will happen after three weeks?

7. It seems like shopping is a big deal. People shop often and not for cheap things. Although we did discover the "walmart" of Korea (E-Mart) and the 1000 Won store (the dollar store!) I've seen more Gucci, Burberry, and Chanel in the past week, than I have for the entire rest of the year.

8. I didn't know it was possible, but I really, really miss the Derb. We had so many choices at each meal. Here you go and get rice, one or two side dishes, kimchi, a bowl of soup, and some sort of protein. AT EVERY MEAL. Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.

9. Koreans don't smile at people they don't know. I can't seem to help it. They stare. I smile. It gets awkward real quick.

10. Grocery shopping is quite the feat. Think about buying things when you can't read a single word on the packaging. Awesome. Luckily we've yet to purchase anything and open it to find anything other than what we thought it was going to be.
(okay...just kidding. We bought rubber gloves today, and bought the cheapest we could find. Mom just opened the package to find ONE glove. Whoops!)

11. Korean's like it hot. Food and weather in particular. I know they have AC...but they don't seem to use it. In our dorm room the AC is turned off at midnight and not turned back on again until like 10am.

12. So when I was packing, I really debated bringing this black dress. It's breezy and can be dressed up or down. It's a little short so I wasn't sure. I shouldn't have worried. I have seen some of the shortest skirts, dresses, and shorts here. Also most of the women wear heels. And not just heels, but heels like these:

KOREAN SHOES

I cannot compete. I will stick with my flip flops and not fit in.

Anyways, I heard there was some bad weather in the Midwest. I hope everyone is doing okay. Next time....my trip to a tea plantation!

The DMZ and JSA

On Tuesday my mom and I went to the DMZ. We went with a tour put on by the local USO office here in Seoul. When we arrived at the base on near the DMZ we were escorted in by some US soldiers for a briefing. We had to sign a waiver that said that we might experience death as a result of enemy action. Wonderful.

From DMZ

After signing the form, we got back on a bus and headed into the DMZ. We were told to stand in two single file lines, and we walked right into the JSA. We got a briefing from one of the soldiers, and then were allowed to take as many photos as we wanted. Here are some:

From DMZ

This is out the window looking at two North Korean soldiers.

From DMZ

This is a South Korean soldier guarding the door to the North Korean side of the DMZ.

From DMZ

Here I am with the soldier guarding the door. I was a little nervous and didn't want to get too close to him!

From DMZ

Here I am with the second South Korean soldier. He was guarding...well I'm not sure. But he was there and intimidating!

We were soon rushed out of the room and then told to go stand next to a building. We were able to look out at the North Korean side. Multiple times we were told to not point at the North Korean side....so of course I asked at question and pointed like an idiot! Anyways, I believe the North Korean's were distracted because they had dignitaries there visiting. Check out the photo!

From DMZ

You can hardly see them because there clothes are all drab and such. Shortly after this they walked back inside and the North Korean guards did this:



The US and South Korean soldiers were kind of freaking out a bit. Our guide told us he had never seen so much action or many guards out from the North Korean side during a tour.

After leaving the JSA we went to see the Bridge of No Return where North and South Korean soldiers went back to their home country after the war. Once they chose a place, they couldn't switch...hence the name.

From DMZ

We also got to see Propaganda village...from far away:

From DMZ

You can see the North Korean flag on the flag pole...which just so happens to be the 3rd largest flag pole in the world. I guess they used to have massive speakers spouting North Korean propaganda like 12 hours a day. No one actually lives in the village (well, maybe a few people) but the tall buildings are just made of concrete blocks and there aren't any floors in them. We were told that there is light on the top floor and you can see it just fade into blackness by the time it reaches the bottom floors.

Our last stop was the train station that the Korean's repaired to try to help bring the two Korea's together. This is one of the only signs in Korea that has both Seoul and the capital of North Korea on it together.

From DMZ

It was very interesting to learn about how many of the South Korean people feel like it is their obligation to help North Koreans. They want to unify Korea. My mom has several books that she is going to recommend that shares some stories about what it was like to live in North Korea and then defect to South Korea.