An old friend emailed me yesterday asking about a few warm-up activities we used to do together whilst working at Pilgrim's Language Summer School at Bradfield College in Berkshire way back in 2006. This prompted me to finally resolve to get together a selection of warmers, games and other activities I use in my EAL (English as an Additional Language) lessons in one place, in order to share with other teachers, encourage other ideas/approaches, and to avoid constantly forgetting them myself! Let me say from the off that I'm totally against the idea of filling lessons with games just to distract students and kill time. I know teachers who favour that, out of laziness, but I obviously don't concur. There is undoubtedly, however, a place for warmers at the beginning of lessons to focus or relax students, games to reinforce learning points in a creative way, and non-traditional classroom activities to appeal to different learning styles as well as adding variety to lessons and stimulate interest.
Most of what I'm going to write, you'll probably have heard of before in some form or another. I just want to have it all in one place and encourage others to offer their ideas and suggestions. Here's an outline of just some of the activities I have used (to varying degrees of success) over the years, and in no particular order:
Tongue-twisters
This can be a fun activity that usually leads to a fair bit of laughter and confusion whilst encouraging students to practice sounds that might not be common in their native language (the 'r/l' problem in Korea, for example). You need to be careful not to shatter their confidence and there's no better way to do so than attempting (and probably mucking up) a tricky one yourself so tat they see how difficult it is even for a native speaker. There are plenty of examples to be found online but, as I already mentioned the 'r/l' sound, here's one I use from time to time:
A flea and a fly flew up in a flue.
Said the flea, "Let us fly!"
Said the fly, "Let us flee!"
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.
Trivia Quizzes
Another obvious choice, but an activity I use from time to time to review material covered in a group activity which encourages a bit of healthy competition too. The problem can be that it doesn't encourage as much speaking (from students) as I would like, and they can easily slip into conferring amongst themselves in their own language. A way around that is to run a few rounds as quiz-master to give them a feel for the format of the activity before turning over the responsibility of creating and asking questions to the students themselves. Instruct each team to choose a topic (sport, movies, music, etc.) and create 3-5 questions that they will later ask the other teams. Advise them that the questions shouldn't be too obscure and that THEY MUST KNOW THE ANSWER. There are potential pitfalls in this, but I've always had it work out (so far). You just need to supervise the activity closely. At the end of the day, if you make it clear that it's just for fun, they tend to not get too competitive. I have recently started doing quick-fire buzzer rounds for spot-prizes/points. I give each team some kind of buzzer (a bicycle bell, squeaky toy, etc.) and it always turns out to be pretty amusing.
Crossword Puzzles
Word-searches seem to be pretty popular amongst teachers of EAL, but I'm not sure how helpful they can claim to be for anyone other than the very lowest-ability students. They smack of 'time-fillers' as far as I can see. Mind you, sometimes there really is a need for some of that. Crosswords, on the other hand, can act as a means by which to review past vocabulary or (if a selection of possible answers are provided) introduce new words. You can create your own crosswords online (for example here) and easily white out any unwanted ads in the printed version before photocopying for students. I always do this as a pair activity to encourage conversation and the sharing of ideas.
Running Dictation
This is a VERY fun activity that involves reading, speaking, listening, writing and should be carried out as a team activity. One student from each team should volunteer (or be selected) as the 'runner'. You should have a sentence (I usually use a proverb such as, 'If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.') printed clearly on an A4 piece of paper (best if it is laminated). The aim of the activity is for the runners to go to you (all the runners together) and dash back and forth to their team, reporting the sentence to their team-members, who should write it down. The teacher should only display the sentence for 3-5 seconds at a time, so that the students can't simply read it all at once. To make things more interesting, I tend to move around the classroom so that the students are never sure where to run to. The winning team is the one that can tell me the correct sentence without ANY errors. You need to keep an eye out that the runner doesn't write anything and, of course, that a team-member other than the runner is the one who repeats it back to you. You can then ask the students if they can explain the meaning of the proverb, and tell them if necessary. If you do this activity with only paper then I think you'll figure out why I suggested that you laminate. Many a piece of paper I've had torn out of my hand by overly-competitive students...
What did you do?
This is a VERY common activity among teachers but one that can be used to settle students between activities or at the end of a lesson to award team points, etc. Very simply, one student comes to the front of the classroom and spins around so that the others can have a good look at him/her. The student is then instructed to go outside the door and change ONE thing about his/her appearance. You should offer one or two suggestions (such as rolling up/down a sleeve, removing jewelry, etc.) but encourage the students to be subtle and creative so that it's not too easy. The other students guess what has been changed when the volunteer returns. You can do this by putting up hands or simply calling out, but I require the students to use full sentences. Otherwise, they tend to just shout out, 'hair!', 'buttons!', etc. A variation is sending one pupil out of the room before changing something inside (removing a bin, rearranging desks, etc.) and requiring the student to ask yes/no questions to figure out the change, although I don't use this very often.
I have never...
Most of you may have done this activity before, but as a drinking game! It can be used very effectively to revise the present perfect tense. Start by telling the students something about yourself that will be false for at least some of the students. For example, in Korea, I would say, "I have never been to Jeju Island". Then ask students if they have been to Jeju. If they have, they should stand up. Those who haven't visited Jeju Island will remain sitting down. Offer a few more examples until you're confident that the students understand that they should stand up if the statement is false for them, and remain sitting if it is true. Maybe try a more daring sentence, if you feel it's appropriate. Then, instruct each student (or in pairs) to write at least one statement beginning, 'I have never...'. Elicit a few responses from random students and continue the activity. This can be a good way to encourage new classes to get to know each other better toward the beginning of their time together with you, and can reveal some funny and interesting information if you're students are inquisitive enough! On the other hand, it can sometimes be a bit bland, so judge the time you allocate to it carefully.
Hot-seat
Introduce your chair as the 'hot-seat' and indicate that one student will soon be sitting there, facing the class, with his/her back to the whiteboard. You will write a word on the board (preferably something you have covered in class, but not something that's too easy to explain) and the other students need to explain it to the person in the 'hot-seat'. Once they have arrived at the correct answer, I usually ask them which student gave them the most helpful information, and that's the student I give the point to and invite into the hot-seat next. A variation is putting up a picture of a famous place/landmark (for example, the Statue of Liberty) and requiring students to describe it. You need to make it clear that you want them to describe the picture, not what's on it. For example, I want them to say, 'It's a tall woman holding something in her right hand', rather than, 'This is a famous landmark in New York' because the latter is simply too easy most of the time and the activity is over as soon as it begins.
Taboo
This is a well-known game that works really well in EAL classes of virtually any ability. A volunteer will come to the front of the class and you will give him/her a card. On the card will be one word underlined and in bold above three or four other related words. The aim of the game is for the student to explain the top word (underlined in bold lettering) without saying it or any of the other words on the card. For example, the student may be asked to explain 'garden' but without being allowed to say, 'flowers', 'grass', 'outside' or 'lawn'. You can vary the difficulty according to the level of the students. I usually offer points to the student who guesses correctly and invite them to do the next word. Simpler variations of this involve giving the student a card containing only one word, which they must explain either in words, mime or by drawing, according to your preference.
Alright I think that's quite enough for one entry but I have tonnes of other activities so I'll add to this with a similar post tomorrow, if I have time. Please offer any suggestions and other ideas as you see fit. I know some of the ideas I outlined aren't exactly revolutionary so please don't think that I'm insulting your intelligence as teachers. I simply want to bring a range of ideas together for my own and others reference.
Wednesday 29 September 2010
So many words, so little content
Once again, I'm not talking about my own blog! No, no. The big news in UK politics over the past couple of days has been the surprise (to some) victory of Ed Miliband in the Labour Party leadership contest, edging out his elder brother David. Having lived and worked in the UK much more than in Ireland since the age of 18, I know much, much more about politics there than I know about my own country, I'm somewhat ashamed to say. With the Conservative/Liberal Democrats coalition, the fall of Gordon Brown, the jostling for position among the Milibands, Ed Balls and so on, it has been an interesting topic to follow of late.
It's tempting to go down the, 'they're all the same, what's the point in even voting' route in politics, no matter where you live. Ireland's taoiseach (prime minister), Brian Cowen, has faced the wrath of the public recently for seeming drunk/hungover during an early-morning radio interview following a late-night with party members and supporters. Korea has been struggling to appoint a new prime minister as numerous candidates fall foul of the questions of an ethics committee. However, I don't think the answer to unsatisfactory politicians is to ignore them and let them carry on with whatever they want to do. I'm tempted to think that might be what the elites want; mass apathy from the masses so they can continue ruling as they please without having to worry about what we think.
Last night (Korea time), Ed Miliband gave his first speech as Labour leader to the party conference in Manchester. Five minutes in, and I was wondering why I bothered even listening. Why do they insist upon this lame practice of hitting us with a few jokes at the beginning of the speech. Look at me, I'm such a regular guy, haha I'm so down to earth. WE DON'T BUY IT! On it went in a similar fashion, lot's of talk of 'change', 'new generation', etc., etc. He could have been most any politician from most any party in most any 'western' country these days. It's a sad sign of the state of affairs when news broadcasters need analysts to talk for hours after the event to tell us what was actually said.
I understand that it's naive of me to expect these guys to get up there, speak their mind honestly, tell us they might be wrong, they might be right, but that they'll make each decision according to what they honestly think is right. They'd be ripped to shreds by an insane press, baying for blood, looking to twist their views into homophobia, fascism, communism, or anything that will kill off the side that doesn't best suit their interests. Still, someone needs to START speaking in that manner, so that it becomes less of a rarity, so that rationalism is favored over appearance, so that people stop defining the worth of a politician according to his/her voice, appearance, sense of humor, body language, and so on and so forth. In among the usual drivel, Ed Miliband did say that going to war in Iraq was wrong, that cutting the budget deficit would be painful, that Unions were important but strikes should be avoided and that Israel must recognize the right of Palestine to statehood. Maybe, just maybe, that's something. I'm not holding my breath.
My Dad has been fairly involved with local politics through Fianna Fail as long as I can remember, and I'd like to do the same in my future life. I think that we should all get involved in our communities, take ownership of the decisions that affect our lives, and not just sit back and complain about the decisions of others (whilst constantly voting them in). Politics is everyday life magnified. For that reason, I never really understand when people say they're not interested in it. There were politics on show in my work meeting earlier today, as different participants pitted themselves against each other for greater influence or promote their preferred outcomes. I really think it's as simple as that.
The outcome of said meeting for me appears to be that I'll be off work from October 16th-25th. If that turns out to be true, I'll be a happy man. More time for my top priority: myself.
In case you're interested, here's the audio from Cowen's infamous early morning meeting. Is he drunk? Hungover? I'm not so sure...
It's tempting to go down the, 'they're all the same, what's the point in even voting' route in politics, no matter where you live. Ireland's taoiseach (prime minister), Brian Cowen, has faced the wrath of the public recently for seeming drunk/hungover during an early-morning radio interview following a late-night with party members and supporters. Korea has been struggling to appoint a new prime minister as numerous candidates fall foul of the questions of an ethics committee. However, I don't think the answer to unsatisfactory politicians is to ignore them and let them carry on with whatever they want to do. I'm tempted to think that might be what the elites want; mass apathy from the masses so they can continue ruling as they please without having to worry about what we think.
Last night (Korea time), Ed Miliband gave his first speech as Labour leader to the party conference in Manchester. Five minutes in, and I was wondering why I bothered even listening. Why do they insist upon this lame practice of hitting us with a few jokes at the beginning of the speech. Look at me, I'm such a regular guy, haha I'm so down to earth. WE DON'T BUY IT! On it went in a similar fashion, lot's of talk of 'change', 'new generation', etc., etc. He could have been most any politician from most any party in most any 'western' country these days. It's a sad sign of the state of affairs when news broadcasters need analysts to talk for hours after the event to tell us what was actually said.
I understand that it's naive of me to expect these guys to get up there, speak their mind honestly, tell us they might be wrong, they might be right, but that they'll make each decision according to what they honestly think is right. They'd be ripped to shreds by an insane press, baying for blood, looking to twist their views into homophobia, fascism, communism, or anything that will kill off the side that doesn't best suit their interests. Still, someone needs to START speaking in that manner, so that it becomes less of a rarity, so that rationalism is favored over appearance, so that people stop defining the worth of a politician according to his/her voice, appearance, sense of humor, body language, and so on and so forth. In among the usual drivel, Ed Miliband did say that going to war in Iraq was wrong, that cutting the budget deficit would be painful, that Unions were important but strikes should be avoided and that Israel must recognize the right of Palestine to statehood. Maybe, just maybe, that's something. I'm not holding my breath.
My Dad has been fairly involved with local politics through Fianna Fail as long as I can remember, and I'd like to do the same in my future life. I think that we should all get involved in our communities, take ownership of the decisions that affect our lives, and not just sit back and complain about the decisions of others (whilst constantly voting them in). Politics is everyday life magnified. For that reason, I never really understand when people say they're not interested in it. There were politics on show in my work meeting earlier today, as different participants pitted themselves against each other for greater influence or promote their preferred outcomes. I really think it's as simple as that.
The outcome of said meeting for me appears to be that I'll be off work from October 16th-25th. If that turns out to be true, I'll be a happy man. More time for my top priority: myself.
In case you're interested, here's the audio from Cowen's infamous early morning meeting. Is he drunk? Hungover? I'm not so sure...
Tuesday 28 September 2010
What a Kerfuffle!
I just came upstairs from preparing my lessons for the day and the general conversation among the other teachers is about our upcoming schedule. How could something so basic be so confusing? Well, believe me, it is. None of us now when each of our different classes end this session (new session starts October 25th), whether we're getting a week off in October or not, whether we invigilate exams, whether or not we WRITE the exams - we are pretty much clueless. It's not because we are are all numb-skulls (honest), but because we simply haven't been given any consistent answers. One person says one thing, the next person the opposite, others come up with some third unconnected possibility. It's tempting to be pissed off, but I'm going to try to see the funny side. We have meetings tomorrow and Thursday so hopefully all will become clear in due course. I had resigned myself to working the entire session, so if it turns out that I might get some unexpected time off, that can only be a good thing. I might even treat myself to a bit of a trip away somewhere, now that I'm not totally skint anymore.
I was back at physio today and, as usual, discussing the meaning of life with the nurse and telling her how normal it is for everyone to feel a bit down sometimes and not to worry. I'll really miss her! She got eyelid surgery and, as expected, it looks horrendous. I, of course, won't be telling her so. She seems happy enough and apparently her sister told her that she, "looks less ugly than before". Blunt enough?
It was a nice feeling being able to cycle over to the hospital and tie my bike up against the horrendous sculpture of a knee joint that I had hobbled or swung by on crutches for what seemed like an eternity not that long ago. The weather is glorious here these days and I doubt many people are appreciating being able to stroll/cycle around in it more than me. I only have two more session left then, hopefully, the doctor will give me the all clear and I can put it all behind me. I won't be in any hurry to start playing football again though. Sorry Traps...
Speaking of football, the latest offering from The Outside View (Korean football podcast) is available today. FC Seoul only managed a 1-1 draw away against Chunnam Dragons last weekend - amazingly, their first league draw of the season. Thankfully, Jeju only managed to draw against Pohang so we are still in decent shape as far as the league table is concerned. I'll be going to Sangam World Cup stadium for the first Sunday match in a long time against Incheon United. Annie will be back (not just for the FC Seoul game apparently...) so it's looking like a busy and, hopefully, fun weekend. I just got a mention on the podcast - nice one Matt! There's a chance Jim or I might have a chance to go on and talk about FC Seoul sometime in the future, which would be a cool experience.
Time is flying away from me today so I'm going to have to wrap this up for now. If you're in Korea right now, I hope you're having a chance to enjoy the weather (and not complaining that it's cold - this isn't cold!!!!). If you're elsewhere and I haven't spoken to you in a while, drop me a line. I try my best to keep on top of emailing and so on but... it seems to slip so easily. I hope everyone is in good form, wherever you are.
Monday 27 September 2010
Chuseok, Tennis and Birthday Celebrations
Normally, my silence can be taken as a signal that I'm in a mood and not in the form to bother writing what I'm up to and what's going on. In this instance, it's simply because I've had better things to do than update the old blog. It's nearly a week since I sat right here, looking out at an insane thunder and lightning storm and rambled on about whatever I was rambling on about.
Last Wednesday was Chuseok (Korean thanksgiving) here. I was honored to be invited round to Ji's grandmothers' house for Chuseok lunch with her and her family. It was a big thing to be invited into someones home on one of the most important family occasions of the year. We brought over a bit of a gift and, in return, I was stuffed with more food than I could comfortably eat. It was a case of not wanting to seem as though I didn't like the food so eating as much as I could BUT constantly having my plate refilled as soon as I started making any kind of impact on it. I can think of worse problems. After lunch, Ji and I took the subway to Ansan to visit her other grandmother in hospital. This woman is 90-years-old but still as bright as a button. It was the first time I had met her and she didn't know Ji was bringing company, so she got a pretty big shock. A lot of people here talk about Korean families having a resistance to foreign partners, but Ji's grandmothers (80 and 90 years old) could not seem to care less. They are both unbelievably friendly to me - the elder grandmother barely let go of my hand the whole time we were there. It seems she's just glad Ji has a boyfriend - she was worried that she was too short to find one! Funny stuff.
It was a bit tough for Ji seeing a change in her grandmother and hospitals are always fairly grim places. The woman in the next bed has Alzheimer's and her wheelchair was actually tied to her bed to keep her there. Looking around and seeing what is probably in store for most of us in the future, well, it's downright depressing in a way. I suppose it's just a reminder that the things that most of us worry about in our everyday lives aren't worth much in a place like that. When you look at someone like her, 90-years-old, a single mother since losing her husband in the early 1950s, living in such a changed society that she wonders how Ji and I even met, bright and at peace at this stage of her life, it's hard not to feel a little strengthened.
We had an unplanned and unexpected late night on Wednesday night so didn't get up to much on Thursday. By pure accident, Thomas stumbled upon the Hansol Korean Open Women's Tennis tournament in Olympic Park, so a few of us went to watch the quarter-final stages on Friday and again for the final on Sunday. Both were beautiful sunny days and, although the players on show weren't the very best in the world, we saw a lot of great tennis. I finally got some sun, too, although that has only led to my students asking me what's wrong with my face today, was I drinking soju, etc., etc...
It's Ji's birthday today so on Saturday we organised a bit of a surprise birthday dinner for her at Los Amigos (Mexican restaurant) in Itaewon. The food was great, the company was great and, most importantly, she had a great time. We had tennis to go to the next day so we headed home fairly early. Somehow, we still managed to get fairly well-on though!
Ok, I feel as though I have gotten up to date on the past week or so. I'm hoping to get back regularly blogging this week. Lot's to talk about: the new Labour leader in the UK, renewed threats from Irish nationalists, my two-cents on 'David Copperfield', and of course, all that's new and ongoing with FC Seoul, Derry City FC and the EPL. Hope the start of your week has been as painless as mine (so far...).
Monday 20 September 2010
Na Na Na Na N Na Na Na Na
Holy crap the weather is insane here today. I don't normally get bothered by thunderstorms but this one is unnerving me a little. I watched a huge bolt of lightning strike the building just opposite mine about half an hour ago and I'm sat on the top floor of mine in a room walled by mostly glass on one side... Safe...
More importantly than the precarious nature of my life, I had plans today! I was supposed to go cycling with Stephanie or, depending on the weather, hang out at least. We had to give up on that one. I'm also meant to go meet the boys after they finish playing screen golf (not quite up to that yet) for dinner but I'm not sure if that's going to happen either. The rain here is just like a blanket of water so, umbrella or no umbrella, you wind up getting drenched anyhow. The next time a Korean accuses Ireland of having bad weather I'm going to be less diplomatic than I usually am. Six more weeks and we'll be freezing our arses off for winter before an all-to-brief spring leads us back into a summer of sweltering heat. At least in Ireland, we know not to expect much...
Really fun weekend just passed. Friday night I somehow forced myself through the fatigue to head out with Thomas, Gerry (aka Tom and Gerry from Derry) and Jonny, another Ulsterman - nice to travel and meet new people, eh? Few drinks, pool, good music, bit of dancing on the wonky knee, lots of laughs - it was just what the doctor ordered -well, maybe not the dancing part. Someone actually told me I'm the WORST dancer they've ever seen, but I had my knee as an excuse. I'll show 'em! Saturday was productive (by my standards) because I met up with Ji, bought a second-hand bike and spent a couple of hours cycling the paths near where we both live. So, so nice and relaxing. We headed down to Hongdae for galbi with John, back visiting on a visa run for his new job in Mongolia. It was good to see him. His new adventures certainly fueled my growing desire to move on to pastures new...
Nice Sunday hanging out with John, bit of cycling (removing the tension built up by our 160 km/h on average taxi ride home last night...), bit of getting caught in the rain, bit of Man Utd V Liverpool. I'm not going to go on about football in this post (apparently I do so too much...) but it's amazing how easy it is getting to watch so much live sport live on your computer. Sites such as myp2p.eu show football, motorsport, cricket, rugby... nearly anything you'd like to watch is on there! It hasn't quite got to the point where I can watch Derry City FC in the comfort of my own home in South Korea yet, although I'm not sure that's a bad thing considering the results they've been having recently...
Working on Monday wasn't so bad. A lot more students showed up than I had expected but it was a pretty laid-back atmosphere with the holidays coming up. It was actually nice to have the opportunity to work with a smaller group of students and get to know them all a little better. I only see my General English girls once a week and I have nearly a hundred of them in total so that's not easy. I also got a W200,000 Chuseok bonus from my Uni, so I'm les inclined to moan about them than usual... What can I say, I'm cheap! After classes I met Ji and we cycled out of the city into a surrounding hiking trail and it was beautiful. I love living where I live. All the convenience of the city but the fresh air and ease on the eye of the countryside just a short cycle away. I love my bike... It's like being a teenager again!
After some confusion, we finally managed to arrange a rehearsal for late last night. It wasn't all plain sailing but we made a bit more progress and have another session booked for Saturday afternoon. It's all about building up some momentum at the minute. We might even arrange a short gig (maybe just one set) for Saturday October 2nd in Itaewon or Hongdae. Musically, it's all sounding good, but we're still a long way from the energy and atmosphere of U R Seoul. Maybe my best night with them (although Jim was out of the country so we had Craig covering on drums) was for the Seoul V The Beatles benefit in Freebird, Hongdae, the year before last I think it was. I'll leave you with a video taken from that night. Aaaah memories... Will I ever be in a band that fun again?...
Wow my hair was long....
Thursday 16 September 2010
It's not that I can't work it, it just doesn't work!
Oh, technology has never been a friend of mine, I'm not going to lie. I'm the kind of person who gets an iPod when they're old news (got my first one in July - and didn't buy it to myself, of course), didn't have a mobile until I was 19 (a fair while after everyone else, a hand-down) and prefers to do things the way I know how to do them, rather than taking the small step of learning how to use something that could probably save me a fair bit of time. We all take the piss out of my Dad for refusing to embrace anything that has it's origins beyond the 90's, but I know I'm going to be the same. In saying that, technology is NOT all it's cracked up to be. Tom Hodgkinson in How to be Free, uses the example of the much-heralded dishwasher. Oh what a godsend! No more horrible washing dishes by hand! Instead, damaged dishes, cleaning the washer, buying detergent, less space in the kitchen, another thing to buy, another thing that can/will break down PLUS the fact that it doesn't clean the really horrible pots and pans anyhow.
His thoughts came back to me earlier, as I battled, unsuccessfully, with the projector in three of the classrooms in the language center here on the second floor (I live on the sixth, classes on the second, faculty office on the first. Confusing, I know...). I had put together a lovely (I hope) lesson based around thanksgiving, with Chuseok next week in mind. I prepared the TV show I'd need (a once-in-a-blue moon event in my classes), picked out the vocabulary to cover, made an activity to do so, wrote up some comprehension questions and an activity to identify the speaker in a selection of quotes. I selected some discussion topics that I could get the students to expand upon if time allowed. Easy! All I had to do was check that I could get the episode I needed from my laptop onto the projector with sound. What could go wrong? I've used it so many times before, it was just a matter of being sure (to be sure). Right? Wrong. An hour and a half I spent plugging in sockets, untangling wires, trying different rooms, different laptops, doing things in a different order before I swallowed my pride and asked for help. Unfortunately, (or, secretly, I was glad as I could deflect the blame onto someone else) she (one of the girls from the office) couldn't work it out either. I'm sure we'll find a way round it before I need it (7.30am tomorrow morning), but my war with technology rages on regardless.
Other than that, it has been a nice, productive day (so far). Eight hours of sleep last night. What a luxury! With enough sleep I'm a slightly moody but manageable person; without sleep I can be a negative, self-immersed, grumpy little shit. Aside from getting my lessons prepped for tomorrow (but not yet for tonight, as is my logic), I made it over to the gym and did a bit of cycling to start building my leg muscles up again, as advised. So far, no pain, although I'm sure that won't be the case in the morning. The gym here is a funny experience. One of the perks of the job is free use of the Uni gym abut 2 minutes around the corner. The strange part is that it consists almost entirely of females. Hmm.
We might even be finally sorting out some rehearsal time with the band for next Monday. It has been so frustrating not being able to get it off the ground, but maybe this, our latest new dawn, will create some momentum. With John coming this weekend, I've been thinking a lot about how much fun the U R Seoul days were. I even searched for us on youtube and found this old video that I didn't even know existed. Having a band to look forward to on the weekends, you just can't beat it. Cross your fingers for me (and Jim, equally eager to get back on the road again). The quality isn't good, and that's not our regular drummer, but it brings the memories back...
There were other things I had intended to write about today but time waits for no man and these lessons aren't going to create themselves. Thank you for your recent comments be they public, private, online, or in person. Keep letting me know what you think, what you like, what you don't like, etc. If you have a few spare moments today I recommend that you check out Matt's blog because he has been dealing with facebook updates, something I often chuckle about myself. I'm not expecting to be too busy tomorrow so I'll tie up those loose ends I mentioned before the weekend. I hope you're all doing well, wherever you are.
His thoughts came back to me earlier, as I battled, unsuccessfully, with the projector in three of the classrooms in the language center here on the second floor (I live on the sixth, classes on the second, faculty office on the first. Confusing, I know...). I had put together a lovely (I hope) lesson based around thanksgiving, with Chuseok next week in mind. I prepared the TV show I'd need (a once-in-a-blue moon event in my classes), picked out the vocabulary to cover, made an activity to do so, wrote up some comprehension questions and an activity to identify the speaker in a selection of quotes. I selected some discussion topics that I could get the students to expand upon if time allowed. Easy! All I had to do was check that I could get the episode I needed from my laptop onto the projector with sound. What could go wrong? I've used it so many times before, it was just a matter of being sure (to be sure). Right? Wrong. An hour and a half I spent plugging in sockets, untangling wires, trying different rooms, different laptops, doing things in a different order before I swallowed my pride and asked for help. Unfortunately, (or, secretly, I was glad as I could deflect the blame onto someone else) she (one of the girls from the office) couldn't work it out either. I'm sure we'll find a way round it before I need it (7.30am tomorrow morning), but my war with technology rages on regardless.
Other than that, it has been a nice, productive day (so far). Eight hours of sleep last night. What a luxury! With enough sleep I'm a slightly moody but manageable person; without sleep I can be a negative, self-immersed, grumpy little shit. Aside from getting my lessons prepped for tomorrow (but not yet for tonight, as is my logic), I made it over to the gym and did a bit of cycling to start building my leg muscles up again, as advised. So far, no pain, although I'm sure that won't be the case in the morning. The gym here is a funny experience. One of the perks of the job is free use of the Uni gym abut 2 minutes around the corner. The strange part is that it consists almost entirely of females. Hmm.
We might even be finally sorting out some rehearsal time with the band for next Monday. It has been so frustrating not being able to get it off the ground, but maybe this, our latest new dawn, will create some momentum. With John coming this weekend, I've been thinking a lot about how much fun the U R Seoul days were. I even searched for us on youtube and found this old video that I didn't even know existed. Having a band to look forward to on the weekends, you just can't beat it. Cross your fingers for me (and Jim, equally eager to get back on the road again). The quality isn't good, and that's not our regular drummer, but it brings the memories back...
There were other things I had intended to write about today but time waits for no man and these lessons aren't going to create themselves. Thank you for your recent comments be they public, private, online, or in person. Keep letting me know what you think, what you like, what you don't like, etc. If you have a few spare moments today I recommend that you check out Matt's blog because he has been dealing with facebook updates, something I often chuckle about myself. I'm not expecting to be too busy tomorrow so I'll tie up those loose ends I mentioned before the weekend. I hope you're all doing well, wherever you are.
Wednesday 15 September 2010
Physio for me, Therapy for you
Still pretty wrecked today and, in my determination to avoid this turning into a whinge-frenzy, I'll keep it short and sweet. I've had a busy day of teaching so far this beautiful, sunny Wednesday and just got back from my latest physio session about a hour ago. It's so funny the conversations you find yourself involved in with the most random people here. I may have mentioned before that my physiotherapist is learning English and so, when I arrive, her eyes light up at the opportunity to get a bit of extra practice in. It does me no harm, as I certainly seem to get more time and attention than the average patient there.
In the few weeks since I met her we have talked about travel, religion, education, career, her love-life (or lack thereof).... it just amazes me how open people are in a situation where the only real thing we have in common is the fact that we can communicate (barely) in English. She told me today how she's getting cosmetic surgery on her eye-lids on Friday at the behest of her family! I've been here long enough not to be too shocked at someone getting unnecessary surgery (it's not uncommon here), but I can't say that people are usually so open about having it done themselves. The topic comes up quite a bit in class, but it always seems to be some 'friend' that the stories are about. For the record, I can't get my head around cosmetic surgery at all. I know that appearances are so important to 'success' in Korea, but a hell of a lot of the time, I think people looked better before. Also, where do you draw the line? First the eyes, then the nose, then a disgusting-sounding reshaping of the jaws for a more 'V-shaped' face? No, no, no. Take what you've got, make the best of it, be comfortable with what you've got rather than thinking about what you could have. Wow, that sounds easy... Mind you, I mightn't think this way if I wasn't so really, really, ridiculously good-looking myself....
Regarding the 'issues' I was having about working next week (either side of Chuseok), I've decided to just teach the classes on Monday and Friday and avoid the necessity of 'make-up' classes at a later date. I won't get to go away but, considering my bank balance this month, I probably wouldn't have been doing much anyway. Now that I've had a chance to clear my head and get over my initial frustration at being mucked about in terms of my expected schedule, I know that I'm not going to just let it all drop. At the appropriate time, I'm going to request that we have more information and notice about our teaching schedule, and I'll be finding out about the ninth vacation week my contract clearly states that I'm entitled to. It's about finding the balance between being too serious and doing my bit to fit in, but I'll be requesting that the school upholds it's terms as I do mine.
Ok, I'm starting to moan again so I'm going to stop for the day. I'll leave you with a reminder that even if you think you've messed up pretty badly, that karma is coming to bite you, that you've finally got in way over your head, it probably won't really be that bad. Nothing all that drastic really ever happens. Even if you were to get so messed up on drugs that you crash into a store and barely have any recollection of having done it, you'll probably only wind up in prison for four weeks. It must be great being famous...
In the few weeks since I met her we have talked about travel, religion, education, career, her love-life (or lack thereof).... it just amazes me how open people are in a situation where the only real thing we have in common is the fact that we can communicate (barely) in English. She told me today how she's getting cosmetic surgery on her eye-lids on Friday at the behest of her family! I've been here long enough not to be too shocked at someone getting unnecessary surgery (it's not uncommon here), but I can't say that people are usually so open about having it done themselves. The topic comes up quite a bit in class, but it always seems to be some 'friend' that the stories are about. For the record, I can't get my head around cosmetic surgery at all. I know that appearances are so important to 'success' in Korea, but a hell of a lot of the time, I think people looked better before. Also, where do you draw the line? First the eyes, then the nose, then a disgusting-sounding reshaping of the jaws for a more 'V-shaped' face? No, no, no. Take what you've got, make the best of it, be comfortable with what you've got rather than thinking about what you could have. Wow, that sounds easy... Mind you, I mightn't think this way if I wasn't so really, really, ridiculously good-looking myself....
Regarding the 'issues' I was having about working next week (either side of Chuseok), I've decided to just teach the classes on Monday and Friday and avoid the necessity of 'make-up' classes at a later date. I won't get to go away but, considering my bank balance this month, I probably wouldn't have been doing much anyway. Now that I've had a chance to clear my head and get over my initial frustration at being mucked about in terms of my expected schedule, I know that I'm not going to just let it all drop. At the appropriate time, I'm going to request that we have more information and notice about our teaching schedule, and I'll be finding out about the ninth vacation week my contract clearly states that I'm entitled to. It's about finding the balance between being too serious and doing my bit to fit in, but I'll be requesting that the school upholds it's terms as I do mine.
Ok, I'm starting to moan again so I'm going to stop for the day. I'll leave you with a reminder that even if you think you've messed up pretty badly, that karma is coming to bite you, that you've finally got in way over your head, it probably won't really be that bad. Nothing all that drastic really ever happens. Even if you were to get so messed up on drugs that you crash into a store and barely have any recollection of having done it, you'll probably only wind up in prison for four weeks. It must be great being famous...
Tuesday 14 September 2010
All Work and No Play
....you know the rest. To go on a tangent (if I can go on a tangent on the very first line of my blog), there was a discussion about proverbs on bbc radio 5 live today. Who the hell is Jack and why is he a dull boy? Who is this 'Larry' who's always so infuriatingly happy? Anyway, yeah, I definitely have fallen into the rat trap recently that I'm usually so keen to steer clear of. Go on Bob...
It's only Tuesday and I'm already living for the weekend. I cannot tell you strongly enough that that is not how I want to live my life. A big part of working in Korea is my desire to steer clear of the illusions of career, materialism, competition at work, and having to give due consideration to disgusting expressions such as 'work/life balance'. I don't want there to be a balance, I just want to have a life!
I guess my schedule has been tough since I started back after the summer holidays but it was do-able and I was feeling positive about it all. What has driven me to complain about my job (mere days after having chastised foreigners in Korea for complaining about their jobs...) is that I found out on Monday morning, from students, that I'm actually not off work next week, as I had been told by my boss. It might not seem like a big thing (and it isn't) but it's the principle of it that really bothers me. A co-worker pointed out that last-minute, inexplicably frustrating changes like this are just a part of working in Korea - and he's right. But they don't have to be. The end result is that I'll have lessons next Monday and Friday, pooping on any plans I had to get away for Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving). On top of that, I'll have classes on the eighth week of this session (originally supposed to be a holiday) so I don't have any solid time off between now and going home for Christmas. Ok, I know a lot of people have it worse, but it's still frustrating. And needless.
Of course, it's out of the question to really criticize or inquire why you couldn't have found out earlier or why you had to be told by students (making you look as though you don't know what you're doing) or why this directly contradicts what you had been told at an earlier meeting. I nearly did that a bit when I first talked to my boss about it because it was at the end of a long Monday and I was pretty ticked off, but nothing good comes of that approach here. You have to do it because what the boss say, goes, and that's it. At a time of the year when I am, genuinely, working my ass off and cutting no corners in the hope of delivering good lessons consistently, it's tempting to ask yourself why you bother. My two DDE classes last night reminded me of the answer, if I had really even doubted it. When I went back to class to collect my computer at near enough 10pm, about half-a-dozen students were sat there in silence studying their TOEIC textbooks. Absolutely unbelievably. Brilliant. As a teacher, when the powers-that-be fuck you off, you've got to remind yourself that it's the students that you're really doing it for. Ok, no more complaining about work...for now...
FC Seoul Foreigner's Day? Well, you'd have to say that it was a pretty successful day for the club. I am indebted to Matt at Hollywoods in Itaewon for four free tickets to the game. It was bizarre seeing so many foreigners in Sangam World Cup Stadium and, to mark the occasion, the club kept showing reveling non-Koreans on the big screens throughout the game. There was a nice family atmosphere where we were in the East Stand. Check out the highlights of what ended up being a comfortable 4-0 win over Daegu, the highlight being a wonder-strike by the one and only, Dejan. That's eleven goals in our last three games, with only one conceded (against Pohang). K-League fans should also check out the latest (and ever improving) 'The Outside View' podcast, greatly enhanced by Matt Burnett this week, but still a little too Suwon Bluewings flavored for my liking. I can see that it's still a work in progress, and I'm looking forward to following it over the coming weeks and months.
No much more to say today because, these days, I'm eating, sleeping, laying awake in bed thinking about and dreaming about teaching. I kid you not. In fact, my goal for the week is to care less about my job. Thinking about an escape usually does the trick. I was reading about International Schools in Poland last week. Maybe I should toy with the idea of wrapping things up in Korea (for a while) in March, which is much easier said than done...
It's only Tuesday and I'm already living for the weekend. I cannot tell you strongly enough that that is not how I want to live my life. A big part of working in Korea is my desire to steer clear of the illusions of career, materialism, competition at work, and having to give due consideration to disgusting expressions such as 'work/life balance'. I don't want there to be a balance, I just want to have a life!
I guess my schedule has been tough since I started back after the summer holidays but it was do-able and I was feeling positive about it all. What has driven me to complain about my job (mere days after having chastised foreigners in Korea for complaining about their jobs...) is that I found out on Monday morning, from students, that I'm actually not off work next week, as I had been told by my boss. It might not seem like a big thing (and it isn't) but it's the principle of it that really bothers me. A co-worker pointed out that last-minute, inexplicably frustrating changes like this are just a part of working in Korea - and he's right. But they don't have to be. The end result is that I'll have lessons next Monday and Friday, pooping on any plans I had to get away for Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving). On top of that, I'll have classes on the eighth week of this session (originally supposed to be a holiday) so I don't have any solid time off between now and going home for Christmas. Ok, I know a lot of people have it worse, but it's still frustrating. And needless.
Of course, it's out of the question to really criticize or inquire why you couldn't have found out earlier or why you had to be told by students (making you look as though you don't know what you're doing) or why this directly contradicts what you had been told at an earlier meeting. I nearly did that a bit when I first talked to my boss about it because it was at the end of a long Monday and I was pretty ticked off, but nothing good comes of that approach here. You have to do it because what the boss say, goes, and that's it. At a time of the year when I am, genuinely, working my ass off and cutting no corners in the hope of delivering good lessons consistently, it's tempting to ask yourself why you bother. My two DDE classes last night reminded me of the answer, if I had really even doubted it. When I went back to class to collect my computer at near enough 10pm, about half-a-dozen students were sat there in silence studying their TOEIC textbooks. Absolutely unbelievably. Brilliant. As a teacher, when the powers-that-be fuck you off, you've got to remind yourself that it's the students that you're really doing it for. Ok, no more complaining about work...for now...
FC Seoul Foreigner's Day? Well, you'd have to say that it was a pretty successful day for the club. I am indebted to Matt at Hollywoods in Itaewon for four free tickets to the game. It was bizarre seeing so many foreigners in Sangam World Cup Stadium and, to mark the occasion, the club kept showing reveling non-Koreans on the big screens throughout the game. There was a nice family atmosphere where we were in the East Stand. Check out the highlights of what ended up being a comfortable 4-0 win over Daegu, the highlight being a wonder-strike by the one and only, Dejan. That's eleven goals in our last three games, with only one conceded (against Pohang). K-League fans should also check out the latest (and ever improving) 'The Outside View' podcast, greatly enhanced by Matt Burnett this week, but still a little too Suwon Bluewings flavored for my liking. I can see that it's still a work in progress, and I'm looking forward to following it over the coming weeks and months.
No much more to say today because, these days, I'm eating, sleeping, laying awake in bed thinking about and dreaming about teaching. I kid you not. In fact, my goal for the week is to care less about my job. Thinking about an escape usually does the trick. I was reading about International Schools in Poland last week. Maybe I should toy with the idea of wrapping things up in Korea (for a while) in March, which is much easier said than done...
Friday 10 September 2010
FC Seoul 'Foreigner's Day'
I'm probably making myself late by posting this but I just had to share. Here's what the FC Seoul website has to say about 'Foreigner's Day' happening this evening:
Meet & Enjoy a super foreigner's day with FC Seoul!
A super foreigner's day is coming!
FC Seoul is holding a super foreigner's day on Saturday September 11th 2010 at Seoul Worldcup Stadium. The concept of this super event is 'all foreigners in Korea meet together once a year at Seoulworldcupstadium and enjoy football, Free food, Korea culture and culb party at once!
Only for 10,000\ Foreigners can buy 'Foreigner ticket' including a ticket(Section E), a big cup of free Beer and a free hotdog. (Usually the price of the ticket for Section E is 12,000\.)
In the event zone outside the stadium before the football-game,
We are gonna reproduces a Hip-pop club. Foreigner's will be offered masks and luminous sticks free as well as free-beer. Club DJs, B-boys, B-girls perform their dance, djing and Hip-pop singers make a great stage. Visitors may feel they seem to be in a nice club.
Korean trasitional drink 'Makulee' will also be offered free in other corner of event zone and Canon-photo zone will be set so it takes a picture and prints out pictures immediately.
Many fun-competition such as 'Jegichaki' that is a korean trasitional play using the foot and 'Drinking Coke' also as well as a experience of making koean trasitional bamboo-pipe.
Wow - I would love to see Derry City FC inviting all the local Poles, Nigerians, etc., offering them a hot-dog, cooping them up in one part of the Brandywell and thrusting a mask and glow-stick onto them. This is going to be funny... Definitely a day for the camera.
Meet & Enjoy a super foreigner's day with FC Seoul!
A super foreigner's day is coming!
FC Seoul is holding a super foreigner's day on Saturday September 11th 2010 at Seoul Worldcup Stadium. The concept of this super event is 'all foreigners in Korea meet together once a year at Seoulworldcupstadium and enjoy football, Free food, Korea culture and culb party at once!
Only for 10,000\ Foreigners can buy 'Foreigner ticket' including a ticket(Section E), a big cup of free Beer and a free hotdog. (Usually the price of the ticket for Section E is 12,000\.)
In the event zone outside the stadium before the football-game,
We are gonna reproduces a Hip-pop club. Foreigner's will be offered masks and luminous sticks free as well as free-beer. Club DJs, B-boys, B-girls perform their dance, djing and Hip-pop singers make a great stage. Visitors may feel they seem to be in a nice club.
Korean trasitional drink 'Makulee' will also be offered free in other corner of event zone and Canon-photo zone will be set so it takes a picture and prints out pictures immediately.
Many fun-competition such as 'Jegichaki' that is a korean trasitional play using the foot and 'Drinking Coke' also as well as a experience of making koean trasitional bamboo-pipe.
| |
| In the stadium, V-girls show the latest pop-song dance and famous foreign friends in Korea appearing in a TV show "Talk with beauties" on KBS2 are also taking part in this party. In the half time The part 2 of club party is gonna begin. All lighting in the stadium is gonna be turned off like a club and DJ is playing a cool music! Foreigner's day has been prepared only for Foreigners! We hope all foreigners in Korea visit&enjoy this super event and make a hot memories. Football, Soccer, Chukgu, whatever you call, It's blast! It's a real foreigner's day. You can buy a ticket for this event at the Ticket Box in the north section of Seoulworldcup stadium on 11th september from 16:00! * Information - Event zone(outside the stadium) open : 16:00 - Ticket open : 16:00 - Admission starts : 17:00 - Game starts : 19:00 * Group ticket : 010-2434-6351/kbh@gssports.co.kr * Person in charge : Kim Byeong Hyeok |
Thursday 9 September 2010
Teaching in Korea
Now there's an ambitious title! From time to time, I get emails along the lines of, "Hi Brian. My friend is going to Korea and is looking for information about jobs and the teaching out there". I do like to reply, because I certainly relied on others when I first came here (and before) so think it's only right that I pay my dues. Rather than constantly repeating the same spiel, in future, I'm going to refer people to this post and you can make of it what you will. If you're in Korea and you have anything to add/correct, please leave a comment below. Ok, here goes.
First off, you need to be sure that teaching is something that you are prepared for and actually want to do. A lot of people come here straight out of University and haven't had any experience actually teaching kids. As a result, they often find that it's not for them after they have signed a one-year contract and traveled to the other side of the planet. Try to do some observation in a school or do a tutoring program while you are still at University. That could help you understand what teaching involves and, if you still want to do it, which age groups you'd be best suited to.
That's a key point. Lot's of first-time teachers in Korea wind up teaching kindergarten kids in private language academies. Some people love it, some hate it. Make sure you know what you're getting yourself into before you come. There are online forums where you can access a broad range of opinions on teaching and life in Korea, as well as read job listings, such as Dave's esl cafe. You need to remember to take a lot of it with a pinch of salt; there are a lot of whiners with too much time on their hands on there... However, if you sift through it, you should find the answers to most of, if not all, your queries.
If you're looking to work in a professional teaching environment with strong support mechanisms and opportunities for development and progression, then teaching English in Korea is probably NOT for you. Get your teaching certificate, get a couple of year's experience in your home country, and apply for a job at an International School. I think teaching in Korea is perfect for people who are also interested in doing something else. Personally, it's helping me gain teaching experience whilst having adequate time to do my MA, as well as helping to pay for it. Others come here to fund their travels. Others still to help pay off University loans. Don't come here unless you're prepared for the unexpected and be ready for some haphazard and illogical (compared to what you're used to) approaches to teaching and learning.
I always recommend a job in a public school with SMOE or GEPIK for first-time teachers in Korea. Although I have never worked for either myself, I have a lot of friends who have and currently do. Their experiences seem to vary from school to school but they have the benefit of an induction (to meet other newcomers, pick up some guidance, etc.) and a bit more security than if you were to work for a private academy (hagwon). They are far from being trouble-free, but many people stay beyond their first year, which speaks volumes. Although the holidays aren't unbelievably long, there will be periods of the year when you have very little to do, although you may be required to come to school anyway and just desk-warm.
Whatever job you accept, you're likely to start on around 2-2.1 million won ($1,700 or €1,320) per month in your first year. On top of this you'll receive a furnished apartment and one-month salary as a bonus on completion of your contract. Without really trying, I routinely save around half my salary each month. Also, although it's illegal, some take the risk of teaching private lessons for as much as 50,000 won (€33) per hour. There are opportunities to make more money in subsequent contracts, if you so wish. You're hardly going to become rich, but you'll live comfortably and be able to afford few holidays and so on throughout the year.
Increasingly, English teachers here are banding together to make life more comfortable and bring like-minded people into contact with one another. Whatever you're interested in, you're likely to find it here in some form. Just off the top of my head there are Gaelic football teams, soccer, ultimate frisbee, cricket, rugby, hiking, fishing, cycling, all kinds of restaurants, some English theater/musicals, reading groups, travel groups, and on and on and on and on.... I'd venture to say that if you're bored here, it might be because you're boring or that you'd be bored anywhere. There is a vibrant nightlife appealing to different tastes, a vibrant live music scene, more and more international bands and DJs coming to Korea, galleries and museums galore. Resources such as the Seoul Global Center can point you in the direction you want to go in terms of classes and cultural events. Free helplines are on hand (in English) to help you with buses, timetables, direction, etc. They even settle bets in the pub if you are drunk enough to have the neck to call them, although I doubt they're very happy to do so. The Association for Teachers of English in Korea is on hand for your professional and educational needs. Free English-language magazines (available in foreign bars in Itaewon, for example) offer suggestions on what to do, where to go, as well as advertising resources you may like to take advantage of. In short, after you come here, you're only alone if you choose to be so.
Those are my two cents to help you get started in deciding whether or not teaching in Korea is for you. Maybe I have painted too-positive a picture. If so, that's because I love it here. Be prepared and be honest with yourself about yourself and what you're looking for. Some people absolutely LOATHE life in Korea and, from their perspective, I can understand why. Use the links here to find more detail about the topics I have only touched upon so far. As I have said, if you have some experience teaching in Korea and have anything to add or question, please add a comment below. I hope you enjoy teaching here as much as I do, appreciate the positives and don't look at the negatives as any more than they really are. If you do wind up coming here and teaching fr SMOE/GEPIK, this video will very likely appeal to you when you're sat at a desk, twiddling your thumbs and wondering why you're not laying on a beach somewhere... Enjoy!
First off, you need to be sure that teaching is something that you are prepared for and actually want to do. A lot of people come here straight out of University and haven't had any experience actually teaching kids. As a result, they often find that it's not for them after they have signed a one-year contract and traveled to the other side of the planet. Try to do some observation in a school or do a tutoring program while you are still at University. That could help you understand what teaching involves and, if you still want to do it, which age groups you'd be best suited to.
That's a key point. Lot's of first-time teachers in Korea wind up teaching kindergarten kids in private language academies. Some people love it, some hate it. Make sure you know what you're getting yourself into before you come. There are online forums where you can access a broad range of opinions on teaching and life in Korea, as well as read job listings, such as Dave's esl cafe. You need to remember to take a lot of it with a pinch of salt; there are a lot of whiners with too much time on their hands on there... However, if you sift through it, you should find the answers to most of, if not all, your queries.
If you're looking to work in a professional teaching environment with strong support mechanisms and opportunities for development and progression, then teaching English in Korea is probably NOT for you. Get your teaching certificate, get a couple of year's experience in your home country, and apply for a job at an International School. I think teaching in Korea is perfect for people who are also interested in doing something else. Personally, it's helping me gain teaching experience whilst having adequate time to do my MA, as well as helping to pay for it. Others come here to fund their travels. Others still to help pay off University loans. Don't come here unless you're prepared for the unexpected and be ready for some haphazard and illogical (compared to what you're used to) approaches to teaching and learning.
I always recommend a job in a public school with SMOE or GEPIK for first-time teachers in Korea. Although I have never worked for either myself, I have a lot of friends who have and currently do. Their experiences seem to vary from school to school but they have the benefit of an induction (to meet other newcomers, pick up some guidance, etc.) and a bit more security than if you were to work for a private academy (hagwon). They are far from being trouble-free, but many people stay beyond their first year, which speaks volumes. Although the holidays aren't unbelievably long, there will be periods of the year when you have very little to do, although you may be required to come to school anyway and just desk-warm.
Whatever job you accept, you're likely to start on around 2-2.1 million won ($1,700 or €1,320) per month in your first year. On top of this you'll receive a furnished apartment and one-month salary as a bonus on completion of your contract. Without really trying, I routinely save around half my salary each month. Also, although it's illegal, some take the risk of teaching private lessons for as much as 50,000 won (€33) per hour. There are opportunities to make more money in subsequent contracts, if you so wish. You're hardly going to become rich, but you'll live comfortably and be able to afford few holidays and so on throughout the year.
Increasingly, English teachers here are banding together to make life more comfortable and bring like-minded people into contact with one another. Whatever you're interested in, you're likely to find it here in some form. Just off the top of my head there are Gaelic football teams, soccer, ultimate frisbee, cricket, rugby, hiking, fishing, cycling, all kinds of restaurants, some English theater/musicals, reading groups, travel groups, and on and on and on and on.... I'd venture to say that if you're bored here, it might be because you're boring or that you'd be bored anywhere. There is a vibrant nightlife appealing to different tastes, a vibrant live music scene, more and more international bands and DJs coming to Korea, galleries and museums galore. Resources such as the Seoul Global Center can point you in the direction you want to go in terms of classes and cultural events. Free helplines are on hand (in English) to help you with buses, timetables, direction, etc. They even settle bets in the pub if you are drunk enough to have the neck to call them, although I doubt they're very happy to do so. The Association for Teachers of English in Korea is on hand for your professional and educational needs. Free English-language magazines (available in foreign bars in Itaewon, for example) offer suggestions on what to do, where to go, as well as advertising resources you may like to take advantage of. In short, after you come here, you're only alone if you choose to be so.
Those are my two cents to help you get started in deciding whether or not teaching in Korea is for you. Maybe I have painted too-positive a picture. If so, that's because I love it here. Be prepared and be honest with yourself about yourself and what you're looking for. Some people absolutely LOATHE life in Korea and, from their perspective, I can understand why. Use the links here to find more detail about the topics I have only touched upon so far. As I have said, if you have some experience teaching in Korea and have anything to add or question, please add a comment below. I hope you enjoy teaching here as much as I do, appreciate the positives and don't look at the negatives as any more than they really are. If you do wind up coming here and teaching fr SMOE/GEPIK, this video will very likely appeal to you when you're sat at a desk, twiddling your thumbs and wondering why you're not laying on a beach somewhere... Enjoy!
LBH
LBH is something I heard pretty early in my time in Korea from a Canadian friend who has long since moved on to bigger and better things. We were talking about the kind of foreigners you sometimes come across working here. Oh, I had no idea how accurate it was then as I do now. LBH? LBH = 'Losers Back Home'. In general, I've been pretty fortunate with the people I have worked with here, particularly in my first year when I was the only foreign teacher at my academy! But, there's no doubt, you see them around. Regularly on their own at Seoul Pub in the wee hours on a Saturday night. Constantly the first to pipe up and share their 'knowledge' of the sun, moon, stars or everything at any given opportunity. The only people who ever say anything negative (to our faces) at gigs, in the mistaken belief that criticizing makes it sound as though they know what they're talking about. All over the message boards on Dave's. Facebook's most vociferous, even though they seem as timid as a mouse when you occasionally meet them in person. Commonly to be seen on the arm of some beautiful Korean girl who, for some reason, can't see how much of an asshole her boyfriend is. Oh, if you live/have lived in Korea, you know who I'm talking about.
The reason I bring it up now is that the only real complaint I ever have about life in Korea is complaining foreigners. I know, the irony isn't lost on me, don't worry. At times, it actually infuriates me. The absolute worst thing is foreigners complaining about the Koreans offering their services but not speaking English well enough for their liking. WE LIVE IN KOREA! THEY SPEAK KOREAN HERE!! Often, the person who says this has lived here for a fair few years, but (like myself) hasn't bothered to learn the local language to the point where they can do all their dealings through it. Another is people complaining about the amount of work they have to do or unfair expectations from their employers. No doubt, some people are royally screwed over here. I can't argue with that. But I have some strong opinions about the qualifications necessary to teach here. If I had a child and found out that his/her teacher had, for example, a 2:2 degree in a subject unrelated to what they teach, well, I wouldn't be happy. Would you? Nor do I buy the TEFL/CELTA argument. Having done my PGCE, TEFL and CELTA, I can tell you that the latter two only really need to be completed, they're not exactly taxing. They don't necessarily improve you as a teacher. A year-long PGCE doesn't even slightly prepare you for the range of scenarios you might have to deal with in the classroom. There's no way a 100-hour (or similar) certificate can claim to do more than serve as a very small first step. For those reasons, I think teachers here should count ourselves very lucky to have been able to get jobs that are, in general, straight-forward, relatively well-paid and fairly secure. That's not me saying that teachers with fewer qualifications can't be good, or that those with more qualifications necessarily are.
Some people here have legitimate gripes, I don't mind them. It's the majority who are basically complaining rather than facing up to their own inadequacies that do, sometimes, really bother me. Please let me NEVER turn into that. Living in Korea has paid for my MA, my trips over the past 4/5 years, given me teaching experiences beyond those I could have had in England, given me the opportunity to sing with great musicians and introduced me to a lot of people I know I'll know for years to come. I could complain, I sometimes do (and will), but we shouldn't. I think it's totally disrespectful to the place we live and the people who live here. Rant over.
Haven't been blogging due to a heavy workload and what I think I can accurately refer to as sleep-deprivation over the past few days. I, perhaps unwisely, got up at 3.30am on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning to watch Ireland labour to a 3-1 win at home to Andorra. Brownie points if you even know where Andorra is. McGeady was better than I have ever seen him for Ireland (which isn't saying much) but the cautious Trapattoni approach can be SO frustrating to watch. Nevertheless, we are top of the group after two games (20% of the campaign already). After we have welcomed Russia and visited Slovakia (their conquerors last week in Moscow) next month, we'll have a much better idea where we stand. I loved my time in Poland last December. How sweet it would be to go back to watch Ireland there in 2012.
Like I said, work is tough these days but I'm enjoying it. I'm probably putting more time into preparing the lessons than I need to but the classes are going really well and, to be honest, I love the satisfaction of creating a lesson from scratch with an end goal in mind and watching it all fall into place the way I wanted. That doesn't always happen, but when it does, it feels good. Some of my students are so earnest and hard-working that they make me want to prepare even more so that I can squeeze everything I can out of them. Sometimes that has resulted in me pushing them too hard, but I guess you have to learn from that. I have the added pressure (in my own mind, at least) of sharing my DDE2 classes with probably the best teacher here. I know I need to be at the races to avoid looking anything other than rubbish in the eyes of the students in comparison to him. Reading back, I see I need to get a bit of balance back into my life too. What would Tom Hodgkinson say!?
On that note, I'm looking forward to tomorrow, Friday, hopefully meeting my friend's girlfriend, dinner with friends at Hollywoods on Saturday, free tickets (I hope) to FC Seoul V Daegu at 7, and whatever happens after that... No band practice this weekend due to unforeseen circumstances but here's one of the songs we're planning on covering at our earliest convenience. Classic...
The reason I bring it up now is that the only real complaint I ever have about life in Korea is complaining foreigners. I know, the irony isn't lost on me, don't worry. At times, it actually infuriates me. The absolute worst thing is foreigners complaining about the Koreans offering their services but not speaking English well enough for their liking. WE LIVE IN KOREA! THEY SPEAK KOREAN HERE!! Often, the person who says this has lived here for a fair few years, but (like myself) hasn't bothered to learn the local language to the point where they can do all their dealings through it. Another is people complaining about the amount of work they have to do or unfair expectations from their employers. No doubt, some people are royally screwed over here. I can't argue with that. But I have some strong opinions about the qualifications necessary to teach here. If I had a child and found out that his/her teacher had, for example, a 2:2 degree in a subject unrelated to what they teach, well, I wouldn't be happy. Would you? Nor do I buy the TEFL/CELTA argument. Having done my PGCE, TEFL and CELTA, I can tell you that the latter two only really need to be completed, they're not exactly taxing. They don't necessarily improve you as a teacher. A year-long PGCE doesn't even slightly prepare you for the range of scenarios you might have to deal with in the classroom. There's no way a 100-hour (or similar) certificate can claim to do more than serve as a very small first step. For those reasons, I think teachers here should count ourselves very lucky to have been able to get jobs that are, in general, straight-forward, relatively well-paid and fairly secure. That's not me saying that teachers with fewer qualifications can't be good, or that those with more qualifications necessarily are.
Some people here have legitimate gripes, I don't mind them. It's the majority who are basically complaining rather than facing up to their own inadequacies that do, sometimes, really bother me. Please let me NEVER turn into that. Living in Korea has paid for my MA, my trips over the past 4/5 years, given me teaching experiences beyond those I could have had in England, given me the opportunity to sing with great musicians and introduced me to a lot of people I know I'll know for years to come. I could complain, I sometimes do (and will), but we shouldn't. I think it's totally disrespectful to the place we live and the people who live here. Rant over.
Haven't been blogging due to a heavy workload and what I think I can accurately refer to as sleep-deprivation over the past few days. I, perhaps unwisely, got up at 3.30am on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning to watch Ireland labour to a 3-1 win at home to Andorra. Brownie points if you even know where Andorra is. McGeady was better than I have ever seen him for Ireland (which isn't saying much) but the cautious Trapattoni approach can be SO frustrating to watch. Nevertheless, we are top of the group after two games (20% of the campaign already). After we have welcomed Russia and visited Slovakia (their conquerors last week in Moscow) next month, we'll have a much better idea where we stand. I loved my time in Poland last December. How sweet it would be to go back to watch Ireland there in 2012.
Like I said, work is tough these days but I'm enjoying it. I'm probably putting more time into preparing the lessons than I need to but the classes are going really well and, to be honest, I love the satisfaction of creating a lesson from scratch with an end goal in mind and watching it all fall into place the way I wanted. That doesn't always happen, but when it does, it feels good. Some of my students are so earnest and hard-working that they make me want to prepare even more so that I can squeeze everything I can out of them. Sometimes that has resulted in me pushing them too hard, but I guess you have to learn from that. I have the added pressure (in my own mind, at least) of sharing my DDE2 classes with probably the best teacher here. I know I need to be at the races to avoid looking anything other than rubbish in the eyes of the students in comparison to him. Reading back, I see I need to get a bit of balance back into my life too. What would Tom Hodgkinson say!?
On that note, I'm looking forward to tomorrow, Friday, hopefully meeting my friend's girlfriend, dinner with friends at Hollywoods on Saturday, free tickets (I hope) to FC Seoul V Daegu at 7, and whatever happens after that... No band practice this weekend due to unforeseen circumstances but here's one of the songs we're planning on covering at our earliest convenience. Classic...
Monday 6 September 2010
It's a Skill...
....mastered by me. Really, it takes a special kind of person to stay in on a Friday night, few quiet beers, bit of footy streaming live online... and still manage to not make it to bed (a mere 6 feet away) until nigh-on 8am. It might say something about our screen-obsessed internet-based generation, but I actually had a pretty nice night sat in on my lonesome. The couple of hours between the end of class and midnight flew as they always do before Stephen and I messaged frantically trying to find a good stream of Armenia V Ireland.
We struck gold about twenty-minutes into the game (myp2p.eu is the way to go) and witnessed the rest of the first half, largely dominated by Ireland but with no cutting edge. We were both starting to get a bit panicky before Keith Fahey (whose arrival at the expense of Duffers I roundly criticised...) finished a decent move to put us ahead. That was the signal for us to start pressing the self-destruct button and, towards the end of the match, we looked as though we had confused Armenia with Brazil. Still, we held on. 1-0 away from home against an awkward opponent is a good start. Perhaps we could have done it in more style, but that may be me getting above my station. Bring on Andorra tonight at the Aviva - I'll be setting the alarm clock for 3.30am, let's see how successful that'll be...
After the Ireland game was Wales away to Montenegro, who opted NOT to select (my hero) Dejan, who played for FC Seoul the next night. Still, they managed a 1-0 home win to put pressure on Toshack's position as manager. I wonder how much longer the little fledgling nation-state will be under-estimated? Then, it was Scotland struggling to a draw away against Lithuania and Northern Ireland grabbing an unlikely win in Slovenia, who were at the World Cup this summer! That led to England's hammering Bulgaria 4-0, and the inane criticisms in the British media, which drove me to email bbc radio 5live more than once during the night! How you can win 4-0 against decent opposition and still continue to be ripped apart by the very same media that tipped you for World Cup honors mere months ago, is beyond me.
Needless to say, I didn't have the early start and productive Saturday that I had anticipated when I struggled to fight the temptation to join Thomas in Itaewon the night before. In fact, I just about had enough time to get ready and eat before I had to leave for Sangam World Cup Stadium for FC Seoul V Gwangju. We had a bit of a scare on the way when it seemed that the game may have kicked off at 7pm, rather than 8pm, which we thought. Helpfully, one of the information lines said 7pm, while the other said 8... Turned out 8 was the way to go. I met Ji, Jim and Stephen at the stadium. FC Seoul were a bit shaky at times but ran out 3-0 winners with a simple free-kick from Kim Jin-Gyu, a decent finish from Dejan and a beautiful and instinctive lob over the keeper from Choi Hyo Jin, who is fast becoming my favourite FC Seoul player. Don't tell Dejan... After the match we headed to Itaewon, then Hongdae... I think I might just be too old to enjoy nights out the way I used to. It was fine, but very chilled. Maybe it's just a phase...
We had a pretty good band practice on Sunday but it was mainly just spent going over things we had done in the past, as it had been so long since we had been able to get together. We got our heads together to fix a date for our first full gig at the start of October in Rocky Mountain Tavern, Itaewon. Now we have something to aim for, and a bit of pressure to get the 20+ songs we'll need altogether. We'll need a name by then too... this is really starting to get ridiculous.... Suggestions, please!
Monday was a long, tough day. It's going to be so every week. The General English classes on campus are a challenge because I only see the students once a week so it's tough to build up any kind of a rapport or get a substantial amount of work done. I'd say I was only at 75% for the first half of the day. One of the hardest things about teaching is that you do really have to be on it all the time, or standards start slipping, and you do/say things you wouldn't do if you were at your best. Thankfully, I squeezed in a bit of a nap before my evening classes and was back on form. My TOEIC class are one of the best groups of students I have ever taught, in terms of attitude and application. I really hope I can keep them on that track.
I had a bit of a scare just before my classes last night. During my nap, I was having some fitful nightmare that something was wrong with my Dad. He was trying to wake me up to say 'goodbye' and it was all pretty unpleasant, to be honest, even after I had been awake for a while. By sheer coincidence, my Mum called me to around 6pm. Now, she NEVER calls me mid-week and she KNOWS I teach late classes. Understandably, I answered the phone fearing the worst, only to find out that she was just calling for a chat... All ok in the end, but another reminder of the precarious nature of life in Korea, where one call from home could change everything in a heartbeat. In fact, I guess it's the nature of all our lives, wherever we are.
But let's not end on too grave a note! I just recently found out that we'll be welcoming two old friends to Seoul over the next few weeks. My ex-girlfriend, Annie, should be visiting in early-October, and our ex-bassist, John, will be here for Chuseok a week from Friday. It'll be great to see them both. We might try to play a gig with John, if Jeff is free. It looks as though Annie might be here for our first gig, which would be weird, because she would be the only person there (I think) who was also at the first U R Seoul gig in 2007, other than Jim and I, of course.
Well, that's more than enough for today. I have physiotherapy in an hour and I'll be back tomorrow with a report of Ireland's glorious victory against the might of Andorra tomorrow.
We struck gold about twenty-minutes into the game (myp2p.eu is the way to go) and witnessed the rest of the first half, largely dominated by Ireland but with no cutting edge. We were both starting to get a bit panicky before Keith Fahey (whose arrival at the expense of Duffers I roundly criticised...) finished a decent move to put us ahead. That was the signal for us to start pressing the self-destruct button and, towards the end of the match, we looked as though we had confused Armenia with Brazil. Still, we held on. 1-0 away from home against an awkward opponent is a good start. Perhaps we could have done it in more style, but that may be me getting above my station. Bring on Andorra tonight at the Aviva - I'll be setting the alarm clock for 3.30am, let's see how successful that'll be...
After the Ireland game was Wales away to Montenegro, who opted NOT to select (my hero) Dejan, who played for FC Seoul the next night. Still, they managed a 1-0 home win to put pressure on Toshack's position as manager. I wonder how much longer the little fledgling nation-state will be under-estimated? Then, it was Scotland struggling to a draw away against Lithuania and Northern Ireland grabbing an unlikely win in Slovenia, who were at the World Cup this summer! That led to England's hammering Bulgaria 4-0, and the inane criticisms in the British media, which drove me to email bbc radio 5live more than once during the night! How you can win 4-0 against decent opposition and still continue to be ripped apart by the very same media that tipped you for World Cup honors mere months ago, is beyond me.
Needless to say, I didn't have the early start and productive Saturday that I had anticipated when I struggled to fight the temptation to join Thomas in Itaewon the night before. In fact, I just about had enough time to get ready and eat before I had to leave for Sangam World Cup Stadium for FC Seoul V Gwangju. We had a bit of a scare on the way when it seemed that the game may have kicked off at 7pm, rather than 8pm, which we thought. Helpfully, one of the information lines said 7pm, while the other said 8... Turned out 8 was the way to go. I met Ji, Jim and Stephen at the stadium. FC Seoul were a bit shaky at times but ran out 3-0 winners with a simple free-kick from Kim Jin-Gyu, a decent finish from Dejan and a beautiful and instinctive lob over the keeper from Choi Hyo Jin, who is fast becoming my favourite FC Seoul player. Don't tell Dejan... After the match we headed to Itaewon, then Hongdae... I think I might just be too old to enjoy nights out the way I used to. It was fine, but very chilled. Maybe it's just a phase...
We had a pretty good band practice on Sunday but it was mainly just spent going over things we had done in the past, as it had been so long since we had been able to get together. We got our heads together to fix a date for our first full gig at the start of October in Rocky Mountain Tavern, Itaewon. Now we have something to aim for, and a bit of pressure to get the 20+ songs we'll need altogether. We'll need a name by then too... this is really starting to get ridiculous.... Suggestions, please!
Monday was a long, tough day. It's going to be so every week. The General English classes on campus are a challenge because I only see the students once a week so it's tough to build up any kind of a rapport or get a substantial amount of work done. I'd say I was only at 75% for the first half of the day. One of the hardest things about teaching is that you do really have to be on it all the time, or standards start slipping, and you do/say things you wouldn't do if you were at your best. Thankfully, I squeezed in a bit of a nap before my evening classes and was back on form. My TOEIC class are one of the best groups of students I have ever taught, in terms of attitude and application. I really hope I can keep them on that track.
I had a bit of a scare just before my classes last night. During my nap, I was having some fitful nightmare that something was wrong with my Dad. He was trying to wake me up to say 'goodbye' and it was all pretty unpleasant, to be honest, even after I had been awake for a while. By sheer coincidence, my Mum called me to around 6pm. Now, she NEVER calls me mid-week and she KNOWS I teach late classes. Understandably, I answered the phone fearing the worst, only to find out that she was just calling for a chat... All ok in the end, but another reminder of the precarious nature of life in Korea, where one call from home could change everything in a heartbeat. In fact, I guess it's the nature of all our lives, wherever we are.
But let's not end on too grave a note! I just recently found out that we'll be welcoming two old friends to Seoul over the next few weeks. My ex-girlfriend, Annie, should be visiting in early-October, and our ex-bassist, John, will be here for Chuseok a week from Friday. It'll be great to see them both. We might try to play a gig with John, if Jeff is free. It looks as though Annie might be here for our first gig, which would be weird, because she would be the only person there (I think) who was also at the first U R Seoul gig in 2007, other than Jim and I, of course.
Well, that's more than enough for today. I have physiotherapy in an hour and I'll be back tomorrow with a report of Ireland's glorious victory against the might of Andorra tomorrow.
Friday 3 September 2010
TFIF
Ok, yeah alright it's Friday night! Even though I'm just sat in with a couple of beers waiting for the Armenia V Ireland match on iraqgoals at midnight, it's still a great feeling to have a tough week out of the way and a couple of days of relative ease to look forward to. And it has been a long, tough week. The amount of lesson-planning is insane and, coupled with two physio sessions a week starting yesterday, it seems a long way until the Christmas holidays in Ireland right now. I'm so deprived of sleep that I actually passed out at my desk yesterday at about 6pm and needed a wake-up call from the office to get me to class at 6.40pm!? Not good. On the plus side, the time I'm putting into planning is really paying off in the lessons. I'm still pretty chirpy about it all at the minute, but let's see how I feel after a few weeks of this carry on. Definitely not what I signed up for.
The trip to the hospital yesterday was pretty encouraging. The doc told me that my knee is progressing and not to worry too much about occasional swelling. I have at least another month in my brace but he wants me to start cycling in the gym in a couple of weeks so I'm definitely getting there. I also had my first of seven proper physio sessions. Hot pack, ultra-sound, electro-pulse therapy, laser treatment, and about an hour of rubbing, prodding, bending and twisting. I was in awe of how much the nurse really knew what she was doing (or seemed to...) and the pain and swelling I had been enduring all week subsided pretty quickly. It also helped that almost everyone I came across spoke pretty decent English and were so reassuring and informative. It's still a major inconvenience, and surgery is still a possibility, but I definitely feel a lot more positive about it all now.
My language-exchange in Myeong Dong earlier today was a little short but sweet today, due to my schedule. I'm glad to say that Na Ra is progressing gradually with her English proficiency, and I think I am gradually becoming less embarrassingly rubbish at Korean. I'm determined not to let it slip and undo all the work I put into it over the summer. The same goes for guitar, which I'm still mucking around with when I can. Apparently we all have to have something to play/sing at home for Christmas so I might be able to accompany myself for the first time in my life. Why I didn't learn guitar earlier, I simply cannot say. It turns out that a Colombian friend of Rachel's will also be spending Christmas with us, so it'll be quite the cosmopolitan celebration up in Cooley. I'll get my musical fix before that at band practice on Sunday with Jim, Jeff and Cheon. It hasn't been easy to arrange with all our different responsibilities with work and other bands, but hopefully this is the start of us getting our act together again. Suggestions on covers are always welcome, as is a band name, which we STILL haven't been able to come up with...
Big weekend of football coming up BUT I'm not going to go into it today. I do want to plug the first K-League podcast which I listened to just minutes ago. It certainly has it's flaws and was very biased and barely acknowledged the existence of FC Seoul (due to the fact it was presented by two Suwon fans, I assume) but it's a brilliant resource for English-speaking K-League fans and I expect it to develop and get better and better. FC Seoul V Gwangju tomorrow night at 8pm, World Cup Stadium, minus our international players. Still, it should be a comfortable home victory. We need it to be. Incidentally, I think I have wangled four free tickets for next week's match against Daegu from a bar owner friend in Itaewon. I'm picking up my fair share of FC Seoul freebies these days!
Right, I'm struggling to stay awake at this point so I'm going to sign off and ready myself for what will hopefully be a great start to Ireland's European Championship 2012 qualifying campaign. I very much doubt that I'll be blogging again before Tuesday (I'm dreading my grueling Monday timetable already) but, in the meantime, let me know if there's anything you'd particularly like me to write about on here. I always have ideas at random times throughout the day but whenever I actually sit down to write, whatever comes out, comes out. Maybe I'm being a bit too 'safe' with my subject matter. Remember, I'm still pretty new to all this. I'll leave you with an incredibly good version of one of the songs our 'as-yet-unnamed' band will be going over on Sunday, I'm sure. Have a great weekend. Make it count.
The trip to the hospital yesterday was pretty encouraging. The doc told me that my knee is progressing and not to worry too much about occasional swelling. I have at least another month in my brace but he wants me to start cycling in the gym in a couple of weeks so I'm definitely getting there. I also had my first of seven proper physio sessions. Hot pack, ultra-sound, electro-pulse therapy, laser treatment, and about an hour of rubbing, prodding, bending and twisting. I was in awe of how much the nurse really knew what she was doing (or seemed to...) and the pain and swelling I had been enduring all week subsided pretty quickly. It also helped that almost everyone I came across spoke pretty decent English and were so reassuring and informative. It's still a major inconvenience, and surgery is still a possibility, but I definitely feel a lot more positive about it all now.
My language-exchange in Myeong Dong earlier today was a little short but sweet today, due to my schedule. I'm glad to say that Na Ra is progressing gradually with her English proficiency, and I think I am gradually becoming less embarrassingly rubbish at Korean. I'm determined not to let it slip and undo all the work I put into it over the summer. The same goes for guitar, which I'm still mucking around with when I can. Apparently we all have to have something to play/sing at home for Christmas so I might be able to accompany myself for the first time in my life. Why I didn't learn guitar earlier, I simply cannot say. It turns out that a Colombian friend of Rachel's will also be spending Christmas with us, so it'll be quite the cosmopolitan celebration up in Cooley. I'll get my musical fix before that at band practice on Sunday with Jim, Jeff and Cheon. It hasn't been easy to arrange with all our different responsibilities with work and other bands, but hopefully this is the start of us getting our act together again. Suggestions on covers are always welcome, as is a band name, which we STILL haven't been able to come up with...
Big weekend of football coming up BUT I'm not going to go into it today. I do want to plug the first K-League podcast which I listened to just minutes ago. It certainly has it's flaws and was very biased and barely acknowledged the existence of FC Seoul (due to the fact it was presented by two Suwon fans, I assume) but it's a brilliant resource for English-speaking K-League fans and I expect it to develop and get better and better. FC Seoul V Gwangju tomorrow night at 8pm, World Cup Stadium, minus our international players. Still, it should be a comfortable home victory. We need it to be. Incidentally, I think I have wangled four free tickets for next week's match against Daegu from a bar owner friend in Itaewon. I'm picking up my fair share of FC Seoul freebies these days!
Right, I'm struggling to stay awake at this point so I'm going to sign off and ready myself for what will hopefully be a great start to Ireland's European Championship 2012 qualifying campaign. I very much doubt that I'll be blogging again before Tuesday (I'm dreading my grueling Monday timetable already) but, in the meantime, let me know if there's anything you'd particularly like me to write about on here. I always have ideas at random times throughout the day but whenever I actually sit down to write, whatever comes out, comes out. Maybe I'm being a bit too 'safe' with my subject matter. Remember, I'm still pretty new to all this. I'll leave you with an incredibly good version of one of the songs our 'as-yet-unnamed' band will be going over on Sunday, I'm sure. Have a great weekend. Make it count.
Wednesday 1 September 2010
Hobble, hobble.
So I haven't really mentioned my dodgy knee for a bit and the reason for this is that, compared with initially, it has not been feeling too bad. Unfortunately, the end of my lazy summer days and my pretty tough schedule so far this week has made it necessary for me to be up on my feet more than my beleaguered ligaments were ready for. Welcome back, swelling. Long time no see, throbbing pain. It's been a while, hobbling. Coincidentally, my next (and I was hoping last) appointment at the hospital is today. If the weather holds up (there is a typhoon in town today but, thankfully, it hasn't been too drastic so far) then I should hear what he has to say and have some idea when I might be able to get back to full mobility. That's the dream! haha.. throbbing...
Yesterday evening, I headed over to Ji's house to chill out with her and with the intention of watching Pohang Steelers V FC Seoul on her TV (I don't have one myself). Infuriatingly, the game wasn't being shown on any of the MANY sports channels here. Apparently, it makes more sense to play the SAME baseball match simultaneously on different channels rather than air a team that attracted 60,000 supporters to a match earlier in the season (albeit on Children's Day and with a promotion, but still). I got to see the goals on the news and watched the extended highlights this morning. I'm delighted to say that we recorded an impressive 4-1 win to move up to third in the table, just a point behind Seongnam, who have played a game more. Importantly, we're also 9 clear of Suwon (evil) in 7th. Hopefully there will be no slip-ups at home against Gwangju on Saturday night at 8pm, Sangam World Cup Stadium.
Dejan was missing for the game because he's off on International duty with Montenegro who face Wales at home on Friday and travel to Bulgaria the following Tuesday. With Switzerland and England also in that group, it's a really tough one. Ireland have a tricky start against Armenia in Yerevan on Friday before what should be a straightforward tie next Tuesday in the new Aviva Stadium against Andorra. We have a fair few injury concerns and Trap is still on the mend, but surely there's a possibility of taking all six points on offer. How sweet that would be...
Schedule still tough as... Had the luxury of a full night's sleep last night but there is SO much preparation and SO many classes that the end never seems in sight no matter how much work I seem to be getting done. Thankfully, they are all going well and I think I know where I'm headed with them all. I'm eager not to let things like guitar, Korean, reading and so on fall by the way side. For now, I'm managing to keep everything in check (and blog regularly, which is a welcome distraction). When the MA recommences in early October, I'm not sure how I'll fit it all in. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it...
Yesterday evening, I headed over to Ji's house to chill out with her and with the intention of watching Pohang Steelers V FC Seoul on her TV (I don't have one myself). Infuriatingly, the game wasn't being shown on any of the MANY sports channels here. Apparently, it makes more sense to play the SAME baseball match simultaneously on different channels rather than air a team that attracted 60,000 supporters to a match earlier in the season (albeit on Children's Day and with a promotion, but still). I got to see the goals on the news and watched the extended highlights this morning. I'm delighted to say that we recorded an impressive 4-1 win to move up to third in the table, just a point behind Seongnam, who have played a game more. Importantly, we're also 9 clear of Suwon (evil) in 7th. Hopefully there will be no slip-ups at home against Gwangju on Saturday night at 8pm, Sangam World Cup Stadium.
Dejan was missing for the game because he's off on International duty with Montenegro who face Wales at home on Friday and travel to Bulgaria the following Tuesday. With Switzerland and England also in that group, it's a really tough one. Ireland have a tricky start against Armenia in Yerevan on Friday before what should be a straightforward tie next Tuesday in the new Aviva Stadium against Andorra. We have a fair few injury concerns and Trap is still on the mend, but surely there's a possibility of taking all six points on offer. How sweet that would be...
Schedule still tough as... Had the luxury of a full night's sleep last night but there is SO much preparation and SO many classes that the end never seems in sight no matter how much work I seem to be getting done. Thankfully, they are all going well and I think I know where I'm headed with them all. I'm eager not to let things like guitar, Korean, reading and so on fall by the way side. For now, I'm managing to keep everything in check (and blog regularly, which is a welcome distraction). When the MA recommences in early October, I'm not sure how I'll fit it all in. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it...
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