Close Your Eyes, Stick A Pin In A Map

It might not even be Christmas yet but, if you're looking for work at an International School next summer (as I am), then it's time to get on it. Next year could be a real crossroads for me, with a girlfriend and life of my own in Korea, but a niggling feeling that I'd love to try something new. There will be jobs available in Korea (and probably at Ji's school), but there's no denying the excitement of looking through the job postings in Bali, Kenya, Poland (among many, many others) and wondering, 'why not?' I don't know about you, but the place where I do my best thinking and decision-making is at home. I'm going to enjoy fourteen sweet days back in the land of my birth (beyond fourteen is generally the point where I slowly start wanting to leave again) and come back ready to face 2011 with a firm goal in mind. There'll be lists of pros and cons, chats with my nearest and dearest, beer-inspired claims that I am going to 100% definitely do x or y, only to think the exact opposite the very next morning. Words of wisdom are welcome, but with my MA finishing in the summer, my patience running out with TEFL, my desire to start really putting my training into practice by teaching something I am passionate about, and the looming job crisis for teachers best exemplified by this Scottish example, I know 2011 is the year to get on to the IS circuit. I can recommend a fairly good blog about IS teaching here, but any further links are more than welcome.

I was in Asia-Pacific International School today covering English and AP history with some forensics thrown in at the end of the day for good measure. Every day I spend there is great for my dissertation, which will focus on (as yet unselected) international schools in the research section, which I aim to begin in January. Ji is pretty keen for me to apply for the social studies position opening in the summer, but working with my girlfriend is an idea I'm just not comfortable with at the minute. She rightly pointed out earlier (girlfriends tend to be right, don't they?) that, as I'm looking for my first IS position, I'm not really in a position to be choosy. Still, I'd like to throw my hat in the ring at a few other locations first, and see what comes of that. I don't know, but sharing a workplace and a private life with something must be tough. Or maybe I just need to grow up.

I have been receiving calls and emails throughout the day from students querying their grades or asking for clarification in specific areas. As I've told them, I'm happy to answer their questions, but it is a little frustrating that I have already given them all the information in their course syllabus at the beginning of each term and as I assigned each piece of assessment. Still, it's only natural that they would pay more attention now even though, in reality, it's a bit too late. The student grades effect who gets full/partial/no bursaries for the course, so I made pretty damn sure that I put a lot of thought into finding a fair and clear evaluation method that I could justify if I had to. I'm confident that the majority of my colleagues did the same, but there was one teacher boasting about how he just made all the grades up, so you can't blame the students for questioning us in a way. Although almost all the people I work with are professional, creative and talented, the odd lost soul teaching English because they can't find anything else they can do (like the person mentioned above), does really hit the morale of those of us who think what we're doing might actually matter.

I spent like what seemed forever sorting out the final marks for my general English classes during free periods today. There was a bit of confusion when a student's paper who I've never taught showed up in one of my piles, but we soon located where it should have been so minor panic over. Once I have met my boss to go over a few things, handed in my final grades and tied up a couple of loose ends with two of my students tomorrow, I'll be officially done for the semester. Then starts the process of getting ready for home, Christmas and making sure I don't leave anything important behind. Now, where did I leave my passport...?

My Dead End Friends Again...

I'm subbing in Ji's school today ('teaching' history and media) but it has been a pretty straight-forward day so far. I love having the chance to do the odd day here and there and it gives me an insight into what my job will be like when I land an International School job (note the positivity). There is a volleyball tournament here today with a lot of the other International Schools visiting. It's interesting how ethnically Asian-based this school is in comparison to others. The boys were complaining about not having a nice range of girls to drool over. I had the same problem when I was at school, boys! It's also interesting to see how the ethnic-Korean majority interact with the minority students. I can't say they do so very well, from what I can see...

I'm hopefully going to have a chance to talk over some of my preliminary research questions with the head teacher here after school. Interestingly, the sample questionnaire I have for her touches on issues of multi-culturalism, diversity, and learning to live together. At this early stage, I'm only interested in getting feedback about the nature of the questions to aid my methodology, rather than being too concerned by her actual responses. I have my first assignment due on Sunday and preparation is going quite well so far. At this early stage, I'm interested in the topic and so it doesn't seem like a drag studying. I'm sure that won't last too long.

Straight after I finish here I'm going to have to go buy some more snacks and decorations for our Halloween Party in class tonight. The girls are going to set up a ghoulish casino and get the room looking suitably spooky. The girls in the office are going to go round taking pictures and I think the best classes will win some money, so they're pretty well-motivated for it! It a should be a fun night anyhow and I'm glad I don't have to teach having been here all day already. I still haven't gotten round to sorting out my own Halloween costume so it'll be pretty lame tonight. There's a big Halloween warehouse in Sadang so I'll go there and sort something out tomorrow. Prepared well in advance, as ever. I was tempted to just wear my priest costume for the fourth time or whatever it is at this stage.

Before I wind this up for the day, a quick plug for our new band and a request. We're working hard to have a good set together for Rocky Mountain Tavern, Itaewon, on November 6th. I just set up a facebook page for us today so please check it out here, click 'like' or whatever is, and we'll be able to keep in touch with everyone about upcoming shows and the like. If you could suggest the page to friends, that'd be even better. Have a fun Halloween everyone!

Silverware!

Well it's a momentous night because, in all the time we've been supporting FC Seoul here, they have finally got their hands on some actual silverware! Ok, it might just be the Posco Cup (the third tier competition here, equivalent to the League Cup in England) but beggars can't be choosers. It was a 3-0 victory away to reigning league-Champions Jeonbuk Motors who recently inflicted a 1-0 defeat on us in the league. Having survived some sustained pressure at the beginning of the game, FC Seoul began to assert themselves and new signing, Djeparov, should have put them ahead having been put through one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Unfortunately he choked. That guy could really be doing with a goal to help him settle and become the key player I believe he has the ability to become for us. Goals from Dejan (which we missed as the TV directors were still showing a replay of Djeparov's miss), Jung Jo Gook (going with the 'baby' celebrations again) and substitute Lee Seung Ryeol sealed a famous victory for the Sangam-based club. Let's hope they can push on from here and seal the championship. I'll be going down to Suwon on Saturday night for a huge derby match with our traditional rivals, who have been showing improved form of late, since their change in management.

I was intending to shell out the stg2,100 for the final installment of my MA today but, annoyingly, my Irish debit card wouldn't work for me so I'll have to do it tomorrow. It's a huge amount of money to pay out at once and I've certainly never spent that much at once before. In saying that, it's nice to have got to this stage of my education without incurring any debt, so I know it's a lot less than some others have to pay in the long run. September is going to be a painful month for me financially but I'll start recovering from October onwards only for Christmas to clean out my pockets again. Ah the continuous cycle of earning and spending only to necessitate the need to earn further for future spending - why do we bother!? No, I know the MA is, in a way, an investment and I hope it'll pay off in the long-term. As for Christmas, I just (finally) uploaded my pictures of Christmas 2009 to facebook and it's something you can't really put a price on.

I was a PE teacher for the day yesterday at APIS. As pointed out by my sole commenter (mainly), it was a welcome change from the books. The kids at that school are predominantly ethnic Koreans but all are native English speakers. They are well-behaved and enthusiastic, in the main, but it's not always easy to motivate them all to participate in games. I think PE teachers are all too easily admonished by their peers but it's a skill I'd love to know more about. No doubt, encouraging children and teenagers to be more active and spotting talent where it exists are worthy activities. I always enjoy the atmosphere of the International School and it further whets my appetite. Hopefully 2011 will be the year...

Band practice just didn't happen this week because we all had other things going on. Still, Jim and I were just chatting tonight that we still might be able to practice briefly on Saturday and try a short gig later that night. I was eager to play Friday so that a few of those leaving soon might be able to hear us first, but we haven't played together in over a month so I guess it's too great a risk. I'm really keen to get things going again and build up some momentum so that we can be playing full gigs by ourselves by October. Let's hope we can get everyone on side to do just that.

Rob and I said our goodbyes tonight so I won't be seeing him again until Christmas. Jess, Kev and Jo all follow suit in the coming days so it's definitely the start of something new for us here in Seoul. It's pretty late here so I'm going to head to bed and read a few more chapters of David Copperfield now. I should have time to blog again tomorrow and I think it's time to write about one of those other topics I mentioned that I have been avoiding so far. I'm not as worried about ruffling feathers as I was when I started this carry on.