So the first week of school has come and gone, and while there have been more than a couple 12-hour days, neither of us is all that much worse for the wear. And a special bonus: the first Saturday we won't be spending at the school!
In fact, we actually had one-on-one meetings with our principal this week, and while he paid Nana and me pretty much the two greatest compliments I could think of ("You don't act like first-year teachers" and "The kids are telling their parents they've never had teachers like you" -- seriously, the parents are all posting to this giant Seoul education forum bragging about the middle school faculty at APIS), he also cautioned us against working too much. Which is a much easier warning to heed now that the school year is underway and much of the overhead work is already done!
So, today, then, will be devoted to adventure. What's the deal with Changdeokgung? Where's the best pot of tea in Insadong? Just as important: Can Justin and Nana set up wireless in the apartment? Can they buy cell phones? Can Justin buy some new shirts?
Stay tuned!
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Geek Joy!
Google may very well be the greatest thing ever.
Observe:
I'm going to post all my assignments on Google Calendar.
I'm going to share my class calendars will all my kids.
I'm going to have the kids set up RSS feeds or e-mail alerts for every time I add or change homework--the e-mails will go to their APIS Gmail accounts.
I'm going to put all make-up work on Google Docs, online.
Every last one of these things will show up on the kids' customized APIS Google start pages.
Which will be the first thing they see when they go online.
No more "the dog ate my homework," baby! And a whole heck of a lot of saved trees.
Observe:
I'm going to post all my assignments on Google Calendar.
I'm going to share my class calendars will all my kids.
I'm going to have the kids set up RSS feeds or e-mail alerts for every time I add or change homework--the e-mails will go to their APIS Gmail accounts.
I'm going to put all make-up work on Google Docs, online.
Every last one of these things will show up on the kids' customized APIS Google start pages.
Which will be the first thing they see when they go online.
No more "the dog ate my homework," baby! And a whole heck of a lot of saved trees.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
CHICKEN AND BEER . . .
. . . is awesome. Just in case you forgot.
Yeah, seriously--after a late evening at the school yesterday, Nana and I went with our friend/coworker Paul (the guy who speaks Korean) to a chicken shop a few blocks from the school. (A chicken shop named "Hoo-la-la," no less.) Paul had seen the place hopping a few nights before and decided so many people couldn't all be wrong.
And let me assure you, they weren't.
I had read before coming to Korea that the Koreans really knew how to do fried chicken and beer, but I was determined to withhold judgement--I've had some pretty good experiences with fried chicken and beer in the states. (Mmm. . . chicken, okra, and bock under a tree outside the Spoetzle Brewery in Shiner, Texas . . . yes, that Shiner . . .)
After the other night, though, I have to say you can believe what you read. The beer wasn't the world's greatest (they had Cass on tap, far inferior to Hite, which is itself only a decent/unspectacular beer), but the chicken was superb. It was fried super-crispy, but still tender, in some kind of soy-batter, so it was salty and sweet and a little bit zingy all at once. The price tag was a bit high, but like KBBQ, it's meant to be shared, and three people can dine heartily without anyone spending more than ten bucks.
So, yes, Korean fried chicken--certainly an experience everyone should have once in their lives!
Yeah, seriously--after a late evening at the school yesterday, Nana and I went with our friend/coworker Paul (the guy who speaks Korean) to a chicken shop a few blocks from the school. (A chicken shop named "Hoo-la-la," no less.) Paul had seen the place hopping a few nights before and decided so many people couldn't all be wrong.
And let me assure you, they weren't.
I had read before coming to Korea that the Koreans really knew how to do fried chicken and beer, but I was determined to withhold judgement--I've had some pretty good experiences with fried chicken and beer in the states. (Mmm. . . chicken, okra, and bock under a tree outside the Spoetzle Brewery in Shiner, Texas . . . yes, that Shiner . . .)
After the other night, though, I have to say you can believe what you read. The beer wasn't the world's greatest (they had Cass on tap, far inferior to Hite, which is itself only a decent/unspectacular beer), but the chicken was superb. It was fried super-crispy, but still tender, in some kind of soy-batter, so it was salty and sweet and a little bit zingy all at once. The price tag was a bit high, but like KBBQ, it's meant to be shared, and three people can dine heartily without anyone spending more than ten bucks.
So, yes, Korean fried chicken--certainly an experience everyone should have once in their lives!
Classroom Snapshot: Learning Skills
I thought it would be interesting for you, our loyal readers, if we occasionally penned a few lines about the kinds of things we're doing in our classes. Given our ESL situation here at APIS (i.e., we have a lot of ESL students), we've needed to be really flexible with our instruction, and we've also had to turn to a few innovative strategies for keeping the native speakers engaged and interested without letting the English language learners get too lost. Though I imagine this will be of the most interest to our other educator friends out there on teh intarwebs (Shana? Errol? Michelle--both of you?), I hope all y'all layfolk will dig this kind of thing, too.
Anyway, down to brass tacks. (I have to get all my goofy idioms out now--I can't use them yet with my kids!)
A majority of our students came to school last week completely unprepared. I know this is a mantra of whiny teachers everywhere, but at APIS it was particularly true. The parents clamored for weeks for a list of supplies the kids needed for class . . . and then completely ignored it. We had kids come to school last week without pens or pencils, let alone notebooks. (We had this problem at Shaw last year, but for a very different reason . . . You can trust me, if they're in this school, they can afford notebooks and pens!) The idea of note-taking seemed completely foreign to them. And don't even ask about speaking in class!
Apparently, note-taking isn't common in Korean schools (earlier post)--including several of the international schools, which are based on the old British model, which gives the students a lot of independence, but as far as guidance and classroom participation goes, it doesn't offer anything more than the typical Korean school. And speaking up in class? Even less so. Culturally, many of these kids came to APIS completely unprepared to function in an American-style classroom.
That's where I come in. We've been working from some pretty specific standards and benchmarks here at APIS, and we have a lot of material for every class . . . but most of my benchmarks are procedural, whereas most of everyone else's benchmarks are declarative. In other words, most folks are teaching whats and whys, while I'm teaching hows. My very vague and very generally-stated goal for the year is to get these kids ready to read well, and to speak and write coherently about books. Another way of putting it is that I have very few standards, but the standards are very broad. (You'll have to pardon me--when I'm tired I lapse into jargon.)
So I've gone ahead and thrown myself on the proverbial grenade and built my entire first unit for each grade level around basic learning skills: listening, speaking, note taking, test taking, and working in groups. I've been specifically trying to tie these lessons to material from other classes, and my lovely wife has been great about practicing these learning skills with her students in social studies class. It's been an uphill struggle, surely, but my hope is that a few days spent on basic skills (and basic expectations! i.e. "Yes, you should take notes during class!") will help the rest of the year--in every classroom--run much more smoothly. So far, results have been pretty good, though only time can tell just how well the lessons took.
And now, I surrender the floor to you, our loyal readers. Can you think of any learning skills other than the ones I mentioned that fairly clueless middle schoolers absolutely need to know? If you're an edumacator, have you ever found yourself needing to throw a unit like this at 8th graders? How normal is this? (I have no idea!) And finally, a question for everyone: Can you think of any writing topics you really, really enjoyed in middle school or high school? My next unit is on the writing process, and I want to assign a short piece, preferably autobiographical, for the kids to work with throughout the unit.
Thanks for your help!
Anyway, down to brass tacks. (I have to get all my goofy idioms out now--I can't use them yet with my kids!)
A majority of our students came to school last week completely unprepared. I know this is a mantra of whiny teachers everywhere, but at APIS it was particularly true. The parents clamored for weeks for a list of supplies the kids needed for class . . . and then completely ignored it. We had kids come to school last week without pens or pencils, let alone notebooks. (We had this problem at Shaw last year, but for a very different reason . . . You can trust me, if they're in this school, they can afford notebooks and pens!) The idea of note-taking seemed completely foreign to them. And don't even ask about speaking in class!
Apparently, note-taking isn't common in Korean schools (earlier post)--including several of the international schools, which are based on the old British model, which gives the students a lot of independence, but as far as guidance and classroom participation goes, it doesn't offer anything more than the typical Korean school. And speaking up in class? Even less so. Culturally, many of these kids came to APIS completely unprepared to function in an American-style classroom.
That's where I come in. We've been working from some pretty specific standards and benchmarks here at APIS, and we have a lot of material for every class . . . but most of my benchmarks are procedural, whereas most of everyone else's benchmarks are declarative. In other words, most folks are teaching whats and whys, while I'm teaching hows. My very vague and very generally-stated goal for the year is to get these kids ready to read well, and to speak and write coherently about books. Another way of putting it is that I have very few standards, but the standards are very broad. (You'll have to pardon me--when I'm tired I lapse into jargon.)
So I've gone ahead and thrown myself on the proverbial grenade and built my entire first unit for each grade level around basic learning skills: listening, speaking, note taking, test taking, and working in groups. I've been specifically trying to tie these lessons to material from other classes, and my lovely wife has been great about practicing these learning skills with her students in social studies class. It's been an uphill struggle, surely, but my hope is that a few days spent on basic skills (and basic expectations! i.e. "Yes, you should take notes during class!") will help the rest of the year--in every classroom--run much more smoothly. So far, results have been pretty good, though only time can tell just how well the lessons took.
And now, I surrender the floor to you, our loyal readers. Can you think of any learning skills other than the ones I mentioned that fairly clueless middle schoolers absolutely need to know? If you're an edumacator, have you ever found yourself needing to throw a unit like this at 8th graders? How normal is this? (I have no idea!) And finally, a question for everyone: Can you think of any writing topics you really, really enjoyed in middle school or high school? My next unit is on the writing process, and I want to assign a short piece, preferably autobiographical, for the kids to work with throughout the unit.
Thanks for your help!
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Irony
Why is it that my students don't know enough English to read a textbook page without help, but they know enough English to know that "homo erectus" is funny?
Two all-beef patties, special sauce...
Things you can order at a Korean McDonald's:
Bulgogi Burger (Bulgogi is Korean shaved beef, kind of like roast)
Shanghai Spice Chicken Burger
Shrimp Burger
Crazy Hot Chicken Folder (from the picture, I think they mean "pita")
Thai Chili Sauce McNuggets
and of course, that ever-popular side dish, Corn Salad.
I wussed out and got the cheeseburger. "Cheeseburger" in Korea is pronounced "chee-su-bu-guh." It will get you though a lot.
PS. The advertising campaign for their new spicy menu is "HOT 4 YOU." I think I met that guy in a chat room once...
Bulgogi Burger (Bulgogi is Korean shaved beef, kind of like roast)
Shanghai Spice Chicken Burger
Shrimp Burger
Crazy Hot Chicken Folder (from the picture, I think they mean "pita")
Thai Chili Sauce McNuggets
and of course, that ever-popular side dish, Corn Salad.
I wussed out and got the cheeseburger. "Cheeseburger" in Korea is pronounced "chee-su-bu-guh." It will get you though a lot.
PS. The advertising campaign for their new spicy menu is "HOT 4 YOU." I think I met that guy in a chat room once...
Sunday, August 19, 2007
I Stand Corrected!
Some Koreans are comfortable confronting their elders, provided their elders are reconstructed anthropomorphic gargoyles at a Joseon-era palace. And provided the umbrella goes with the shirt.
I would have loved to hear this conversation.
Man: "
Turtle: "
On the Start of School: Lessons Learned
Well, now, the real work begins.
Nana and I weathered the proverbial storm of the first two days of school admirably, if I do say so myself, although we may be a little worse for the wear--we find ourselves completely exhausted this weekend, but (as of yesterday) still with a whole week's worth of planning to do. But we're learning (I hope) and for me at least, each lesson plan gets a little easier to write, and there is even, somewhere on the distant horizon (a few weeks from now?) the possibility of a full weekend off. By which I don't mean a full weekend without any school work to be done--oh, no--just a weekend during which we don't need to spend time at the school. (We were there for about five hours yesterday.) Oh frabjous day!
In any case, here's what I actually meant to do with this post--write a witty, insightful list of some of the lessons we've learned since the start of school three days and a billion years ago.
1. When dealing with middle schoolers, the normal rules that govern the flow of time do not apply. Say you look at the clock and it's 10:40. You start the class working on a fifteen-minute journal assignment. What time is it fifteen minutes later? That's right, it's the end of the period, at 11:35. But the next day, the same assignment could be over at 10:42. In other words, for every lesson, you have either planned twice as much, or half as much, as you need. And as far as I know, there's no telling which one any given activity will be. I've taken 10 minutes to get my ESL kids to get their notebooks and pencils out. But the fairly complicated index-and-table-of-contents exercise I did with the same class on Friday only took five.
2. Most students in domestic Asian schools go through the whole day without saying a word. This is considered a success. Talking is something you do with your tutor--and even then, you had better make sure you mumble, or even cover your mouth when you speak. (Seriously, I have a student who covers her mouth every time she speaks. I can't even hear her over my own breathing.) This has been a serious problem, on top of the language barrier. The kids who have been in American schools not only speak English better, but they're used to interacting with the teacher and with one another in class. And the kids who haven't have two strikes against them: weaker English skills and an ingrained terror of uttering anything that even sounds like a word in the classroom.
3. The same goes for note-taking, it seems. I've had students look at me funny when I asked if they brought a pen and note paper to class. I actually had to pass out note paper and pencils on Friday when I wanted the kids to respond in writing to some questions on the board. I'm told this is normal--apparently, in most Korean schools, the students sit passively and absorb throughout the day, then learn what they can at night from their textbooks and, if they have the money, from their tutors. So no wonder all the kids I see look like they've been awake since the dawn of time! They're wasting eight hours a day! Lesson learned, though: Most of us middle-school teachers have scrapped our previous plans for this upcoming week in favor of a mini-unit on active-listening, note-taking, and discussion skills. In other words, we're going to spend a week getting the kids to talk to us and to write while we talk. It's not their fault, of course--they just came into this having no idea what was going to be expected of them in an American-style classroom.
4. By the way, did I mention that almost all of our kids are Korean? And a majority have never lived overseas or studied in an American or international school. Apparently, those rules governing admission to international schools are made to be broken. Which is fine, it just means we've got a different set of challenges to face: instead of a classroom full of expats and diplobrats (highly independent, to a fault), we've got a classroom full of Koreans (highly respectful, but terminally shy).
5. Our biggest challenge this year won't be educating our English language learners; it will be keeping our (minority of) strong English speakers interested while the rest of the class catches up. I expect a lot of growth very quickly from the ESL kids--they have a ton of support, with an hour of ESL class and two hours of after-school ESL tutoring every day--but I just hope we haven't lost the other kids by the time the ESL crowd is ready to go. This first semester will be interesting, to say the least.
6. And, last but not least: It's not actually that bad to work really hard at something that interests you, or something you care about. This past week, Nana and I have been putting in more hours than we ever did last year in DC, with one particular week of my paralegal misadventures excepted. We're tired, and more than a little nervous at the prospect of keeping these kids engaged and learning through the rest of the year. But we're happy, when we have time to think about it. The work is good.
Plus, the weather is clearing up, which helps. But which also introduces a new problem: instead of crushing heat and rain, now we have searing heat and sun.
For now, all the best from the both of us. Keep the comments coming--posted here, e-mailed, or otherwise. We both love the attention! And it means a lot to us to know that we have such strong support from family and friends.
Nana and I weathered the proverbial storm of the first two days of school admirably, if I do say so myself, although we may be a little worse for the wear--we find ourselves completely exhausted this weekend, but (as of yesterday) still with a whole week's worth of planning to do. But we're learning (I hope) and for me at least, each lesson plan gets a little easier to write, and there is even, somewhere on the distant horizon (a few weeks from now?) the possibility of a full weekend off. By which I don't mean a full weekend without any school work to be done--oh, no--just a weekend during which we don't need to spend time at the school. (We were there for about five hours yesterday.) Oh frabjous day!
In any case, here's what I actually meant to do with this post--write a witty, insightful list of some of the lessons we've learned since the start of school three days and a billion years ago.
1. When dealing with middle schoolers, the normal rules that govern the flow of time do not apply. Say you look at the clock and it's 10:40. You start the class working on a fifteen-minute journal assignment. What time is it fifteen minutes later? That's right, it's the end of the period, at 11:35. But the next day, the same assignment could be over at 10:42. In other words, for every lesson, you have either planned twice as much, or half as much, as you need. And as far as I know, there's no telling which one any given activity will be. I've taken 10 minutes to get my ESL kids to get their notebooks and pencils out. But the fairly complicated index-and-table-of-contents exercise I did with the same class on Friday only took five.
2. Most students in domestic Asian schools go through the whole day without saying a word. This is considered a success. Talking is something you do with your tutor--and even then, you had better make sure you mumble, or even cover your mouth when you speak. (Seriously, I have a student who covers her mouth every time she speaks. I can't even hear her over my own breathing.) This has been a serious problem, on top of the language barrier. The kids who have been in American schools not only speak English better, but they're used to interacting with the teacher and with one another in class. And the kids who haven't have two strikes against them: weaker English skills and an ingrained terror of uttering anything that even sounds like a word in the classroom.
3. The same goes for note-taking, it seems. I've had students look at me funny when I asked if they brought a pen and note paper to class. I actually had to pass out note paper and pencils on Friday when I wanted the kids to respond in writing to some questions on the board. I'm told this is normal--apparently, in most Korean schools, the students sit passively and absorb throughout the day, then learn what they can at night from their textbooks and, if they have the money, from their tutors. So no wonder all the kids I see look like they've been awake since the dawn of time! They're wasting eight hours a day! Lesson learned, though: Most of us middle-school teachers have scrapped our previous plans for this upcoming week in favor of a mini-unit on active-listening, note-taking, and discussion skills. In other words, we're going to spend a week getting the kids to talk to us and to write while we talk. It's not their fault, of course--they just came into this having no idea what was going to be expected of them in an American-style classroom.
4. By the way, did I mention that almost all of our kids are Korean? And a majority have never lived overseas or studied in an American or international school. Apparently, those rules governing admission to international schools are made to be broken. Which is fine, it just means we've got a different set of challenges to face: instead of a classroom full of expats and diplobrats (highly independent, to a fault), we've got a classroom full of Koreans (highly respectful, but terminally shy).
5. Our biggest challenge this year won't be educating our English language learners; it will be keeping our (minority of) strong English speakers interested while the rest of the class catches up. I expect a lot of growth very quickly from the ESL kids--they have a ton of support, with an hour of ESL class and two hours of after-school ESL tutoring every day--but I just hope we haven't lost the other kids by the time the ESL crowd is ready to go. This first semester will be interesting, to say the least.
6. And, last but not least: It's not actually that bad to work really hard at something that interests you, or something you care about. This past week, Nana and I have been putting in more hours than we ever did last year in DC, with one particular week of my paralegal misadventures excepted. We're tired, and more than a little nervous at the prospect of keeping these kids engaged and learning through the rest of the year. But we're happy, when we have time to think about it. The work is good.
Plus, the weather is clearing up, which helps. But which also introduces a new problem: instead of crushing heat and rain, now we have searing heat and sun.
For now, all the best from the both of us. Keep the comments coming--posted here, e-mailed, or otherwise. We both love the attention! And it means a lot to us to know that we have such strong support from family and friends.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Day 2, Adieu
Whew! Day 2--our first normal school day--has passed in a blur. No serious injuries, physical or otherwise. Check.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Exhaustion!!!
We have reached 3:40 PM, which under normal circumstances would mean the school day is over, but today means we have to keep a bunch of wiped-out kids in the room until the assembly, when we have to keep them still for about two hours of hymns, speeches, and plaque presentations. I have them doing their math homework now, but that'll be done soon and I have no idea what will happen next. I don't think this afternoon was planned with child psychology in mind. Or teacher psychology, actually.
A good day but with some things to be concerned about. If a class has a non-Asian kid in it, that kid (at least today) always appears to be on the edge of things, which is not going to be okay at all in the long run and isn't good in the short run either. The sixth grade is... shall we say, high-energy? Welcome to hormone-ville. And it's so hard to teach a class when half the kids are looking at you like, "I have no idea what you just said to me." Except they're probably thinking it in Korean.
Anyway, tomorrow should be yet another very interesting day. And at least I'll probably get to teach it on a full night's sleep - yesterday I was so nervous that I probably slept three hours.
A good day but with some things to be concerned about. If a class has a non-Asian kid in it, that kid (at least today) always appears to be on the edge of things, which is not going to be okay at all in the long run and isn't good in the short run either. The sixth grade is... shall we say, high-energy? Welcome to hormone-ville. And it's so hard to teach a class when half the kids are looking at you like, "I have no idea what you just said to me." Except they're probably thinking it in Korean.
Anyway, tomorrow should be yet another very interesting day. And at least I'll probably get to teach it on a full night's sleep - yesterday I was so nervous that I probably slept three hours.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
I Lied: Photos of Our Classrooms
Nana wanted me to throw a few of these up so you could have some idea of what what we're doing looks like . . .
(By the way, that third picture's the before picture. Rows? Bah! How about seminar style? Woot!)
Wish us luck!
(By the way, that third picture's the before picture. Rows? Bah! How about seminar style? Woot!)
Wish us luck!
Photo Post: Gyeongbokgung Palace
Yesterday I posted an entry (with a bunch of photos) about our visit to Gyeongbokgung Palace (link), but thanks to the vagaries of Blogger, it posted before two of Nana's posts, though it was actually finished after.
So if you missed it, click here (or either of the links above).
So if you missed it, click here (or either of the links above).
The First Day of School . . .
. . . is almost upon us. Which means you probably won't be hearing from us for a day or two--I'll try to put up a short post on Friday, but Saturday is a better bet.
The current mood here at APIS (among those who've stayed late--it's almost 7PM now, and there's pizza on the way) is a mixture of exhaustion, anxiety, anticipation, and relief. Plus a whole lot of punchiness.
Anyway, for now, it's back to the grindstone. There's so much that needs to be done when you're opening a school! And it'll be a long day tomorrow (we have an inauguration ceremony at 5PM and a reception at 7), so we're going to need what little rest we can get.
In the meantime, any leftover prayers or good vibes you've got would be much appreciated.
(But, man, I can't believe the kids will be here tomorrow . . . that's so unreal!)
The current mood here at APIS (among those who've stayed late--it's almost 7PM now, and there's pizza on the way) is a mixture of exhaustion, anxiety, anticipation, and relief. Plus a whole lot of punchiness.
Anyway, for now, it's back to the grindstone. There's so much that needs to be done when you're opening a school! And it'll be a long day tomorrow (we have an inauguration ceremony at 5PM and a reception at 7), so we're going to need what little rest we can get.
In the meantime, any leftover prayers or good vibes you've got would be much appreciated.
(But, man, I can't believe the kids will be here tomorrow . . . that's so unreal!)
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
GAH!
I will be really happy once they get the volume on the bell system here at the school settled down. I just got blown out of my seat again.
Data Call!
Okay everyone, time for me to pick your brains.
I talked to Esther (the ESL-teacher heroine in the movie of the life of APIS) and we agreed that when you're dealing with a foreign language (which we are; 1/2 of my kids are taking English) things are much easier to memorize in song format. What I would like to do is get songs that address the topics of the day in Social Studies and use them to help make the information "stickier" for the kids. Esther has offered to use her Friday class specifically on Social Studies (didn't I tell you she was a heroine?) and could make the song lyrics her translation project.
The question is, what songs?
And this is where you come in.
My topics include :
US History, Native Americans - 1900 (although primarily through Civil War)
the Ancient World (Egypt, Sumer, Indus Valley, ancient China, mesoamerica)
the Classical world (Greece, Rome)
Medieval Middle East ("Golden Age of Islam")
Medieval China
Medieval Europe
Medieval Africa (Mali, Ghana)
Medieval Japan
"Medieval" America (Incas, Aztecs Maya - societies existant during the Age of Discovery)
The Renaissance
The Reformation
The Age of Discovery
The Scientific Revolution
The Enlightenment
Culture of the Pacific/Asia (China, Japan Koreas India Pakistan Israel Saud Arabia Vietnam Australia New Zealand, Pacific Islands
Yes, it's going to be a full year!
So in any case, what have you got? I've got a couple of Civil War songs, songs from 1776, "Madame Guillotine" from The Scarlet Pimpernel if we make it to the French Revolution, "The Impossible Dream" from Man of la Mancha to teach chivalry, and Pharoah's song from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat if I really can't think of anything better. So please, send me ideas!
And anybody who can come up with a song about Medieval Africa gets my undying respect (whatever that's worth!)
I talked to Esther (the ESL-teacher heroine in the movie of the life of APIS) and we agreed that when you're dealing with a foreign language (which we are; 1/2 of my kids are taking English) things are much easier to memorize in song format. What I would like to do is get songs that address the topics of the day in Social Studies and use them to help make the information "stickier" for the kids. Esther has offered to use her Friday class specifically on Social Studies (didn't I tell you she was a heroine?) and could make the song lyrics her translation project.
The question is, what songs?
And this is where you come in.
My topics include :
US History, Native Americans - 1900 (although primarily through Civil War)
the Ancient World (Egypt, Sumer, Indus Valley, ancient China, mesoamerica)
the Classical world (Greece, Rome)
Medieval Middle East ("Golden Age of Islam")
Medieval China
Medieval Europe
Medieval Africa (Mali, Ghana)
Medieval Japan
"Medieval" America (Incas, Aztecs Maya - societies existant during the Age of Discovery)
The Renaissance
The Reformation
The Age of Discovery
The Scientific Revolution
The Enlightenment
Culture of the Pacific/Asia (
Yes, it's going to be a full year!
So in any case, what have you got? I've got a couple of Civil War songs, songs from 1776, "Madame Guillotine" from The Scarlet Pimpernel if we make it to the French Revolution, "The Impossible Dream" from Man of la Mancha to teach chivalry, and Pharoah's song from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat if I really can't think of anything better. So please, send me ideas!
And anybody who can come up with a song about Medieval Africa gets my undying respect (whatever that's worth!)
Gyeongbokgung Palace (A Much-Belated Entry)
(Note: Photos may not load if you're getting this through e-mail or an RSS reader.)
About a week ago, I promised you, loyal readers, a post about our visit to Gyeongbokgung Palace--when our internet connection was up and running and I could post some photos. Well, given that it may be another week plus before said connection materializes, I've decided to sneak a short photo post in here at the school.
Gyeongbokgung Palace was the main and largest palace of the Joseon (aka Choson, Chosun) Dynasty. The Joseon ruled the Korean Peninsula for a little more than five hundred years (1392-1910) after they overthrew the Goryeo Kingdom (sounds like "Korea," doesn't it? Hint, hint.), who themselves rules the peninsula for about 450 years. (Bonus: the Joseon kept right on using the name Goryeo for a long time, both because Koreans love old stuff and because Goryeo was also the name of the first great ancient kingdom in Korea.)
Anyway, among other neat stuff, the Joseon built Five Grand Palaces in Seoul (their capital) and Gyeongbokgung was the one built for the king.
Gyeongbokgung was certainly built to impress. Even without the famous Ganghwamun Gate (under renovation), the palace is a forbidding sight. You enter through a large secondary gate, shown here (along with fellow teachers Colleen and Heidi and, of course, my lovely wife), guarded by impressive looking men in traditional garb and wielding very shiny weapons. The view behind the gate encompasses a series of rocky crags (and the view looking out from the gate encompasses a bunch of skyscrapers, but we'll forget that part for now). Amazing to think that this was actually a somewhat small palace by East Asian standards--Korea's suzerain relationship with China spelled out that the Korean king's palace had to be smaller than the Chinese emperor's by a certain amount.
Here is one of the aforementioned guards. I opted not to try him with my kung fu. Anyone out there know more about the duds or the weapon or anything? A quick search turned up squat.
From the gate, then, you walk across a broad plaza and through another large gate to the throne building (left), hopefully taking time to notice some of the careful architectural details (below).
(By the way, have you ever noticed that Blogger makes it incredibly hard to use photos in your posts? This has been twice as much work as I expected, and the layout looks like crap!)
At the back of the grounds, then, is the impressive Korean National Folk Museum, though since I didn't go in (and Nana went in only briefly), more detail will have to wait for another day. Still, the museum was an imposing structure, and for reasons I haven't quite come to understand, has these little stone and wood (animist?) totems scattered around outside.
Anyway, that's about as much Blogger-wrangling as I can handle right now, so I guess I'd better get back to work. (My real work, that is.)
About a week ago, I promised you, loyal readers, a post about our visit to Gyeongbokgung Palace--when our internet connection was up and running and I could post some photos. Well, given that it may be another week plus before said connection materializes, I've decided to sneak a short photo post in here at the school.
Gyeongbokgung Palace was the main and largest palace of the Joseon (aka Choson, Chosun) Dynasty. The Joseon ruled the Korean Peninsula for a little more than five hundred years (1392-1910) after they overthrew the Goryeo Kingdom (sounds like "Korea," doesn't it? Hint, hint.), who themselves rules the peninsula for about 450 years. (Bonus: the Joseon kept right on using the name Goryeo for a long time, both because Koreans love old stuff and because Goryeo was also the name of the first great ancient kingdom in Korea.)
Anyway, among other neat stuff, the Joseon built Five Grand Palaces in Seoul (their capital) and Gyeongbokgung was the one built for the king.Gyeongbokgung was certainly built to impress. Even without the famous Ganghwamun Gate (under renovation), the palace is a forbidding sight. You enter through a large secondary gate, shown here (along with fellow teachers Colleen and Heidi and, of course, my lovely wife), guarded by impressive looking men in traditional garb and wielding very shiny weapons. The view behind the gate encompasses a series of rocky crags (and the view looking out from the gate encompasses a bunch of skyscrapers, but we'll forget that part for now). Amazing to think that this was actually a somewhat small palace by East Asian standards--Korea's suzerain relationship with China spelled out that the Korean king's palace had to be smaller than the Chinese emperor's by a certain amount.
Here is one of the aforementioned guards. I opted not to try him with my kung fu. Anyone out there know more about the duds or the weapon or anything? A quick search turned up squat.
From the gate, then, you walk across a broad plaza and through another large gate to the throne building (left), hopefully taking time to notice some of the careful architectural details (below).
(By the way, have you ever noticed that Blogger makes it incredibly hard to use photos in your posts? This has been twice as much work as I expected, and the layout looks like crap!)
At the back of the grounds, then, is the impressive Korean National Folk Museum, though since I didn't go in (and Nana went in only briefly), more detail will have to wait for another day. Still, the museum was an imposing structure, and for reasons I haven't quite come to understand, has these little stone and wood (animist?) totems scattered around outside.Anyway, that's about as much Blogger-wrangling as I can handle right now, so I guess I'd better get back to work. (My real work, that is.)
Monday, August 13, 2007
The Continuing Trials and Tribulations of Korean Internet
So I suppose some of you might be wondering why neither of us posted yesterday (Sunday . . . which may have been Saturday for some of you . . . which still confuses me . . .). I mean, it was totally Sunday, and we totally had nothing to do. (Besides go to the Kyobo Bookstore--more on that later, perhaps.)
Unfortunately, life has not been that simple for us, at least as far as teh intarweb is concerned. We still have no connection at the apartment, and my repeated attempts to sneak onto a neighbor's wireless connection have not met with success. This is especially frustrating because it looks like we may not have an internet connection in the apartment any time soon. Apparently, the school has had a minor falling-out with its internet provider over some shadiness on the provider's part pertaining to teachers' home connections--the internet provider is insisting that each teacher buy a modem and pay for a separate connection (to the tune of $30/month), even though we're very much aware that this is total bs. Now, the providers are willing to go ahead and install modems, but they won't set up wireless in our apartments, nor will they set up LANs for multiple computers . . . which wouldn't be a problem if all the manuals and dialog boxes weren't in Korean. Sadly, there is no one person here in whom tech skills and Korean ability overlap.
In the meantime, Nana and I will be writing our posts from the school, time permitting--and time may become a very precious commodity once classes start later this week. (Thursday!) And hopefully we'll have internet in the apartment before too long.
In other news: I finally figured out how to keep Google (and I mean everything Google--Gmail, Calendar, Blogger) to stop displaying in Korean!
Unfortunately, life has not been that simple for us, at least as far as teh intarweb is concerned. We still have no connection at the apartment, and my repeated attempts to sneak onto a neighbor's wireless connection have not met with success. This is especially frustrating because it looks like we may not have an internet connection in the apartment any time soon. Apparently, the school has had a minor falling-out with its internet provider over some shadiness on the provider's part pertaining to teachers' home connections--the internet provider is insisting that each teacher buy a modem and pay for a separate connection (to the tune of $30/month), even though we're very much aware that this is total bs. Now, the providers are willing to go ahead and install modems, but they won't set up wireless in our apartments, nor will they set up LANs for multiple computers . . . which wouldn't be a problem if all the manuals and dialog boxes weren't in Korean. Sadly, there is no one person here in whom tech skills and Korean ability overlap.
In the meantime, Nana and I will be writing our posts from the school, time permitting--and time may become a very precious commodity once classes start later this week. (Thursday!) And hopefully we'll have internet in the apartment before too long.
In other news: I finally figured out how to keep Google (and I mean everything Google--Gmail, Calendar, Blogger) to stop displaying in Korean!
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Dinner with the board, and bus chiropractors
Last night, we all got varying degrees of gussied up and hopped on our trusty yellow APIS bus for a meet-and-greet dinner with the APIS Board of Directors at the Seoul Club. (Hah! See me vanquish the challenge of inserting hyperlinks!) The Seoul Club is a lot like a country club, with a pool and squash courts and a restaurant with really, really good steak. The view is also quite spectacular. As we've mentioned, it's still monsoon season here, which means low-hanging cloudcover and rather poor distance visibility for most of our stay thus far, but the weather kindly gave us a break last night so we could enjoy a lovely view of the mountains and looking down over the city. It's hard to get a feeling for how big Seoul is when you can't see very far in it (when the clouds aren't obstructing your view, the buildings are) but last night I started to figure it out.
Justin and I were seated with fellow teacher and fellow Yalie Sara at what proved to be a stacked table - everyone was either a former Yale undergrad or grad student. Another table was the Dartmouth table. Dr. Kim is organized like that.
In any case, it was a very interesting evening. We enjoyed talking to the board members about how they got involved in APIS (pretty much the same answer as we gave - Dr. Kim is very, very hard to say no to!) and what they do in their non-APIS lives. The Yalies promised to help us get in touch with the Yale Club here, which is evidently very active in spite of having precisely no Internet presence. So we're looking forward to that.
I would give the evening an A except for the part where I got wretchedly, wretchedly bus-sick on the way home. See, drivers here seem to believe that if you have ten feet between you and the car in front of you, which is at a dead stop, the correct protocol is not to calmly close the gap but rather to attain the maximum possible speed over eight of those feet before slamming on the brakes. Maybe it's because if you don't seize the moment, the ten feet of gap will rapidly turn into somebody's Hyundai, and you'll never get anywhere. But there must be a part on the Korean bus driving exam about this, because everybody does it (cars and taxis do it too, but not with quite so much gusto).
Once the bus gets off the main thoroughfares and onto the little one-way one-lane windy market roads, you'd think that this problem would go away, since nobody can cut in front of you anymore. You would be correct, but in its place, we substitute the new problem of giant speed bumps. Once again, the correct protocol is not to maintain a slow, steady pace, but rather to accelerate as much as possible in the space separating the bumps (usually only about twenty feet), slam on the brakes, and zip away again once you're over the bump. And please note that "you're over the bump" means "the driver," not "the bus." As soon as the front wheels of the bus hit level pavement, it's damn the rear axle and full speed ahead.
Justin and I have this attraction to look forward to every day, twice a day, on our commute to school. Sitting directly over the rear wheels, I've sometimes gotten as much as a full inch between my butt and the chair. I think I get off the bus a half-inch shorter due to spinal compression. We've since given up sitting for standing, which gives us an excellent workout clinging madly and comically to bus poles. I mean, we're so hairy. We looked like monkeys before. Did we really have to add the pole-dangling?
Justin and I were seated with fellow teacher and fellow Yalie Sara at what proved to be a stacked table - everyone was either a former Yale undergrad or grad student. Another table was the Dartmouth table. Dr. Kim is organized like that.
In any case, it was a very interesting evening. We enjoyed talking to the board members about how they got involved in APIS (pretty much the same answer as we gave - Dr. Kim is very, very hard to say no to!) and what they do in their non-APIS lives. The Yalies promised to help us get in touch with the Yale Club here, which is evidently very active in spite of having precisely no Internet presence. So we're looking forward to that.
I would give the evening an A except for the part where I got wretchedly, wretchedly bus-sick on the way home. See, drivers here seem to believe that if you have ten feet between you and the car in front of you, which is at a dead stop, the correct protocol is not to calmly close the gap but rather to attain the maximum possible speed over eight of those feet before slamming on the brakes. Maybe it's because if you don't seize the moment, the ten feet of gap will rapidly turn into somebody's Hyundai, and you'll never get anywhere. But there must be a part on the Korean bus driving exam about this, because everybody does it (cars and taxis do it too, but not with quite so much gusto).
Once the bus gets off the main thoroughfares and onto the little one-way one-lane windy market roads, you'd think that this problem would go away, since nobody can cut in front of you anymore. You would be correct, but in its place, we substitute the new problem of giant speed bumps. Once again, the correct protocol is not to maintain a slow, steady pace, but rather to accelerate as much as possible in the space separating the bumps (usually only about twenty feet), slam on the brakes, and zip away again once you're over the bump. And please note that "you're over the bump" means "the driver," not "the bus." As soon as the front wheels of the bus hit level pavement, it's damn the rear axle and full speed ahead.
Justin and I have this attraction to look forward to every day, twice a day, on our commute to school. Sitting directly over the rear wheels, I've sometimes gotten as much as a full inch between my butt and the chair. I think I get off the bus a half-inch shorter due to spinal compression. We've since given up sitting for standing, which gives us an excellent workout clinging madly and comically to bus poles. I mean, we're so hairy. We looked like monkeys before. Did we really have to add the pole-dangling?
Friday, August 10, 2007
A Quick Guide to Opening the Pod Bay Doors
(Note: pictures may not load if you're using an RSS reader or if you receive updates by e-mail.)
This is Hal. Hal is the air conditioner for my classroom. Hal's job is to make the room nice and cool so the kiddies can learn and so Mr. Goff can save money on dry cleaning bills.
Hal may be an appliance, but like many appliances in Korea, Hal has a personality. You see, Hal is a sensitive fellow, who pays great attention to detail. He won't change settings unless you turn him off first--he's not a butler, he's an expensive piece of machinery, and you can't just order him around. And if you try to use him as a regular old fan, well, Hal doesn't like that very much. He'll huffle. He'll stop and start. And every moment he'll threaten to shut himself off and plunge you and your classroom into the humid abyss of monsoon. So you'd better be nice to Hal, hadn't you? Hal's just trying to do his job, just like you.
In other news, Nana and I have discovered (thanks Paul!) what the mysterious drawer under our sink is for. It's a giant bin for dry rice. If you push the button, one serving of dry rice spurts out the bottom of the bin onto the floor (or into a pot, I suppose, if you know what to expect).
Also, despite knowing our enemy, Nana and I were soundly defeated by the doorbell last night. We were trying to let poor Paul in the building, but we accidentally (I swear!) called the guards. Perhaps the doorbell and the dryer conspiring against me? I didn't mean that bit about pitting you against one another in a fight to the death!
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