What shall we call it?

Introducing "Fonus," FamilyMart's Bonus. Bonus what? Savings, food, an extra polite employee? It remains a mystery. Yet, somehow I'm already sold on the idea. Now THAT'S clever marketing.

Hope

Yes we can.

Yes we will.

"Waffle Fish"

Bungeobbang

This is my favorite Korean street food. I like to call them waffle fish because they're made out of waffle batter and cutely shaped like fish. Inside, however, is sweet red bean paste. For those of you who've never tried red bean, you're missing out.

Bungeobbang stands pop up in the late fall and continue serving until the spring.

I stroll down the brick sidewalks of Seoul, golden leaves falling, the crisp air filling my lungs, hot bungeobbang warming my fingers...I'm happy.

Happy Halloween

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I wore this costume to school every day this week.

Funnily, I got the same number of stares as usual in this country. ^^

Check out the picture a student drew for me on the left.

Out of practice, out of mind

I recently read an article for a teacher and summarized it for her. It was actually a chapter from a graduate school textbook about task-based language learning. While reading, I realized two things. 1. I am ridiculously out of practice when it comes to mulling over academic text. My attention span has reverted to that of a hyped-up macaque, and the notion that I'll learn something from it doesn't make it any easier to force myself to focus on the crowded font and footnotes.

I'm at a post-academic stage right now.

This is awful.

and 2. Being a teacher now, I don't think I would have survived through teacher's college. Educational theory is not only boring to dissect, but the graphs are nearly impossible for me to wrap my head around. Maybe I'm just biased against flow charts, but what the hell do they mean? In the chapter there was a flow chart with three boxes (teacher perception, student perception, and combined perceptions) with arrows pointing to each other. Was that chart really necessary? Didn't it just eat up half a page causing me to print out an extra sheet of paper with four lines on it? The author can't seriously believe that this chart is helpful in any way. I know some people are visual learners, and I'm one of them. I just don't get flow charts. If you're going to put in anything visual to supplement your words, you might as well draw a cartoon with funny zingers in thought bubbles.

It was a good wake-up call for me. I am now digging out my old anthropology materials and beginning to re-read them in the hopes that I can surpass my previous self. I'm downloading vocabulary, science, and poetry podcasts and listening to them on the subway. Finally, I'm beginning to assign myself essays to get my intellectual juices flowing...er...on paper. That just sounds gross. I've got a long way to go.

Pervading music

Interestingly, most older Koreans have a habit of singing or humming at all times, in all situations. On the subway, walking down the street, waiting, older Koreans sing everywhere. Their voices are twinged with the characteristically Korean vibrato that pervades singing here, from the oldies to modern pop music. At first, I found that vibrato particularly harsh and unpleasant...but it's grown on me. And every time I hear it, I picture the note swaying between invisible limits, and I have to smile.

Scrabble Surprises

(This one's for you Enforcer.)

Though it takes a while to explain to rules, Scrabble has been one of the most successful of all the lessons I've taught. My students have never heard of it, which isn't surprising since the Korean writing system isn't unilaterally horizontal, and thus the game couldn't have been adapted using hangeul. It was great to see the look of interest on their faces when they finally understood the game's concept.

All my students played the game. (I usually only have ~70% participation in every class.)
None of my students slept. (Which proves that it IS possible....I was beginning to despair.)
The lower-level students played as enthusiastically as the higher-level ones. (Almost never the case in regular class...with the exception of Speed Quiz.)
The students helped each other, unhesitatingly. (Helping classmates means everyone is exercising their English twice as much.)

Now, I have to admit...in the States, I'm TERRIBLE at this game. I generally make words like the, lord, rings, etc. I've also been known to invent new and exciting words like xrathero. But in Korea, there are no bad players! My English is infinitely better than my students and for the first time in my life, I've got the edge in this game.

Perhaps THAT'S why I love teaching it so much. ^^