EverthingsShiny

Hotel Mission Story February 8, 2010

David — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:23:22 +0000

Nigel's Family Update

David — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 22:10:43 +0000

One of my fellow native English speakers, Nigel, who is from Manchester, England, with his wife Su Yeon (same name as our office manager), had their second child over the weekend. Their second boy, he was born healthy with all the fingers and toes! Nigel gets most of the week off to help, and he seems excited despite his joking that he needs a big vacation. Congrates to Nigel and his family.

Hotel Mission Story February 4, 2010

David — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:04:19 +0000

Between semesters, a few elementary schools are sending some students to visit English Town this week. Here's some of the Hotel Mission Story. The students' English skills are low but they are a lot of fun. Good kids!

Enjoy and stay shiny!

Graduation

David — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:08:11 +0000

My Gifted Students' Class receives their diplomas. Emotional but happy day for them. Lots of hugs and "good lucks" and "I'll miss you"'s. That Su Yeon on stage helping to hand out the diplomas and the Board of Education's Vice Superintendent giving them to the students.

Middle School Gifted Students' Final Class Day

David — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:18:52 +0000

Today was the last full day of classes for my middle school students. I've been teaching most of them for a year now, some even more. We had three hours of remembering and awards and a big pizza party at the end. Tomorrow they graduate and then off they go. Sure will miss them.

Click the image to see more of the day.

My Gifted English Students' Class

David — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 12:42:13 +0000

Here is a three-part series showcasing an entire class of mine at Gyeongsan. These are my gifted English students - a group of great kids I've been teaching for a year. In this class, I am presenting my scavenger hunt game, an activity that gets them to read and find words in a short text. I divide the classroom up into 5 teams and give each team a whiteboard. I prepared a PowerPoint with hints for the words I am asking them to find. For example, if the word I want them to find is "gloves", my hint would be, "you wear these when it's very cold outside." Each team writes their answer on the board after they have found the word and they get points for completion. This give you an idea of what I do when I am not up in English Town. During the regular school year, I teach these students 2 classes every Wednesday and 4 classes every other Saturday. During the summer and winter camps, its three classes a day for straight month. I really love these kids and they are a joy to be around. They all graduate on January 27th, so I will most likely never see them again after that, but they have left a permanent impression on me. I can only hope I have for them as well!

Part Two

Part Three

Korean Wedding

David — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 11:01:54 +0000

On Sunday, January 9th, I attended a Korean wedding for my good friend 박지윤 (Park Gee Yoon), whose English name is Amy. It was a beautiful mix of Western and Korean styles, and a great opportunity to learn about a part of their culture I had yet to experience. Click the picture to see more of the ceremony on my Flickr site where I explain a lot of what happened.

Also, to learn a lot more about Korean weddings, click here.

Jeju-Do English Camp

David — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 05:05:29 +0000

I'm back from 6 days in Jeju-Do, the big island off the southern coast of Korea. It was quite the experience with some ferocious weather but the kids made the best of it. I'd like to return to the island in the summer as I'm sure it's really beautiful. Either way, a few other teachers and I managed to take one day off and tour around. Saw a lot of great things. Click the pic to head over to Flickr and see the entire Jeju-Do gallery.

Gyeongsan English Camp starts on January 4th, so I'll have more action and pics coming soon.

Happy Holiday Lights

David — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 12:37:50 +0000

A simple Christmas day for me as I prepared for my trip to Jeju-do (jay-jew-doe) island for 6 days with a group of gifted students. It's a work week for me with a busy schedule for me and the students but it should be fun! I will post pics and blogs when I return! Hope your holidays are going well!

Gifted Students' Interviews

David — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 09:30:15 +0000

Finished a week of gifted students interviews. Students spend three minutes with each of the five native English speakers, discussing many different topics to try and gain entrance into the Gifted Students program. They practice hard for this, the last step in the application process after a long written and listening exam. Their ages vary from 2nd graders up to 1st grade middle school and their levels equally diverse. It's heartbreaking to interview a student who simply isn't going to make it, but they all have great attitudes and enthusiasm. Most of the did very well and I was really proud of them. Those selected will be assigned to their classes for the spring semester starting in March.

A 6th Grader InterviewsFilling in her name

Students waiting their turn