So, it's been a while. Here's a short montage of this first week of teaching.
--Lessons for the rest of the week went pretty well. I'm bonding with the teachers and I had my first "company dinner". I was really nervous going in, then I realized that nobody places as much importance on these things as was insinuated at orientation. Either that, or my school/principal is just really chill, which is very true.
--TOEFL is ridiculous. I have (1) complete liberty to do whatever I want with the class provided they practice speaking and (2) no idea how to improve their TOEFL scores. I ended up structuring it like KEY Club, where we open with a short lesson on a difficult grammar point or a few useful vocab words or phrases. Then, there's a short discussion group followed by two short speeches.
I say ridiculous though because the boys have gotten over the "new foreigner" factor, so they're not shy at all anymore. When I asked them about their hobbies, my TOEFL Wise Guy answered, "My hobby is watch [sic] AV." AV? He does AV club with the school? "No, AV. AV is adult video." Oh. His hobby is watching adult videos... waitwhat?
Here is a video of them one day after class.
--Lessons for the rest of the week went pretty well. I'm bonding with the teachers and I had my first "company dinner". I was really nervous going in, then I realized that nobody places as much importance on these things as was insinuated at orientation. Either that, or my school/principal is just really chill, which is very true.
--TOEFL is ridiculous. I have (1) complete liberty to do whatever I want with the class provided they practice speaking and (2) no idea how to improve their TOEFL scores. I ended up structuring it like KEY Club, where we open with a short lesson on a difficult grammar point or a few useful vocab words or phrases. Then, there's a short discussion group followed by two short speeches.
I say ridiculous though because the boys have gotten over the "new foreigner" factor, so they're not shy at all anymore. When I asked them about their hobbies, my TOEFL Wise Guy answered, "My hobby is watch [sic] AV." AV? He does AV club with the school? "No, AV. AV is adult video." Oh. His hobby is watching adult videos... waitwhat?
Here is a video of them one day after class.
Blue shirt = TOEFL Class Maybe Cousin
Sitting at the PC = TOEFL Wise Guy
Sitting at the laptop messing with cords = TOEFL Helper JH
Sitting at laptop watching video = TOEFL Buena Vista (BV) Applicant
Sitting at the PC = TOEFL Wise Guy
Sitting at the laptop messing with cords = TOEFL Helper JH
Sitting at laptop watching video = TOEFL Buena Vista (BV) Applicant
--In other news, the other day I came home only to find a foreigner coming out of the elevator! I was totally shocked to see another foreigner who was young and female like me. To be honest, a lot of the English teachers here are creepy dudes with yellow fever. I didn't even know what to say to her. I froze up, said "Hello?" and punched the number for my floor. It wasn't until the doors were closed that it hit me. I should've asked for her number, where she was from, where she was teaching, see if she wants to hang out some time... oops. Min Kyeong happened to see her, though, and found out she lives on the 7th floor. I'll have to go up there and see her sometime...
Today is Saturday, so I slept in late then made grilled cheese and PB&J sandwiches for Min Kyeong and I, since we were the only ones home. I've kind of settled into a routine here, so it's nice to have that comfort. I wake up at 6:30am, meet a fellow teacher at 7:45am, catch a ride to school with her and arrive at around 8am. I stay at school until about 5:30pm, at which time I catch a (totally unreliable) bus back into Nonsan so that I can get a taxi back to the apartment. Dinner, short run at the public track, TV, bed. When I have time, I like to go to the (only) coffee shop to study Korean.
Things I'd like to change? I need friends my age. I think if I find an easy way to get to the local university, which is in one of the neighboring towns, then I'd have a better chance meeting random people. Even if I just passively sit in one of the coffee shops or wander around the campus, I think I'd be able to meet more people my age than I would if I actively tried to find friends in Nonsan. So yes. On my list: make friends.
Today is Saturday, so I slept in late then made grilled cheese and PB&J sandwiches for Min Kyeong and I, since we were the only ones home. I've kind of settled into a routine here, so it's nice to have that comfort. I wake up at 6:30am, meet a fellow teacher at 7:45am, catch a ride to school with her and arrive at around 8am. I stay at school until about 5:30pm, at which time I catch a (totally unreliable) bus back into Nonsan so that I can get a taxi back to the apartment. Dinner, short run at the public track, TV, bed. When I have time, I like to go to the (only) coffee shop to study Korean.
Things I'd like to change? I need friends my age. I think if I find an easy way to get to the local university, which is in one of the neighboring towns, then I'd have a better chance meeting random people. Even if I just passively sit in one of the coffee shops or wander around the campus, I think I'd be able to meet more people my age than I would if I actively tried to find friends in Nonsan. So yes. On my list: make friends.
Maybe that foreign girl will be up for adventures in downtown Nonsan?
P.S. Welcome to the countries list, UK!
5 comments:
"To be honest, a lot of the English teachers here are creepy dudes with yellow fever."
I found the exact same thing in Japan. Creepy.
Wut, no creepy girls with yellow fever? Oops...that's only me :P j/k
Anyways, lovin the vid. Sounds like you've really settled in.
@Caroline -- Yeah... it kind of gives all the English teachers here a bad name. It's hard enough to give yourself a good name as a foreigner, it's even harder when you're working against a negative stereotype. At least being a girl helps? haha Are you in Japan now, or were you previously?
@Sarah -- The dudes here have like ILLEGAL yellow fever. As in, one foreigner who taught here in Korea later got arrested for molesting little boys in China or something like that.
Give me another week here... once I meet that other foreign girl and I have a partner in crime, I am going to really start tearing this place up!
Previously, yeah. Last year. (This is Carrie, btw, if you didn't get the connection with my name.)
I know this may seem strange having a person you don't know comment on your blog, but this popped up on my Google search for Nonsan as I was trying to find the official site to the city. My name is Maggie and I am also a new English teacher from the States here in Nonsan (my blog site is http://maggie-miller.blogspot.com/) and I just thought I would drop you a line to say hi. I'm not going to lie, I was beyond excited to see that there was another female foreigner here because my teaching buddy is also a "creepy dude with yellow fever" lol
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