Day 37- I got a package!

Day 37 Jan 23 Friday

It was really cold on our walk to school today. It was so mild last night and then its very cold this morning. colder than its been all week.

I got a package from my mom today. It arrived on Wednesday but they took it to the post office since I wasnt home. A girl from school called them on Thursday and asked them to deliver the package to the school. I went home and opened it after school--she sent sweatshirts, an iron, a dress, a headset for skype, and OREOS!!

so Friday is my least favorite teaching day. The lessons are way too short for a 75 minute class. I only have to teach 5 more!

we had to be a school at 10:30am. I used my time before class to prepare for the classes which meant--make extra material like word searches! I use words from the lessons we cover today. I went to lunch at 11:40 and got back right in time for classes. I was going to take the elevator but the students got there at the same time so the elevator was full of children. I took the stairs to the 5th floor. I was so tired and out of breath after 5 flights of stairs! I really need to get into shape!

In my first class the material is too simple and short. I try to get them to do it together as a class but everyone moves ahead. some of them are donee by the time we are halfway through going over the lesson. There isnt really anything to teach. Its just listening and repeating and doing short exercises. Today we were talking about going to the park. We had a part where they had to draw the park. all the students enjoy the drawing exercise. Some of them spend a lot of time on the drawing. I had 2 students who kept erasing and starting over again. They liked drawing big long tube slides. One of them liked making slides where the kids would just fall from the sky and die. the slide dumped them out on the ground. I asked him if he had something to catch them at the bottom. he said no. they just fall out and die. okay! Then they love when I give them a word search. I have to put a lot of words on it so it will keep them occupied since I dont have enough material to teach! After class one of the students gave everyone candy. or at least thats what I think it is!

In my 2nd class I had to do a review. I was thinking I'd have to teach lesson 5 then I looked at the syllabus and found out I had to teach a review. I hate doing reviews esp when they aren't even being tested on the Friday material. This book only has 8 lessons so I have to have 2 review classes since there are 10 Friday classes. I wish they would find material that had 10 lessons in it. I know the review is boring for the students. I just went through the lessons and gave them examples to refresh their memories then wrote things on the board and got them to fix the mistakes. I gave them a word search to take home with them.

In the 3rd class we went over the student newspaper. We learned about "China's Hero Pig", Chung woo sung in American Drama called "City Hunter", and "Age of Discovery and Exploration" about columbus and magellan. We just read the articles and I ask them questions and they do short exercises in a workbook. I personally think its a waste of time. We were finished with the 3 short articles in 40 mins so we did a word search for the other 30 mins.

The last class was pretty good. We reviewed but we also talked about stuff not related to the lesson. The boy was really well behaved today!! We were talking about Christmas cards and he was singing "we wish you a merry christmas"..haha. He's only in 2nd grade but his english is really good. While we were reviewing they asked a lot of questions like what is rush, what is a tourist information center, what is a double decker bus, what is hope, etc. I have to explain a lot of things. I gave them a word search at the end of class. I finished the word search quickly. they kept comparing how many they had found.

Then I tried to rush out of school because my recruiter set up an interview on the phone at 6pm with the preschool. So I packed up my stuff and left really quickly. One of the korean teachers offered to take me home since she lives 3 buildings away from me. her mom picked us up. that was nice because I had that big box that my mom sent and another present from the school. The school gave us this set that has a lot of ham in it for new years. Its a box with sausage and 2 kinds of ham. I wish i knew how to cook it. I really dont want to waste it.

4 day weekend!! They celebrate Lunar New Year this weekend which means I dont have to school on Monday or Tuesday!! Im going to rest. THe only bad thing is most things are closed for the holiday. I think almost everything is closed on Monday which is the actual Lunar new year.

The school never called. I'll have to ask my recruiter why. maybe he will reschedule.

I was so tired tonight. i took a nap then got up and went to get something to eat.

I went to Outback Steakhouse. Is really expensive but oh well. Both of the people who were my servers spoke English. I guess the first one's shift ended and someone took over. I decided to get the Outback Sirloin. It came with corn soup. That was interesting. it was actually pretty good. I got fries and coconut onion rings as my 2 sides. the steak was good. My meal was 30,000 won in all.

at 11:54pm its currently 12 degrees! it feels like 5 degrees with the windchill. oh my goodness!!