I'm Really Starting to Like it Here!

I realized today that I'm really starting to like it here... it's more than just having good experiences and adventures... I feel content, I feel comfortable.

I'm slightly worried about coming back home. I almost feel as if I've moved away from the English language... it's English only in theory. I speak some sort of Konglish that helps me to be understood by my students and Koreans in general. When I come back to the States I'm afraid that I won't be able to understand anything... "THAT"S TOO MUCH ENGLISH AT ONCE! TALK SLOWER PLEASE!" Because of course speaking loudly helps people understand you!

And, what if I get a teaching job (which I really hope I do)... I think I'm going to have to re-learn how to teach. I'm not going to be used to my students understanding what I'm saying!

I had a fun day today. I gave out Oreos to the students who had the most participation points in each class. I think my point was made about participation and how much I value it. Nothing speaks louder than cookies! During lunch, I ate with some of my co-teachers. One co-teacher and I had already had a class together and I asked her if she thought the students enjoyed the Oreos... she said a little bashfully, "Oh yes! I like the Oreos."

Soooo... after lunch, on my way to share my Oreos with my co-teacher, (her name is Yu Mi-kyun and she's the best co-teacher I have) I suddenly became surrounded by a bunch of "hungry" girls who "like cookies!" It's funny how their English becomes so much better when I have food. I almost had to run away, they were like leeches...

I like to play a game with my upper level students. I have all of the students put their heads down and shut their eyes. Then one by one (the students are in groups so, one by one in each group) the students are to look up and read a word I've written on the board. After each person in the group has a word, I say "Go!" and they all have to put their individual words together to make a sentence. Once the team thinks they have the sentence in the correct order (word order) they raise their hands (or more realistically, scream and yell for me to come over) and they have to say the sentence out loud in the correct order. If they are the first team to do this, each person on the team gets a participation point (and after today's Oreos... they all really wanted participation points!)!

Today, during the game, when it was all quiet and they were waiting for their words... a boy in a seat right next to where I was standing farted really loudly! I couldn't stop laughing. Also, today I was having students complete a worksheet. One of the answers on the worksheet was "Shirt." Now, some of the students have trouble spelling... one boy today misspelled shirt... I'll let you figure that one out. I laughed at that one too, but couldn't explain to anyone why I was chuckling.

Well, that's all for today... more adventures to come. I'd love to hear more from all of you. Receiving emails from you is like getting a little hug! Keep 'em coming!

Hil