Winter Vacation time

We had a pretty lazy weekend around home for the most part this weekend.  We both agree that it doesn't really seem like Christmas should have come and gone already so we have opted to leave what few decorations we have up for a bit longer and we may have even watched a Christmas movie or two this weekend.

Eric has a week of vacation time now that he plans to spend some of doing nothing at home and the rest playing computer games at the PC bang (computer room).  Friday was the unofficial last day of the semester for me.  The students will come back for two weeks of regular classes in February but I'm not sure those will really count for much.  On Monday I will start teaching English camp in the mornings.  I'll have two classes for 80 minutes each and then be allowed to leave work at noon everyday.  So other than the fact I still have to get up early everyday, it's almost like a break for me too.  I'll take my remaining ten days of vacation time during the last two weeks of February when it is the spring vacation between school years.  I have no idea what I will do with all those free hours in the afternoon that I don't have to spend desk warming for a change, but I'm sure I'll find something.  In the coming weeks I know I will need to start going through stuff for us to figure out what can be thrown away, given away, sold or sent home.  But that sounds like a very big project I'm not ready to think much about quite yet!

Right now we don't have any plans for New Years Eve this week so it may likely be a quiet evening in.  Last year we missed New Years since we were on a plane and crossed the International Date Line after New Years had already begun on this side of the world.  I think pretty much every other year in recent history we've watched the ball drop in Times Square on TV but that won't really be an option this year since we'll be one of the first time zones in the world to ring in 2014!

Christmas in Korea!

Merry Christmas from Korea!!  We have had a wonderful Christmas here in Korea.  Although it would have been great to be spending it at home with our families, our time in Korea in coming to an end and being able to spend Christmas here was very special.  The decorations were small and Christmas season activities were limited, but our Christmas Eve and Christmas day together were wonderful.  After work on Christmas Eve we went to dinner and then to see The Hobbit before coming home to eat our Christmas cake.  (Eating Christmas cake is one of the few things a lot of people do on Christmas here, but since we don’t like Korean cake I made one at home for us instead.)  On Christmas morning we wanted to have McDonald’s breakfast since that is something we have done each Christmas we’ve been married.  However, being in Korea meant we could order it online and have it delivered to us, so, of course, we took advantage of that option this year and ate it in bed!  We spent time opening our presents and watching some Christmas shows before a couple of our friends came over to hang out and watch Christmas movies.  We all watched movies and ate tons of food into the evening.

This was the third Christmas we have had together since getting married and each one has been very different, something we have realized is such a fun tradition to have.  During our first Christmas we were living with Eric’s dad, who let us go cut down our own tree to use as our first Christmas tree (though after the abnormally large tree we brought home I don’t think he would make that mistake again).  We also spent Christmas Eve with both of our families and Christmas day with both of our families, now known as our four Christmases.  A few days before Christmas last year we flew over 5000 miles so that we could spend it at home with our families whom we hadn’t seen in nearly ten months.  This Christmas we spent in Korea, just the two of us for the most part, and it was a really great, almost-ending to our wonderful experience here.  Next year will definitely be different once again and we are excited to see what it will bring! 

Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends!  We miss you all and are thinking about you on this blessed Christmas day!

Isaiah 9:6  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.  And the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

The Nutcracker Ballet and Christmas Baking

On Saturday Eric and I went to see The Nutcracker Ballet.  We enjoyed it and were excited to be able to see a Christmas show in Seoul.  Christmas is very anticlimatic in Korea so we have been having to search for ways to feel Christmasy but I think we've done a pretty good job!  We decided to get all dressed up and then went to one of our favorite restaurants afterwards.  I also got into my Christmas baking this weekend.  I tried three new recipes from Pinterest- lemon crinkle cookies, fudge, and snickerdoodle bars, that we are going to give away to coworkers and friends this week.  I'm also making a small two-layer cake (both from scratch obviously) for just the two of us to enjoy on Christmas Eve so I made one chocolate and one vanilla cake layer this weekend as well.  Tomorrow after work I will whip up the frosting and decide how exactly we plan to store it once it's assembled since I haven't quite figured that out yet! 

This coming week my co-teacher and I decided to take it easy at work since it's the last week before the month long winter vacation and the students are so ready for it.  We decided we will show the movie Elf with Korean subtitles.  Well I showed the first 40 minutes of it to my last class on Friday and it did not go over well at all.  I thought that one would be the best of the Christmas movie options to show considering how our versions of humor are drastically different, but I forgot to take into account that the kids have no concept of Santa Claus or Elves or any of that.  So it wasn't quite as funny as I had hoped for but I'm hoping maybe some of the other classes will get into it a little more maybe.

Only 3 days till Christmas!!! :)

 All dressed up next to our little tree before the show

Outside the theater

Wednesday Night Thoughts: English Education in Korea

Some thoughts and questions on English education in Korea, based solely on my own opinions, observations, and wonderings…

Lately I have been finding myself feeling rather frustrated with the English education system in Korea.  Working at a public school for the last nine and a half months has taught me a bit about the government funded English education system here.  During this time I have also begun to feel like my job is increasingly pointless and useless.  

For comparison purposes, when I was working at a private academy (hagwon) last year, we had an English only rule.  During class time all of the students, kindergarten through middle school, were allowed to speak only English.  Even the Korean teachers only spoke English (with the exception of some higher level grammar classes).  As a result, the students were basically forced to just “figure it out” in a sense.  Their grammar wasn’t usually ever perfect but they were forced to try to tell me things in English and have a conversation with me.  So many of them did have conversations with me because they simply kept trying and trying, practicing and practicing their English every day.  Several of my kindergartners were able to go from not knowing a single word in English to speaking in full sentences and reading and writing more than just phonetic words in one year’s time.  

Then I found out what it was like in a public school.  There are no expectations for them to speak English whatsoever, thus they don’t even have a reason to try.  I am the only native English teacher (NET) at my school but I only teach third and fourth grade, the first two years of English education in public school.  I have a Korean co-teacher with me at all times who may speak a sentence or two of English during the 40 minute class period.  Everything I say in English is translated into Korean almost immediately after I say it.  This, of course, means the students have no need to listen to what I am saying in English because they will hear it in a language they understand in five seconds.  So my question is, what is really the purpose of my job as a “native English teacher?”  Yes, I have the students listen and repeat the key language we are learning over and over and practice with games and activities, but overall they are not at all motivated to learn from me when they have someone else who will speak in a language they don't have to think to understand.  Not to mention when they hear it and say it for less than 80 minutes a week it doesn’t take long for it to be gone from their minds for good.

The government is in the process of drastically reducing and, I think, eliminating just about all of the NET jobs and replacing them with all Korean English teachers.  For the 2014 school year the budget for NET funding will be cut by 50%.  The official budget will be released this Friday to know exactly which schools will still have their NETs funded by either City Hall or the Government Provincial Office of Education and which won’t.  I realize that NETs are very expensive to fund and there are plenty of Korean teachers out there who can speak English well enough to teach it.  But unless something changes, I don’t see this increasing the country’s English ability at all.  At my school, two out of the three English teachers can have only a very simple conversation with me.  Their “English” classes are conducted all in Korean.  Even my classes are conducted mostly in Korean since the only thing the students learn from me is pronunciation of the two or three key sentences from each lesson, which as I said before, they will quickly forget.  

If the country is serious about having their people continue to be competitive in the global world they need to drastically step up their public English education.  I don’t see how it’s at all possible for a student to be successful in English with only a public school education.  Right now it seems to involve spending thousands of dollars on a private academy for most students to become successful in reading and writing and maybe speaking.  The huge push for native English speakers to come teach English in Korea has been going on for a good fifteen years or so but from what I’ve seen, it hasn’t done nearly as much as one would think, in my opinion.  Maybe it’s that people aren’t confident enough to use the skills they really do have.  Maybe it’s because not everyone can afford to send their child to a private academy from age three through high school.  Maybe it’s because the curriculum used in public schools is totally useless or because such little English is actually spoken in English class in these public schools.  Whatever the reason, will getting rid of the native English speakers and replacing them with Korean teachers who may or may not speak English well make a difference?  I guess in time we will find out.

First Snow and a Christmas Display

This week we had our first snowfall of the winter.  Actually the first three snowfalls of winter.  We woke up Wednesday morning to find a dusting of snow, most of which was gone by the end of the day.  Thursday it snowed heavily during our work day but we came to realize that there was much more snow at the places we work in than near our home in Seoul.  The place where Eric works, Hopyeong, Namyangju, especially got a lot of snow on Thursday.  All of the snow and slush from Thursday quickly turned to ice that night as it was very, very cold on Friday.  Then on Saturday we got another dusting of snow at our house and there is still a lot of ice on the sidewalks and back alleys so we have learned to be very careful while walking, and also a little ice skating too.

On Saturday evening we went to the Seoul Hilton hotel to see their large Christmas tree and and village display they have set up in their lobby.  The tree was huge and very beautiful!  It was a real tree, not just strings of lights strung together to look like a tree like we saw at Seoul Plaza last year.  They had a little village with several trains running through it and a display of Santa dolls from around the world.  There was also a Santa you could take a picture with but trust me, he was NOT Santa!  After we saw the display we decided to try a Vietnamese restaurant we had never been to before for some Pho and Gui Cuon.  It was very delicious and we are really beginning to realize how much we will miss all the different Asian foods we have come to love when we leave Korea.  We will definitely be busy exploring new restaurants and Asian food markets when we get back! 

On Sunday one of Eric's coworkers got married very close to our house and after the wedding two of his coworkers came over to our house for dinner and to visit for a while.

Tomorrow it's back to work but Eric only has a week and two days left before he gets a week of vacation and I only have two full weeks (minus Christmas day) before I get to work shorter days teaching English camp for the month of January.

Christmas Movie Weekend

This weekend was filled with Christmas movies!  We seem to be the only ones among our friends who have just about all the Christmas movies out there so we have been inviting them over to watch with us.  On Saturday one of my friends came over and we watched The Grinch before meeting up with some other friends later in the afternoon, and on Sunday two of our other friends came over for dinner and we watched Elf and The Santa Clause.  I love Christmas movies :) There are still many more to watch too!
 
While everyone back home was getting frigid temperatures, snow, and ice, last week, we continued to have pretty mild weather.  Today it felt just like home, rainy, cloudy and around 40 degrees.  Will we be lucky enough to avoid the bitter cold and all the snow and ice we walked in for so long last year??  One can hope!  Though I certainly wouldn't mind a little dusting of snow on Christmas...
 
After our Thanksgiving party last weekend we got out the few Christmas decorations we bought last year.  It's not much but it makes home feel a bit more festive anyway, especially with only the Christmas lights on and a Christmas movie on the TV!

 Our sad and pathetic, yet better than nothing, tree