03/02/10: The Orphan Week
Category: Korea
Posted by: LiteraryHero
For some strange reason, we have a classes from Feb 1-5. Well, not exactly, we had classes Feb 1 & 2, then graduation ceremony practice today, the graduation ceremony tomorrow, and the level up ceremony for the 10th and 11th graders on Friday. The question is why. We haven't had regular class since December 24th, and we wont again have regular class until March 2nd. So, what is up with the week just hanging out in the middle of break?
Well, I asked a coworker, and she said that each school had to maintain a minimum number of school days to keep receiving government funding. That is reasonable, but why have them now? Actually it isn't reasonable. Last semester, my classes started between one and two weeks earlier than anyone else I know, and we all ended at the same time. So how is it possible that my school has to have this one week of classes now? I know that a bunch of other schools also have class during this time, but it just doesn't really make a lot of sense to me. Couldn't we have it the last week in December? Or couldn't we just put it on the beginning of March or end of February? Apparently not. My coworker said that January is the winter vacation, and then February is the spring break. I guess it is important to keep these times separate...what do I know?
It isn't really a big deal to me, since I have a ton of work to do anyway. I decided to change how I teach classes, and am going to center my entire learning experience around a book club. To do this, though, I had to come up with 26 lessons so it would take an entire year. I chose a book, Hoot, by Carl Hiaasen, and then got to work. Fortunately, the book is 22 chapters long, so I can teach 1 chapter per week. That accounts for 22 lessons. There is also a movie, which we can watch in class, and that will take 2 lessons. We are now at 24 lessons. Add in a review class before each semester's final test, and voila! Twenty six lessons. To make it all work, I decided that I wanted to make a workbook to hand out to the students at the beginning of the year. To do that, I spent the past week slaving over each chapter in the book in order to make worksheets for everything. At this moment in time, I am just about wrapped up, and it is looking pretty good.
In other news, my old old student Ed is finally graduating high school tomorrow. I started teaching Ed at W Academy, back before it went out of business, and actually before it was called W Academy. When I taught him it was called Ehwa Academy, and that was probably five years ago. Wow, time flies. Anyway, congratulations, Ed, you did good!
Finally, I am leaving for Bangkok on Saturday, which is only three days away. I haven't prepared a single thing for the trip, and am pretty busy finishing this workbook before I leave. Because of that, I might or might not have the chance to write anything here before I leave. If I don't, have a good three weeks, and I will have some nice pictures and stories when I get back. I doubt I will have much time to write while on the road, so just hang in there, and I will be back at the end of February.
Well, I asked a coworker, and she said that each school had to maintain a minimum number of school days to keep receiving government funding. That is reasonable, but why have them now? Actually it isn't reasonable. Last semester, my classes started between one and two weeks earlier than anyone else I know, and we all ended at the same time. So how is it possible that my school has to have this one week of classes now? I know that a bunch of other schools also have class during this time, but it just doesn't really make a lot of sense to me. Couldn't we have it the last week in December? Or couldn't we just put it on the beginning of March or end of February? Apparently not. My coworker said that January is the winter vacation, and then February is the spring break. I guess it is important to keep these times separate...what do I know?
It isn't really a big deal to me, since I have a ton of work to do anyway. I decided to change how I teach classes, and am going to center my entire learning experience around a book club. To do this, though, I had to come up with 26 lessons so it would take an entire year. I chose a book, Hoot, by Carl Hiaasen, and then got to work. Fortunately, the book is 22 chapters long, so I can teach 1 chapter per week. That accounts for 22 lessons. There is also a movie, which we can watch in class, and that will take 2 lessons. We are now at 24 lessons. Add in a review class before each semester's final test, and voila! Twenty six lessons. To make it all work, I decided that I wanted to make a workbook to hand out to the students at the beginning of the year. To do that, I spent the past week slaving over each chapter in the book in order to make worksheets for everything. At this moment in time, I am just about wrapped up, and it is looking pretty good.
In other news, my old old student Ed is finally graduating high school tomorrow. I started teaching Ed at W Academy, back before it went out of business, and actually before it was called W Academy. When I taught him it was called Ehwa Academy, and that was probably five years ago. Wow, time flies. Anyway, congratulations, Ed, you did good!
Finally, I am leaving for Bangkok on Saturday, which is only three days away. I haven't prepared a single thing for the trip, and am pretty busy finishing this workbook before I leave. Because of that, I might or might not have the chance to write anything here before I leave. If I don't, have a good three weeks, and I will have some nice pictures and stories when I get back. I doubt I will have much time to write while on the road, so just hang in there, and I will be back at the end of February.
Ed wrote:
It is my first time to get a congratulation from a foreigner!!(Umm,, I don't know if this expression is grammatically correct...)
What I really wanted to show you was Ewha report card!! Quite interesting.