It's been a great day, yet one filled with anxiousness and nervousness! Being that the director of the Fine Arts Dept. lives right next door to me, I was glad to have Marion ring my bell this morning and have someone to walk over to school with from the apartment - it definitely helped put me more at ease!
The morning was filled with assemblies, introductions, and opening remarks and it wasn't until the late morning/afternoon that I actually had students! But during the assemblies, etc., I was astonished at the students' behavior! There was not a PEEP throughout the Assembly Hall and all student remained attentive and focused! I leaned over to one of my colleagues at the Middle School Assembly to state my surprise and she remarked with "oh...this is ALWAYS how it is....that's just how the kids are! They know when they need to listen and be attentive!" - I couldn't believe it....
When it finally came time for my classes, I ended up having one section of 6th grade choir and three sections of 7th/8th grade choir~ the kids overall seemed great and, being that they're middle schoolers, had some interesting personalities! ;-) I only hope that I can continue to establish good repor with each of them and be able to maintain a well-disciplined classroom.
Tomorrow I'll have one more section of 6th grade choir and one more of 7th/8th grade choir, as well as my one and only section of High School choir. The middle school periods are 45 minutes and the high school periods are 85 minutes - I hope I can make the best use of our time together and again, establish a good and meaningful repor with the students so as to show 'em "I mean business" for the year, but also that we have a great year ahead of us! Classroom management is key to a well-functioned classroom and while everyone's been telling me (and I witnessed it today) that the "kids are great here", I still want to make sure things get done with well organized routine and structured class system.
Over the weekend, I had a chance to meet up with a fellow friend of mine from back home in Arlington Heights, whom I went to Middle School with back in the day! Andrea has been living here in Korea since the end of April and we found out soon after my arrival that she literally only lives down the block from Seoul Foreign School! She's here for a year teaching English to elementary age kids and I was glad to meet her for dinner Saturday night and hear about her experiences thus far. Later that night, we both met up with a "couple of couples" (ha!) and took a bus to Itaewon to enjoy an Indie Music/Poetry/Art Performance at a local bar - the show venue was small and cramped with people, but it was still fun to get out and enjoy a night on the town! Here is a picture of Andrea and I:
On Sunday, I ventured with my friend Hye-sin (who teaches in the British School here at SFS) to the "Hongdae" area, near Hongik University campus here in central Seoul. On weekends, the area is bustling with shops, vendors, performers and more! Because it is near the University, there are MANY young people here - I was dazzled by all of the lovely jewelry and clothing for sale, and yet, I felt like a giant amazon woman in comparison to the small, slender korean girls I saw all around me! It almost felt like I was trying to shop for clothes that would more likely fit a Barbie Doll than they would a 5'10" American girl! It's like when you're a kid and your mom takes you to the candy store, but you know full well she won't buy you anything and so you're stuck gazing and gawking, wishing with all your heart that you could get something....but you can't...
I guess I shouldn't be so dramatic tho because I eventually tried on a somewhat "vibrant" looking skirt that miraculously fit me!! I contemplated buying it for about 3 whole seconds, until I realized it was definitely way overpriced and not something I was in love with....especially considering the young, Korean saleslady raised a single eyebrow as I entered out of the fitting room in a somewhat disgusted manor....yikes....point made, lady...point made. ;-) haha!
Hye-sin and I soon made our way further down the streets to the Hongik University Free Market (aka "Hongdae Market") where we saw several more street vendors and musicians. This video was of a few drummers we saw playing (hope you like my awesome dance moves, too!):
So the year is up and running and I'm looking forward to an exciting first school year here in Korea! Hope everyone is doing well back home in the states! Sending my thoughts and prayers to each of you~
No comments:
Post a Comment