This is going to be a year of even more sport than last year and hopefully it will be accompanied by some great accidental photographs.
Through the latter part of last year's K-League football season I started attending FC Seoul games. Getting there, even during the week, is so much easier now that I have a subway line close to me.
Towards the end of the year I also accidentally discovered the ice hockey and the basketball teams. With the realisation that there is so much sport around me I even managed to get myself to a volleyball game.
For this coming year I'm intending to see as much as I can while still not overdoing it. I now have a season ticket for FC Seoul which will save me a fair bit of money over the course of the year. Tickets are all that expensive to begin with, mind. When winter comes I will also get an ice hockey season ticket with a nice reserved seat.
I also got to know many the useful streams of information regarding the various leagues and sports. Now I even know the schedule for the the amateur and women’s football leagues. I'll be trying to visit a few of those when FC Seoul are not playing at home, and if there isn't something else that might need my more immediate attention.
Let’s not forget the rugby and cricket from back home to glance at from time to time, as well as the upcoming Football World Cup. Then the times are right I will be stream that or if I can, downloading it.
Exciting times ahead, sport fans.
Tuesday 18 March 2014
Friday 14 March 2014
Another day in Paradise
It was one of those days.
On Friday evening I received a confusing. This was not Friday afternoon at school, but in the evening, when I was already at home. The message informed me that my after school classes for 1st and 2nd grader would start on Monday. Maybe.
We had discussed these classes before and it was suppose to start next week, not this week past. I understood it to be two classes, one for the nooby 1st graders whom I've never met, and one for the 2nd graders. Not really a problem, except that I have no idea what their levels are, and I don’t have a printer/copier or anything to get ready for this class just after lunch. Oh, yes, there was also that bit of fun information. The class would start straight after lunch.
In the mean time we have other classes that need prep time. Sure, the prep time is not that long, but it is still time I can’t spent getting ready for this new class that I didn't really know about. It was still OK, because I kind of knew what I wanted to do.
While doing my early morning printing and copying for the regular classes, the after school coordinator/teacher came to me saying that there would be not the normal 20, but 25 little ones who barely understand English, and that I was still teaching them alone. Okay then.
After my first regular class I started working on a song with a print-out in order to at least get a productive first lesson together. I would be able to use it with both groups and maybe get an idea of what levels I would be dealing with. I sent the thing to my co-teacher, herself very busy, to check the Korean I used.
While working on the worksheet the Vice called me and handed me a handful of paper slips with names, student numbers and telephone numbers on them, along with a empty list that I had to fill out with the information on the slips. These were the pieces of paper used to sign up for my class. Well then, there goes 15 minutes of the 40 I had to prepare (and still needed to talk to my co-teacher about the translations).
While talking to my Co I realised that my class would not be 2 classes of 40 minutes, as normal, but one class of 90, which I’m allowed to break up with a break. So, I get about 20 minute to prepare a 90 minute class for students I have never seen? Whatever, my Co helped me and we quickly banged out the translation before heading to get some food.
I breathed in my lunch to give me extra time to get the print-out ready. Finished, initiated the printing and headed upstairs to get the results. Nothing. I walked back down to my office and saw a message saying the document didn't print. Sigh. I initiated it again, walked upstairs, and noticed an error message on the printer. I think it needed new toner, but I didn't have time to worry. I ran down, again, and sent the command to another printer. By the time I was done with all this I was already 15 minutes late.
At class I was greeted with the news that the After School Classroom does not have a computer or screen to play the song on. Oh, really? At least we were able to move to another classroom.
Needles to say the class was generally a big flop, but at least I was allowed to fill the second half with an English movie.
Generally my school is pretty good with arranging things like this, but I'm thinking is a service that parents are paying for, and said parents might have been asking why it hadn't started yet, maybe even getting demanding. That might also be why I had a parent greet me while trying to get the print-outs done and helpfully pointing out that I need to be in the classroom.
Now I'm ready for this Monday, and I hope to make a decent run of it. (I never got the books I requested for this class, but The poor women is so overworked at the moment that I don't even want to ask her what happened to the order.)
With me luck
On Friday evening I received a confusing. This was not Friday afternoon at school, but in the evening, when I was already at home. The message informed me that my after school classes for 1st and 2nd grader would start on Monday. Maybe.
We had discussed these classes before and it was suppose to start next week, not this week past. I understood it to be two classes, one for the nooby 1st graders whom I've never met, and one for the 2nd graders. Not really a problem, except that I have no idea what their levels are, and I don’t have a printer/copier or anything to get ready for this class just after lunch. Oh, yes, there was also that bit of fun information. The class would start straight after lunch.
In the mean time we have other classes that need prep time. Sure, the prep time is not that long, but it is still time I can’t spent getting ready for this new class that I didn't really know about. It was still OK, because I kind of knew what I wanted to do.
While doing my early morning printing and copying for the regular classes, the after school coordinator/teacher came to me saying that there would be not the normal 20, but 25 little ones who barely understand English, and that I was still teaching them alone. Okay then.
After my first regular class I started working on a song with a print-out in order to at least get a productive first lesson together. I would be able to use it with both groups and maybe get an idea of what levels I would be dealing with. I sent the thing to my co-teacher, herself very busy, to check the Korean I used.
While working on the worksheet the Vice called me and handed me a handful of paper slips with names, student numbers and telephone numbers on them, along with a empty list that I had to fill out with the information on the slips. These were the pieces of paper used to sign up for my class. Well then, there goes 15 minutes of the 40 I had to prepare (and still needed to talk to my co-teacher about the translations).
While talking to my Co I realised that my class would not be 2 classes of 40 minutes, as normal, but one class of 90, which I’m allowed to break up with a break. So, I get about 20 minute to prepare a 90 minute class for students I have never seen? Whatever, my Co helped me and we quickly banged out the translation before heading to get some food.
I breathed in my lunch to give me extra time to get the print-out ready. Finished, initiated the printing and headed upstairs to get the results. Nothing. I walked back down to my office and saw a message saying the document didn't print. Sigh. I initiated it again, walked upstairs, and noticed an error message on the printer. I think it needed new toner, but I didn't have time to worry. I ran down, again, and sent the command to another printer. By the time I was done with all this I was already 15 minutes late.
At class I was greeted with the news that the After School Classroom does not have a computer or screen to play the song on. Oh, really? At least we were able to move to another classroom.
Needles to say the class was generally a big flop, but at least I was allowed to fill the second half with an English movie.
Generally my school is pretty good with arranging things like this, but I'm thinking is a service that parents are paying for, and said parents might have been asking why it hadn't started yet, maybe even getting demanding. That might also be why I had a parent greet me while trying to get the print-outs done and helpfully pointing out that I need to be in the classroom.
Now I'm ready for this Monday, and I hope to make a decent run of it. (I never got the books I requested for this class, but The poor women is so overworked at the moment that I don't even want to ask her what happened to the order.)
With me luck
Tuesday 4 March 2014
Chopper Parents
I captured this image at on the first day of the school year. You can see parents crowding outside a 2nd grade classroom, peeking inside.
I’m sure many will have similar reactions to mine. My mind was crying: “Sheez, people! Just back the hell off!”
When I posted the image on Facebook, someone mentioned that helicopter parent are increasing in the US, but that they have nothing on Korea.
A helicopter parent is a parent who figuratively hover over their child and get involved in basically every part of their lives, most notably their education. You would think this is bad, but the alternative is much worse.
Research shows that parental involvement in education is the number one factor in a child’s success in school. Not his socio-economic background. Not her IQ. Not their teachers. Parental involvement is the number one indicator.
When parent are concerned with and get involved in the education of their children, then those children tend to be successful in school.
These parent in the image might be taking it a bit too far, but they might be forgiven if we consider that these might be their eldest and possibly only children. Traditionally parents take immense pride in what the eldest does, and if it is the only child they often treat him or her like gold because there might never be another chance to experience that particular moment.
I’m sure many will have similar reactions to mine. My mind was crying: “Sheez, people! Just back the hell off!”
When I posted the image on Facebook, someone mentioned that helicopter parent are increasing in the US, but that they have nothing on Korea.
A helicopter parent is a parent who figuratively hover over their child and get involved in basically every part of their lives, most notably their education. You would think this is bad, but the alternative is much worse.
Research shows that parental involvement in education is the number one factor in a child’s success in school. Not his socio-economic background. Not her IQ. Not their teachers. Parental involvement is the number one indicator.
When parent are concerned with and get involved in the education of their children, then those children tend to be successful in school.
These parent in the image might be taking it a bit too far, but they might be forgiven if we consider that these might be their eldest and possibly only children. Traditionally parents take immense pride in what the eldest does, and if it is the only child they often treat him or her like gold because there might never be another chance to experience that particular moment.
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