School Website - English Reporters

With all the talk of COVID-19, I thought I'd take a break and show you one of the extra-curricular activities that students interested in English participate in. The school website has a section for "English Reporters" to file reports on various topics as a way to practice their English writing skills. My role is to read their entries and offer encouragements, comments, and corrections on their writing. 

These students demonstrate a fairly high level of English communication for middle school as those most interested in and skilled at English are attracted to the English Reporters program. Still, there is plenty of room for improvement and some humourous errors. What I like best is getting an insight into the students' minds, what they like, how they are feeling, and what they like to do. There isn't enough one-on-one communication in school these days, so I appreciate these written reports.

A popular theme is online classes, naturally, as much of the school year has been conducted via the internet. Students have commented on the pros and cons of this style of learning:

Covid-19 is having trouble these days.
If Covid-19 comes in contact, it's a trans infectious disease.
So we do online class.
Online classes are comfortable.
Because you can do it at home.
But there are shortcomings.
I can't be bothered with online classes.
Because there are so many things to do.

Another student wrote about online classes and the benefit of not needing clothes:

Hello, I will tell you the pros and cons of today's online class. First of all, the advantage is that you don't have to wash and wear clothes. This is the only good thing. The downside is that there are many students who are late for work. And there is a disadvantage that I have to take the book with me when I go to school. And because it is an online class I don't know if you take the class or not and it is hard to proceed with the class because I just let it pass without understanding. So I think it is important to keep distance from each other and I want to take classes at school.

My favourite entry on the school website is a kind letter from a student expressing thanks for my teaching. Really, this is what makes teaching worthwhile and I'm so excited that at least one student appreciates the work that I do:

Dear Native teacher,
Hello, I am Ryu in 3rd-grade class.
I've always been grateful to you, and I'm so happy to be able to write a letter like this.
First of all, thank you for always preparing fun English classes for a year.
There are many friends who feel too far away from English.
I think they have become interested in English thanks to the teacher.
And our class participation is much lower than in other classes.
However, I was very respectful because you encouraged the students to answer and conducted the class in a comfortable atmosphere.
It's only been a year since we met, and I'm so sad that we're already graduating.
I think I'll always remember you as the best native English teacher in my heart. I love you.

We had a shortened summer holiday this year and many of the normal activities that students take part in were unavailable. This student wrote about his typical day during summer vacation, which consisted mostly of doing homework for his after-school academy:

I was very busy during summer vacation.
I'm going to introduce my daily schedule.
First, get up.

And then, I'll do my Academcy homework.
And I go to the academy.

Fourthly, I come home.
And then I do my academy homework again.
It's the last time I sleep.
The same day.
I was just spending the same day, and summer vacation is over!!

Another interesting way to learn about students is to read about who they admire. The first admires an ancient Korean king for inventing the Korean writing system and the alphabet while the other appreciates the work of modern fashion designers:

Hello, I'll talk about today is the type of person who I respect.
I respect King Sejong is the great man. King Sejong is a very good for people. And Because made Hangul for poor people to the respect King Sejong. because now we're comfortable Hangeul can be used. For these reasons I respect King Sejong. Thank you for listening about the people I respect. Good-bye. Thank you!!!

The people I respect are fashion designers. Whenever I see them as my dream. I can't keep my mouth shut. When I see them, I want to be like them and learn from them. For my dream, I watch videos about fashion and often realize new things. I also want to know more about fashion designers. Watching a little bit of the video about fashion makes me feel better and I can imagine it. Whenever I imagine that I feel good. I want to be a fashion designer and make others feel good.

Most of the students put in a quality effort into their writing, but others simply take a news story from an online source and paste it directly onto the school site, like the student who copied the "Don't take brakes off" article from the BBC website. I've been instructed to scold these students for taking material from elsewhere, but I simply state that their writing seems oddly professional and ask them questions about the article.

The English Reporters program is a cool example of how English education is taken seriously in South Korea and provides an excellent outlet for interested students to improve their writing ability outside of the classroom. For me, it's a way to get to know my students, especially since in-person classroom activities have been so limited this year.

COVID-19 Level 2.5 in Busan

On Monday morning of this week, a teacher leaned over and showed me the COVID-19 statistics and guessed that the government would soon make an announcement that further restricted social interaction in Korea.

Later that day, I got a text message from my gym which I put through Google Translate:  "We are pleased to inform you that the operation of the gym will be suspended for two weeks..." I'm sure the tone of the message is a little different in Korean, but I got the point. The city government of Busan had strengthened social distancing restrictions to level 2.5 (the second-highest level) for the next two weeks.

Shortly after I received the message from my gym, there was a flurry of activity in the teachers' office. People were buzzing around, announcements were made, lamentations were sighed, and I sat in confusion waiting for someone to explain what it all meant.

To help stop the spread of COVID-19, teachers were to work from home on a rotational basis. This week, grade 2 students were at school and needed to complete their one-on-one speaking tests with me on Wednesday and Thursday. So, I reported to school on Wednesday and Thursday but worked from home on Tuesday and Friday. 

The Grade 2 students did well on their speaking test. They had to explain in English the process of making or doing something. Most students explained how to make their favourite item of food. In all honestly, I was pretty tired of hearing about how to make ramen after listening to those instructions at least 40 times. I'll include a photo of the grading criteria here. You'll notice that students are graded on context and fluency, 50 points each, and the lowest possible score is 60/100. I'm just glad we were able to complete the test after several delays due to schedule changes, and I hope this isn't the last time I see my students in-person before the end of the year.

After the test, I worked from home, which is usually great, but these days there are several downsides. First, with the new restriction level, there isn't much to do outside of my home except take-out coffee and grocery shopping. Second, it is absolutely freezing in Busan. Negative 3 degrees and feels like -10 with the windchill. My apartment building has poor insulation, and the floor heating is expensive to run and doesn't do much against this level of cold. I spent much of my working from home days under my blankets. At least at school, the faculty office is heated.

Cases continue to rise and there are reports from Seoul that hospitals are overwhelmed and there is a long wait for patients needing treatment. A patient died from COVID-19 in Seoul while waiting for treatment.

While countries like Canada and America have begun to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to some frontline health workers and political leaders, South Korea seems to be lagging behind in this area. Projections have the vaccine arriving in Korea sometime around March, as they have made various deals with vaccine-makers for large quantities of the vaccine.

Much of my remaining teaching schedule is online until the end of the year. I wonder if the few in-person classes still on the schedule will be switched to the online format. I'll probably be told at the last minute. I'm also scheduled for a 3 half-day winter English camp with both of my schools. As of now, these camps are set to be in-person, but I expect they'll get switched to an online format like my summer English camp in August. I sincerely hope that, unlike my summer English camps, that I'll be informed of the switch more than one day in advance.

The current number of cases and the social distancing restrictions are similar to when I first arrived in Korea back in February. However, now, there seems to be a better understanding of the virus so we know precisely how serious it is, without wild speculation. That, plus that fact that we were able to reduce the numbers in the spring gives me hope that we can reduce the COVID-19 cases again this winter. We shall see.

Level 2 Restrictions in Busan

As I write, there are 950 new cases of COVID-19 in South Korea. To stop the spread of the virus, the government has issued restrictions for public and daily interactions. They established a social distancing chart, with level 3 being the most severe. As the average number of daily infections increases, we move up a level on the chart and further restrictions are applied.

Level 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3

For about a week, Busan has been at level 2 which has implications for my daily life. Specifically, all cafes in the city are prohibited from hosting customers and must only supply take-out. This is unfortunate because I regularly like to frequent cafes after work and on the weekends. Thankfully, there are several cafes nearby that offer takeout through a window. I needn't enter the store to order and receive my latte. This gives me the opportunity to try new cafes in the area as I had become entrenched in my routine, going to the same cafes over and over again.

Restaurants are permitted to stay open in Busan and have in-person dining until 9pm after which they can only serve take-out. Restaurants need to ensure that customers are safely distanced, but I'm not sure how strict they are on this. Yet, I was at a restaurant ordering take-out when another customer came into the shop with his mask below his nose. The staff immediately asked him to fix his mask. He complied.

As I wrote last week, restrictions at level 2 mandate that schools only have 1/3 of their students in the building at any given time. As it turns out, most of my classes are online this week. I only had two in-person classes on Tuesday and that's all for the week. I have lots of free time to write this blog at work. There have been additional staff meetings to discuss our response to COVID-19 in level 2, but otherwise, we continue on with online lessons, which we are very accustomed to now.

Some of the other restrictions at this level include the requirement to wear a face mask in all public facilities, and restricted attendance at certain types of businesses. Any sporting events that take place must be reduced to 10% capacity and I believe this includes amateur sports as well since my students' soccer team is no longer allowing spectators.

The Board of Education in Busan has asked the foreign teachers to be extra-cautious during the Christmas and New Year season and to avoid all unnecessary events and gatherings. With this caution, I wonder how long they expect these restrictions to be in place.

These restrictions are coupled with the news that South Korea is in the process of securing large quantities of the vaccine. Optimistically, deliveries of the vaccine are expected to arrive in the spring, leaving us to fight the virus through social distancing for at least another 3 months. We will persevere.

3rd Wave COVID-19

After a comfortable period with relatively few corona-virus cases in Korea, the third wave of infections has firmly hit the country. We've had several days in a row of approximately 600 new cases each day, a 9-month high. As I write today, there are 580 new cases in the country.

There was a gradual increase from our typical 100 cases per day until we had about 300 new cases per day for a full week. Then the numbers jumped to 600. Busan is still relatively low with only 29 new cases per day.

With this latest rise and realization of a third wave, the school board recommended a shift to (partial) online classes.

My boys' school had been fully in-person and my main school had only 1/3 of students studying online each week. Now both schools have 2/3 of students at home on any given week, while only a single grade comes to school for in-person lessons. We haven't operated this way since earlier in the summer. While it seems like a big change, December is the only full month of classes remaining. January and February are mostly holidays with a few classes mixed in.

As far as work goes, I'm happy that we've switched back to primarily online classes. Recording a single lesson that can be used repeatedly for my many class sections is so much easier than teaching the same lesson in-person, multiple times. Plus, I can really use a break from my boisterous boys classes. Some of the other teachers have expressed similar relief, although it is now clear that we are ending the year as it started - away from our students.

Coincidentally, the national standardized test for high school seniors took place this week. It's the test high schoolers write to determine which university they will attend, and it is of utmost importance in Korea. In normal times, the country implements certain measures to ensure that students can successfully travel to and write the test. For instance, during a certain hour, airplanes are not allowed to take off or land, to prevent the sound from interfering with the test. This year, because of the rising number of COVID-19 cases, extra measures were employed. Schools around the country, including my middle school, were closed for 3 days - partially because of the corona-virus and partially to ease the travel for test-takers. I worked from home on Thursday and Friday; the first time since my very first week in Busan back in late February.

Korea gets a lot of credit internationally for how well it has handled the corona-virus. Certainly, the numbers are much lower than in many other countries. However, it is disappointing to learn that while the government has established a system of staged restrictions depending on a set of criteria, it has repeatedly ignored its own system in order to keep businesses open and the economy going. I think it's clear that that effort has backfired. Declining the opportunity to restrict social interaction a week or two ago has contributed to the current outbreak. 

After this wave hit, several cafes and restaurants were closed in Busan during this three-day period. We'll see if they re-open after the exam or remain close to help ward off the new wave of COVID-19 infections. Stricter restrictions are now being enforced in Seoul where many businesses must close by 9pm and public transit is also being scaled back.

I expect the next few months to be filled with surprises. Will we continue with online classes until graduation, or can I expect to see my students again before the end of the year? As the schedule is currently formed, I won't be face-to-face with my grade 3 students until the last few days of the school year. In fact, I wouldn't even teach some sections, which is disappointing because I would like to see them before they leave middle school and move on to their respective high schools. However it works out, I can't help but marvel at the fact that we have spent the entire year in masks and I won't recognize some of my students should I run into them someday in the future when this pandemic is safely behind us.

Drama at School

After a few weeks of increasingly unruly and uncontrollable behaviour during my classes at the boys' school, especially with a particular grade 2 class (age 15-16), things finally came to a head. 

More and more, the students were disrupting the classes, moving in and out of the classroom, having side conversations with their friends, and not doing any work. I would get students to stand up and move to the corner for a while as punishment, but there weren't enough corners in the classroom to deal with all of the naughty students. Because of the language barrier, it is difficult to accurately communicate, so I have limited options of what I can try to maintain discipline. 

While there were a few engaged students, the unruly behaviour became too much, and for the first time ever, I gave up on a class. I ended the lesson 15 minutes early because I was getting too frustrated and it was pointless to continue teaching. I kept my cool by not letting my emotions show, but that was my only victory of the day. 

I am the main teacher for all of my classes at both of my schools. I plan, teach, and control the classes on my own. At a bare minimum, the Korean-English teachers are supposed to be in the room with me. That's typically what I can expect, the bare minimum. Some of the better teachers may take control of student discipline and translate some of my instructions during the lessons. They sometimes even help the students with their work by moving up and down the aisles. The worst teachers do not show up for class and I am completely on my own. This is especially the case with a few of my so-called "co-teachers" at the boys' school.

Don't get me wrong, I like being in control of the class and not having to rely on other teachers, but I know the class would run better if the co-teachers would actually do their duty and attend the class.

Well last week, as I said, I had a particularly rough class and ended the lesson early. At the same time, I received a message from my co-teacher at my other school saying that there was a dinner meeting after school. I was annoyed that I didn't have any prior notice about this dinner meeting, and I was stressed out from the previous classes, so I declined the dinner invite. I said that I had a bad day at school and I wouldn't attend dinner. She asked if I was okay, and I responded that "I was alright and I would talk to her tomorrow." I was scheduled to go back to my main school the next day.

This led to lots of questions and phone calls. To make a long story short, when it was discovered that I was teaching alone, there was hell to pay. The Korean-English teachers were scolded by their vice-principal, and the students were read the riot act for their behaviour. I received a long, emotional text message apology from one teacher, and other teachers apologized to me in person. The principal of the boys' school even apologized to me and we had a heart to heart conversation, interpreted by one of the Korean-English teachers, that ended in a handshake and a hug.

Another teacher gave me a piece of raisin bread as a form of apology. Some students from my rowdy grade 2 class apologized to me as well. I'm sure they were forced to. Even some of the well-behaved students apologized, so it's clear that the entire class was severally berated.

I didn't want any of that. I didn't need an apology. I didn't need the raisin bread. All I wanted was to decline a dinner meeting because I had a bad day at school. But in the end, despite all of the awkwardness and apologies, my classes have gotten better and the co-teachers are attending classes now, which is a great relief to me.

It was very strange to be apart of all of this workplace drama. I don't like that my co-teachers were scolded because of me, and I told them so. They responded that they "deserved" the scolding. And from what I can see, there are no grudges or ill will between coworkers. I suspect that the leadership at the boys' school was embarrassed by this issue, especially because it was brought to their attention by teachers from a different school, and perhaps some rivalries that I don't fully understand came into play. If nothing else, it was enlightening to observe Korean conflict resolution and how it is applied within the school hierarchy. I don't want to be apart of anything similar in the future.

Let's hope for better days ahead.

Weekend in Seoul

It's already been nine months since I arrived in Korea and time has flown by. Surprisingly, I haven't made a trip back to Seoul since my initial few days in the country. The COVID19 situation has kept me close to home for the most part, but I decided it was time for a weekend away.

I wasn't aware of this in advance, but Friday was an administrative day where the students were able to go home after lunch. Likewise, many of the teachers were free to leave a little early. Instead of catching the train around 6pm as I planned, I was on my way to the Busan KTX (Korea Train eXpress) station by 2pm. I had wondered if buying train tickets in advance was necessary, but not to worry. I was able to catch a train to Seoul about 10 minutes after arriving at the station.

I had a little trouble with the automatic ticket kiosk. It had an English option but for some reason had rejected my card. The friendly staff person got me sorted out and I was on my way to Seoul. It was quite easy to find my train and seat because all of the signage was in English and Korean.

The train offered a smooth ride with nice views of the Korean countryside, autumn colours and rolling mountains. After 2.5 hours on the train, I arrived in Seoul.

My hotel was a short walk from Seoul Station in metro Seoul at the Ramada Hotel & Suites Seoul Namdaemun. I chose the Ramada because I had such a good experience at the Ramada hotel in Jeju back in August. The hotel in Seoul was a little run down and due for an upgrade but was convenient and the staff happily helped with all of my questions.

Korean food is amazingly delicious but when I saw this restaurant next to the hotel, I knew exactly what I was having for dinner. Subway. Nine months without a proper sandwich was just too long. I ordered a barbecue chicken footlong on Italian bread with lots of toppings and mayonnaise, and it was amazing! 

The next morning I was up bright and early for a buffet breakfast in the hotel with a surrounding view of Seoul from the 24th floor. The front desk had warned me that breakfast would be very crowded because it was the weekend, but at 7am I was the first customer and had the whole place to myself. In fact, I was so early that the bacon wasn't even ready for my meal. Still, I had my fill of mostly western food.

For sightseeing, I wanted to check out some of the traditional sites in Seoul, especially the famous palaces and shrines. My hotel was central to these places, so I was able to travel quickly and easily by subway. 

My first stop was at the Jongmyo Shrine when it first opened at 9am. Seoul can be overwhelming with its crowds, noise and towering skyscrapers, but Jongmyo Shrine during a quiet autumn morning is peaceful and scenic. Originally from the 16th century, the Jongmyo shrine is where Korean royalty came to for religious rites and ceremonies. Today, rituals and dances are held on the grounds, but for me, it was a peaceful escape in the beautiful scenery.

A short subway trip from Jongmyo is the amazing palace Gyeongbokgung. This iconic palace is often featured in guidebooks or youtube videos for those interested in travelling to Seoul. I had visited Gyeongbokgung back in 2009, and it was just as spectacular today. The mountains in the background on a clear day make for an amazing scene. Originally built in 1395, Gyeongbokgung was home to the Korean royalty, featuring their residences, throne hall, and a huge traditional gate. I arrived at the palace later in the morning as tourists started to arrive. As with many of the historic sites in Seoul, if you wear a traditional Korean outfit, called Hanbok, then admission to the site is free. There are shops around the palace that rent the garments. I decided to pay the admission fee instead. Maybe I'll dress up another time.

Next, I went to another royal palace called Changdeokgung. Full of beautiful buildings with traditional architecture, Changdeokgung is extra special because of the surrounding park and landscape. Changdeokgung is a UNESCO world heritage site. By the afternoon, the palace grounds were filling up with tourists.

The final stop of my palace exploration was right next door at the Changgyeongung Palace. This relatively compact site is beautiful for the pond and gardens, with overhanging trees coloured red and orange in autumn. Honestly, after hours of looking at palaces and shrines, they all sort of blended together and started looking the same. I sat down and people-watched for a while. All in all, not a bad day, but I was exhausted from sightseeing so I travelled back to the hotel.

Normally, hours and hours of sightseeing and taking pictures would be plenty for me, but I had special plans that evening to meet my friend. She's Korean and lives in Seoul so I was excited to see the city with a local. The problem with doing things the local way is that Seoul is a city that never sleeps. While I'm usually in bed around 10pm, I was starting the night with my friend at 11pm when she picked me up at the hotel. Loaded up with coffee, we drove off into the Seoul night.

We drove up a winding mountain road to a place called the Bugak Skyway for a night view of the city. The skyway is on the northeastern ridge of Mount Bugaksan overlooking Seoul. It features an octagonal pavillion and is an idyllic hangout for young Seoul night owls. There was a short wait for parking, even after 11pm. But once we were admitted, the views were spectacular. I had another coffee for the caffeine hit while enjoying the lights of Seoul.

Next, we went to the banks of the Han River to hang out by the water and eat late-night ramen. The convenience stores along the river are open 24 hours because people visit the river at all hours of the night. Usually, before midnight the bridges are lit with colourful lights, but we arrived well past midnight. The convenience store had an incredible selection of instant ramen, and a side room to prepare and heat the noodles in boiling water. It was a quiet night by the river, but there were still a few other groups nearby enjoying the evening.

Before I knew it, my whirlwind tour of Seoul was over. After an abbreviated snooze at the hotel, I was back on the train bound for Busan. Seoul has a lot to offer and I'm sure I'll be back for a visit again. Unfortunately, Seoul tends to get more COVID19 cases than the rest of Korea, so I have to be careful when I choose to visit. At the time of writing this, Korea has had over 300 new cases of COVID19 per day for the last 4 days. This is higher than our typical 100 cases per day, so I'll be sticking close to Busan for the time being as we see what happens with this latest spike. Take care.

Scandia Moss with the 4H Club

The 4H Club is getting craftier and craftier. Our latest project was a framed arrangement of scandia moss. I was able to join, participate and even take home my very own finished project.

This time I sat at a boys' table and they helped translate for me and understand the instructions of the crafts teacher. Again, it was a fun, casual environment and very nice to hang out with the students away from the classroom. The girls were hard at work making their beautiful frames while the boys put moss in each other's hair.

I'm not sure if scandia moss is native to Korea, but apparently it is an ideal indoor plant. I have seen it used to decorate various businesses including a Starbucks in Busan. The moss can be dyed in different colours to make a beautiful arrangement. Our moss was pre-dyed green, blue, pink, and purple.

We first pulled out all of the extraneous debris, then packed a little metal grate full of green moss. This would be the backdrop of the frame. The instructor wanted us to make sure that there were no open spaces, so we really had to use a lot of green moss and pack it in.

After that, we pulled open a piece of the grate that was previously cut to form something like a small basket in the frame. This is where we were to arrange the other colours of moss into a bouquet. Again, the girls were meticulous and made some very nice-looking bouquets. The boys, myself included, were less careful but did the best we could. Mine ended up looking less like a bouquet and more like a trash bin stuffed with moss. 

Next, we accessorized the frame and bouquet with various extras for style. I pinned in a few mushrooms and stuck on some plastic ladybugs on the frame.

Well, the crafts teacher wasn't impressed with my work. She scoffed and grumbled something in Korean and walked off with my frame. She removed my bouquet and basically remade it. Honestly, it looked much better after her remodel but I felt like my efforts were wasted. Oh well, I wasn't really interested in doing crafts, just hanging out with the kids. Anyway, I thanked the teacher and took the frame home and it is now displayed on my table next to the TV.

We were told that the moss should last a long time and when it gets dry, we can just lightly mist it with water or put it in the shower room so it collects some of the moisture.

My relatively bare apartment is becoming nicely decorated because of the 4H Club.