After my experience eating insects with the 4H club, we gathered again for another event. This time, with the help of a head chef, we baked cookies together. The catch - the cookies were green onion-flavoured.
Apparently, green onion is a local specialty here in Busan and several unexpected foods are infused with the flavour. The cookies definitely had a distinctive taste. Normally I expect cookies to be sweet, but these had a savoury onion taste.
We made cookies of various shapes and sizes and cooked them in the mini home-economics ovens at the school. A boy even fashioned a cookie to look like my face.
We posed for our club photo and took home a goodie-bag. I had my fill of green onion cookies, and bread made from rice, which tasted like angel food cake. They were much better than the bugs and insects from the week before.
Sunday, I walked to Dadaepo beach to relax in a cafe that I visit from time to time. It's quite large, covers three floors, and it has a nice view of the harbour. I happened to look up from my coffee mug and I noticed an older man with really slick sneakers and a flashy belt buckle. Then I looked at his wristwatch and I almost fell out of my chair. It had the distinctive shape and colour of a Richard Mille. It could have been a knockoff, but based on how he was dressed and the style of his companions, I thought it might be real. Further investigation led me to the parking lot. If I saw a supercar, then I would know it was his and would be confident that the watch was authentic. No Lamborghini or Bugatti in the car lot, but there was a really fancy Mercedes amongst all the KIAs and Hyundais, which I'm sure belonged to the man in question. I felt confident that he was wearing a real Richard Mille watch, which retails at about $160,000 USD. I'd never seen a watch of that calibre in the wild, and may never again. A true unicorn sighting.
After having finally been given long-range plans through January from both of my schools that outline which grades will study in-class and which grades will study online, the government made announced that they were allowing all students to attend classes in-person, at the individual school's discretion.
Having only 2/3 of the students at school at a given time is ideal. Online classes are easy for me to manage and I still have contact with some students at school. However, the full in-class schedule is a little intense and tiring. In addition, classes have been expanded from 40 minutes to the standard 45 minutes in middle school, so I'm looking at some very busy days for the remainder of the semester. One can't complain because all of these changes are a result of lower COVID-19 numbers in the country.
I'm studying an online program on IELTS teacher training in my free time. IELTS (International English Language Test System) is currently the most popular English test for global migration and higher education admissions. For example, international students would have to score a certain level on this test to gain admission to a university in Canada. This online course is offered free from IELTS Australia. I am learning about the test and its various levels and standards. I don't train people to take the IELTS test in my current job, but it could be a valuable piece of professional development should I continue on as an ESL teacher in the future. Currently, I'm learning about the speaking portion of the test. Later, I will study the written component.
I've started doing my Halloween lessons. So far, my Grade 1 middle school boys had the lesson and I think it went over fairly well. Everyone is familiar with Halloween and some of the boys had dressed in costume or craved a pumpkin before, but none of my boys had gone trick or treating as it is not practiced here in Korea. Any student who studies at an English after-school academy probably had a Halloween day at their school at some point.
The lesson started with a simple brainstorm on Halloween. I asked the students to write as many Halloween words as they could think of in 2 minutes. Most of the students wrote things like ghost, witch, pumpkin, candy, and the stronger students wrote Trick or Treat, Jack o' lantern, and October 31st.
I then did a short PowerPoint presentation on different Halloween activities such as decorating your home, making jack o' lanterns, trick or treating, Halloween parties, and wearing costumes. I showed a picture of me in a superman costume and in a circus ringmaster costume and the students had a good laugh and they clapped.
I showed the students a short 2-minute video of a Halloween costume walking parade from an American high school. The students were amazed at the costumes and how tall the students were, especially some of the girls. I wish our students had the chance to participate in these fun activities in their schools instead of studying all the time, but with COVID, it is definitely not possible.
The main piece of my Halloween lesson was to show a 10-minute video from The Berenstain Bears Halloween Trick or Treat show. I paused the video periodically to ask comprehension questions and the students did pretty well in following the story. It seems most students enjoyed the story and the happy ending, although one student said it was boring. I wonder how it will work with my older students?
Even though I am settled into a routine, each week is unique and provides its own excitement so that I never know exactly what to expect.
You've read many of the highlights from my week. One lowlight was that I broke up a fight between two boys. Not really a fight, but they were grappling and trying to throw each other to the ground. I had just walked into the room, no other teachers were around, and the other students looked to me to do something. They said, "They're fighting!" They had knocked posters and papers off the bulletin board and I was sure someone was going down soon because neither boy was letting up. I saw my moment and bearhugged both boys and said, "Stop. Stop. Stop." Thankfully they understood and desisted. To lighten the situation, I said, "No dancing allowed!" And everyone laughed. Conflict resolution 101. Bearhug the combatants until the conflict is over.
What will next week bring?
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