I Made Natural Shampoo

The school arranges professional development opportunities for teachers throughout the year. Most often, this training is either not available to me as a rule, or offered in Korean which makes it unavailable to me in practice. Generally, I don't mind because I get plenty of online training webinars from the EPIK program for native teachers in English.

What I do enjoy is the fun, enrichment activities provided every few months at the school that teaches a new skill and are not necessarily job-related. Last year I joined the calligraphy group and got to practice writing in Korean with a paintbrush.

This time, the choices were natural shampoo-making or making a cutting board. I actually don't remember being presented with the option, but found myself committed to the shampoo group somehow, while my main co-teacher went off to make a cutting board for her kitchen.

I walked into the classroom and several teachers were seated and waiting for the training to begin. Of course, I sat alone and waited. Teachers flowed into the room and sat everywhere throughout the room, except next to me. If they got too close, I'm sure they worried that they'd have to speak English with me. It wasn't until about 10 minutes into the presentation when the vice-principal came in late and took the only remaining seat, the one next to me. It was a nice gesture, still, she didn't talk to me at all for two hours.

Thankfully, there was another English teacher in the room who took pity on me and made sure I understood the instructions so I could make the shampoo. This is besides the point, but when I returned to school the next week, I learned that she would be away for a while because she was self-isolating on account of having close contact with someone with COVID-19. Hopefully, she's alright.

The session was led by an aromatherapist. I know this because, even though her presentation was fully in Korean, there were a few words of English sprinkled throughout: "aromatherapist, aromatic, lavender, and essential oil." The remainder was unintelligible but lengthy. She talked for an hour.

Finally, it was time to make natural shampoo. On our desks were a cup, scale, and ingredient list (also in Korean). The whole process was much simpler than I was expecting. Basically, we needed to put the ingredients into the cup, while carefully measuring it on the scale. The instructor passed out jars and containers of the various liquids. Where some people got in trouble, including the vice-principal, was that they didn't reset the scale each time, so their proportions were way off and they ruined their shampoo. I'm thankful that the English teacher explained everything to me, so my shampoo consisted of all of the proper liquids, in the correct amounts.

For those who ruined their shampoo by not following the instructions, probably because they came in late, the instructor made a batch at the end so they would have something to take home. 

I tried to translate the ingredients with my phone, but even with Google Translate, I didn't recognize most of the mix except lavender, oil, and mineral water. But I was surprised how many things go into shampoo. It took some time to add everything together.

Once we finished, we sealed the cup, gave it a good shake, and affixed the sticker. We were given a foaming pump to use with the shampoo. Mission accomplished, I made natural shampoo.

I guess making natural shampoo was mildly fun. Lots of ingredients, but quite simple in the end. Better than sitting at my desk for two hours, that's for sure. The shampoo smells a little too perfumey for my taste but it works.

Father's Day Lesson

South Korea doesn't celebrate separate mother's and father's days. Instead, they have one "Parents Day" in May. Students will buy small gifts for their parents, write letters, or do something nice around the house to show their appreciation.

Every few weeks, I prepare a lesson on a topic of my choice to give the students a break from the textbook and to expose them to different language points or culture in Western countries. I've already given lessons on St. Patrick's Day, April Fool's Day, Earth Day, Jack and the Beanstalk, and anger. Since it's June, I decided to do a Father's Day lesson.

Because I wanted to use this lesson with different grades and at both of my schools, I need to prepare an online version of the lesson and an in-person version. The online version was recorded and played for the grade three students at my main school. Once per term I need to deliver an "open lesson" that is viewed and evaluated by other teachers at the school. This doesn't amount to much for online lessons because I simply submit the lesson and anyone who wants to watch it can do so. I'm never provided with any feedback on my open lesson, so it's pointless. 

The in-person lessons were for my boys classes and were much more interesting because I decided to have a craft-making task, which I almost never do. It was simple enough, but I hoped it would be fun to provide some variety for the students and also give them the opportunity to make a gift for their fathers.

The task for the students was to write a thank you note for their father on a necktie template. I gave the students sample sentences to use, such as "Happy Father's Day", "You're the best dad!", and "Have a nice day." The students also decorated and drew on the necktie. The pictures were often meaningful activities that the students shared with their fathers, such as playing basketball or camping.

The lesson went well in that it kept the students occupied for the full class and everyone walked away with a, more or less, finished product. I was a little disappointed that most students didn't try to expand the written message beyond the sample sentences that I provided. My first-grade boys' classes did the bare minimum of writing and spent most of their time drawing the designs and pictures on the tie. Still, I think the end result was fine. Some of the more advanced students wrote longer, more personalized messages to their fathers.

Ultimately, keeping the written English to a bare minimum was probably the best choice because, at the end of the class when I reminded the students to give the gift to their fathers, some students noted that their fathers couldn't read English and probably wouldn't know what the messages meant anyway.

We're approaching the end of term exams, so from the time the exam finishes until the beginning of summer vacation, all of my lessons will be on free topics. It's a fun time for the students because we just play games or explore interesting topics, but it's difficult to come up with new material outside of the textbook. From last year and so far this year, I've covered lessons on most of the major holidays, so I need to get creative and come up with some new material. I'm thinking of doing lessons on clothing (fashion), types of laughter and humour, and cultural events in Canada such as the Calgary Stampede.

UN Memorial Cemetery in Korea

I've been meaning to visit the UN Memorial Cemetery in Korea (UNMCK) for a while now, as it's located here in Busan and it's actually the only cemetery in the world dedicated to UN soldiers. I had put it off because it takes about 1 hour 30 minutes to travel there from my apartment by public transportation. Also, while meaningful and educational, it's certainly sombre and sad. Even the night before, I was wavering on my decision to go, but ultimately decided to make the trip in the early hours of Sunday morning.

When I arrived, I saw uniformed soldiers marching in formation. Other military members, both Korean and American appeared to be setting up for some sort of ceremony. It was an amazing coincidence that I decided to go to the UNMCK on June 6th, which is Memorial Day in Korea. The ceremony started at 10am and I arrived at 9:45am. I didn't know it was Memorial Day until I checked my phone later, but I sensed the ceremony was important. Not a large crowd, but certainly there were visitors who came for this occasion.

A moment of silence was followed by the sound of a siren. The soldiers held their position still and silent. I believe the South Korean national anthem was played, and then a wreath was presented. At this particular section of the cemetery, two-man crews cycled through every grave and meticulously placed a white flower on the headstone. I watched as they honoured the heroes of many countries, including Canada.

Canadians will be pleased to know that our fallen soldiers who rest in Busan after giving their young lives in the Korean War are respected and revered by their Korean caretakers. The cemetery is well cared for and I believe Koreans appreciate the sacrifices that were made by the participating UN forces that ultimately secured their country.

Of the 516 Canadians who perished during the Korean War in the 1950s, 380 are currently interned at the UN cemetery. At one point, there were 11,000 graves, but many have been returned to their various home countries. Currently, 2,3000 rest at the UN Memorial Cemetery in Busan.

There is a waterway that stretches across one edge of the cemetery. It is dedicated to an Australian soldier, JP Daunt, who is the youngest interned at the cemetery. He was only 17 years old when he fell in battle.

The Wall of Remembrance lists the names of every soldier who died, organized by country. The American portion of the wall is exceeding large and is divided by state. The United States lost 36,492 in the Korean War. South Korean military forces had 237,686 fatalities.

We engrave your names in our hearts with love. We inscribe your names in our land with appreciation.

Here are the UN nations that participated in the war:

Australia
Belgium
Canada
Colombia
Denmark
Ethiopia
France
Germany
Greece
India
Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Philippines
South Africa
Sweden
Thailand
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States

It is estimated that 5 million people died in the Korean war 1950-1953, half of which were civilians. Approximately 10% of the Korean pre-war population died during the conflict. A peace treaty was never formally ratified, so the two Koreas remain in a technical state of war that has lasted decades.

Busan is significant in South Korea as the only city not to be captured by the North Korean forces. It was the last bastion for the South on the brink of defeat, as the UN forces formed a perimeter around Busan for their last stand. Many people fled to Busan from Seoul and other places in the country as refugees to escape the destruction of the war. Using the Port of Busan to their advantage, the UN forces were able to amass supplies and re-enforcements and held out for six weeks before a counter-attack was launched that made the Northern army retreat northwards.

The area around the cemetery is adorned with flags from various nations, and the street is called UN street. The sidewalk has the word  'peace' in different languages placed every few meters. 

Later, when talking to the Korean teachers, they said that Korean students often go to the cemetery for field trips to learn about the history of the Korean War. It's good to know that Korean students are being educated on this part of their history. When I read about the issue with North Korea and speak to my Korean colleagues, it's clear that they see "Korea" as one country that is unnaturally split into two. There is the hope of reunification someday, while cognizant of the practical and political obstacles that make the realization of the dream seem distant.

Dokdo: It's our island

When I first arrived in Korea, I stayed in a hotel next to the airport in Incheon and took the train for about an hour into Seoul for some exploring. Fresh off the plane and excited to get reacquainted with the country I'd be living in for the next year or more, I remember two things from those commutes on the train.  

First, as it was just days before the first outbreak of COVID-19 in South Korea, no one was wearing facemasks. Life was normal. Basically, every day since then, people here have been completely masked, both indoors and outside.

Second, the TV screens on the train repeatedly played, in multiple languages, a propaganda advertisement detailing South Korea's claim to Dokdo, a small series of islands totalling only 187,554 m² off the east coast with a minuscule population of 34 people. The advertisement explained that Dokdo was core to Korea's national identity and had always belonged to Korea. Japan's claim on the island, which they call Takeshima, is without merit, false, and fraudulent the advertisement explained. The advertisement, which caught my eye not only because of the content but also its length, further detailed some historical archives that apparently proved their case that the Japanese had acknowledged Korea's right to the island as far back as the 1600s. Therefore, from the Korean perspective, Dokdo is our island and will never be surrendered.

I don't have an opinion on which country has the legitimate claim, Japan or South Korea. By the way, North Korea claims the island too. I don't have enough information and it's not my place. I just thought it was incredibly interesting that on the train from the airport, visitors are greeted by an anti-Japanese commercial multiple times throughout the trip. The advertisement was played in Korean, English, Chinese, and yes, Japanese. Anti-Japanese sentiment hit me right in the face on my very first day in Korea, within minutes of leaving the airport.

Not often, but a few times since then, my Korean students or friends have told me that they don't like the Japanese. Naturally, this has to do with the tumultuous history dating back hundreds of years, and especially the occupation up to the end of World War 2. More recently, Japan is criticized for failing to make proper amends for the war atrocities, including the issue of forced labour, comfort women, and generally downplaying their actions at that time. This is the Korean perspective. The Japanese generally believe these issues have been addressed but the Koreans continue to move the goalposts.

I noticed a picture of an island hanging in one of the classrooms of my boys' school last year. I asked a student about it. He said it was Dokdo. Clearly, the claim to Dokdo Island is ingrained into the youth of Korea from an early age.

I was reminded of Dokdo Island recently when during a speaking test with a third-grade middle school student who was tasked with recommending a good place to visit in Korea, suggested that I go to Dokdo. Most of the other students recommended typical tourist places in Korea like Seoul, Jeju, and various palaces, traditional villages, and amusement parks. The middle-schooler explained that Dokdo was a Korean Island. He said that Japan says it's their island "but that is a lie." Only he mispronounced "lie" so it sounded more like "lion" but that's besides that point. 

What makes this all the more ridiculous is that there is nothing for a tourist to do on Dokdo Island. It is accessible only by passenger ship, and only during certain periods of the year. Visitors to the island are only allowed to stay for 30 minutes. And according to the Korean Tourism Organization, "There are no restaurants or accommodation facilities in Dokdo, so if you are planning to travel to Dokdo, make sure you get food and accommodations in Ulleungdo." Apparently, the island is in a good fishing spot, though.

In fact, visitors were not permitted on the island because of security and political reasons until 2005. Not coincidently, Japan had made another claim to the island at that time. A prefecture in Japan held a Takeshima (Dokdo) Day including a ceremony, so South Korea opened up the island to Korean visitors from the mainland via Ulleungdo island as a counter to the Japanese "provocation". The island has effectively been controlled by South Korea since 1952 and is regularly patrolled by the Korean Coast Guard. Of course, Korea claims that Dokdo has always been Korean. Japan argues that South Korea is illegally occupying the island.

With the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo fast approaching, the land dispute between South Korea and Japan has once again made news. A map on the Tokyo Olympic Committee website had shown Dokdo Island as part of the Japanese territory. "When South Korea demanded a correction to the map and threatened to boycott the Olympics, the map was adjusted to make Dokdo less visible but was not removed."

Interestingly, the Korean Herald news article goes on to explain that South Korea had made a concession to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) when they hosted the Winter Olympics in 2018. They cite two instances where Dokdo Island was removed from Korean maps because of the IOC's guideline on "political neutrality." Naturally, the Koreans feel slighted that they made those concessions when it appears that the Japanese are not doing the same this time around.

The same article mentions a Korean petition to boycott the Olympics because Japan put Dokdo on their map. An extremely angry, anonymous petitioner wrote, "Japan's such actions are nothing more than a declaration of war by using the Olympics to internationally reveal their ambitions for Dokdo." Despite the petition, I haven't heard news from any government sources about a boycott so it's uncertain how much traction it actually has.

As you can see, the emotional attachment to Dokdo is extremely high in South Korea. Again, the purpose of this blog was not to take a side in the island dispute but to highlight what I see of the issue as an outsider currently living in Korea, with friendship ties to Japan. I cannot imagine that South Korea will ever give up Dokdo as it has become a part of their national identity and a rallying point whenever Japan and Korea clash on any given issue. The lingering wounds of the past are made fresh every time Dokdo is challenged.

Speaking and Writing Tests

This is the time of the semester, in-between midterm and end of term exams, when students are assigned their English speaking tests and writing tests. It's a very intense period for me because the native English teacher is responsible for the bulk of the evaluations. In fact, I'm doing 100% of the evaluations at both of my schools. At the boys' school, the grade 3 boys had a speaking test, and at my main school, the grade 2 and 3 students had both writing and speaking tasks spread out over two weeks. 

Generally, I appreciate having one on one speaking time with the students, but it is a lot of pressure to be responsible for the grades, and it's exhausting to read their papers. This week alone (W, Th, Fri), I graded 150 one-page assignments.

I'll take you through what the students were asked to do:

So far with my grade 3 students at the boys' school, we've read Jack and the Beanstalk and three of Aesop's Fables - The Hare and the Tortoise, The Bear and the Travelers, and The Lion and the Mouse. I was asked to create about 10 questions, ranging from easy to mildly difficult, to test the speaking abilities of the students. I also included one question to cover our most basic grammar lesson this year - How are you feeling? I'm feeling fine, happy, excited, etc.

With this test, the students were given the questions in advance. The week before the test, I prepared a review lesson to help the students form their answers and better understand how to score high marks on the test.

On test day, all of the questions were typed out on strips of paper, and hidden in an envelope. the students randomly drew their three questions. It was funny to watch the students stress over their picks. They'd reach for a question, then back off, switch, and then finally pull their question, only to realize that they picked one of the harder questions.

The better students had their responses memorized for each question, so it didn't matter which ones they randomly picked. The weaker students didn't know the answers to most questions. I let them pick a new question until they found one they could handle. For some students, it was pointless as they hadn't studied at all.

Since I had to assign each student a grade, I asked about the expectations of the Korean teachers beforehand. Did they expect me to strictly stick to the grading rubric? How many As, Bs, Cs, Ds, and Fs did they anticipate in their classes? One teacher said just to grade them however I wanted. The other teacher told me to be lenient, and most of the class should get As and Bs.

So, I gave most of the students As and Bs, and for the students who couldn't do much of anything, I gave them Cs. I didn't give any Ds or Fs.  Later, the teacher mentioned that I should give Ds or Fs if the students didn't answer any questions, but of course, that directive was given, not when I asked for guidance, but after the test was already finished.

The next week, I had to administer the test with any students who were absent the week before. As it turned out, there was a big taekwondo tournament, so quite a few students needed to take the test on the secondary date. They gathered in the teachers' room at the end of the day for their test, and the Korean teacher tried to find an available room. She brought me to the female teachers' lounge. She peaked her head into the room, didn't see anyone, and told me I could use the room for the test. I entered and flipped on the light then heard a "huuuh???" sound. I looked beyond the little barrier that was set up, there were two full beds on the floor, and a female teacher was in there having a snooze. She was completely wrapped up in blankets and looked like I woke her up from a deep sleep. Her hair was dishevelled. She put herself together and vacated the room. It was awkward but I did the English speaking tests in the female teachers' lounge. The taekwondo boys mostly scored poorly on the test, so it was kind of a waste of time.

There was one boy who was pressuring me for a good grade a few days before the test. He straight-up asked me to give him a high score. With the help of his friend who was actually really good at English, he explained that the test was important in determining which high school he could attend next year, and he needed to do well on the test so he could go to his high school of choice. Even during the test, he would stop after every question and ask me, "Was that right? Did I make any mistakes?" It was hilarious to see. Most of the kids were quiet or nervous, while he was working the judge from the start. He randomly pulled the three most difficult questions in the test and did well considering the difficulty of the questions. I gave him an A.

Over at my main school, I was working with the grade 2s this week. Earlier in the week, they each wrote about a place in the world they would recommend visiting. They had to write about the tourist attractions, available food, transportation options to the location, fun things to do, etc. If they wrote 12 lines or more, they would be eligible for an A provided that they made fewer than 6 spelling or grammatical errors. Interestingly, the lowest possible score for those students who didn't write a single thing was 30/50 or 60%. Fairly generous I would say.

Students wrote about various locations in Korea such as Jeju Island, Seoul, and tourist spots in Busan. Internationally, several students recommended France. One student each recommended China, Japan, and Canada. I'll share a few of the best and you'll see that some of the second graders are really impressive. They recommended Bolivia, Antarctica, and Korea respectively.

For their speaking tests, essentially the students needed to memorize what they wrote for their writing test and regurgitate it to me. I evaluated them on the number of sentences they could speak and the fluency in which they spoke. Of course, I didn't get the grading criteria for the speaking test until 5 seconds before the test, but that's not unusual here at my school.

The speaking test was simply an exercise in memorization. The students struggled when they couldn't remember what they were supposed to say. Students with the best memory got the best scores. There were only two students who approached me without a script and simply spoke about their recommended travel destination. Their speech wasn't as polished but it was more natural and took more courage. They were rewarded with high scores. I gave the weakest students some marks if they could simply say one sentence. With this approach, almost all students avoided the lowest score.

As I said, having one on one time with the students is fun but very exhausting trying to focus on what they are saying through their mask. Across the two schools, I will complete about 400 speaking tests and grade about 275 writing tests. I'm tired.

Teachers' Day 2021

May 15th is Teachers' Day in South Korea, a time for honouring and appreciating the educators of society. The day was full of nice little surprises which help to make up for being over-worked and underappreciated the rest of the year. Seriously, there are a lot of expectations put on teachers and efforts are often thankless, so having a special day is very welcomed.

Often, former students who have graduated from the school come back to visit their favourite teachers on Teachers' Day. They arrive at school looking a little older, proudly wearing their high school uniforms. It was nice to see some familiar faces return to the school. My Korean co-teacher has a long-standing tradition of visiting her old teacher, from over 25 years ago, on Teachers' day. She prepares food and gifts and spends time with her former mentor.

Traditionally, students present carnations to their teachers. However, South Korea is hyper-concerned with corruption and favouritism (see the arrest and imprisonment of former political leaders) that laws have been enacted to maintain transparency and fairness. Public employees are not permitted to receive gifts or favours, and this includes teachers. A class representative may give a flower or write a thank you banner on behalf of the class, but personal notes, cakes, flowers or hand-made origami are some of the things prohibited as gifts by individual students. There is some leeway for gift-giving after students have graduated and left the school.

My 5th-period students had a nice surprise for me when I walked into the classroom. They had decorated the chalkboard, and also made a sweet poster for me with messages written in English. The better students wrote several sentences, and the weaker students wrote things like, "thank you" and "I love you." I was very grateful for the effort and hung the poster on my wall at home. I noticed a little whiteout on one of the messages. The message says, "Your class is very fun" but another word was whited out and replaced with "fun". I held the poster up to the light and saw that the original word was "exciting". The student decided that my class wasn't "exciting" but "fun". I'll take it. It's school we're talking about after all - rarely exciting but hopefully fun.

The day ended with a pizza and chicken party in the staff room of my main school. Each department (about 5 or 6 people) shared the food and a bottle of coca-cola while cautiously removing our facemasks. I still can't get used to the pizza here: ham, pineapple, and shrimp. The fried chicken was good and came with a couple of hard-boiled eggs, a side dish of pickles, and hot sauce. Some teachers ate while wearing plastic gloves, which I think is a pre-pandemic tradition for finger foods. It keeps your hands clean, but it's another thing that feels weird to me. The meal was served at 4pm and was short-lived since most teachers leave the school at 4:30pm, myself included. I was able to take a hard-boiled egg home for later.

Teachers' day is over. This weekend I need to prepare my lessons for next week because at 3pm on Friday, we were informed that classes would be in-person next week even though we had made our preparations for online classes, as per the original schedule. Such is the life of a teacher in these times.

Radio Interview

A few weeks ago, I was interviewed by three students from my school. We mainly spoke about online lessons and my advice for students. As with most things in Korea, especially at my job, I was given very few details and I just went with the flow.

These students had applied and were selected to participate in a radio broadcast in the city of Busan. I believe at least some of the students were members of the broadcast club at school, so this may have been part of their responsibilities. I was told that my interview with the students would be played on a local radio station at some point, but I basically put it out of my mind, and several weeks had passed.

The students provided me with a shortlist of questions that they had prepared in advance, and I was given some time to type out my answers for them. I believe that they were supposed to transcribe my responses from the recording, but the Korean English teacher rightly decided that that would be too difficult for the students. So, I typed up my answers and gave a copy to the students, who were relieved that they wouldn't have to do the extra work.

We recorded the interview on a cellphone in an empty classroom during the lunch break. On our first try, the students held the cellphone too far away, so the sound quality was poor. We tried it again, and I held the cellphone close to my face. I was given a time limit to complete my portion of the interview, and my answers were a little long, so I think I spoke too fast. I simply read my responses and I had the feeling that my students didn't understand what I was saying. 

They asked me about my advice for students regarding online lessons, and my advice on how to approach these lessons while being at home. As it turned out, much of my interview was cut for time, but I think that was fine given that I was too wordy anyway.

Today, out of the blue, the Korean English teacher sent me a copy of the radio broadcast of my interview with the students. Actually, it was a 20-minute segment with a radio host in Busan. The students were interviewed on various topics concerning their school, and they even made song recommendations that the disc jockey played on air. I believe the original plan was for the students to visit the radio station and complete the interview in person. Instead, the students' responses were all pre-recorded and spliced together to form a conversation. Of course, my interview recording was inserted into the conversation as well.

Take a listen. My interview begins at 12:29 but I recommend listening to the full interview if you have the time. You'll get a sense of modern Korean pop music, but more importantly, I think my students did a really great job describing the various activities at the school and their goals for the future. It provides a glimpse into Korean school life.

Normally, I hate the sound of my own voice on recordings, but this one wasn't too bad. Actually, I'm very, very proud of the students and the final product. They spoke really well and it's obvious that they put a lot of time into their preparations. I'm sure they got a thrill listening to themselves on the radio. Remember, they are middle school students speaking in their second language. I hope it gives them the motivation to continue studying and seeking out interesting opportunities to use the English that they learn at school.