Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Korea Korea
* we recently went to a Norebong (Karaoke room) where we entered an elevator from the street! The elevator doors opened up on to the street!
*In Korea everything talks to you... occasionally you will get a toilet that talks to you after flushing.... “Thank-you for pooping in me” and for sure the elevators talk to you whenever you enter it welcomes you ... and when you exit... maybe it says “ hope you enjoyed your ride.” I think when I return to Canada... I will leave the elevators just disgusted... “Those rude sonofabitches gave me the silent treatment!”
* there is crazy shopping in Incheon... in the underground subway stations.... just so many little stores shoved together---- my ADHD is completely satisfied/if not overwhelmed
* when taking the cab home from other cities--- they sometimes reach ridiculous speeds such as 187 km/hr!!!! I don’t mind as I want to get home fast..... (it is a set price so it is not like they are loosing money) and all the Cabs have a GPS device in them to show the highways and warn of potential hazards.... it may be a little dangerous so my new years resolution is to remember to “buckle up.”
* for snack one day at school we were served pomegranate!!!! AHHHHH ... FINE i know not strange... but because I am special ( I am afraid of clusters.... ugly looking things... such as a pomegranate... I couldn’t serve snack and hung out in the staff room till it was over... luckily the korean staff were accommodating... though I am sure they think I am mental)
*In Korea everything talks to you... occasionally you will get a toilet that talks to you after flushing.... “Thank-you for pooping in me” and for sure the elevators talk to you whenever you enter it welcomes you ... and when you exit... maybe it says “ hope you enjoyed your ride.” I think when I return to Canada... I will leave the elevators just disgusted... “Those rude sonofabitches gave me the silent treatment!”
* there is crazy shopping in Incheon... in the underground subway stations.... just so many little stores shoved together---- my ADHD is completely satisfied/if not overwhelmed
* when taking the cab home from other cities--- they sometimes reach ridiculous speeds such as 187 km/hr!!!! I don’t mind as I want to get home fast..... (it is a set price so it is not like they are loosing money) and all the Cabs have a GPS device in them to show the highways and warn of potential hazards.... it may be a little dangerous so my new years resolution is to remember to “buckle up.”
* for snack one day at school we were served pomegranate!!!! AHHHHH ... FINE i know not strange... but because I am special ( I am afraid of clusters.... ugly looking things... such as a pomegranate... I couldn’t serve snack and hung out in the staff room till it was over... luckily the korean staff were accommodating... though I am sure they think I am mental)
New Years
So it has been a while... New Years Eve Day... we had to work so by the time we were off at 6:30 we thought the craziness of the subway was not something we wanted to endure... so we didn’t make it to Seoul. Instead celebrated with all the foreign personalities at “Bar 10” aka Ansan “Cheers.” You know the usual Shenanigans unfolded Dart playing, Fire Shows, Random Conversations.... and scene. ohhh but it was really cold maybe -15 (max) so Roberta and I bundled up and wore layers over top of our clothing for our walk to the bar. ---- (Hence the ridiculousness of red fleece pants over my clothes.... but I was warm... I think this is a sign of getting older when you bundle up and forgo fashion in order to feel warm.... ugh I AM getting older ;)
Strangling a Parent’s Neck
“F@&*@&Y@*&Y!!!! this and F*@Y&&*@*&@#*% that!!!!” echoed my screams down the hall way of Brighton.
“Shhh Keira.... she’s here”
“She’s HERE?!”
Hapkeido (Korean Karate) roll out the hallway. Full on tomb raider sprint, cartwheel, and back flip....... “WHAAAAA”......a chop in the gut and my hands are around her throat.
“Quit messing with me..... and grow up... you are RIDICULOUS!!”
Exasperated Parent... “ahhhhhh I’m so sorry Keira Teacher.... you are right... us Korean Parents are stupid... we forget that our son/daughter is not the only Prince/Princess you teach, we know you think about what is best for all students.... I am sorry and ashamed for my childish behaviour... ohhh and YOU ARE THE GOODEST (they don’t know english right?) TEACHER EVER”
So THAT is not how it went.... yet wouldn’t that have been FABULOUS!??!!!
I am now laughing hysterically as my visual mind can picture it all.
So school lately. The play “Stone Soup” has been “schooling” me in the workings of Korean Hagwons. Little did I know that upon giving my students the plays to take home with their parts highlighted would I be given each parent ammunition to ‘stone’ me and my Korean teaching partner.
So I left you faithful blog readers telling you about how I had the students for the most part pick their roles. I made each role sound equally appealing and guided three students to the roles with the most lines (based on not only English speaking ability, but on personality--- those that would be less shy/able to practice more at home). Now in the play there were 5 roles that were pretty much equal and then the other three which the ones I wanted chose the according roles.... Well besides the “Owl” narrator.. part which was turned into a Princess narrator character but we smothered that fire before it blazed. I wanted to have the children choose lines because I wanted it to be their play and I feel a little choice is empowering.... sometimes a headache for me... but I believe for the best. So the roles are assigned and the plays go home then the parents start phoning Michelle (my Korean teaching partner) the next day.
“My child doesn’t have enough lines”.... how were the roles picked?..... is my child not good at English and that is why they are not the “star”?.... I thought there wasn’t going to be a ‘princess’ part. You promised me (speaking to Michelle--- I made no such promises and the princess was her idea!) there wasn’t going to be a princess..... blah blah blah blah” In my defence, yes some of the lines were shorter... but I did this so that each student could excel at their lines and be great... thus sparing humiliation and then the audience is left thinking the child could possibly have been capable of MORE... rather than seeing what they are INCAPABLE of. Ok so Michelle is trying to combat all of this... but all the parents phone one another... and then one parent phones and says “She is calling on behalf of the parents.” It seems ‘no one is happy! We have to change the play so that all the lines are equal. The “spokesparent” actually told Michelle that the parents don’t care that the story makes sense they just want their child talking. HA! In some ways I understand this, everyone wants there child to be a ‘star’ but to have the story line suffer in my mind would make any possible “English learning” fruitless. So I side with my self and not change the story line but make some lines longer and add in an introduction to the play, as well as, a conclusion to equal out the lines. Then re-highlight, count all the sentences.... and send the play back home to the “wolves” (sighing at the fact that the play that is to be 15 min long is now at least 30 min long!!!!.... and I have to “teach” these lines to the point of memorization!!!!) UGH at least the parents are happy... and I am confident in my students ability but it will be hard work.... and the other subjects will suffer but I am not the boss... and Brighton... like any hagwon... is a “business” so we must appease the “customers”.... the RIDICULOUS parents!!!!! Ok so it “Should” be over... time to teach it.... make props... and teach my other 12 elementary classes... compartmentalizing is my life! hahaha
Then it happened. Mrs. PSYCHO phones! Michelle my Korean partner is crying... she is meeting with the kindergarten director... she stays in the meeting missing teaching time with not one but two of her classes... What the HELL is happening??? ... I don’t know ... who would bother telling the other teacher /play writer!!!! Ok so Michelle is upset I let her know I am here... but don’t press her to talk.... you know not till she is ready! So I wait a day and then this morning she tells me. Apparently, a certain mom phoned again. She went off... the first time she was upset about the lines and the amount of times her son appears in the play... in my editing I took this into consideration.... I added lines and made him the first to speak in the introduction--- thus allowing him to appear another time in the play. This is issue is over in my life... her son whom is shy, whom the mother complains about being “stressed” out all the time, and who’s English is not the greatest... has way too many lines in my humble opinion as it is! Next she is upset that he is a skunk! AHHHH how could I have been so neive! Here’s the real issue... she is upset because he is a skunk... which may be a cute animal but is an animal known for being smelly!!!! (a note that the student himself chose skunk... and seems perfectly fine with it in class!) Ok so she is upset because now everyone must be ostracizing her son because he is shy! We (the teachers) must not like him because we made him the stinky skunk with few lines! And the students well she assumes doesn’t like him either..... (they all love him and he plays/is goofing around with them everyday!). My personal favourite was this line “He may like being the skunk now, but when he is 30 and looks back on his childhood will he really be happy knowing he was a skunk!” AHHHHH Come on lady!!! I am actually laughing and swearing in the staff room in front of everyone... how un-Korean of me... as they like to “save face” and show little emotion. I AM INFURIATED!!!!!! She wants his role to be changed (fine little did she know the costume catalogue didn’t have a skunk so I changed him to a squirrel anyway.... but ohhh how I wish I could keep him as a skunk) anyway so the PSYCHO mom continues that
we should have written a better play! She then suggests adding a song at the beginning of the play!!! Then she MAY finally be happy!!!! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo I hate this woman. I compose a professional letter as if she could understand English explaining my reasoning for doing everything the way I have..... and give it to Michelle at least it may help with her conversations with the woman. We are bending over backwards for her! So now that I have given her son too many lines for him to handle (well gawd I hope not but I fear so) and have changed the role of his character.... there is no way I feel like adding in another song to my too long of a play!!!!! It is principal.... they don’t need another song, it will do nothing more for the play, and she shouldn’t win everything.... the more we (the school) say yes the more they will ask.... ENOUGH is ENOUGH...... ohhh but “Keira teacher” is not the boss...... so I will let you know after my meeting tomorrow with the kindergarten director.
AHHHH as I reread this I see a little of my vices. I don’t want her to “win”...this is childish... but really I don’t want the students to suffer anymore... because the parents want them to be stars..... and I don’t want to keep changing things either (for my own sanity).... and I am tired of not being able to communicate... or being communicated too.... ohhh I am just plain TIRED.
hahaha.... well this is a one day rant...I feel better... other areas of my life are fine... I will post soon....... I love/miss you all.... and I am positive I will learn even more from this experience!
XOOXOXOXOXOX
“Shhh Keira.... she’s here”
“She’s HERE?!”
Hapkeido (Korean Karate) roll out the hallway. Full on tomb raider sprint, cartwheel, and back flip....... “WHAAAAA”......a chop in the gut and my hands are around her throat.
“Quit messing with me..... and grow up... you are RIDICULOUS!!”
Exasperated Parent... “ahhhhhh I’m so sorry Keira Teacher.... you are right... us Korean Parents are stupid... we forget that our son/daughter is not the only Prince/Princess you teach, we know you think about what is best for all students.... I am sorry and ashamed for my childish behaviour... ohhh and YOU ARE THE GOODEST (they don’t know english right?) TEACHER EVER”
So THAT is not how it went.... yet wouldn’t that have been FABULOUS!??!!!
I am now laughing hysterically as my visual mind can picture it all.
So school lately. The play “Stone Soup” has been “schooling” me in the workings of Korean Hagwons. Little did I know that upon giving my students the plays to take home with their parts highlighted would I be given each parent ammunition to ‘stone’ me and my Korean teaching partner.
So I left you faithful blog readers telling you about how I had the students for the most part pick their roles. I made each role sound equally appealing and guided three students to the roles with the most lines (based on not only English speaking ability, but on personality--- those that would be less shy/able to practice more at home). Now in the play there were 5 roles that were pretty much equal and then the other three which the ones I wanted chose the according roles.... Well besides the “Owl” narrator.. part which was turned into a Princess narrator character but we smothered that fire before it blazed. I wanted to have the children choose lines because I wanted it to be their play and I feel a little choice is empowering.... sometimes a headache for me... but I believe for the best. So the roles are assigned and the plays go home then the parents start phoning Michelle (my Korean teaching partner) the next day.
“My child doesn’t have enough lines”.... how were the roles picked?..... is my child not good at English and that is why they are not the “star”?.... I thought there wasn’t going to be a ‘princess’ part. You promised me (speaking to Michelle--- I made no such promises and the princess was her idea!) there wasn’t going to be a princess..... blah blah blah blah” In my defence, yes some of the lines were shorter... but I did this so that each student could excel at their lines and be great... thus sparing humiliation and then the audience is left thinking the child could possibly have been capable of MORE... rather than seeing what they are INCAPABLE of. Ok so Michelle is trying to combat all of this... but all the parents phone one another... and then one parent phones and says “She is calling on behalf of the parents.” It seems ‘no one is happy! We have to change the play so that all the lines are equal. The “spokesparent” actually told Michelle that the parents don’t care that the story makes sense they just want their child talking. HA! In some ways I understand this, everyone wants there child to be a ‘star’ but to have the story line suffer in my mind would make any possible “English learning” fruitless. So I side with my self and not change the story line but make some lines longer and add in an introduction to the play, as well as, a conclusion to equal out the lines. Then re-highlight, count all the sentences.... and send the play back home to the “wolves” (sighing at the fact that the play that is to be 15 min long is now at least 30 min long!!!!.... and I have to “teach” these lines to the point of memorization!!!!) UGH at least the parents are happy... and I am confident in my students ability but it will be hard work.... and the other subjects will suffer but I am not the boss... and Brighton... like any hagwon... is a “business” so we must appease the “customers”.... the RIDICULOUS parents!!!!! Ok so it “Should” be over... time to teach it.... make props... and teach my other 12 elementary classes... compartmentalizing is my life! hahaha
Then it happened. Mrs. PSYCHO phones! Michelle my Korean partner is crying... she is meeting with the kindergarten director... she stays in the meeting missing teaching time with not one but two of her classes... What the HELL is happening??? ... I don’t know ... who would bother telling the other teacher /play writer!!!! Ok so Michelle is upset I let her know I am here... but don’t press her to talk.... you know not till she is ready! So I wait a day and then this morning she tells me. Apparently, a certain mom phoned again. She went off... the first time she was upset about the lines and the amount of times her son appears in the play... in my editing I took this into consideration.... I added lines and made him the first to speak in the introduction--- thus allowing him to appear another time in the play. This is issue is over in my life... her son whom is shy, whom the mother complains about being “stressed” out all the time, and who’s English is not the greatest... has way too many lines in my humble opinion as it is! Next she is upset that he is a skunk! AHHHH how could I have been so neive! Here’s the real issue... she is upset because he is a skunk... which may be a cute animal but is an animal known for being smelly!!!! (a note that the student himself chose skunk... and seems perfectly fine with it in class!) Ok so she is upset because now everyone must be ostracizing her son because he is shy! We (the teachers) must not like him because we made him the stinky skunk with few lines! And the students well she assumes doesn’t like him either..... (they all love him and he plays/is goofing around with them everyday!). My personal favourite was this line “He may like being the skunk now, but when he is 30 and looks back on his childhood will he really be happy knowing he was a skunk!” AHHHHH Come on lady!!! I am actually laughing and swearing in the staff room in front of everyone... how un-Korean of me... as they like to “save face” and show little emotion. I AM INFURIATED!!!!!! She wants his role to be changed (fine little did she know the costume catalogue didn’t have a skunk so I changed him to a squirrel anyway.... but ohhh how I wish I could keep him as a skunk) anyway so the PSYCHO mom continues that
we should have written a better play! She then suggests adding a song at the beginning of the play!!! Then she MAY finally be happy!!!! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo I hate this woman. I compose a professional letter as if she could understand English explaining my reasoning for doing everything the way I have..... and give it to Michelle at least it may help with her conversations with the woman. We are bending over backwards for her! So now that I have given her son too many lines for him to handle (well gawd I hope not but I fear so) and have changed the role of his character.... there is no way I feel like adding in another song to my too long of a play!!!!! It is principal.... they don’t need another song, it will do nothing more for the play, and she shouldn’t win everything.... the more we (the school) say yes the more they will ask.... ENOUGH is ENOUGH...... ohhh but “Keira teacher” is not the boss...... so I will let you know after my meeting tomorrow with the kindergarten director.
AHHHH as I reread this I see a little of my vices. I don’t want her to “win”...this is childish... but really I don’t want the students to suffer anymore... because the parents want them to be stars..... and I don’t want to keep changing things either (for my own sanity).... and I am tired of not being able to communicate... or being communicated too.... ohhh I am just plain TIRED.
hahaha.... well this is a one day rant...I feel better... other areas of my life are fine... I will post soon....... I love/miss you all.... and I am positive I will learn even more from this experience!
XOOXOXOXOXOX
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