Birthdays in Korea

In honor of Zach's 28th birthday tomorrow (June 21st), I thought I would write about birthdays in Korea.  Zach's international age will be 28 tomorrow, but he has been 29 in Korea since the new year (depending on who you talk to, that could be Jan 1st or the Lunar New Year).  Confusing, huh?!  Don't worry, this whole birthday thing always confuses the heck out of me!  Basically, here is how you calculate Korean birthdays, I think....haha!

When you are born, you are considered to be one year old.  When the new year rolls around, you will turn 2 years old.  So technically, a baby born on Dec. 31st could be 2 years old on January 1st.  But like I said above, which new year you use to "get older" depends on who you talk to.  Some use the Gregorian or "Western" calendar and some use the Lunar calendar to "get older", which adds to the confusion.

I guess the easiest way to to calculate your Korean age is to take the current year (2014) and subtract the year you were born (1986) = 28.  If you haven't already had your birthday, add 2 years.  If you've already had your birthday, just add 1 year.  Zach is currently 27 years old, so he should add 2 years.  After his birthday he will be 28, so he will add 1 year.

If this is still confusing, just tell someone what year you were born in when they ask you how old you are.

To help me honor Zach's birthday, I would love it if you could send him a birthday message by posting in the comments section below!  He would love to hear from you!

Fake It 'Til You Make It

This title is a perfect description of our time abroad, but mostly of our time living in Korea.  Yes, we can read Korean.  There is actually an alphabet and there are fewer characters than the English alphabet.  But just because we can read it, doesn't mean we always know what it means.  Hence, the faking it part.

Here are some examples:

This is the controller to all things heat-related in our apartment.  It turns the floor heat on and we also have to turn it on every time we want to take a shower or have hot water for anything.

This is our washing machine.

Okay, maybe this one has nothing to do with translating.  I just have a really bad memory and I can't remember which switch turns on which light.

Breaking Down My Time At School

Today I was told that I would not have my 3rd and 4th period classes today.  I only have four classes on Fridays so that means that I would finish my day at 10:30 a.m.  Got got me thinking of how much I actually work.  You may think that I'm bragging.....

......I AM!

So, here is my schedule.  I have to be at work at 8:40 a.m. and I can leave at 4:40 p.m. Monday-Friday.

I "teach"* 17 40-minute classes, 2 50-minute classes, and 2 20-minute classes.  That equals out to me being in the classroom for 14.5 hours every week.

* I put teach in quotes because my co-teacher wants me to plan a game or activity that lasts 10-15 minutes each class and that is all I am required to do.  Except for kindergarten where I am in charge for the whole 20 minutes.

That leaves me 25.5 hours each week to plan my activities and do whatever else I want with my time.  I've never really broken it down like this before.  I have it pretty cushy here in Korea!

School Picnic

Today, my school had a school picnic.  Actually, the term 'picnic' is a little misleading.  Basically, the students went on a field trip.  Each grade or group of grades went somewhere different.  One of the grades went to an art museum.

For school trips, the Native English Teacher (NET) is usually required to sit at their desk and desk warm.  The only other people in the school are the maintenance/cleaning people.  Usually it's pretty boring to desk warm, but today I had plenty of things to keep me busy.  I have one more month of homework to do before the end of the course and I can always plan my lessons for the upcoming weeks.  However, today, I spent most of my time cross stitching.  (I am working on a secret project so I can't so you the whole picture.)  I can listen to good music and not have anyone bother me.  I definitely don't mind getting paid to do this!!  :)

English Newspapers and Learning

One of my favorite activities to do with my students involves newspapers.  Last month, I had my father save 20 newspapers and ship them to me.  Shout-out to the Dubois County Herald.

At the beginning of the class, we go through and talk about the different sections of the newspaper.  With the younger students, I ask them simple questions about the date, weather, page numbers, etc.  Then, I have them go through and cut out pictures or words that describe them.  They like to cut out individual letters to spell out their name.  They then glue everything to a paper that says All About Me.

I had a few extra newspapers, so some of my 6th graders asked if they could take them home.  I didn't mind.  Today, one of my students came in and wanted to show off her fingernails.  She had used parts of the newspaper to create fingernail art.  I had never seen this done before, but apparently it's actually a "thing".  Who knew?!  Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool!

I'm just glad English could bring a little excitement into their lives!

How Lucky Are We?!

If you are reading this post, you probably speak English.  I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that 98% of my readers are native English speakers.  With that being said, you too are very lucky!

This week alone, on two separate occasions, two of my co-teachers told me how fortunate I am that I speak English.  This isn't the first time I've thought about how fortunate I was because I spoke English; I've discussed it several times with multiple friends.

**I want to state that I am in no way an expert in anything that I'm about to say.  I am writing either from experience or what I've heard others say.**

Being an English teacher in South Korea, I am hit with the realization everyday that I am lucky to have been born in an English-speaking home.  I am in Korea because many, many people want to learn my language.  Okay, maybe they don't want to learn, but they feel it's necessary in order to get a good job and have a better life.

In the two minutes of research I did online, English is listed as either the #2 or #3 most spoken language in the world.  Chinese or Mandarin is #1.  So, why aren't the masses learning Chinese/Mandarin?  I either read or heard an opinion on this: Chinese/Mandarin is still thought of as third-world or poor.  English is thought of as rich and moving forward.  World business is conducted in English.  If someone from France and someone from Japan meet for business, they will most likely speak English to each other if they don't know each other's language.  How lucky for us native English speakers!

As my co-teacher was saying, I am lucky because I speak English.  I have an opportunity to travel and work in a foreign country just because I speak a desired language.  She said she was truly envious of me.  Come to think about it, it is easy for people who speak English to travel.  Take away all outside influences like money, time off, etc. and just look at the language aspect.  If a sign is going to have two languages printed on it, the languages will be the home-country's language and probably English.  As a native English speaker, it's (relatively) easy to travel without having to learn another language.  (I'm not saying that we shouldn't at least try to learn a few basic words in the language of the country we're going to.)

Every Friday I teach a teachers' class.  They want me to teach them practical English that they can use when traveling like phrases for ordering food, exchanging money, asking for directions, etc.  My class of two or three students is higher level and already know most of the basics.  So, for tomorrow's class, I am going to play them the following TED Talks video.  It's only 4 minutes, 32 seconds, but I would like for them to discuss the video and if they agree or disagree.  Maybe what Jay Walker says in the video isn't completely accurate; maybe it is.  I'm not too concerned about accuracy.  I just want to hear what my students think of topic and why they think English is an important language to learn.  To view the video I am talking about, please click on the following link: TED Talks: The World's English Mania.

I would really like to hear your opinion on this subject.  Why do you think it is so important to learn English?  Do you feel lucky because you speak English?