The Catfish Chronicles: In the Classroom

Monday, November 8, 2010

In the Classroom

Date: 11/9/2010

Today I took my camera into the classroom. I'm currently "teaching" a lesson that has a memory game--so I was able to snap a few shots of my students.

I finally figured out how the Korean school system works, too!
Elementary: 1-6th grade
Middle: 7, 8, 9
High: 10, 11, 12
Plus, when I ask my middle schoolers how old they are, my 2nd years (Middle School, 2nd grade: aka: 8th grade) says they are 15. In the Korean way of counting, everyone becomes a year older on New Years--so I think, in Western counting, they might be 14.

I passed out my first worksheet today and it was the quietest I've ever heard my class. They absolutely love crosswords and word searches. I think the crosswords are too difficult for my 1st years and so they will be getting word searches from now on.

Next I passed out the Memory card game. "In the past, we used ____. Now we use _____." There is a page in their text book chapter that has a picture of the past and the present with some differences. For example, "In the past we used straw. Now we use tissue paper." (Personally, I am soooo glad I don't have to use straw. Talk about diaper rash!) So there is a picture of straw and tissue paper. They play memory trying to find the matches. It sounds simple to you and I, but these people 1) have never played memory, and 2) are trying to understand instructions in a foreign language. I think they really like it though---they get all into it.

They use Rock Paper Scissors to decide the first person to start. They call it Ka-we-ba-we-bo. It is the best thing ever. Koreans don't argue about the winner--whoever wins just wins. There's a joke that the presidential candidates use ka-we-ba-we-bo to decide who wins. So much for that democracy thing...hehe