Placement Day

Yesterday was a big day for all of our Fulbrighters. Aside from being the last day of practice teaching for Camp Fulbright, August 3rd was also our Placement Day.

Placement Day involved a very important ceremony during which the eighty ETAs were informed where in South Korea they would be teaching for the school year. Less than a week ago, I wrote a post about the placement preference forms we all filled out and what kind of school I was looking for. Last Tuesday, we were shocked to learn that our preference forms had all been processed and our placements would be determined by the end of the week. That's some speedy turnaround time! I expected the placements to take several weeks. Instead, we were getting an early surprise.

So, on Friday afternoon we went through a rehearsal for the Placement Day ceremony. All eighty ETAs would stand in a huge semi-circle around the large marble auditorium on the top floor of Jungwon University, and one by one, we would each be called forward to receive our placement. All ETAs who would be in the same province for the year were called together, but otherwise, we had no idea when we would be called and had no clues as to our placement until it was announced as we walked up onto the stage.

After rehearsal, I got dressed -- Placement Day meant formal attire -- and all throughout dinner, I couldn't think about anything but placement. In fact, nobody had been talking about anything else for the past few days. "What did you put on your preference form?" "Advanced or Intermediate-level?" "Did you want a city?" I kept telling people that I would prefer Busan or another coastal city, but I also insisted that I would be okay with any geographical location. What I listed as most important on my placement form was that I get a high school with more advanced students. And then, of course, there was that short essay I wrote on the form explaining why I'd like a science high school specifically. But I'd been hearing that placements at science high schools were extremely rare for first-year ETAs. There were probably no more than two available this year, and I wasn't the only person who requested one...

My friend Katelyn and me, dressed up for Placement Day.
+1 for the bow tie! (photo courtesy Katelyn)

At 6:45pm, we lined up -- everyone was dressed to kill! I love it when people dress up -- and entered the auditorium. My heart started to beat really quickly at this point. I'm sure that everyone was really nervous. And this wasn't the kind of nerves that comes from having to perform or be watched at all... it was just finally starting to hit me that in less than an hour I'd find out a supremely crucial aspect of my future in Korea. Would I get to be in Busan? Did I get an advanced high school? Would I be close to any of my friends?

Once in the auditorium, Ms. Shim, the Executive Director of Korean-American Educational Commission, gave a short speech, and then the roll call began. It felt a bit like reading off names for execution. Almost everyone looked really grim at the moment their name was called, although we'd been told to smile like fools no matter what happened.

I might make a note here that there are two Andrews in Fulbright Orientation with me. His name was called before mine, and when it was, I realized just how tense I was, because I nearly jumped! But there were many names called between his and mine. Also, as time went on and the number of ETAs still standing and waiting to be called up grew smaller, I began to notice that whoever did the placements did a fair job of clumping close groups of friends in the same region. My roommate Jet was placed in Daegu, Korea's 3rd-largest city, along with some of the folks he's hung out with most in the past month. It made me happy to see the groups of ETAs placed in Daegu, Gwangju, Naju, and Mokpo already celebrating how much fun they'd have together. Alas, I wasn't placed in any of those cities.

After about roughly half of the placements had been announced, the ETAs for Gyeongsangnam-do (경상남도), one of the southernmost provinces, were called up. Two ETAs were called before me, Ryan and Rachel. And then... "Andrew Cheng..."

I stepped forward and did my best 인사 (insa, a customary bow).

"...창원과학고등학교..."

Walking forward, I tried not to clench my jaw...

"... an advanced science high school in Changwon."

And when I heard the last sentence, I felt my whole face tighten as I tried to suppress a huge, stupid grin. I got the science high school! The rest I hardly remember. I didn't even see where on the map my school was, only vaguely hearing Jim tell me that I was very close to Busan as I put my sticker on. And surprisingly, I was the last one to be called, making a small total of three ETAs placed in this province. Most of the other provinces, and the cities, of course, had at least five or six.

Gyeongsangnam-do's new ETA trio took a photo, and then I finally got to sit down and watch as the last half of the ETAs were given their placements.

And when that was all over, and Ms. Shim gave some concluding remarks that I hardly remember because I was in a totally different place... it was all chaos! Everyone got up and congratulated each other on the placement; we mobbed the OCs for any more information about our schools and regions that they could give, we took photos with friends as well as our Korean language teachers, who were invited to come watch. It was almost like a party, and everyone was breathing huge, collective sighs of relief.

That evening, I went out with friends for drinks, ice cream, and karaoke (노래방)! But stories and photos of that will have to wait for later.

I'm pointing to my little blue sticker on the giant map of Korea. Changwon is close to Busan, the second-largest city in Korea. Busan is indicated by all those yellow stickers, and Daegu is north, covered in orange. (photo taken by Katelyn)

I'll be spending the next few weeks finding out as much as I can about my city and school, and as I get updates, I'll be writing more! But for now, I'm happy to have been placed in Changwon Science High School, and I'm really looking forward to the real start of my grant year!

올림픽 대회 - Olympic Games

With neither a working public television nor access to streaming websites, most of us ETAs have found it difficult to watch the 2012 Olympic Games in London (런던). The opening ceremony would have been broadcast live at 5:30am for us, so we definitely missed that regardless.

Fortunately, when I went to the gym this morning, a re-run of the opening ceremony was playing on the one television located right in front of the treadmills. I caught the raising of the Olympic flag (올림픽 기) and the lighting of the torch. Unfortunately, the broadcasting and interpretation on the network was all in Korean, of course, so I couldn't understand any of it. Still, it was quite a spectacle. The fireworks alone were amazing. I can't imagine what it'd have been like to be in the stadium and watch it "blow up" in beautiful colors.

(Oh, and an aside about the broadcast: there was Korean Sign Language interpretation in the corner of the television screen, which I thought was awesome! I would love to learn some KSL, but the chances of that happening are slim to none, as I still don't even know Korean well enough to attempt KSL. I did deduce up how to sign 감사합니다 (kamsahamnida - thank you), though!)

One thing I didn't like was the Olympic torch itself (올림픽 성화). It was comprised of hundreds of smaller torches that were arranged in a circle like hands on a clock. Once they were all lit, they slowly lifted from the center of the circle and came together, like a flower closing up in the evening, or -- as a friend pointed out -- like a giant Venus flytrap. From far away it was one beautiful bonfire. But there was just something about all the individual torches that looked disturbing, especially the view from beneath it.

It looks kind of sinister, doesn't it?

London 2012 hasn't had the greatest track record with its aesthetics, though, so I'm not too surprised. I mean, just look at their cyclops mascots, the Olympic tower, and even the awkward geometry of the 2012 logo. 추하네요!

But all of that aside, I'm still pretty excited for the Olympics. I think I'll be rooting for the US, Taiwan, and South Korea. I hope to be able to watch gymnastics (체조), diving (다이빙), volleyball (배구), and taekwondo, specifically.

This morning, Camp Fulbright had its own mini-Olympics, where each of eleven teams of campers represented different countries, and the sport events included soccer, a basketball shoot-out, badminton, water balloon toss, and relay races. I was on a team of ETAs who represented USA, and we were told to handicap ourselves by using a weaker hand or foot, or simply letting the young campers beat us. Despite the heat and the overall lack of enthusiasm from a hundred tired kids who didn't want to be outside... it was lots of fun! If I get ahold of some photos later, I'll put them up. That's all for now!

My first teaching experience!

Today, I taught a class for the first time. I feel fairly good about it! At least, it was exciting being up in front of the classroom and witnessing my ideas actually taking root in my students' minds. I realized that I could prepare my lesson plan for as long as I wanted, but once class started there was no telling how it would go.

Background
Let me explain a little: the semester hasn't started yet; it doesn't for at least another month. But right now, in the middle of Fulbright Orientation, all of the ETAs are getting three opportunities to practice teaching at Camp Fulbright. This is an English summer camp for gifted or high-level students from around the country; over the past seven years, it has gained a reputation for being one of the best camps of its kind. It runs for two weeks (having begun this past Monday), and there are about 110 students ranging from ten to sixteen years old.

In the class that I student-taught today, there were nine students who had been placed in an Intermediate level. Another ETA, Nina, and I were splitting the afternoon session, forty-five minutes each. Today's theme was Documentary (the theme of the camp is movie genres), so Nina's lesson had the students create their own proposals for documentaries they'd like to film. My lesson deviated a bit from the norm: I planned to show my students the trailer for District 9, talk about "mockumentaries", and then spiral off into a lesson about plot twists.

This morning, during Korean classes, I wasn't feeling that nervous, but as 1:30pm drew closer I got a bit more anxious. It didn't help that some of the other ETAs who were teaching today were beginning to freak out (thanks, Nhu). I gave myself all of ten minutes to bolt down lunch and then went upstairs to prepare the classroom. At 1:30pm, Nina gave her lesson. I was supposed to be writing comments and critiques while she taught, but I was getting too nervous to really pay attention. And finally, it was my turn!

The Class
When I introduced myself to the class, I mentioned that I was from California. Immediately, one of the more active students said something that I thought was, "California... has good girls!" I was totally wrong, though; he was talking about Californian cars. The whole class laughed at my comprehension mistake, but it was a neat way to inadvertently lighten the mood and get me to loosen up a bit.

I had them play Two Truths and a Lie with three "facts" I gave about myself: I can play the cello, I have been to fourteen foreign countries, and I am Korean-American. Most of the class saw right through the race one. I guess I don't like very Korean! I then explained that I am Taiwanese-American.

When it came time to start the actual lesson, that which every modern teacher fears inevitably had to happen: technological difficulties! The YouTube video I wanted to show wouldn't load on the computer. I had to refresh the page, but then YouTube wanted to show an advertisement first. It was unnerving and kind of awkward, but I just stalled until the video finally started. The point of showing the trailer was to have students think about what kind of people would be unwanted in a society. I stopped before the twist and asked them who they thought were the "they" to whom everyone kept referring. I got soldiers, immigrants, and poor people as some suggestions. And then: plot twist! "They" are actually aliens.

At this point, I thought I'd related my lesson to the real teacher's unit theme on appreciating differences well enough, but perhaps the connection wasn't clear enough. However, I wanted to quickly move on from the hook to the main lecture, which was on plot twists. Later, I got comments from my observers that I could have explained the movie a little bit more and explicitly talked about how District 9 deals with the treatment of a minority group. This way I'd have continuity or cohesion with the morning classes.

For the lesson on plot twists, I showed them clips from The Princess and the Frog (the scene where Tiana kisses the frog, only to turn into a frog herself) and Star Wars ("No, I am your father."), trying to give something for the girls as well as the boys. To check for understanding, I asked my students if they could think of any stories they knew that had plot twists. The answer: silence. Oh well!

I then talked about the phrase "As it turns out..." and how it is used to express a reality that is different from the expectation. After some examples, I gave them what I thought would be a great activity: skits! Dividing the class into three groups, I gave them each a short scenario that I had created myself, based on some of the themes from previous days (Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Mystery), telling them to add a plot twist to the story and then act it out in front of the class.

The Skits
Once I reached this point of the lesson, I was feeling good. It was time for the students to do their own work, they were fairly involved in it and not (completely) lost, and I could take a breather from talking so much. In full teacher mode, then, I walked around the classroom and helped the groups move along in their assignment. A part of me feels like I helped maybe a bit too much, because I would complete students' sentences and give them very direct "pointers". But my observers noted that it was good that I took the time to help out students without their having asked, because often they will be too shy to ask for help.

The acting was pretty funny to watch. In the first skit, two astronauts landed on Mars and met an alien that they thought was going to eat them. But the plot twist was that the alien was a vegetarian. The second group had a whodunit mystery where a woman's jewels were stolen. "But, as it turns out..." the woman's husband stole the jewels! This group went a little out of bounds with the rest of their scene, because the detective, after discovering that the husband was "crime" (he meant guilty), said, "Now you will go to jail with me or I will kill you!" Oops. The last group had the most difficulty completing their script... or really understanding what was going on at all. But at least they got up and read some of their lines. I give them brownie points for that, but next time I will take more time out to make sure they understand what's going on and what's expected of them. (That way, also, their dialogue won't end with the ubiquitous, "Shut up!" and "No, you shut up!")

The Feedback
When class ended, I was feeling positive about how it went. But of course, there is always, always room for improvement. The main critique I got was the Camp Instructors who were observing me was that I stayed too close to my schedule. While my timing was "impeccable", it was also restrictive, because sometimes I would cut off my students while they were speaking or put words into their mouths since I wanted to move on with the lesson. I learned today never to shush my students, but instead to praise every bit of English that comes out of their mouths. If a particularly garrulous student won't be quiet, though, I have to address that issue in a different manner that still acknowledges that their enthusiasm for English is a wonderful thing.

I was also told to check more for students' understanding. Rather than simply ask, "Do you all understand? Do you have any questions?", ask for actual proof that they understand. In fact, I am already aware of this; as a current student of Korean (and a veteran of all kinds of foreign language classes), it's embarrassing to admit you have no idea what's going on when the rest of the class seems to get it. The secret is that most of the class also has no idea what's going on, and it's worth speaking for the rest of them by asking for clarification. But these students won't do that. So, have them say more, write down things more, and explain things back to you more. Play with wrong answers! Don't shut anyone down if they're wrong, but turn everything into an opportunity to speak more English.

In the end, teaching an English conversation class is about getting my students to speak, not to be perfect or to learn every last grammar point. I should also be focusing all of my efforts in building their confidence and comfort level with spoken English.

Looking Forward
Last night, as I interacted with some of my students at a homework help session, I was interviewed by a few of them (their assignment was to interview an American). They asked for my hidden talent (ukulele, hand-whistling), my favorite superhero (Angel), and my goals as a teacher and my goals in life. Before I even taught for the first time, I decided that my goals as a teacher would be to help my students achieve their dreams, especially by giving them the tools to help themselves learn. And that starts by giving them confidence. So, for my next lesson, I'm going to be more lenient with my time and more focused on giving my students a voice!

My goal as a teacher is to help my students fly! Woohoo!

That's it for now. This was a supremely long post! I promise that every time I teach a new lesson plan, I won't post all of my reflections on this blog. It's a good habit to reflect, and I just wanted to get as much down as I could for the first time, especially while it's still fresh. But there are many other things going on during Orientation (still four weeks to go!), and I'll begin to write more about those.

Let's go to the beach, each! (동해, pt. 1)

This past weekend was tons of fun -- followed quickly by tons and tons of work. I'm not joking; we returned from Donghae (동해) this evening to a mediocre dining hall meal and then an hour-long meeting consisting entirely of announcements, reminders, and assignments for the coming week. But I'll expound on that later. For the moment, I'd like to continue reliving a great vacation for as long as I can. Photos! (I took about 400 photos over three days, and lots of videos, too.)

On Friday morning, I got up early for a short run, and by 7:15am all of us were boarding the buses to go to Donghae, a coastal city about three hours northeast of Goesan. On the way up, I had a great chat with Sara C., one of the peppiest and most positive people I've ever met. I introduced her to Pentatonix and we talked about the environment, college experiences, and our ideas for making the most of our grant year.

This is Sara. She has more spirit and charisma than you do. Her birthday was over the weekend, and it was quite an adventure, to say the least!

When we arrived at our hotel, it was very apparent that, as we'd been told, the establishment was owned by the same people who own Jungwon University. The hotel had the exact same architectural style as our school: the same long white marble halls, strange displays, and somewhat arbitrary organization. (I haven't yet written the post about how bizarre this school is, but you'll soon see what I'm talking about.)

Here's a glimpse of the Mang Sang Grand Hotel (The 망상 area is a bit north of 동해 proper), with May doing an impressive star jump in front of it! The bridge we're on connected the hotel to the beach boardwalk.

After lunch, many people hit the beach! It was a beautiful sunny day, about 85 degrees out and not a smidgen of humidity anywhere. It was literally the first time I'd seen and felt the sun in a week and a half, and the air was incredibly refreshing. I felt so alive! And I would've run straight into the ocean were it not for two things: I had my camera, and we didn't have too much time before a mandatory cultural workshop on Buddhism. But I thoroughly enjoyed myself simply taking photos of everyone else.

We were so happy to see blue skies and seas that we had to take a jumping photo! From left to right: party poopers Kelly and Monica, then Kaley, Lauren, Jason, and Kristen, with headless Neal way up in the front.

There are plenty of things to do on the Donghae beach and boardwalk -- lots of bars and places to get patbingsu and smoothies (Cecile even bought a coconut with a straw stuck in it!). There were banana boats, too! I had an unforgettable time riding banana boats in 墾丁 (Kenting, Taiwan), and I really wanted to do it here, but unfortunately I didn't get the chance to. Some other time, hopefully! Also, in the evenings, they sell small fireworks (roman candles, sparklers, and the like, just as we had had on "July 4th") to set off on the beach. But the best part by far is simply the water.

Looking longingly towards the Pacific. This photo was unposed! :)

Nobody was allowed to swim very far out into the ocean (supposedly because of a strong riptide, as well as the speedboats). As I stood sinking my toes into the sand, just watching the line where water met sky, I was reminded that I was looking across the Pacific... homeward, in fact. I didn't feel very homesick, but it made me think for a bit. Two and a half weeks ago, I was home, and nobody here, none of my new friends and colleagues, existed in reality. They were just names and faces, but we will be each others' allies and cheerleaders for the next year. It was a good thing they gave us this weekend vacation. Mrs. Shim, the head of the Korean American Educational Commission, told us specifically that this vacation was, more than anything, time for us to bond as a group, because we'd need the support throughout the year. So now, names and faces have become friends, and doing silly things now like posing with seaweed will become the basis for relationships that will help us all do the best teaching and ambassadorship we can manage, together.

Jason grew a seaweed moustache. Now it kind of reminds me of the red weed from The War of the Worlds, which I'm currently reading.

That's all for the beach! Coming soon: Mureung Valley (무릉계곡) with its hikes and beautiful waterfalls, a Buddhist temple, a bizarre museum, and more!

In other news, Camp Fulbright begins tomorrow! I won't say a lot about it here, but during this two-week English camp for Korean youth, run in conjunction with our Orientation, all of us ETAs will have three opportunities to practice teaching. So, I have to finish my first lesson plan by -- and consequently teach my first-ever class -- this Thursday! That, plus, several other upcoming deadlines, are what's keeping me very busy this week. I'll try to keep updating every day, though! Leave a comment to motivate me! ;)