My P.G. Tips this morning is especially delicious....I put in half honey and half sugar this time, and I think that changed the flavor a little. Choco is sitting on my lap being a little lap warmer. He does this almost every morning, and cries until I let him up for a while. He was at the vet's yesterday because he ate a scallion and it made him sick. They also found that he had a lot of sugar in his blood, so it's possible that we have a diabetic poodle. Poor little dude.
Anyway, yesterday was the second day of teaching and new curriculum, the Backback books.
I'll begin with Phonics 1 class, because that was the biggest improvement from yesterday.
As I mentioned before, on Monday I wasn't able to get them to understand the whole "ask each other" with the what word is this, this is A etc question pattern. So today I made two little paper puppets, a fox and a frog, and made them talk to each other to help them get the idea. It worked!! One of the little girls, Sandy, still doesn't like to talk unless I'm talking with her, but I think she still understands the idea, and hopefully she will get a little braver in the future.
Phonics 2 still wasn't great. If anything, Haram was more distracted than yesterday. He also didn't do his homework, so I had to take a stamp away, and while I think that maybe that made him more fidgety, there has to be some kind of consequence for not doing work. I want to try to figure out maybe something that will be more hands-on/kinetic as an activity today, since I have a feeling that maybe he's just a kid who can't focus while sitting down. My classroom is a little small, so that might be more difficult, but I'll try to figure something out.
Yellow group did super well with backback. I think I could have made it more interesting though. The theme was community helpers, which involved talking about occupations, and I think it was super easy for them. I think I need to take more time thinking of more challenging activities for them.
Blue 1 group is so adorable I can't handle it. It's just the two kids, but they are really bright. Yoochan spoke louder today! I didn't prepare for that class as much as I should have, and so we ended up finishing the prescribed activities way ahead of schedule and I had 20 minutes of class left. So, we did some more review of the words on the board and then played with the bananagram tiles for a little while. This time I left time to talk about homework and had Minji and Sunny come in an explain it in Korean for them.
The last class, despite it being so stinking hot in my classroom, was probably the best of the day. The lesson was focused on animals, and I think they really understood everything and were actually pretty into it. We played a game on the board where we had to sort animals into where they were probably most likely to live: house, farm, or zoo. Even the song, (there is song that goes along with each Backpack unit) and not every class really cares for the song. The key is to be really into it yourself, because if you act like you think the song is dumb, they will too. Anyway, since in Blue 1 I didn't have enough activities, I planned another real fast in the 10 minute break between classes, so I had plenty to fill the time for Blue 6, and left enough to explain homework again, since they had a hard time understanding yesterday. I think I want to get this class speaking more, because I think they are capable of it.
As for family life, last night after waiting at the vet's for a while to pick up Choco, my host family took me to the little outdoor market/fair thing outside our apartment building. I had some great Korean chicken on a stick and met a lot of the parents of Yoonsang's friends. That's always a little awkward because I'm not really sure what to say...well, I can't say anything really. I really need to get a move on with my Korean study.
Today I am going to be observed by Karen, so that makes me a little nervous, because part of me doesn't want to do anything wrong, but at the same time, I think it's better if I just do it as I would usually, and then she can correct anything that I'm not doing well. It's not like it's a college class and I'm being graded, it's just to help me be a better teacher. At any rate I am going earlier today to make sure I have enough time to prepare everything.
Here's a photo that you've seen as my cover photo, drawn by Anna of the Connexus community. The names are in Korean, but I bet you know which one is me!
Thanks for your prayers!
-Abby
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