Last Friday

OK! So the craziest thing happened last friday so I thought I would share it with all of you! Ha! Let me first say that all of my other co teachers are wonderful and super helpful! But I have one of the craziest people in Korea as one of my co-teachers!! Since the beginning my thursdays are a bit more difficult than any other day of the week. Usually the Korean teacher is really good about helping me translate the really important parts of the lesson (such as the instructions to the game or important questions) so that the students understand what they are saying not just pronouncing it correctly! Well Thursdays are unique because since the beginning my co teacher never says a word during the class...she is usually sleeping or doing something else. I was told not to discipline the students that the Korean teacher would take care of it....but in this class I finally decided I would take control since i was all alone. In one class of girls I was so frustrated because they would only speak in Korean and not listen to what I was saying so I finally said "Stand up....put your hands on your head and be quiet." First person to talk is going in the hall way. Ha you should have seen their faces.....Then I went around the room and moved their seats....they were not happy with me because this teacher had let them pick their seats and they were sitting by there friends.....Well that changed.....After I was finished changing their seats I told them they needed to listen to my lesson and that they were going to write sentences at the end of class because they were acting up. The whole time I was doing this....she was still asleep in the corner.  After the class I sat down with her and explained that I needed her help sometimes with the students because they were not understanding my directions and I needed her to translate some of the important things I was saying.  She told me she couldn't do everything for me and that it was impossible for us to both teach at the same time.  I said well that doesnt make sense because all of the other teachers I work with help me with important things and it seems to work out just fine! I thought maybe she was understanding what I was asking of her so I would ask my head co teacher about it later. Then we had another issue to tackle.....The open class...In the US we call these observations, here they call it an open class.  Next thursday will be an open class for my co teacher.  Like in the Texas the teacher can pick the class that they want to have as their observation.  So this teacher decided to pick a class on thursday which is kind of strange because that is the ONLY day that I teach with her.  When she told me that we were going to have this open class I thought it was for them to observe me.  Which I am totally fine with, I have done it before and I would pick my third grade girls class on thursday because they are the brightest class in the school and we have a lot of fun in there!! I had also made this awesome powerpoint about different cultures and a fun game to play after the lesson so I thought it would be perfect.  Well come to find out the open class is not for me it is for her. I found this out because I told her I wanted to pick the 3rd grade girls class and have that be my open class, she said no because she had picked the 2nd grade boys class ( I dont know why).  I said I thought I get to pick since its my open class. She said it's not yours its mine! I said ok, well what lesson are we going to do then? She said I want you to do that lesson I watched you do in the other class on lesson 8....(Now all of my thursday classes are 2 weeks behind my friday classes) she said I want to use that powerpoint. I said ok well I will do my power point.  I then was curious as to what exatly they were going to observe her doing....sleeping? So I asked what exactly are you going to be doing for them to observe? She said lesson 8. I said I understand that but I usually do the teaching on thursday so wouldnt another day be a better model of how you teach? She said no you have to do 60 percent and I do 40 percent because they want to see you teach too. I thought that was reasonable....it would be awkward because we had never taught together before but I could do 60 percent....especially because I had done the lesson before!! So I said ok I will make up a lesson plan for us to follow....she said no I have to do that part....I said well since I am doing 60 percent I would feel more comfortable making up the lesson plan.  She said no I have too......so I thought crap....so the next week comes and she has made a lesson plan broken down to time....her and i share 35 minutes...I asked her since my 2nd grade girls were on lesson 8 already if we could practice the open class on them so we were prepared for the open class when it came.  She said "ok thats a good idea" So she gets up there and literally mumbles through her part in 5 minutes....so then I do my presentation which is 10 minutes and did the book work.  Then I cut the book work a little short because I wanted to play this fun game I had just made about K pop....My 2nd grade girls are so good I wanted to give them a treat!! So instead of finishing the lesson I planned I played the game with them! They loved it! Afterwards she said Your presentation was only 20 minutes....I said I know because you and I share 35 minutes so I thought I would take 20 and you do 15. She looked surprised and said and you can't play that game because the vice principal will hate it its too loud.  I said I know I have a different game planned but since they were so good i thought we would play the Kpop game. I also gave candy to the winning team and she told me I cant ever give candy in her class again..Ha! I was like ok....sure whatever you want......so the next day comes and I sat down with my main co teacher and explained to her how I think maybe the communication between me and my thursday co teacher may not be that good.  I asked her to speak to her about what I meant by helping me because I wanted to make sure she knew I didn't want her to do it all!! So she went to talk to her and apparently the teacher got really mad....So I went on about my day and it wasnt until I was walking out the door did she ask me to talk to her in the hall way.  I was supposed to be sharing a cab with Summer in 3 minutes so I told her she had to make it quick.  She said to me If yo uhave a problem you need to talk to me about it. I said I did yesterday. Then she went a little crazy because she started screaming at me....in my face....like "You dont understand how tough my thursdays are." I said please calm down I do understand because I am the one teaching the thursday classes.  She said well yesterday you werent in the class on time. I said I know I told you I had left my jump drive in the teachers room and I ran down to get it before class started. It took one minute and I was back.  She was causing a huge scene in the hall way and i kept backing away from her! Ha! Luckily the other teachers came out and started to tell her to calm down and finally she went storming out! It was the craziest thing ever! Ha!! Luckily I had a great weekend after that but it still was an experience!! hahaha!! I am so glad that all my other co teachers are awesome!! :-)

Desk warming

This has been the best week starting with a holiday on monday! I went to Jinju to the latern festival! Which was really neat and pictures can be seen on my facebook!! I had a blast with Siana and her friends! THe bus ride home was an adventure though....it almost took 4 hours to get back when it should have only taken 1! There was so much traffic! The old man sitting next to me on the bus decided it would be ok to sleep with his legs all over me....so I was sitting half on the seat half in the asile! Awesome! Not to mention they turned the AC off and it began to get super hot on the bus! HA! I decided I would get off at the first stop and take a taxi all the way to my house no matter the cost! It turned out to be a good idea because taxi's in Korea are very fast and can get around cars better than a bus!! So I got home in time to make a quick dinner and get some sleep!

Desk warming is what foreign teachers do when they don't have to teach classes but are required to be at school! It is what it sounds like....I am warming my desk! HA! It is so awesome! I got a ton of lessons planned and even got to squeeze in a few Skype sessions while at school! :-) It has been a pretty awesome week so far!! Last night I went for a bike ride around Changwon with a friend and had lunch at City 7! It was fun! Tonight I am going to join a gym after school so I can start to get back in shape! haha! Running 5 times a week is not cutting it for me! Luckily I have the afternoon off again so I can go get all of that taken care of! Since I got my new computer I am able to bring it to school and connect to the wifi here! It is really nice! That is how I have been able to skype with people! Today also I got some awesome new ringtones for my phone....Halloween ones!! SWEET! I am getting excited about Halloween and I am trying to think of a good Halloween costume!

I know this is short but it is time for me to go home now and I want to get home so I can change for the gym!! :-)