Sleeping Lion's Booger

Enjoying time with friends

Hello, everyone! I hope the month of March is treating you all well. I have been suffering with a nasty sinus infection since returning from vacation, so that's been fun to deal with on top of getting back in the swing of things at school.

Birthday package from America!

Besides losing my voice and coughing and snotting up mucous for the past two weeks, school has been going splendidly! I always enjoy the start of the spring semester because it's the start of a new school year for Korea, which typically means a lot of change. The new freshmen students arrived and they seem like a fun group of boys to joke around with. On top of that, my now second-year students are still as lively as ever and I'm happy to see them comfortable in the classroom. I haven't taught them since October, so I think they are happy to have the native English teacher back as a nice break from the torture of their regular schedules throughout the week. I decided to get more in-depth on my lessons this spring, so I planned a 5-week unit on political parties, primaries, and the upcoming presidential election. A lot of my co-workers and Korean friends have shown interest in all that is happening in America related to politics, so I thought it would be a good topic to introduce to my students as well! I also want to give them a unique view on what is going on on the other side of the world from a native's perspective. The first week of the unit just came to a close, and it's starting off well.

The students were broken into their own "political parties" where they came up with party names and a party symbol. They were inspired by creating names and symbols after showing them the donkey and elephant symbols that are so prominent in America. In Korea, political parties don't use symbols as propaganda and whatnot as much as we do in America, so they had a blast coming up with it. Here are a few of my personal favorite political party names and symbols:

"Sometimes~" with the party symbol being a Koala.

"Justice of Korea (JOK)" with the party symbol being an Eagle

"Sleeping Lion's Booger" with the party symbol being exactly as it sounds (lol!)

"Panty" with the party symbol being... boxers

"U.C," with the party symbol being four peas in a pod

"Macho Men Party" with the party symbol being a macho man wearing a halo and angel's wings

Alongside creating political party names and symbols, throughout this week the students will create their opinions on five different political issues such as Immigration, Education, Economy, Human Rights, Environment, International Relations etc. (they will choose from a list of topics). I am intrigued by what they will come up with! Even though they are high school boys, a lot of their opinions and beliefs seem more thought-out and considerate than some of America's very own Presidential Candidates for 2016. On the flip side, because they ARE high school boys, I'm also allowing them to choose two issues of their own that can be serious or more light-hearted (i.e. mandatory school uniforms, removing the school principal, food stuff, other random ideas). I will be sure to post the ideas they come up with, and I am positive that there will be some hilarious ideas as well as some inappropriate ones alongside (boys will be boys).

St. Patty's Festival

Other new things this semester include being moved to a new office. The first day of school I walked into my old office and saw that the entire room had been destroyed with much of my shit lying everywhere. I was not a happy camper, but eventually was told that I was moved upstairs. It turns out the whole school had been restructured and everyone had to change offices, and the students were moved to different floors as well. That made me feel a little bit better, knowing that everyone else had to go through the pain of moving everything too.

The new school year accounts for a long line of new teachers that have been transferred to our school from other cities. Korea does this every year to ensure equality and just to mix things up because they can. Typically, a teacher will stay at a school for 2-3 years and then rotate. This meant that I had a fresh batch of English teachers except for my main co-teacher and a few others. Our school has 10 English teachers, four of which are new this semester (and four from last year transferred/on maternity leave). The four new English teachers seem nice, and two of them are young which makes me really happy to see some young blood wandering around the hallways. I am looking forward to getting to know them more throughout the semester.

St. Patty's Festival

Outside of school, this semester will be busy with many extracurricular commitments. I am still one of the leaders for Fulbright Korea's Alumni Relations Committee, and we have a lot of events planned. I am also taking Korean lessons with a private tutor two nights a week and I am a part of a public speaking club on Thursday nights (ToastMasters), so most of my weeknights are pretty packed! Of course, I'm balancing all of this while trying to maintain a social life and get back on track with my exercising after the foot injury. It's been a busy, busy month so far, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

I have already made a few trips to Seoul for appointments and visiting friends, and our Fulbright Spring Conference will be coming up in just a few weeks. We will spend the conference on Jeju Island, and I am hoping that the weather will be much more enjoyable than last year (we were stuck with rain, wind, and thunderstorms). I can't believe there are only four months left of my second grant year - this year has gone by so quickly (perhaps because I've spent half of it dealing with a foot injury...). Here's to hoping that everyone remains in good health this spring!