Learning Korean

So 2 of the guys from church, David and Attack, started to teach me Korean. As of 2 weeks ago I was illiterate when it came to Korean, but after about 2 weeks of learning I can read a little Korean, even if I can't understand it. I tell you the truth, learning Korean is very difficult. When the guys started to teach me the first row of Korean letters, I felt very stupid because I couldn't remember the sound that went with the symbol. I realized the next day that I was having trouble with remembering because I wasn't writing the letters and saying them at the same time. So I started to do that and now I'm on my way. I can read some basic Korean words that consist of a consonant and a vowel, but it's tricky when it is changed to look different. I also learned that in Korea there is a different way to refer to people in your family depending if you are a girl or a boy who is speaking about their older brother or older sister. So I learned that older brother is oh-ba, and older sister is un-nee (if a boy were speaking it would be different from this), mother is uh-mon-ee, father is ah-bo-gee, grandfather is har-ah-bo-gee, and grandmother is har-mon-ee.
So I should know the whole Korean alphabet because once you know the sounds and the vowels that go with each, altogether 14 different consonant sounds and 10 vowel sounds, I'm told that I can read anything. The only thing about one of the sounds, the 's', sound is that it can make an 's' sound or an 'sh' sound. I asked how to tell the difference and the guys said that Koreans just know when it should make 's' and when it should make 'sh'. There is also one sound that took forever to figure out how to describe, the 'ugh' sound like in 'enough', but not really it's still a little different. It's so hard to make a sound that doesn't really exist in your own language. This gives me great respect for people who stick with learning a second language. I can now understand how difficult is must be for some of these students to try and learn a new language.
I was really surprised at church this Sunday past when I was able to read which Book we were going to be reading from. It was pretty basic lo-ma-se (the e makes an 'u' as in up). So we were reading from Romans. I felt pretty good about it. I know that not all the books of the Bible are so simple and written so that they are the same sounding, but it was nice that I could actually read and understand it.
So I will continue to practice and learn Korean as the guys are able to teach me. The come to my house 4 times a week for about an hour. We always end the lesson with them asking me a couple of questions about English. I don't mind helping them because they are helping me.

My Classes

Lately I have found that my classes have been going quite well. This is the final week before we move a couple of students into higher level classes. Those students a very excited about the move and the ones who are being left behind are a little angry because they unable to move up to the next level. With all the switches that we are going to be making we are losing one class, as it is being combined into another class, and some of the class sizes are being put to their limit of 10 students. It's good to see this progress in the students. Makes me feel that I have really done my job as a teacher.
The kindergarten class, or K class, is doing much better these days. The one little girl, who was totally afraid of me, is doing much better. She's not scared of me and she now likes to show me things that she has or has done. She's one of the youngest and also one of the smartest in the class. The director's son is doing much better with his attention span, he's not all over the place. The other 3 students seem to be enjoying things. We have a sort of routine going. I come in, ask them their names, ask how they are (they know happy, sad, and angry), we sing a song, we review, we sing another song, more review, a little colouring of sorts, and then maybe they will learn a little something new (today was writing the letter D). Sometimes we will do a little activity, like when I taught them jump, run, walk, and stop, we did a little simon says sort of game. It's good. The students are now used to me and they are pretty attentive. There haven't been any tears since about 2 weeks ago. It's going well for that class.
The other class that I told you about that never liked to talk in class, are doing excellent. They have turned their attitude around. With the new text book I am able to get them to talk more and they seem to be enjoying the class more and more these days. The only problem that I have with them now is that some of the girls bring their cell phones to class and they write messeges on them during the class. It's the least of my problems, but it can be really annoying if they are not really listening to me and writing messeges on their phones.
So, overall, things are going really good for my teaching. I'm enjoying things at this time and things aren't too stressful any more. With a little over 4 months to go until I finish, I hope things continue on this road.

Snowball's Hair Cut

The weather here in Korea has been so nice these days. Spring is definitely here. Since the weather is getting so nice and I was getting really fed up with taking care of Snowball's hair, I got it all cut off. She is not so happy about it because she is a little cold, but that's what dog coats are for, right?
This is Snowball before her hair cut, about 2 weeks before. Isn't she so cute?
She's cute alright, but that hair gets into quite the mess and she still doesn't like me brushing her at times.
Anyways, it's taken her a couple of days to get used to having no hair and wearing a coat all the time, but she's doing much better, not shivering all the time.
This is Snowball after her hair cut (a rat dog, she's way too skinny without hair), she's not too happy at the moment.

One of the More Stressful Days

So today was the first day that I got the kindergarten class. I was so nervous to teach them because they are so beginner in their English and they are so young. I went into the class hoping that they wouldn't cry. I heard that on Friday a couple of them cried in class because they missed their mothers. I didn't want this to happen in my class and luckily it didn't. Phew!
I'm not sure if they really learned anything, but maybe they learned how to make an 'Aa' and maybe they learned the word 'bed'. We did a little review of the words that they went over in the last class and I had them colour pictures of the words. I tried to ask them what their names were and they looked at me with big eyes. I thought they were going to cry, so I just left it at that. One of the Korean teachers came in and I told her about this and she asked them what their name was and there was hardly any problem...I think they are just nervous around me.
Anyways, this was my stressful time with them. I felt like I was walking on egg shells because I didn't know how much I could push them to learn something. Maybe next class will be a little better and I won't feel so stressed or nervous. I was told by the Korean teacher, who spoke with the children, later that they thought the class was funny. I guess it wasn't all that bad.

One Very Busy Week

I don't think I have been so busy in one week than I have for this week. In summary, it all starts with test day on Tuesday, followed by a Korean holiday (Korean independance day), then new students start coming on Thursday along with the start of speaking tests for the rest of the students, and Friday marks the start of 2 new classes.
Let me explain a little for you. We usually have test day near the end of the month, so that isn't so unusual. All the students have this day as a day to test the material that they have been learning in the past month or so. The day off was a nice little break in the week, but gave me really nothing to do for the day.
Thursday was the biggest day because of so many students starting. There were 7 new students who started today, Thursday. We had 2 others start on Tuesday. Another note on the new students coming is that if they don't have an English name it's my job to help them choose a name. Choosing an English name helps make my job easier because Korean names are so difficult to pronounce and they are usually 2 names long. So, today I gave out the names Grace, Anna, Jerry, Nick, and Chris. On Tuesday I gave out the name Rachel and Jenna. It's actually really interesting to see what kinds of names the students choose. The only problem is when they want to choose a name that is the wrong gender for them or it's not even an English name.
Speaking tests are done by me only and it pretty much takes half if not the whole class to do because I need to ask each student in the class at least 5 questions and hear their answers. Then I have to rate each answer according to their ability to speak from 'excellent', 'very good', 'good', 'needs practice', and 'doesn't know'. I have to do this with each class, so this will continue into next week.
Last is tomorrow, Friday, which is the start of the 2 new classes the new lowest level and a kindergarten. The new low level class, F class, is starting with 4 students, 2 of the new students and 1 student who has been here for 2 weeks from the already low class and 1 more new student. These are students who cannot read or speak very well. Then there is the kindergarten class, K class, which is starting with 5 new students, one being the director's son. This class actually scares me because they are so young and they know no English at all. I scared that they are going to be scared of me and that they are not going to be able to understand me or I them. I will see them 2 times a week so it should be interesting. I will try and get some pictures of them soon so you can see how cute they are; as most Korean children are.
So with sorting out which classes the new students are supposed to go into, getting the extra text books needed for the new students, speaking tests, and anthing else that needs to be done this sums up this week; pretty busy.