Hidden Talents

I have talked a lot about how the Korean school system does not give students a big opportunity to extra-curriculars or the arts. Many times they aren't even able to express creativity within the classroom because the teaching method is lectures and kids are expected to just memorize their textbooks for exams. This is why these past two days at my school were so special. On Wednesday and Thursday of this week my school had an art festival. Many students artworks were on display in the hallways and the artwork varied from painting to poetry to needlepoint to sewing. It was really amazing to see that so many of my students are so gifted. They also were incredibly proud of their artwork and I frequently heard cries of "Kate Teacher! Mine, mine!" 

 

I wish I took a few more pictures but this should give you some understanding of what I was able to see. In addition to the artworks on display, there were two big performances. On Wednesday the 2nd, 4th and 5th grades performed and on Thursday 1st, 3rd and 6th performed. Each class prepared a song, dance, musical ensemble or play and performed it for the entire school and their parents. It was amazing- some of the students are such unbelievable musicians. The class dances were really amusing, as well. The gymnastics team and jump-roping squad performed both days and were unbelievable! Our school has the number one female gymnast in our entire province!

I also taught ordinal numbers and directions to my club class this week. The lesson culminated with the students following directions to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Since peanut butter is so expensive and uncommon here many of the students had never tried this American staple. They absolutely loved it! I actually had to take away the tub of peanut butter because the kids were just eating it and not making sandwiches. I really love teaching my 3rd and 4th grade class because I get to work with different students and I am able to do more creative lessons. Next week our class meets on Halloween and I'm really excited to teach them about adjectives and then have them compare American and Korean candy. There is one store in town that carries M&Ms and Skittles so I will need to buy my supplies there.

This weekend I am traveling overnight with Hwacheon elementary, middle and high school students and several other foreign teachers. It's a neat program the town runs to help the students learn English from native speakers. I am really excited to spend a full two days with some kiddos.