The week is off to an auspicious start.

First, I was informed that the meatheads that run this looney bin forgot to inform the education office that we're having English camp. So, for the first week of English camp I have to go to another school in my neighborhood. It's a 5-day camp. 5 days of waking up slightly earlier to get to another school for a few days. Not dreadful. What was annoying was the way they told me. "Matthew! You're going to Seonjae Elementary School for English camp! Do you know that?" "No." "You didn't know that?" "No." "I received an e-mail from the education office!" "I didn't." I don't like playing twenty questions. The same thing happened last year, but I was the only one that noticed. The school forgot to alert the Education Office that we were having English camp, so I was assigned to a Girl's High School. Eventually someone noticed and the High School classes were canceled.

Then, in my 2nd class, a student tackled me. From behind. I tripped. I fell down on top of him. He was working on a drawing when we were starting class. It was a Terran Battlecruiser from StarCraft. I went in for a closer look and he hid it. I snatched it when he turned his head. Then he tackled me. I was, erm, embarrassed. We finished class and I don't think the whole ordeal was as foolish as I felt. Still, getting tackled by a 6th grader is not how I wanted to start my day. Ugh. This could be a week where Matt gets piled on. I've got to be careful for the next few days.



Great moments in ESL education...When do we get to do that lesson at my school?

Time for some links that I have been lazy in uploading...

In the year 2000....

An article about teaching English at a Korean University in 1965. The attitudes toward classroom English have changed... a little. My kids don't copy off of each other or claim not to speak English. If they really can't answer, I usually get an "I don't know." I'll then ask them to explain in Korean and attempt to translate or my co-teacher will assist. I can't imagine doing a 60-70 person conversation class. I think I'd set myself on fire.

I can't stop laughing at these. My favorite is the "Abbey Road" pic.

Some really sensitive and thought-provoking work from the cartoonist at the Korea Times.

Last week was the national college exam for high school seniors. KoreaBeat posts some of the better pics of underclassmen showing support.

Not Korea related at all, but this is one of the funniest threads in the history of the Internet. I spent two days sifting through the posts. Recommended reading!

The situation at work has improved some. I guess everyone was just stressed out of the fall talent show. I don't see why. The kids seemed to take care of themselves well enough. I really doubt anyone actually helped them practice their dance or taekwondo routines. It appeared to me that all the other teachers had to do was get the classroom decorated and organized for the parents. Is that really that difficult? Hanging bits of colored paper and signs? Either way, the talent show was painfully cute and most of the stress that lingered around the office like a stale fart has dissipated. The 6th grade has been behaving better. I started bribing them with candy. It's helped. A lot. I'm going to have to pick up a few bags for this week. Our nasty bastards in class 6-4 actually spoke. They new they were getting a bribe.

The weather here is still terribly mild. We haven't had the temperature dip below 50 degrees during daylight hours yet. The English room is painfully cold for some reason. It's going to be a long winter if they're going to force us to use it. I may or may not protest.

I'm probably not going to change jobs this year, I'll wait until the summer to decide what I want to do. I know that I'd like to do my Master's degree. Either here in one of the global MBA program here or possibly online. I should at least apply here to keep my options open.

I played dodgeball with one of the 4th grade classes. No one was maimed or injured. The kids were hysterical. For some reason, they wanted to protect me. The problem was, I'm a large target compared to 4th graders. They're also a little quicker in their lateral movement. I'm about 1000 cheeseburgers ahead of these kids in life. I think I'm allowed to have some lead in my ass. Either way, I played well enough, again no one was injured. At least not by me.

Baseball season is finished here. Offseason sucks.

I'm looking forward to coming home in the winter for a week or two. I should have my winter camp schedule in the next week or so.

I am slowly getting hooked on Fallout 3. It's a sick game. I don't like some of the more claustrophobic aspects, but I'm getting into it. The idea of walking around a creepy house with narrow corridors is never appealing. I keep thinking back to Wicker Park and I expect mice to start attacking.