Archive for May, 2010

May

Changes – Part Sam (ie 3)

OK. Here’s the deal. I was just offered a job in Daejeon. I think this is the one. The director’s teaching philosophy meshes quite well with mine. I think she has a great kindergarten program. She’s willing to work with my schedule (I finish here the beginning of July but she doesn’t really need me until the beginning of August). Daejeon seems like a pretty cool city. It’s known as the Silicon Valley of Korea. That’s right up my ally (even though I wouldn’t be able to really take advantage of it).

Once I get some more details, I’ll update again.

I’m so excited.

posted by Kathryn in Daejeon,Home Life,Korea,Moving and have Comments (2)

May

Grading

This basically speaks for itself. I laughed so hard, tears started rolling down my face…

posted by Kathryn in Musings,Off time,Teaching and have No Comments

May

Changes – Part Ee (ie 2)

So after accepting the job at the school in Pohang, but before signing the contract, I backed out. I don’t feel bad about it at all. Let’s just say they were playing games with money that probably would have cost me in the neighborhood of 2 grand by the end of my contract.

Please understand I’m not a money hungry monster. But when a company (and let’s face it, these schools are still businesses) plays it fast and loose with pay in the contract, it doesn’t bode well for what they might do while working there. I’m sure it’s a great place to work. But I’d rather be safe than sorry. Without going into details, if they had decided to take me out of the kindergarten, I would have lost almost 20% of my monthly salary. No thank you.

So I’m back in the job hunt. Ugh. The good news is Little Campus has asked me to stay until the end of June. That gives me another 3 weeks-ish to find another job.

*wipes sweat off brow*

So, I’m still leaving Little Campus. I’m leaving a bit later than thought. And I’m not going to Pohang.

posted by Kathryn in Home Life,Little Campus,Moving,Off time and have No Comments

May

Changes!

I will be moving shortly. Like in less than a month. I’ve accepted a new job at one of the Korea Poly schools. This one happens to be in Pohang. They look like good schools with an interesting philosophy and curriculum.

Pohang is an industrial city near the east coast of South Korea. It’s a big steel manufacturing place. In fact, the city is a sister city of Pittsburg, PA. And their football (that is soccer) team is called the Steelers. As a loyal native Clevelander, I don’t know if I can root for them. But I’ll try. :-)

Check out their city website. There appear to be quite a few beaches as well as temples, museums (the POSCO steel museum looks interesting) and markets to visit. I’m looking forward to living in a new place, though I’m sad to leave my friends in Ulsan behind. Luckily, it’s not that far from Ulsan. I’ve been told it’s about an hour and a half away.

posted by Kathryn in Home Life,Moving,Pohang and have Comment (1)

May

Food Pyramids – D4 Class

Welcome to the world of D4 class. They are a group of 4th-5th graders. I teach them science, math and listening skills. Recently, we’ve been talking about health in our science classes. As a culminating activity, I had them make food pyramids on poster boards. Ignore the fact this is the “old” food pyramid. It was what was in their books. And ignore the fact that I really messed up when I drew the skeleton on the board for them to copy. I’m used to teaching the “new” food pyramid.

And here are the pictures I used. I’ve converted my word file to a pdf. Please let me know if you would like the original file. They’re pretty perfectly sized for the approximately 3 foot by 2 foot boards we had.

posted by Kathryn in Activites,Little Campus,Pictures,Science,Students,Teaching,Teaching Resources and have Comment (1)

May

Grand Park Picnic

Once again, our kindergarten took a trip to Grand Park. The kids love to play there. The teachers love the relaxed nature of our picnics. There’s not much to say, so enjoy the pictures!!!

posted by Kathryn in Activites,Fun things,Korea,Little Campus,Students,Ulsan and have No Comments

May

Happy Children’s Day 2010

May 5 (in Korea) is Children’s Day (어린이날). Apparently the holiday was created in the early 1920s by the Korean children’s author, Bang Jung-Hwan. Typically parents and children do kid type activities and the children receive gifts from their parents, teachers and friends.

Hillary Clinton even wished the kids a happy Children’s Day.