ESL Adventures

Teaching in South Korea

Archive for the 'Fun things' Category

The Gingerbread Man

I just finished reading “The Gingerbread Man” with a group of my 1st graders.  It’s one of my mini-traditions to have someone ship me gingerbread cookies/gingersnaps so my kids can taste them.  I took some my Dad brought with him last Thursday.  They were a big hit with the class.  I passed out the left over cookies to the other teachers and random students who popped into our office.

It’s the little things like this that bring the stories alive.  Plus it was a good way to make the kids behave all week because they were working toward a reward.

posted by Kathryn in Activites,Food and Drink,Fun things,Language,Little Campus,Reading,Students,Teaching and have Comments (2)

Kitties!!!!!!!!!

It’s been a while since I updated y’all about Ivory.  Well, she has a little sister now.  Gidgette is your standard domestic shorthair with tabby markings.  She weighed 380 grams (.84 pounds) when I first got her, and she’s up to 755 grams (1.7 pounds) three weeks later.

Ivory is a very good Mamma cat.  She makes sure to give Gidgette a bath.  Not that Gidgettte really appreciates it.

From the way Gidgette eats, you’d think I never feed her.  And boy does that girl poop….

posted by Kathryn in Fun things,Gidgette,Home Life,Ivory,Pictures and have No Comments

A Sense of Humor

So I was in my Sha Sha class a couple weeks ago.  I was passing out the books, and as usual, I was butchering the names of the kids.  The kids who aren’t in the bilingual or the English imersion program don’t get English names, hence the butchering of their Korean names.

One of the kids had a family name of Won.  As I slowly stumbled over it, one of the other kids standing there waiting went “Won, two, three!”.  Yikes!  A 5 year old with a wicked sense of humor.

posted by Kathryn in Fun things,Language,Little Campus,Speaking,Students and have No Comments

Busan Aquarium

I spent the day yesterday in Busan.  We had a staff lunch, then we went to the (apparently Guiness World Record Holding) largest mall in the world.  Meh.  Whatever.  Afterward I went to Busan Aquarium, which is right on Haeundae Beach.  It was a beautiful day in Busan and I had a great time.  Enjoy the pictures.  They’re not the best in the world because the flash kept reflecting off the tanks.

I really enjoyed seeing the fish and other aquatic life.  The sharks were amazing.  The coolest thing was probably the giant octopus.  The pictures don’t do it justice.  It was huge.  I mean really huge.  And I think the people who get in and go scuba diving with the sharks are nuts.  Two of my coworkers are planning on doing that.  Hopefully they won’t get eaten.

posted by Kathryn in Busan,Fun things,Korea,Off time,Pictures and have Comments (2)

Spring Open House 2009

It’s over.  Oh thank goodness it’s over.  It’s definitely been a stressful few weeks for all involved.  Open houses here are always interesting.  I kind of prefer the way we did it at my last school.  They were just open classes where the parents dropped in.  We knew when they were coming and planned an extra special lesson.  It’s nothing like the scripted, focuses, presentation type stuff we do at Little Campus.  Don’t get me wrong.  In the end, it’s worth it.  The kids have a good time and the parents are generally pleased.

This year had a science based theme.  There were two separate “classes”.  One was about butterflies and one was about food and nutrition.  The kids learned about the body parts and the life cycle of butterflies for the first class.  They learned about the food pyramid for the second.

I only have pictures for the one food classes.  The other times I was busy teaching.  These are pictures of Edison Class.  They are a group of seven year olds.  They’re not the best speakers in the world, but their English is better than my Korean.

posted by Kathryn in Activites,Fun things,Language,Little Campus,Pictures,Science,Teaching and have No Comments

Dalk-yachae-bokum-bap

Better known as cheesy rice. I get mine in a dalk-galbi restaurant in Shinae. It’s cheesy and meaty and spicy and just plain yummy. This time, I got beef instead of chicken. I’ve had similar dishes with seafood as well. I can’t remember the name of the restaurant off the top of my head, but it’s right above Loteria. It’s on the same road in Shinae as New Core Outlet is on. The Megabox movie theater is on that road as well.

You start off with some kimchi and the usual cabbage salad. The put the burner on under the big pan in the middle of the table. Once you order they bring out the food, which is cooked at your table. They start with some basic veggies. Once those are moving along well, they add the meat, spices and rice. That gets all nice and mixed together. To finish it up, they add the cheese, mozzarella in the case of this restaurant. Pair with a bottle of Coke, and you have a meal fit for a queen (or king as the case may be).

posted by Kathryn in Food and Drink,Fun things,Home Life,Korea,Korean Vocabulary,Off time,Pictures and have No Comments

Chon Dak

On Saturday, I went to Samson Dong for lunch.  One of my favorite places to go is Chon Dak.  I love their spicy chicken dish.  It’s chicken, small rice cakes and vegetables in a spicy sauce.  They top it with cheese, a hard boiled quail egg and a few shrimp.

They start off by giving you some pickled radishes and a cabbage salad.  The dressing somewhat resembles French, but I highly doubt it is.  The chicken comes with a bowl of rice.

One of the ladies who works in the kitchen speaks a little bit of English so we usually have a short chat.  Between her limited English and my limited Korean, we get by ok.

Enjoy!  Just don’t drool on your keyboard.

Outside of the building

Outside of the building

Close up of the sign

Close up of the sign

Salad and radishes

Salad and radishes

The whole meal

The whole meal

Chicken close up

Chicken close up

posted by Kathryn in Food and Drink,Fun things,Home Life,Korea,Off time,Pictures and have No Comments