Archive for the 'Maple Square' Category

Jan

Pictures!

After a long hard fight, I finally have a photo gallery again. I changed packages and didn’t break things into so many sub albums. So look up. See that link that says Photo Gallery? Give it a click. Right now, only Little Campus pictures are there, but over the next few days I’ll be adding Maple Square pictures. I’m even going to upload pictures from my first teaching job. Some of those kids are middle and high schoolers now!

posted by Kathryn in Just Wow,Little Campus,Maple Square and have No Comments

Dec

Halloween 2011

So it’s almost Christmas. Just a small detail. I was going back over some older posts and realized I never put up the Halloween pictures. I don’t have too many because I was too busy manning the craft zone. We made door knockers. I took a template and added clip art. As the kids were coloring, I was laminating and cutting. It was a crazy day. Not too many kids dressed up this year.

posted by Kathryn in Activites,Arts and Crafts,Celebrations,Fun things,Holidays,Maple Square,Pictures,Students and have No Comments

Dec

It’s a Yo-Yo

I thought I’d post a quick video of Ivy 2 class singing one of the songs out of their Let’s Go 1 book. They’re mostly 1st graders, but a few older student. At the time of this video, they were learning shapes and toys. You know, I wish my beginning Korean book was set up more like ESL books. It’s nice to learn to say your name and everything, but then chapter two shot up about 2 levels. Alas, that’s probably more of my problem.

So please enjoy “It’s a Yo-Yo”.

posted by Kathryn in Activites,Maple Square,Music,Students,Videos and have No Comments

Oct

Testing

There’s definitely an art to writing good tests. I’m not sure I’ve found that happy medium yet, and I’ve been doing this for almost 6 years. Korean language academies vary in their philosophy on testing. My first school, foreign teachers gave oral tests and Korean teachers gave written one. The second school didn’t test at all, and preferred to use a (very flawed) portfolio system. My current school has both the Korean and foreign teachers give written tests every month.

However, as of next Monday (OK, Tuesday because Monday is the Halloween party) we’re joining a franchise. Woonjin Plus focuses on the in class material with totally separate material for foreign and Korean teachers. But they also have an online program. Since standardized English testing is moving to being computer based, Woonjin wants to get kids using the computers for English assessment as soon as possible. I’ve yet to see what the online program is like, but I am curious. We have a brand new computer lab set up.

And the best part? No more test writing for me! We get our testing materials from the parent company.

Along with this comes a new name. No longer Maple Square, we are now Woonjin Plus – Naedong Campus

posted by Kathryn in Maple Square,Technology,Woonjin Plus and have No Comments

Jun

What Is He Wearing?

I was at HomePlus one day and I found markers made for writing on glass. What could be more fun? I bought two sets. Phoenix Class was studying clothing and the question “What is he/she wearing?” Usually I have students do this on paper and then we go though it orally. Now don’t get me wrong, the kids love to color. But when I told them they were getting to color on the windows, they almost flipped their little minds.

In a way, it works better on the windows because it’s easier for other students to see and they can use other students’ pictures in their speaking.

So I present, Phoenix class (Martin, Jenny, Julie, Stephanie)…

posted by Kathryn in Activites,Fun things,Language,Maple Square,Pictures,Speaking,Students,Teaching and have No Comments

Jun

ABC Magnets

I’ve been using a set of alphabet magnets with Apple Class (7-year-old kindergarten class) since they started learning the alphabet. The set I have has four complete sets in four different colors. Conveniently, there are four kids in the class. So I separated the magnets into bags. At the beginning, they just had to put the alphabet on the board. But now they are learning short vowels and the basics of reading. I also have very small white boards for various activities. And luckily, they are magnetic. So… each student got a bag of letters and a board. We practiced sounding out words and “writing” them on our boards. I like the activity because it’s very hands on. It gets most of their senses involved. And, well, it’s fun. There’s a picture of me doing the same thing at about 4 on the refrigerator.

posted by Kathryn in Activites,Maple Square,Phonics,Pictures,Reading,Students,Teaching and have No Comments

Jun

Glook

One science class, we made Glook. It’s really simple and safe enough for even small kids. All you need is cornstarch and water (plus food coloring if you want extra fun). Mix in about a 2:1 ratio. You’ll probably be quite surprised.

Glook is a non-Newtonian fluid. It doesn’t behave as a solid or a liquid exclusively. If you put pressure on it, it acts like a solid (and as Jamie and Adam showed us in MythBusters, you can even walk on it). If you try to pick it up, it acts like a liquid.

I did it with Summer and Winter classes and they all loved it. I even had fun with it.

Here’s a fun video showing it on a speaker.