![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
so_jangSo, I was reading grammar rants on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
havocthecat's corner of the world about advanced English grammar. I basked in the moment of advanced English grammar.
Teaching English as a second language, in a country that has just recently decided to go nuts on English means that my grammar woes are trying to figure out how to explain the difference between
"A tree" and "the tree" because it's just not enough to correct a pile of writing assignments that consist of 5 sentences that all use the word "is" as if it was the only verb ever created. Yes, English is hard. No, it's not the kid's fault and I don't blame them in the slightest.
Tree green was.
Bunny is jump.
I run small fast. (personal favorite!)
My parents are good to piano. (yes, they might be, but I still need a "the" please)
As someone who now lives in a place where I'm fully illiterate, I really feel the language barrier pain. My Korean is non-existent and it's really hard to learn.
RANT: My fellow teachers, the people responsible for teaching the kids...DON'T speak English well. In fact, they're entirely happy with "Tree is tall." "Tall is good. "Tree is green and tall and plant" because hey, it's English.
Teaching method at this school? Non-existent.
Curriculum? books with spelling errors that are inappropriate to the level of the kids.
Biggest concern? Kids should have lots of homework. 1/2 hour each night.
Teaching suggestion? Make sure to keep them in class the full 45 minutes.
So, during my 45 hours a week spent in the school (which is their mandate) I teach for 12 hours. So in the remaining 33, I have 2.5 hours of lunch, and possibly .5 a week of getting coffee. (I NEED coffee)
So for 30 hours a week, I prep for 12. Lately, I write fanfic after I've made my weekly average of 120 worksheets (2 per day, per class) I feel both overworked and hideously under utilized. There's both no bar and an incredibly high bar. How to I both write an entire curriculum and still feel ineffectual?
I have no training for this. I teach all of the classes that have no textbook, vocabulary, writing and activity class. I'm frequently unprepared feeling, or the textbook is too hard, or I'm flying by the seat of my pants.
Always. Of course you can teach English, it's your first language so you intrinsically understand it. Umm no. Really, sorry. I'm clinging to things I learned in 5th grade and wondering how I can get my hands on that.
But every once in awhile? You have good days. "Teacher, what is 'communicate'? Teacher, "Law is public good, yes?" There are a set of three eleven year olds who make my entire day worthwhile. There are some american kids who don't give a damn what they're learning and these kids want me to explain the concept of evil and tell me why it's wrong to seek revenge in a language they don't speak. Bless them.
School is good to Korean parents because it is looking fancy white girl. *sigh*
When did I become the white girl? In Korea, that is my identity. My name is basically unpronounceable, because P, F and B are the same in Korea, as are R and L so Opal-Obal-Obar-Ofal-Ofar-Opar all sound the same and it is just the noise in my direction that means someone is speaking to me.
On the upside, I can listen to anyone's conversation without eavesdropping. I don't understand. I can play stupid at the grocery store, spend hours talking to myself in the park because no one understands me.
Coffee comes in tubes. Butter is absent all together. I accidentally bought chocolate bread because I thought it was rye. (it's not...it makes weird toast but is good with peanut butter) How do I teach writing to kids who only know variations of state of being? How do I make it interesting? If they don't understand what I'm saying when I say 'why'?
How do I explain 'how'? How do I not make a mistake that will scar them for years of learning? (I accidentally pronounced "squish' as 'squash' and now I'm frakked)
I don't think I fully understood the responsibilities my teachers had or how damn good they were at it. I realized today, that like most things, I need to take the me out of it and just be in the moment. Opal is a teacher (which is actually my name, "Teacher, pleesu") but Teacher is not Opal. Opal is a writer and insane. Writer, insane Opal is headed for grad school because she's not sure she can take a world where she's not stretched to the limit of her potential.
Yes, I am stretched now. In many ways this is the hardest, most boring, easiest, taxing, lazy, exhausting job I've had. It's not like film where you go and go and go and go. This is think and think and think. How do I make a lesson in forty-five minutes that is interesting and teaches them something? How do I do that 15 times a week? Why am I so intimidated by that fact that the 25 hours a week I spend doing NOTHING are still annoying?
How do I write a worksheet to supplement the book, explain what I did last time, hit some new concept and tie to the reading they do in their other classes?
I feel both incompetent and completely unchallenged.
I'm also alone. I'm alone in public. I'm alone at home. I've never written so much or felt so isolated. But, on some level I'm happy. Sort of. In a rising sense.
On an unrelated happy note? I went to the movies, midnight show is $3! and SUPER nice. I'm sitting in front of two Korean children and mom and dad, young, 3-6ish. Children can say "hello" and "this is for you." The say hello, giggle, sit in their seats and then, for the rest of "Princess of Moonacre" Not spectacular but fun and blissfully in English, every few minutes they tap me on the shoulder and soulfully hand me pieces of popcorn. "This is for you." They don't seem to understand no. "Thank you" amuses them. They smile and wave and giggle harder because I wave differently. Mom and Dad are totally at a loss because even hello is beyond them but they smile! They don't stop the children. They actually smile and let the kids give me popcorn. They let smallest kid pull on my jacket, drag me down to her level and grab my cheek as if she'd never seen anything like it.
Oh humanity, you do love me, don't you?
havocthecat's corner of the world about advanced English grammar. I basked in the moment of advanced English grammar. Teaching English as a second language, in a country that has just recently decided to go nuts on English means that my grammar woes are trying to figure out how to explain the difference between
"A tree" and "the tree" because it's just not enough to correct a pile of writing assignments that consist of 5 sentences that all use the word "is" as if it was the only verb ever created. Yes, English is hard. No, it's not the kid's fault and I don't blame them in the slightest.
Tree green was.
Bunny is jump.
I run small fast. (personal favorite!)
My parents are good to piano. (yes, they might be, but I still need a "the" please)
As someone who now lives in a place where I'm fully illiterate, I really feel the language barrier pain. My Korean is non-existent and it's really hard to learn.
RANT: My fellow teachers, the people responsible for teaching the kids...DON'T speak English well. In fact, they're entirely happy with "Tree is tall." "Tall is good. "Tree is green and tall and plant" because hey, it's English.
Teaching method at this school? Non-existent.
Curriculum? books with spelling errors that are inappropriate to the level of the kids.
Biggest concern? Kids should have lots of homework. 1/2 hour each night.
Teaching suggestion? Make sure to keep them in class the full 45 minutes.
So, during my 45 hours a week spent in the school (which is their mandate) I teach for 12 hours. So in the remaining 33, I have 2.5 hours of lunch, and possibly .5 a week of getting coffee. (I NEED coffee)
So for 30 hours a week, I prep for 12. Lately, I write fanfic after I've made my weekly average of 120 worksheets (2 per day, per class) I feel both overworked and hideously under utilized. There's both no bar and an incredibly high bar. How to I both write an entire curriculum and still feel ineffectual?
I have no training for this. I teach all of the classes that have no textbook, vocabulary, writing and activity class. I'm frequently unprepared feeling, or the textbook is too hard, or I'm flying by the seat of my pants.
Always. Of course you can teach English, it's your first language so you intrinsically understand it. Umm no. Really, sorry. I'm clinging to things I learned in 5th grade and wondering how I can get my hands on that.
But every once in awhile? You have good days. "Teacher, what is 'communicate'? Teacher, "Law is public good, yes?" There are a set of three eleven year olds who make my entire day worthwhile. There are some american kids who don't give a damn what they're learning and these kids want me to explain the concept of evil and tell me why it's wrong to seek revenge in a language they don't speak. Bless them.
School is good to Korean parents because it is looking fancy white girl. *sigh*
When did I become the white girl? In Korea, that is my identity. My name is basically unpronounceable, because P, F and B are the same in Korea, as are R and L so Opal-Obal-Obar-Ofal-Ofar-Opar all sound the same and it is just the noise in my direction that means someone is speaking to me.
On the upside, I can listen to anyone's conversation without eavesdropping. I don't understand. I can play stupid at the grocery store, spend hours talking to myself in the park because no one understands me.
Coffee comes in tubes. Butter is absent all together. I accidentally bought chocolate bread because I thought it was rye. (it's not...it makes weird toast but is good with peanut butter) How do I teach writing to kids who only know variations of state of being? How do I make it interesting? If they don't understand what I'm saying when I say 'why'?
How do I explain 'how'? How do I not make a mistake that will scar them for years of learning? (I accidentally pronounced "squish' as 'squash' and now I'm frakked)
I don't think I fully understood the responsibilities my teachers had or how damn good they were at it. I realized today, that like most things, I need to take the me out of it and just be in the moment. Opal is a teacher (which is actually my name, "Teacher, pleesu") but Teacher is not Opal. Opal is a writer and insane. Writer, insane Opal is headed for grad school because she's not sure she can take a world where she's not stretched to the limit of her potential.
Yes, I am stretched now. In many ways this is the hardest, most boring, easiest, taxing, lazy, exhausting job I've had. It's not like film where you go and go and go and go. This is think and think and think. How do I make a lesson in forty-five minutes that is interesting and teaches them something? How do I do that 15 times a week? Why am I so intimidated by that fact that the 25 hours a week I spend doing NOTHING are still annoying?
How do I write a worksheet to supplement the book, explain what I did last time, hit some new concept and tie to the reading they do in their other classes?
I feel both incompetent and completely unchallenged.
I'm also alone. I'm alone in public. I'm alone at home. I've never written so much or felt so isolated. But, on some level I'm happy. Sort of. In a rising sense.
On an unrelated happy note? I went to the movies, midnight show is $3! and SUPER nice. I'm sitting in front of two Korean children and mom and dad, young, 3-6ish. Children can say "hello" and "this is for you." The say hello, giggle, sit in their seats and then, for the rest of "Princess of Moonacre" Not spectacular but fun and blissfully in English, every few minutes they tap me on the shoulder and soulfully hand me pieces of popcorn. "This is for you." They don't seem to understand no. "Thank you" amuses them. They smile and wave and giggle harder because I wave differently. Mom and Dad are totally at a loss because even hello is beyond them but they smile! They don't stop the children. They actually smile and let the kids give me popcorn. They let smallest kid pull on my jacket, drag me down to her level and grab my cheek as if she'd never seen anything like it.
Oh humanity, you do love me, don't you?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-02-25 12:52 pm (UTC)What can you gain from this one? What is teaching you? (sorry for the pun)
Anyway, how long is going to last this job?
A big big hug!
PS
you know, two days ago I dreamt about you. we were at a rock concert in Rome and you were called up the stage by the italian rocker who were singing and people there were clapping their hands at you. :)
This, in my head, means you have to come to Rome soon because Rome is waiting for you. *g*
no subject
Date: 2009-02-25 02:09 pm (UTC)I accidentally bought chocolate bread because I thought it was rye.
Ahahahaha Yes to this. More cultural differences! More!
no subject
Date: 2009-02-25 03:12 pm (UTC)What you're doing is absolutely amazing. And sounds really difficult to do - not the work itself necessarily, but living in a country where you don't know the language..yeah, I moved to Israel, but I speak Hebrew (mostly)! I imagine it's a lot harder and more frustrating for everyone who came here without any background in the language or society or culture...
*bighugehugs*
no subject
Date: 2009-02-25 06:25 pm (UTC)What does "I run small fast" mean? O_o
no subject
Date: 2009-02-25 11:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-26 01:57 am (UTC)Jeez, I can't get my fifth-graders to understand the difference between 'a' and 'the' in French even when I explain it in English. I can't imagine not having a common language to fall back on!
Hmm, teaching language... use pictures to illustrate the worksheets as much as possible. Vice versa, give them sentences and have them illustrate. Use exaggerated gestures and be prepared to look stupid and not care. Teach kids' songs and rhymes. Always reinforce any verbal errors. "Tree is tall!" "Yes, the tree is tall."
You are awesome. In so many ways.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-17 06:57 pm (UTC)My oh my, your post really sounds dead on. Boring and exiting, challenging and yet not exhausting your potential. Seems like this is just not your thing. I guess I understand parts of why you wanted to do that. Apart from the whole adventure thing, languages are love and learning a lg opens up a whole new world: a new culture, a new way of thinking. Teaching a lg makes it possible for others to discover this world. Still, it's everything but easy, even if - or especially if - it is your native tongue. You know the lg, but you don't know what it feels like to learn it from scratch. While you and me both would probably be more able than a bunch of other people, it's not what we're made for. You have other talents that will also do a lot of good, probably even more.
*laughs* I don't know why I'm telling you this, I'm sure you've known that yourself for quite some time.
I guess what I actually wanted to say is: great to
hear fromread you again! I hope you found a way to make the best of it and then start full-force into your next adventure in England (btw, I'll be there in 2010, walking the Coast to Coast Way). I wish you a lot of little happy interludes, funny mistakes, seeing your kiddos progress, etc. Also, I send you my love.Squishing you tight,
- Franzi