Today was my first day of English summer camp. My coworkers informed me afterward my lesson that it was a "huge success". Hooray!!! I've been stressing about it for what seems like months (not that I'm done stressing just because it is finally happening), but I really do think that today went well. This week I have grade 3s. They are 10 years old Korean age, so about 8 or 9 Western age, and they are SO cute (hard to believe I know). I have 17 students this session, for 4 days, 80 minutes a day.
My camp is Harry Potter themed. Harry Potter, as most of you know, is very important to me. The books and the movies have been a part of growing up. I'm not the only one who feels this way about these magical coming of age stories about love and friendship and figuring it all out against all odds. Last week the final installment of the series was released in cinemas. It was much anticipated and did not disappoint. I know the exact moment I started to cry. It was when Professor McGonagall started the protection charms around Hogwarts castle. Then I cried through the rest of the film. I've heard people describe the end of the films being like the end of the Harry Potter generations' childhood. I'm not sure if that is exactly how I feel, but I do feel overwhelming emotion as something really big in my life comes to an end. Anyway, enough of me gushing about HP!! I chose to do my camp on this for a few reasons: it is something that I love and know a lot about, it is something that children enjoy, there are lots of fun camp related activities, it is time appropriate with the new movie out, and if I could get one kid stoked on Harry Potter that wasn't before that would make me very happy.
So, today "Hogwarts" started at Kyeongsan Chodeung Hak-kyo (Kyeongsan Elementary School). We learnt some crucial vocabulary including "wizard", "witch", "wand" and "magic", we played some games to get to know each other a bit better, and then I put self portraits that they all drew into a hat and sorted them into 4 groups. They then went to work making posters for their groups and choosing a name, colour and animal for the team. They aren't all done yet, so I can't say what they all are yet, but one group is called "Family Bear" and their animal is, you guessed it, a bear, and their colour is brown (because that is what colour a bear is).
Happy summer!!! I hope that I don't melt in the heat on the way home.
Last Monday, the first day of summer vacation for elementary schools, my staff went on a field trip. We met at the school and all piled onto a bus. Not everyone came, but we had a big bus full. Before we took off the principal came on and told us to have a good time. He is old and extremely respected by the staff. I joined in the round of applause and bowing that followed his short speech. Our bus ride was about an hour and I sat with Celine (Korean name: Nam Soon), who is in charge of me and has become what I guess is a pretty good friend. She talks to me all the time at work and our bus ride was no different. I'm always impressed at how she never seems to run out of things to say or questions to ask. When we got to our destination we went on a small "hike" that was about 5km. I went to the front of the group with my co-teacher Sunny (Korean name: Hyun Yu). The place we were hiking was a place she had recommended to me before and she was pretty stoked to be there with me. It was HOT and humid and I was glad that I was not the only one sweating right through their clothes because that would have been embarrassing. At the end of our walk we all got onto a boat and went on a boatride around a lake. It was really beautiful. Everything is so green here at this time of year, even the water. I am not sure if the water is actually green or if it just reflects the surrounding hills, but it is beautiful regardless. Then we went to a camp ground where a catered picnic of a whole roast pig was waiting for us. We chowed down and drank some beer, then some people took naps in the shade and the rest of us went down to a nearby creek. We all took our shoes off and sat with our feet in the cool water for almost 2 hours. My staff is almost completely made up of women, and one of the two men who was on our outing played the "boy" role and splashed some of the women and even dragged one completely into the water. I'm always surprised at how the traditional male/female roles are exaggerated in this country. After that it was back on the bus, and early home. All said and done it was a pretty great day!
Left to right: Bree (the 6th grade teacher who speaks English and picked me up on my first day here), me, Celine (the lady in charge of me), Grace (the music teacher, who is in my office), another grade 6 teacher (she speaks no English, but she is a sweetheart)
