Abundance Works: Winter Camp

Oh how exciting is this time of year? You get off from work, the kids are out of school....oh...oh what's that? I see you have to teach Winter camp for 2 or 3 weeks. Well don't fret you'll have lots of fun stuff to do! Oh, they want you to plan it now and it starts next week! Yikes..

So you might be finding yourself in this position or at camp now. For me I've done winter camp so many times I know what to expect and how to drag on that last hour. At my school it's more academic focused with fun stuff thrown in here and there. But I like to spice things up with games and crafts for the kiddos. What I like most about camp is that you get to bond with a small number of students from the school. My advice is to put some care into camp and make it special. Don't just sit at your desk and throw word puzzles or coloring pages at them. It's a time to flex your teaching muscles and test out new activities or games. But maybe you would like some fun ideas for the kids. That's why I made this post so you can see what other's have done and perhaps get some inspiration. (Some are winter and others summer camp.)

1. The View From Over Here: One of the most interesting posts about teaching camp, because it's not your regular classroom. Here she taught Air Force academy students and found it highly rewarding.

2. The Seoul Patch: Back when he was teaching at a high school he put on a camp that involved learning about jokes. I think this makes a great lesson because often times ESL students don't get jokes in English, just I don't often get Korean jokes. So it was nice to see a fun time had with this sort of subject manner.

3. Annie Around the World: In some cases you teach at a camp and don't know what your subject is till you get there. You also don't know what equipment you will have in the classroom. Imagine teaching without a computer!? I'm sure it can be done and I'm not always at my computer in class, but it really helps a lot. Check out her post with plenty of info on how she got through it.

4. My Life! Teaching at a Korean University: Even University teachers teach a kids class now and then. Here she offers some fun games for the kiddos.

5. A Search for Happiness: For most folks camp is the time before your winter vacation, so you do end up thinking about all the fun you will have after the kids go. Although she does offer some tips for camp in this post.

6. A Geek in Korea: A veteran of the teaching community you can get a sense for how to plan for camp in this post and some ideas of what to do.

7. Korea-Diva: Need some actual lesson plans, well here you go!

8. The Harrington Times: A camp with mostly activities in it, but some that can you give ideas. A great way to see how camp can be fun and full of good times.

I hope those links give you enough information to help you through your camp. One tip I might give you is to bring something warm to wear, as some schools might not turn on the heat! Also have a management system of rewards and punishments ready to go. Outline your class rules before getting started and reassure all the students they will have fun. Remember, this is their time off too that they have to be in school. So get them involved and loving it!

Abundance Works: Lesson Ideas 1

As the Chuseok holiday pulls in to its final hours, teachers should be thinking about heading back to the classroom. The rest of the Fall semester is upon us and for me that means a chunk of time dedicated to training my students for the drama festival. Otherwise it would be back to the chalkboard. I think what is great about this job, in most positions here, is the freedom to teach whatever you want. If you just put on some videos and crank out a coloring sheet, that's fun the first few weeks. But then you might want to do some actual teaching. Today I'm going to present some bloggers who have shared their lessons for us in case you need a refreshing idea for the classroom.

1. My Life! Teaching in a Korean University: Here we hear the results of students doing individual projects and whether they meet certain goals. She expresses the differences of doing this project individually or in groups.

2. The Seoul Patch: Imagine doing a lesson on movies. Well here for you are a list of several lessons one can do related to movies and many examples of how to get those kids working. At the end of it all students get to create their own DVD cover, something they seemed to enjoy.

3. A Geek in Korea: I think for making most of our lesson plans successful there has to be good organization going on behind the scenes. In this post we hear about his organization for getting through the week and shows you that productivity is possible.

4. Coco in Korea: A pretty typical assignment we give to students to talk about their favorite things, but more often the best part is seeing the results. Here she got some amusing answers.

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I hope everyone had a great and relaxing break from the classroom and now has some cool new ideas for when coming back. :)

Abundance Works: That First Week

It's March here in Korea-land and for many of us that means a new semester of work. Also, for many that means their first day on the job. I recall my first day, four years ago, and it was a completely different experience from what I go through these days. You are not only dealing with learning the ways of your school but culture shock is still rocking your mind as well. Today, I present you some words written by folks who had a memorable first day (or week) at their job. I hope this helps show how important and groundbreaking this day can be.

1. The Seoul Patch: He's written about many first days and I liked this one because it shows how you can run into some surprises. Although, there is nothing you can do about it, that first day might come as a shocker.

"So, okay, maybe I'm not as smart as Einstein after all, but nobody told me I am at an ALL-BOYS SCHOOL! Not that it really matters, I'm just saying that seems to me a feature of a school that you might want to mention."

2. I'm No Picasso: For some seasoned teachers they might experience that first day again when they get to teach a special class or camp. Here she highlights how things can go awry that first day if the school isn't even ready for class. 

"What was that about no electricity, GFBR? Yeah. Me too. Got it switched on and then moved to the new classroom to find — what’s this? — no computer! No powerpoints or photos or games."

3. My Life! Teaching in a Korean University: Here you can get a good idea of what this teacher does on her first day. A simple class indeed!

I hope those posts help you get an idea for what the first day (or week) is like on the job here in Korea. 

Abundance Featured: Biz & Steve

Another great blog to put up as featured here on ExpatAbundance. These two, Biz and Steve, have been exploring Seoul and Korea for some time now. They've got a great collection of posts to check out and also provide quality photos and commentary.

I decided to make sure the author of the blog I feature had a chance to say something and give themselves a shout out. So the following is what I received from email interactions.

Blog purpose:

The blog started solely to keep family and friends updated on our lives. We needed a quick and easy way to reach a lot of people at once with minimal effort.  It has since morphed into an online scrapbook of sorts, something we can look at in a few years and reminisce. I look back at our earliest entries and marvel at how much has changed in our lives.  I've also noticed a lot of misinformation online regarding expat life in Korea. We do attempt to add our experience to the general hubbub of opinion out there and hopefully people find helpful info on our blog. If we fail in that department, at least our parents can still live vicariously through us.

Survey Says:

1.    How did you find yourself (yourselves) in Korea?  We found ourselves very hot, sweaty and jetlagged:) Actually the decision was made pretty quickly with very little thought involved. I graduated in June and it didn't look like I would be able to find a teaching position in the United States. Korea was advertising pretty aggressively and we both knew people who had taught English in Korea before. I think it took a total of two weeks for us to decide we wanted to go. 

2.     What moment gave you the most culture shock? Our first genuine culture shock moment (which has diminished since being here) was our dorm-room orientation experience. We knew we would not be able to room together, but had no idea we wouldn’t even be allowed in each other’s buildings.

3.     What type of kimbop is your favorite? I don’t like kimbop but Steve is a big fan. He learned the hard way which colors at the local GS25 contained what. He stays away from orange and red (beef and spam) and tries to go for the blue (tuna) or veggie option.

4.     Out of Lotte Mart, Emart, Homeplus and Kim's Club, which one is your favorite? They all have their good qualities so it may have to come down to advertising jingles. E-Mart's is far superior.

5.     Name one thing in your house that is getting the most use (least use). Most use: Ondol heating (since December). Least use: Our Korean-English dictionaries. We're bad expats.

6.     If you could give any piece of advice to future expats what would it be? "Don't Panic" (as made popular by Douglas Adams)

7. Most happiest moment in Korea? Is it wrong to say our first paychecks? Also we had a really great time at the FC Seoul soccer final.

There you have it folks! Honest to goodness stuff for you take home. I suggest checking out their blog and finding your own pieces of treasures on their site. I for one look forward to reading their posts, which by the way are listed as "OurAdventures" in the Expat Life link bar to your left.

Abundance Found: 2

It's time for another round of "Abundance Found". I know there aren't many posts on here, but I will try to keep up.

Found 1:

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The blogger "Mental Poo" can keep you amused with office stuff in Korea and also her enjoyable findings. In this post, "Funny Bathroom Stuff From the Weekend" she shows the wonderful life of random bathroom oddball-ness.  Check out the post for more pics and take a look over her blog for more zany stuff.

Found 2:

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BredainKorea or "Annyeong!" brings us a sample from her Harry Potter lesson. Students were to draw their own imaginary wizard school. I can see that as being very fun and engaging for the kids. What is also neat about her blog posts is that she includes a little survey so you can get an idea of how effective things really are. 

Found 3:

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You might be wondering why you are looking at a bag of oranges. Well on the blog "Seoul Searching" she did a little guessing game where she asked her readers to figure out the price of recent items she bought at the store. It was a great way to point out how fruit in Korea can be pretty expensive. Check out the rest of her blog for interesting reflections on expat life.

Those are the findings for this time. If you saw something out there that caught your attention in the expat blogosphere give us a shout out.

Abundance Buzz: Back to Work

February signals, for mostly public school teachers, that it is back to work time. December and January are usually the time for camp and vacation. As March approaches, February is that in between month before the students graduate. Although there is usually not much to do at work since materials are finished, you find yourself with not much to do. If you are an elementary school teacher you will find that 6th grade is particularly unruly at this time of year. They are pre-teens and so already don't want to listen to adults, but knowing that they will move on to middle school means that grabbing their attention is especially difficult.

In this series,"Abundance Buzz" I am going to highlight how there is a notable buzz out there on the Kblogosphere. The first one in this series shows how several expats are going back to work from their cushy vacations and having to put their teacher brains back on.

The Buzz:

• I Am Saja's Mom: In this case, "Saja" is her cat. She is a veteran here in South Korea having had a few jobs already. This time around she found herself facing the "desk-warming-blues" from coming back to work. She countered this by digging into her treat drawer and watching downloads, in this post. Definitely having tasks to do during those slow times makes the job feel less alienating. However, eating snacks and watching shows is fun let's remember to throw some planning in there as well. ;)
• I'm No Picasso: I have been reading her blog for some time now, and enjoy her honest and very frank posts. In her recent post, "Back and Raring To Go" she talks about the woes of going back to work and returning to Korea after being abroad in an "English speaking country." Definitely check this post out for what it feels like to switch back to work and Korean life.

"...get yourself in a state fit to attend work on Monday morning and you start to feel the way you did sometimes in the first year, where you were a bit lonely and acutely aware of being in a foreign place. "

• Lola O in Seoul: Lola writes in a very descriptive and captivating way on her blog. The post, "Comes and Goes" really highlights the feeling of vacation ending and work beginning. When visiting family for vacation it can be hard to say goodbye all over again, and get back on the plane. As strong as we expats are there are times when homesickness can get the best of us. Lola encapsulates this in her post but also shows her strength, "This is my life right now, for the next year this is my life and I am going to embrace it. I'm going to enjoy it. I'm going to live it. As I got to the bus stop by my place my friend came to help me with my luggages." Check it out.
• Jungle Onion's Diary: Isn't that a cute name for a blog? She got back from her vacation, did a little work and then found herself with nothing do. Check it out all here on her post, "February!".

That wraps up this Abundance Buzz topic for today. February, for many also signals the last month at their school or their expat life. Since March is when the new semester starts many teachers will be finding themselves packing up, selling off their stuff and saying goodbye to their friends in Korea. It is also a time when newbies are going to start pouring in and having the whole experience from the start. I am constantly amazed by the thought that expats in Korea are constantly on this cycle of "in" and "out". Perhaps, come March I can find some newbie blogs and we can see what expat life looks like to fresh eyes.