The second week of teaching didn’t come easier, but we did indeed felt more in control.
This week I was in charge of teaching fourth graders. Unlike my anticipation, the decrease in age did not equate to a decrease in English abilities. In fact, the fourth graders spoke much better English than the fifth graders. They were capable of forming short, but complete sentences, while the fifth graders stayed on the level of basic vocabulary. However, there was a large discrepancy of English proficiency within the class. While the higher-level kids could have basic conversations with us, the lowest level kids were pronouncing the alphabet wrong. This meant that we spent more time sitting down with the kids individually rather than standing up in front of the classroom in lecture style. Luckily, the five of us in this classroom had a very pleasant split between the groups that optimized our own language capabilities of Chinese, Korean and English.
The highlight of teaching this week for me was when we showed them videos of Planet Earth during the topic of animals. Visual stimulations are a very effective way to engage children. We showed them videos of the bird of paradise, snow fox hunting, great white sharks, octopus etc. The reactions we got out of the class was hilarious. One kid, Ori, enjoyed it so much that he pulled his chair to the front of the class and I’ve never seen him laugh so hard.
Besides teaching, the kids are also preparing a farewell show for us on the last week in which a couple of our DESKers have been recruited to dance with them. Look forward to photos and videos of our boys and girls breaking it down on stage in two weeks. 🙂
In our off times, we continue to explore the amazing city of Seoul. On Saturday, I went to the Dongdaemun Design Plaza, which is the venue where Seoul Fashion Week takes place. There are numerous cool designers who display their work, alongside with gadgets that are up for purchase. The building is a futuristic mushroom-looking structure made entirely out of silver colored concrete, aluminum, steel and stone. Unfortunately, I visited in the afternoon, which means I did not get the chance to see their famous LED rose garden. I would definitely need come again in the nighttime.
At night, we went to the Banpo Hangang Park. Seoul in June has the best weather for a night at the Han River. The cool and breezy climate sets the perfect scenario for some pizza, shrimp skewers and many other food truck snacks. We sat on the stairs by the river, enjoying some quality conversations and delicious food while surrounded by hundreds of more people just like us. The longer I stay in Seoul, the harder I fall for the youth and energy this city has to offer.