Teacher Daniel

In a market in the park, there are ice cream corns...

One of my students wrote this in her paper:

"The feature of the gate is motivated from two jumping craps which are just as vivid as students."

I think she means carp.

I need to go over the words:
Histrionic-exaggerated dramatic behavior designed to attract ,
consecrate,
precocious-aving developed certain abilities or proclivities at an earlier
in someone's circle

English is strange:

I got a hole in one.
I often get hole in one~wrong
I often get holes in one.
I can see why my students would make this mistake because they confuse one with hole , hence they think its only 1.

by the by, it's snowing in Seoul^^

Dan

First of all, I was just at the Coffee Beanery, trying to get some work done. There was this guy there that decided to speak so loud that every body in the goddamn cafe could hear about his life and all that jazz. I mean the person he was speaking to was like 1 foot away and he was screaming at him. I wanted to stab him in the heart with my pen and inscribe, "inside voice" on his heart.

Writing Focus 2...So...Since, I'd really like my students to improve their writing- I think they should attach their first drafts to their second drafts. I would like them to see their changes and it would let me see their changes. (With upwards of 100 students, I can't be expected to remember every person's mind scribbles.)

Oh, and since I'm supposed to be working on figurative language in Reading Focus Three, I'm going to get them to compete for the best example of simile, hyperbole, metaphor, etc. This week, I'm going to use simile. I'll post a picture of the Mapaggi guy and get kids to make inventive similes. The best one at the end of class will win a prize.

Now...what should I give as a prize???

Things I should do....hmmmm... I know I need time to grade all their papers. I think I should spend about 10 minutes going over grading as a class, talk about expectations on papers and such. I'll dole out individual help as I hand out papers. I'll give them a topic at the beginning to write on and get the students who didn't do their papers to write them in class. This should take up about 30 minutes.

I need to go over using verb tenses in narratives and how to use quotations in their writing.

Brainstorming topic???

only to find out that that Korea doesn't really have street names. They live in dongs(동 )and gu's (구)...ㅋㅋㅋ(hahaha). Oh, a Superhero name is the name of your first name and the first street that you lived on. For example, my superhero name is Rebel Decatur and my superpower is to belch supersonic stench.

Most of my students also didn't have pets so I made them choose the name of their first imaginary friend or the name they would give to a pet and the first foreign city they traveled to.

The best one in the class was Yukyuk Tokyo and her superpower was the ability to turn tacos into goblins.

So...I am teaching this class that my boss also teaches and well...I feel a bit in the dark. There are two different times. I have two 5pm classes and I have one 730pm. The classes are really structured. It is a 2 and a half hour class and I'm supposed to spend 45 minutes going over their textbook, Improving College Reading. Then 45 minutes going quizzes and SATs and then I'm supposed to give them 20 minutes to read through and do some questions on a fictional book and then discuss it with them.

Now because it's the first week, my students aren't going to have quizzes for me to go over so I have about 45 minutes for me to fill in. I think I should do superhero names. They would have to think of name of the first road that they lived on plus the name of their first pet. For example, my superhero name would be Rebel Decatur. I think that would bond the class together. I guess I should also do schools and a place they would like to travel to. Yeah. It's a good way to eat up time. Then it's off to talking about the book- which I must say that I'm quite good at. Alright. I have 8 minutes to class and I think I know what I'm going to be doing.

5pm class
1. I'm going to take attendance and check homework.
2. I'm going to go over the ICR reading and questions.
3. Break.
4. I'll get them to do the questions on a Separate Peace in Class.
5. While they are doing the questions, I'll check their collocation homework.
6. I'll talk about A Separate Peace and then get them to introduce each other using their superhero names.

I've decided to find pictures off the web and get the students to describe them using figurative language. They should use personification, metaphor, similes and hyperboles. This should be fun. Here are the pics:

Nobody can pronounce r's or l's in Korea.

Dan

I need to go over this in class.

1) Name three things that the Romans learned from the Greeks?

Religion, a well-regulated system of coins and measures and weights, alphabet, government.

2) How were the Christians different from the followers of other religions?

"They extolled the beauties of poverty and humility and meekness." They also spoke up about the concept of hell. They believed in "One God." The refused to "pay homage to the emperor."

Here are some sentences I really like that my students wrote. Some are good and some are just wrong!

Liberalism not only ignores but subverts equality.

The cat appeals to be bleeding.
(Koreans have a hard time distinguishing between l's and r's)

I am currently teaching Story of Mankind to middle school students. It is twice a week, 3 hours a class. My hagwon is a bit ambitious and they would like my students to read the entire book in 5 weeks. The first class went well, but I am now in a rut. The students are starting to lose interest and it's entering this lull because they don't have time to read the book and the lecture is overloading them with information.

I have to make this class more interactive. I'm currently thinking of making a quiz game. The students will make up questions and then we'll see who can pick the correct answers or I'll get them to give an in class presentation on a short topic. This might work, but my students have this class at 9:30 in the morning so I'm fighting several factors- i.e. lack of sleep, lack of motivation, and lack of preparation (there is only a little time for them to read and digest the information in the book.)

I have to prep throughly for the course and think of something to do next week. If I don't get the class back on track by next week, I'll have a long month ahead.

Dan