Another day of getting up at 7am. But at least it's a Monday, and I'm used to getting up at 7am on Mondays. Breakfast was nothing special. I feel like they try to make it foreign for us, but it's just a much of Korean-foreign food. I stuck with cereal and a fried egg.

First class of the day was Secondary Curriculum. This was pretty interesting, and it was taught by a Korean-America, and he English was perfect. She taught us why we teach the things we teach, and the general lay out of our books. We also learned about the process of high school and university, and the importance of testing for the Korean students. She was very helpful and we got to ask a lot of questions.

Next was Cultural Differences which was kind of interesting. Our lecturer looking like a squashed version of Mel Gibson. He taught us about the importance of saving face in Korea, and reading between the lines since Koreans want to save face and wont come out and tell you exactly what they mean. Also learned about drinking culture, and some stuff about taxes. It was interesting, but nothing special.

Our third class was a class about writing strategies. We learned a few good games, but again nothing important. I think Paul and i just played Scrabble the whole time. We did create a pretty awesome chain story though. Sitting by Paul is pretty entertaining because he has this negative, pessimistic, glass is half empty personality, and I really enjoy it.



Lunch was pretty good, chicken donkkasu, and I sat with some new people. One guy told an extremely exaggerated story about how he and 3 friends finished 44 bottles of soju in one night. I think that's pretty impossible, even for Koreans.

After lunch was a lesson about co-teachers. There are a few main type of co-teachers: the ghost who is never there, the sheep who will do whatever you ask, the old dog who is stubborn and wont do anything, the bulldozer who wants to do everything their way, and the genie who is amazing. i decided that my co-teachers are the ajuma type. They are nice and friendly, and they help control the class, but i know I can't depend on them to get involved in class room activities. It was interesting to learn about what kind of co-teacher everyone has and what kind they prefer.

Last class of the day was Using Technology in the Classroom. This presentation was GREAT. The guy showed us a lot of fun games he created using PowerPoint, and they were all really ingenious. I know my kids will love them. He also posted tutorials online of how to make the games. I'm definitely going to start using some of these games with my students.

So far after two days I've realized quite a few things I want to change about my class. First, I need to be able to manage my own class. Usually my co-teacher quiets them down, but they get right back up when she leaves. I want to make sure they respect me as a teacher, and don't just see me as the fun foreigner and not care about my class. I also want to incorporate more PowerPoint learning strategies in my class, instead of relying solely on the boring book. I also want my students to use their imagination more. In stead of having them read directly from the book, I am going to encourage them to memorize and ad-lib the dialogue parts. Another thing is taking notes in class. I would like to have the students bring their own "Colleen's English Class" notebook to take notes it. I would like to get more involved in the grading process, find out what percentage of my class goes into their grade, maybe make some questions for their exams. I also got the great idea to make my own video dialogues, maybe with Daniel, that the kids can listen to. I would really like to incorporate projects into the class as well, but I'm not sure if we'll have time.One teacher Skyped with parents during a class, and had the students ask questions. I thought that would also be a cool thing to do, ya mom?

First thing I need to do though is talk to my first graders. I learned that English is not mandatory in elementary school, and the reason some of my students speak English is because their parents can pay to go to a private school. So I defs need to talk to them and figure out who has studied English before and who hasn't.

These days are really long, I start at 8:45am and finish at 8pm. By the end of the day I'm pretty worn out, and we also have a group project to work on. It's a lot of stuff rolled into this conference, but I'm learning a lot of valuable information.