Back to middle school classes

This week most of the middle school classes are back from their public school test taking. The past 3 weeks I have had between 1 and 4 students in my middle school classes, which means that I couldn't teach from the book, and I couldn't do anything really productive, and the students are a bit stressed from tests they have just taken or about to take. So back to normal this week.

I have worked out a very interesting (to me) way of teaching TOEFL. I don't like the books I use, so I just make my own worksheets and try to explain TOEFL in different ways, depending on the level. I have begin to incorporate slow sheets/templates/etc. into my worksheets and have built up quite a big collection of sheets to use for different classes. I have been working on the them for the past two weeks, so its exciting to be able to use them in classes where I get a wide range of reactions.

In other school news, we are having a debate competition on Friday. I have never participated in a formal debate, but I have taught debate to almost all levels of students in the past year, so I now feel very comfortable teaching and speaking about debate. We (the Korean teachers and foreign teachers) Always argue about whats the best way to go about teaching debate. I think its important for the students to have a lot of time to come up with reasons why and really think through their answers, and what their opponent will say. My teachers on the other hand seem to think that everything will magically pop out of the air and onto the students pages. So we debate about debate... this time I picked my battles, and I think the whole thing will turn out ok... The kids are excited about the topic (death penalty) and I was able to encourage them to use drama in order to make their points more convincing... we will see if it all comes together on Friday.

Wednesday is Children's day. That means no classes!!! I think I will spend the day outside, hopefully soaking up some nice sun. Two days of classes, one day off and two days of classes before the weekend... its silly that they don't move holidays here in Korea... they are on the Lunar calendar for holidays and they just keep them where they are. If they fall on a Sunday or Saturday, no day off to make up for it... its sad really, especially because this year lacks some important days off... for example, after the 21st of May, I won't have a national holiday until mid-September... That holiday is a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Dom and I have taken the days around it off to go to Thailand!! So exciting to have a trip outside of Korea planned. I can't wait.

Well that is enough for now. :)