Videos and Shtuff

We finished our 1st semester (crazy that I'm already halfway done!) two weeks ago, and since then I've been doing English camps for about four hours a day. I wasn't quite sure what to expect since it required a TON of planning and I didn't know which kids I would have but I have absolutely loved it! The way it works is, kids get out of school for about a month in the summer but they dont really get out because they are either going to their hakwons (academies) everyday or doing summer classes or camps which is a real bummer I think. I can't imagine not having a vacation during my summers growing up. Actually, I would've probably dropped out of school and ended up working at Taco Bell...which wouldn't be so bad because Taco Bell is bomb. But I knew going into it that these kids were most likely being forced into camp by their parents so I tried to make it as fun and "camp-like" as I could. We had themed days, "Pirate Day" being my absolute favorite, where I sent the kids on an alphabet scavenger hunt, taught them pirate lingo, and had them watch "Hook" which is the sweetest movie of all time. The scavenger hunt was a kick because I loaded them up with baggies and they had 30 minutes to find one thing that started with each letter of the alphabet in their teams. So they returned with a lot of live insects, beer bottles, garbage, and anything else they could find. My girls camp was last week and they were so much fun. I tried to remember to take pictures but did a horrible job and only took a few. I did get this pretty funny video though of 4 of my favorite students because they were playing this game and I don't know what the point of it was but I think if one of them lost, the others would just start pounding on them. Unfortunately I didn't get them beating the living daylights out of each other but they are still so funny to watch.
(and this was during a break so I actually do teach I promise!)






This week I have the boys and they are a little harder to control but still pretty dang fun. Today we did a theme on "Pop Culture" so they learned about Bob Marley for the first time (I can't believe they don't teach these kids about reggae) and we played a ton of games with different bands from all over. Then, we did this project where they choose from 5 songs that were near their ability level and they made a little music video thingy with the lyrics. I got the idea from a guy in my group who had seen it done on youtube by another teacher in Korea but the boys loved it!

Untitled from ashleigh houlton on Vimeo.

I also took this video of the boys when they were playing BINGO because I have two kids that say "of course" or "thank you very muchee" to every single thing that I say regardless of what I say and I think its so stinkin funny.



Also, a crazy little story for you. So about a month ago I was running with two of my friends down at my school's track at night when two of my girls came running out of this house that's tucked back between the school and the track. They followed me around the track for about 5 minutes and just giggled as I tried to talk to them but I knew they were on the soccer team so I asked where their house was and they pointed to the house on the side of the track. I was super confused so I asked again and one of them said "We live here". Whhaaat?!?! I had asked one of my co-teachers at the beginning of the year what the house was for and she said "soccer" but I assumed it was for all of the equipment. Our soccer team is pretty serious business and I knew that because they practice everyday from about 12:30-4:30 and in the mornings sometimes, too. But apparently most of the team comes from all around Korea and they live in the house together with their coach. Insane huh?

Sometimes I go up to a nearby high school to run because they have an amazing track and field and their boys rugby team is sometimes practicing.

Sidenote: the other day when I was walking up to this high school I saw a taxi (pretty sure he was schnokered) drive straight into a barber shop. Since no one was hurt I feel ok saying that it was kind of super awesome.

Anyways, the first day I watched I was a little horrified because everytime one of the guys made a mistake they would have to get into a plank position and one of the coaches would beat them on the back with some kind of weird long thing. It wasn't the same kind of stick I've seen kids get hit with at school (that makes me angry too) but this was more flimsy so I'm sure it hurt much worse. Sometimes I just wish I could send every Korean kid to younglife camp for a summer so they can get a break from things because they really don't have a lot of time to be kids whether it's school or sports or whatever. One day though I was sitting on the field when their practice finished and one of the boys got brave and asked me where I was from. So I told them that I was from America and that I was a teacher and we talked for a little while. Then one of the other boys told me to come watch them practice tomorrow so I told them I would. So for the past 2 or 3 weeks I go out there to run a couple times a week and to watch their practices and talk to them afterwards. Last week after they finished one day, 4 of them came over to me and one got down on his knee and asked me to marry him so the other three were literally rolling in the grass. I started cracking up and told him I was sorry but he was too young and he said "wait when I'm older" and started laughing hysterically. At least now I know I have a backup plan:)