This day was sandwiched between the intense DMZ tour the day before and an all day trip to the other end of Korea the day after. The highlight of this day was meeting the third graders and teaching them for the first time. I also got to see Woo’s apartment and had a meal that Woo cooked in a restaurant with a charcoal grill.

I walked to Woo’s office down the steep road and then we took the subway. We had to change trains twice but it was very efficient and fast with short wait times. We then had a steep climb up to the school.

School I taught at

The school is in an upscale area and some of the students I will be teaching have lived in the US or another English speaking country. All students have an English class 3 days a week and some study it more after school. Woo is planning to translate but he thinks I might be able to let them try to understand the English if I keep it simple and talk slowly.

We introduced ourselves to the Principal and she gave us tea and chatted with Woo. I don’t think she spoke much English. We exchanged business cards and I tried to bow and also shake hands with my left hand supporting the right as a sign of respect. The teacher was there and the principal spoke of what good work the teacher had done in setting up a gifted program. I always appreciate a principal who is supportive of the teachers.

We them climbed up to the fourth floor where the class was. There were 5 third grade classes, each with about 25 students. The teacher was one of Woo’s doctoral students. Apparently, she is getting her doctorate just to learn and is not planning to become a professor, at least at this time. Woo spoke very highly of her. This was only her second week teaching third grade as she had been reassigned from sixth grade. The school year in Korea begins in March.

I was introduced to the students and they seemed very eager and excited. The teacher had made name tags with English names for each of them, which really helped. I started reading the Marilyn Burns story “Spaghetti and Meatballs for All” and passed out a set of 8 square tiles to each child. They used the tiles to represent tables for guests to sit at, which followed the story line.

About half of the students, working on perimeter and area with tiles I brought. The name tags really helped.

My main concern before doing the lesson was that the students would not be able to keep up with the activities relating to perimeter and area to the same extent as the older (fifth grade) students in Cyprus and the US. I worried that this would be compounded by the language barrier. My goal was to be close to the end of all the activities that come directly from the book by the end of the 1 hour 20 minute class.

Sophia, Dorothy, and Eddie were three of the stars of the group

My fears were quickly erased. These students whizzed through the activities. Not only were they getting the concepts and following the basic ideas but they were amazingly creative. They came up with many approaches for numbers of tables and different configurations. They blew me away! I had to quickly adjust my plans and both go a little further and go into more depth. Surprisingly, they were ahead of the US and Cyprus students even though they were 2 years younger and were not in an English language school.

Very surprised at the high level work coming from these third graders!

When the lesson was done and they were cleaning up, several of the students came around me to say hello. They were obviously excited to have me in their class as I was to be there also. I was planning to have two more days of 1 hour 20 minute classes but the teacher could only work out the two days for 40 minute classes. This was OK with me since I could tell that they would do all that I needed in this shorter time. I’ll have much more to write about this experience when I get home for my sabbatical work. All afternoon I was raving to Woo about these children.

Very friendly and very bright children

Next Woo and I got a taxi and had lunch at a place that put a grill on your table and an exhaust hood. Woo ended up doing the cooking of maybe three types of pork. There were also many side dishes, including the ever present Kim Chee (spiced cabbage). I ate too much.

Exhaust hoods installed at each table

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Woo grilling the pork (left), I really liked the spicy noodles (right)

Next we got a taxi to see Woo’s apartment. They bought an apratment near a girl’s school they were planning to have their two girls go to. As it turned out, the girls didn’t go to that school and also they built the 1988 Olympic Stadium very close by. He said 2-3 bedroom apartents, small by US standards today go for about $1 million. They paid much less than that. You could buy a few blocks of houses in Indiana, PA for a million dollars. Woo’s house seemed very comfortable and it was just a 3 minute walk to the subway line that rings the city so that you can get anywhere quickly.

Woo’s dining room and part of the living room

Sitting on Woo’s couch, taking a picture of him taking a picture of me

After having seen the ancient Olympic stadium in Athens just a month ago, I enjoyed seeing the 1988 Seoul stadium.

 

Seoul Olympic Stadium, just a few minutes from Woo’s apartment

Woo had plans to do some sightseeing but he had a concern that I would be tired after the long day yesterday, and with our 6 AM start the next day. I agreed and we took a taxi back to the International House and had an early night.

I’m still amazed at the third graders!