Unlike most schools in western countries, where December
marks the half-way point of the school year, the end of the calendar year also
means the end of the school year here in Korea.
And the end of the school year is an exciting time at Chungnam Foreign
Language High School. After enduring a
solid year of masochistic study routines, the students are finally finished
with exams and are permitted a little breathing room and a chance to cut
loose. At this school, final exams and
grade calculations are completed a full two weeks before the break
actually starts, leaving a lot of time at the end for bullshit. This was a welcome reprieve for me, the
teacher; I can only imagine how the students must’ve felt.
Since the other teachers didn’t seem to be doing anything
productive in their classes, I didn’t feel any guilt over showing Christmas
movies for the entire week after finals.
We watched Elf, and it was a
big hit. I’ve never been much of a Will
Ferrell fan, but his role in that particular movie easily transcends all
language barriers. To be honest, I
really enjoyed being able to spend time with the students without the pressure of trying to teach them, trying to force participation, or giving them feedback on
their pronunciation and grammar. I adore
my students – they are, after all, the reason I went into education in the
first place – and my Korean students are sweethearts. I treasured the opportunity to just hang out
and build better relationships with them.
There was another fun activity I cooked up for them at the
end of the year, and it ended up being one of my most successful lessons to
date. I’m not sure they learned much,
but they had fun and got a chance to practice their English. That’s all that matters, right?
Like normal teenagers the world over, Korean teens love
music. They’ve known since I arrived
that I play guitar and they’re always asking me to bring it in to play for
them. So I had the inspired idea to have
each of my culture classes help me write a blues song. To start things off, I gave them a brief
history of the blues – how the genre developed historically, what makes a blues
song a blues song, etc. – and I played a few YouTube videos of some of the
greats, like John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, and Mississippi John Hurt. I then taught them about the concept of “end
rhyme” and had them come up with a few examples. I also very briefly reviewed metaphors,
similes, and imagery, explaining that these techniques are often employed in
songwriting to make the lyrics more interesting and intuitive. Finally, we decided on the subject matter of
our class song. I suggested that since
blues songs often incorporate themes of “hard times” (poverty, lost love, hard
work, addiction, death), that we could write a song about the “hard life” of
the average Korean high school student.
They LOVED the idea – they don’t often get opportunities to vent their
frustrations on this subject.
I divided the class into pairs and had each set of
partners come up with a rhyming couplet – just two lines per pair of
students. Here’s a few examples of what
they came up with:
“My head’s going
to blow from the insanity
of always
worrying about university.”
“Can’t you
see me living life without fun?
Can’t
remember when I last saw the sun.”
“I don’t
want to study, but I don’t have a choice.
Sometimes I
feel like I don’t have a voice.”
“We always
study for 14 hours
But there’s
no guarantee that success will be ours”
“I’m so sick
of this school,
But at least
teacher Kevin is cool” **(Those kids
should’ve gotten extra credit)
Once all the students had contributed some lyrics to the
project, I took them home, fitted them together, and reworked them slightly so
they would fit with the music (I used the tune for Pride and Joy because it’s simple and flexible). On the last week of classes I went in to each
class with copies of the lyrics, passed them out, and performed the song for
them. I think they really enjoyed it.
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The hosts of the Golden Bell game show make their entrance
onto the set.
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The very last week before the break was a whirlwind of
activity. The students were really
excited about the fact that Golden Bell – a nationally broadcast Korean quiz
show for students – was filming an episode at our school with select students
as the contestants. The elaborate set
was erected in the auditorium of a nearby university, and the entire staff and
student body were present for the game.
Filming dragged on all day, and the whole thing was obviously conducted
in Korean, so it got a bit boring for me at times, since I wasn’t able to
understand what was going on. But it was
still exciting overall. Several student
groups got to perform traditional music for the show’s opening, and later in
the program there were more performances by the dance club and the cheerleading
squad. It was a great reminder for me
that there’s a lot more to these students than relentless studying, and I was
very impressed with their talents.
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| A student playing a gayageum, a traditional harp-like instrument. |
Oh, did I mention that I got to participate as well? One of the questions for the game was an
English conversation question, and it’s customary for an English speaking staff
member to read the question. So I was
paired with a third year student who has excellent pronunciation, and together we
read a short scripted conversation. The
question was about budae jjigae, a spicy soup that has its origins in the time
immediately following the Korean War when, due to a food shortage, Koreans
began utilizing surplus foods from US Army bases (read: hot dogs and Spam) and
incorporating them into a soup with more traditional ingredients like kimchi
and gochujang (red chili paste). We
really do export the best of our culture to other countries, don’t we? :-P Budae jjigae (literally, “army base stew”) is
still popular today. So anyway, I’ve had my one minute of fame – or I will on February
5th when the show airs.
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| "Teacher, I'm hungry. Do you have anything to eat?" |
The show actually had a rather sensational conclusion. It came down to two students who battled it
out with each other round after round after round. It’s rare for contestants to get beyond 30 or
so questions, but these guys fought each other all the way up to the final 50th
question. Our principal was thrilled,
because it made the school look really good.
Winning the game is a big deal – the winner gets a scholarship and a
trip to America, or something like that.
Unfortunately, in the end there could only be one winner, but the runner
up got a pretty stellar consolation prize – a trip to Europe.
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| The final two contestants battling for first place. |
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Students playing Jenga at the 'cafe'
during the school festival.
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The final day of the semester was the day of the school
festival. Since Korean students don’t
have the traditions of a homecoming dance or prom, the school festival is what
they look forward to all semester. I had
been looking forward to it as well. The
day started off with students setting up “stations” all over the school – there
was face painting, organized games, a mock casino, puzzles and trivia, and an
imitation café. They had a lot of fun
with it. I spent the morning bouncing
around from station to station, ending up in the café playing cards and Jenga
with a group of students while other students served us drinks, chips, and
choco pies. There were even a few
student guitarists who served up some live coffeeshop-style entertainment for
the rest of us.
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Two students perform a pop duet for a captive
audience at the school festival.
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After lunch, the students piled into the auditorium for the
main event – student performances on the big stage. The acts ranged from singing pop songs and
choreographed dances to performances of classical guitar or the traditional
gayageum. Again, I was amazed by the
depth of talent the students possess.
These performances went on for the rest of the day and into the night. The students never tired of it, and
considering how hard they worked during the rest of the semester, I think they
deserved all the fun and recreation they could handle.
So now the school year is over and I can officially say that
I survived my first semester in a Korean high school. No sweat.
Over the break, I’m still required to come in to school every day even
though there are no classes for me to teach.
This pointless practice is called “desk warming.” The Korean teachers don’t have to be here,
but my contract is different. So
basically, I sit in my office and waste away hour after hour on facebook, searching for the end of the Internet, studying Korean (I am now a boss at reading Hangeul), reading, napping, playing
games, watching movies...and getting paid for it. I’m also
doing some lesson planning for next semester, but it’s hard to stay motivated
with this much time on my hands. Anyways,
I’ll soon be busting out for 10 days to visit an old friend in Japan. I leave next week and couldn’t be more
excited. Kyoto, Tokyo, and Hiroshima are
on the agenda, and hopefully a few other places, time permitting. So my next blog post will likely be about my
adventures in the land of the rising sun. Until then, take care all!
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Me posing with the two most promising members of my lunch-time guitar club on their last day of Grade 1
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