Let it snow! 
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Apuda!
Linda, stating she was sick and needed soup, headed with me, Tye, Scott and Glenn (Daegu) to TGI Friday's. Soup she had, but the sauce - chocolate - was not to be just a design on her bowl of ice cream.
Warming Up at the 2005 KOTESOL Leadership Retreat
This year's leadership retreat, held at the YuJin Hotel in Daejeon, was a great time to refresh and re-group. Lots of new faces mixing with our dependable line-up of leaders. (December 10)
Up Close and Personal
Inspired by Nolan's phot-ee-o-graf-ee, the lights blinding, photos of Sandra's new earrings, Dana's glasses, and Nolan's nose.
Grog at Delish's
Was it PotPourri we were drinking or grog? Sandra says grog, so I believe. Delish and his Bloody Mary. Curtis-Mario after many grogs. Dana smiling and happy (perhaps a wee bit on the drunk side - so she said). And the most famous of blonde heads in Korea - Sandra.
More snow
It's been snowing for over two weeks. Kunsan usually doesn't get this much snow. Last year I think we had, maybe, 2 or 3 snowfalls which disappeared within a day.
dinner at Taste of Thailand - Chesterton
Students from Valparaiso University's Summer Programs: International Case Studies, INTERLINK and EFB
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
More Snow
Outside of the guesthouse is a magic fairy tale land. It keeps snowing and we just slide down the hill to our classes.
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Fall in Kunsan
A cold, wet autumn season this year has zapped my usual enthusiasm for the fall season. Finally the gingko leaves are turning yellow. A burst of sunlight on a rainy day.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Friday, April 22, 2005
Tides
I love the cadence of life. The tide as it is. This morning walking to my office, the sun shone brightly over the cherry blossoms on campus. Gentle hellos, from passing walkers and cyclists. The weekend soccer enthusiasts still bleary from last night's soju get ready for their workout away from work and responsibility. The campus empty of cars, of students.
The tide is out. But does not smell of stinky decaying fish left stranded. A pureness enters my soul and breathes gently into my heart, soothing and refreshing in the same instant. The places I love the most have tides; times when there is so much water, so much stimulation, I feel as if I'm drowning. And just as I take my last breathe, I touch the bottom and push up to the surface, noting that the landscape has changed, receded. The gentle, inexorable movement buried in all of life.
My breath goes in and out. My day, my night. Others, self. Highs, lows. Sometimes rocky and furious. Other times slow and lethargic. Moments filtered through my senses to value the passion and stillness. To float, to glide, to hiccup, to feel. Nothing and everything.
The tide is out. But does not smell of stinky decaying fish left stranded. A pureness enters my soul and breathes gently into my heart, soothing and refreshing in the same instant. The places I love the most have tides; times when there is so much water, so much stimulation, I feel as if I'm drowning. And just as I take my last breathe, I touch the bottom and push up to the surface, noting that the landscape has changed, receded. The gentle, inexorable movement buried in all of life.
My breath goes in and out. My day, my night. Others, self. Highs, lows. Sometimes rocky and furious. Other times slow and lethargic. Moments filtered through my senses to value the passion and stillness. To float, to glide, to hiccup, to feel. Nothing and everything.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Neglect or Protect
This morning two dogs followed me from my apartment towards my office building. I walked them back home to where they live. I was worried about them. They crossed the street without looking both ways. It reminded me of my childhood. No one and everyone was responsible for keeping me safe from myself. Am I returning a favor of someone protecting me when I was young? Or am I being overprotective, not letting the dogs learn their lessons on their own? My eternal struggling question. What is enough? What is the balance?
There are some lovely opportunities emerging for me. Yesterday I went to a meeting with a colleague in my department and a student organizer from Korea University Broadcasting System (KUBS). The organizer would like us to put on a weekly radio show for the KNU student body. It would be broadcast over the loudspeaker system. My colleague, Phil, has tons of ideas about putting a show together. I have lots of ideas about doing pre & post listening activities through online materials that would include MP3 files of our shows. We have another meeting next week. Yesterday was very much a brainstorming meeting. There is not enough information about the reality of this project coming to fruition. Phil and I expressed our enthusiasm. Who knows what will happen next?
This morning, Phil had to cancel our debriefing meeting regarding my participation in the Thai TESOL Conference. Phil, in addition to being a colleague in my department, is also the International Affairs Committee Chair for KOTESOL. He needs to go to Jeonju to meet Allison for a planning meeting for the KOTESOL North Jeolla Spring Conference. I told him to let Allison know that I would be happy to create and maintain the North Jeolla Conference website for them. Their conference is March 19, not March 26.
Another opportunity emerged this morning in class. One of my students takes her daughter to the library everyday. I asked if the library offered programs for children, like Story Time or Dinosaurs. She said they didn't offer any programs like that. I shared with her and the class the work my hometown public library does in Michigan City. My student mentioned that the library wanted to offer programs like that. I asked her to introduce me to the appropriate person at the library as I could volunteer one afternoon a week during the month of February. She was most excited about this. After class she and I talked about me reading a story book to the children. She is a violin teacher and will plan some music for the lesson. We will add some coloring activities and song chants based on the story. We thought 30 minutes with 10 kids. I hope this happens.
These opportunities are important to me because they make English accessible to a wide audience in Korea in a fun way. This winter I have traveled to Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. I have listened to many lectures on EFL and chatted with colleagues from around the world. More and more, when I return home to Korea, I am angry and stressed regarding the education process my students are bound within and I question my role as a teacher in this, Korean, context.
I was unaware of this anger until this morning. Another student in my class mentioned that she spends every day, several hours a day, studying TOEIC. I receive this answer from so many of my students here in South Korea. TOEIC TOEIC TOEIC. An enormous amount of time, energy and money are spent studying for a particular TOEIC score. My students are being channeled into master test takers, not mastering English.
My anger emerged because this particular student who has just returned from a year in New Zealand, who speaks like a near-native speaker, is spending her time studying for a particular grade. She is a university student who is not allowed to see her friends during the week because her mother demands that she study. Her situation is not unusual.
My heart screamed to hear her tell her story. I am getting overwhelmed by my students and friends here in Korea. They are intelligent, hard-working, creative, curious, and kind. Every day I witness electrical engineers who speak English well, and perhaps speak Chinese also, focus their time, money and energy on tests like the TOEIC, simply so they can get a job interview. I gave a presentation last September for Gwangju International Center (GIC) on Korean Unemployment. Why there are not more social problems here demonstrates a lot about the integrity of the Korean spirit.
More and more I wonder about who I am and if I am following the right path. I love teaching. It is my calling. But should I stay in Korea? Am I not just part of the problem? Am I helping or hurting my students by my sheer presence here in Korea? Should I be a teacher or a politician? How do I best help them while being myself?
I really like this blogging thing. It documents my feelings and my projects. Things that are intricately woven into my life process and goal.
Thankful for dogs, opportunities and anger,
Maria
There are some lovely opportunities emerging for me. Yesterday I went to a meeting with a colleague in my department and a student organizer from Korea University Broadcasting System (KUBS). The organizer would like us to put on a weekly radio show for the KNU student body. It would be broadcast over the loudspeaker system. My colleague, Phil, has tons of ideas about putting a show together. I have lots of ideas about doing pre & post listening activities through online materials that would include MP3 files of our shows. We have another meeting next week. Yesterday was very much a brainstorming meeting. There is not enough information about the reality of this project coming to fruition. Phil and I expressed our enthusiasm. Who knows what will happen next?
This morning, Phil had to cancel our debriefing meeting regarding my participation in the Thai TESOL Conference. Phil, in addition to being a colleague in my department, is also the International Affairs Committee Chair for KOTESOL. He needs to go to Jeonju to meet Allison for a planning meeting for the KOTESOL North Jeolla Spring Conference. I told him to let Allison know that I would be happy to create and maintain the North Jeolla Conference website for them. Their conference is March 19, not March 26.
Another opportunity emerged this morning in class. One of my students takes her daughter to the library everyday. I asked if the library offered programs for children, like Story Time or Dinosaurs. She said they didn't offer any programs like that. I shared with her and the class the work my hometown public library does in Michigan City. My student mentioned that the library wanted to offer programs like that. I asked her to introduce me to the appropriate person at the library as I could volunteer one afternoon a week during the month of February. She was most excited about this. After class she and I talked about me reading a story book to the children. She is a violin teacher and will plan some music for the lesson. We will add some coloring activities and song chants based on the story. We thought 30 minutes with 10 kids. I hope this happens.
These opportunities are important to me because they make English accessible to a wide audience in Korea in a fun way. This winter I have traveled to Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. I have listened to many lectures on EFL and chatted with colleagues from around the world. More and more, when I return home to Korea, I am angry and stressed regarding the education process my students are bound within and I question my role as a teacher in this, Korean, context.
I was unaware of this anger until this morning. Another student in my class mentioned that she spends every day, several hours a day, studying TOEIC. I receive this answer from so many of my students here in South Korea. TOEIC TOEIC TOEIC. An enormous amount of time, energy and money are spent studying for a particular TOEIC score. My students are being channeled into master test takers, not mastering English.
My anger emerged because this particular student who has just returned from a year in New Zealand, who speaks like a near-native speaker, is spending her time studying for a particular grade. She is a university student who is not allowed to see her friends during the week because her mother demands that she study. Her situation is not unusual.
My heart screamed to hear her tell her story. I am getting overwhelmed by my students and friends here in Korea. They are intelligent, hard-working, creative, curious, and kind. Every day I witness electrical engineers who speak English well, and perhaps speak Chinese also, focus their time, money and energy on tests like the TOEIC, simply so they can get a job interview. I gave a presentation last September for Gwangju International Center (GIC) on Korean Unemployment. Why there are not more social problems here demonstrates a lot about the integrity of the Korean spirit.
More and more I wonder about who I am and if I am following the right path. I love teaching. It is my calling. But should I stay in Korea? Am I not just part of the problem? Am I helping or hurting my students by my sheer presence here in Korea? Should I be a teacher or a politician? How do I best help them while being myself?
I really like this blogging thing. It documents my feelings and my projects. Things that are intricately woven into my life process and goal.
Thankful for dogs, opportunities and anger,
Maria
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Let's Get It Started - In HERE
Anyonghasaeyo!!!!!!!!! Hello from Kunsan, South Korea!
I have started this blog as part of a web course, Webpresence, through TESOL. I'm a little behind in participating in this course as I am on vacation and I am lazy. Plus I was in Thailand visiting an old student as well as attending the 2005 Thai TESOL Conference and the TESOL Symposium on Leadership.
I look forward to the opportunity to better serve my university and local community by a stimulating a stronger virtual community for them. Blogging is new for me and I hope to use it for my classes and other community volunteer work.
Ideas. Ideas. Ideas. I have hundreds of ideas. My students and my colleagues in KOTESOL have thousands of ideas. I have taken this course to help me help them. I have bits of knowledge, but I want a fast track way to disseminate empowering technological tools to my colleagues in my chapter of KOTESOL. I'm looking for step by step materials to move technophobic colleagues out of their fear of the medium. I am also looking for motivational techniques to encourage my students to learn independently through technological tools.
The amount of info in my daily life, my creativity, and the limited numbers of hours in a day cooks up a fear and stress in me that sometimes paralyzes me into distracting myself through my multitude of procrastination techniques. I hope blogging helps ease some of my fear and stress by interactively journaling my daily path into the cool work projects that emerge in my life.
I joined the Webpresence online group:
-To prioritize my projects and ideas through better documentation by using blogs.
- To organize materials for easier user accessibility by hearing of the shared real-life experience of Webpresence participants.
- To warehouse materials, ideas, resources (human and material) efficiently and effectively by testing different mixes of technological mediums.
I hope:
- To make a short list of technological recommendations available to my network of students and colleagues based on tasks that they want to accomplish.
- To help promote my community's creativity by teaching them time-efficient technological processes and systems.
- To free up their time so they can focus on content instead of medium. In short, I hope to help my students and colleagues use technology to communicate better, build better lessons, and make their talents and personalities more visible virtually for a wider international community to enjoy.
Here's to life and experience. May the adventure begin.
Maria
I have started this blog as part of a web course, Webpresence, through TESOL. I'm a little behind in participating in this course as I am on vacation and I am lazy. Plus I was in Thailand visiting an old student as well as attending the 2005 Thai TESOL Conference and the TESOL Symposium on Leadership.
I look forward to the opportunity to better serve my university and local community by a stimulating a stronger virtual community for them. Blogging is new for me and I hope to use it for my classes and other community volunteer work.
Ideas. Ideas. Ideas. I have hundreds of ideas. My students and my colleagues in KOTESOL have thousands of ideas. I have taken this course to help me help them. I have bits of knowledge, but I want a fast track way to disseminate empowering technological tools to my colleagues in my chapter of KOTESOL. I'm looking for step by step materials to move technophobic colleagues out of their fear of the medium. I am also looking for motivational techniques to encourage my students to learn independently through technological tools.
The amount of info in my daily life, my creativity, and the limited numbers of hours in a day cooks up a fear and stress in me that sometimes paralyzes me into distracting myself through my multitude of procrastination techniques. I hope blogging helps ease some of my fear and stress by interactively journaling my daily path into the cool work projects that emerge in my life.
I joined the Webpresence online group:
-To prioritize my projects and ideas through better documentation by using blogs.
- To organize materials for easier user accessibility by hearing of the shared real-life experience of Webpresence participants.
- To warehouse materials, ideas, resources (human and material) efficiently and effectively by testing different mixes of technological mediums.
I hope:
- To make a short list of technological recommendations available to my network of students and colleagues based on tasks that they want to accomplish.
- To help promote my community's creativity by teaching them time-efficient technological processes and systems.
- To free up their time so they can focus on content instead of medium. In short, I hope to help my students and colleagues use technology to communicate better, build better lessons, and make their talents and personalities more visible virtually for a wider international community to enjoy.
Here's to life and experience. May the adventure begin.
Maria
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