I am at work, but I don't have much to do yet... It's difficult being at work and not having much to do. I ask if I can help with anything but I am told that all is fine. I think that it's easier for them to just do whatever it is that they are doing instead of having to explain to me, in English, what I could help with. I do have a small project on my plate, but one that is easily managed within a few hours and a trip to a craft store. On February 23rd, we are having what is called a "demonstration class". This class is not a class in which we demonstrate or give a preview to what the class will be like, but in actuality is a class to get the children excited about coming to school! When children are young, it has been my experience, that children really enjoy going to school (I have only met a couple of kids who at the age of 7 didn't really enjoy going to school). For one of my demonstration classes I am going to read Where the Wild Things Are? and have the children create their own "wild thing" while I am reading. Of course I only have 30 minutes to read the story and wrap it up; so as to avoid confusion, my Korean partner Lindsay will be explaining to the children, at the beginning, that they are to decorate their paper bags and use their imaginations! Unfortunately I cannot use this same theme for my other class, even though it's a completely separate class, and have to come up with another 30 minute lesson. This isn't a hard assignment to complete, however, when you're in a foreign country, unaware of where to find certain materials and attempting to engage children in a language other than their own, even the easiest lessons concepts seem a little perplexing. I'm looking forward to the challenge and hoping I don't come across as redundant and boring. My first class is still, nearly, 3 weeks away and I'm the only English teacher here. Although I have been told that they will be hiring a 6th teacher and as I type, the director of the school, Helen, is interviewing another Korean teacher. That doesn't necessarily help me at all, as he is a Korean teacher. For the most part my worries and anxieties are those that won't subside until the day we start teaching.
On a completely different note, I didn't bring any electricity outlet converters (I thought that I could get them here) I found some here, but they don't quite work as well as I thought they would. Apparently instead of converting from 110 to 220? the converters I found convert from 110 to 240? so there's a small risk and maybe even a good chance that I could fry whatever I have plugged in and maybe even set a small fire; all because I needed to plug in my gameboy DS. If CNN is reporting a power outage and city burning outside of Seoul be rest assured that it was me desperate to charge and play brain games on my DS. I'm just kidding of course, so now I'm in search, once again, for electricity converter thingys so I can plug in the rest of my gadgets-that's this weekends adventure.