Not too long a wait...

Hello all,



Everything in Seoul is pretty much the same. Our new classes are working out just fine, and I have actually enjoyed the change of scenery. My new classes are quite a bit less experienced so I find most of my time going over things like "Tom and Ann sat on a hat". With my old preschool classes I could have discussions and debates about the hidden meanings of more complex stories...now my stories don't have any words over three letters. Oh well, the new kids are cute, and are much better behaved than my last class.

My second new preschool class is a bit of a challenge. There are a couple of kids in the class that are complete train wrecks. One student named Steve (I taught his older sister in my old class) puts everything you give him in his mouth, another student named Helen cries at the drop of a hat, and the other named Phillip, doesn't listen to a word I say, and when he does want to answer, he doesn't raise his hand...instead he shouts at the top of his lungs..."PHILLIP...PHILLIP!" This boy will drive me to drink.



Correne kept one of her classes that she had last semester, and her new Homeroom class is pretty good. They were at SLP before, and now they are the smartest class in school. She is having some of the same problems that I had with my old class. They always talk over each other, and get really upset when they lose. So far they have responded to her really well, but sometimes the curriculum they have is too tough.



Her other class is only 5 students, but it is more like 10 if you count the demanding mothers. These kids are nowhere near the level they are being taught...but because the mothers wanted their kids to be doing the same books as the smart kids...the school had no choice. So Correne spends most of her day reading a book that is too hard, asking questions that are too hard, and writing in a Practice Book that the kids can't understand. Obviously she is frustrated.



On a more leisurely note...Correne and I have discovered the addictive time waster World of Warcraft. For those of you who d not know of what I speak. World of Warcraft or WoW as we will now call it, is an online video game set the land of fantasy (no how can you resist). It is so indepth and so much fun that we have to share the computer or it may lead to a divorce. So sometimes work isn't all bad if you have something to look forward to when you get home (uhh, other than the pleasurable company of my wife). You know what I mean.



Well, I'm afraid that's it for now. Drop us a line and let us know what is up with all of you who read this. Cheers.





Paul



PS. Here's a look out of our apartment window (the air looks cleaner than it really is)

Preschool Graduation

Well this is probably the biggest news (and headache) we've had in the past few months. Last week our kids graduated from preschool. Unfortunately all the prep work required for this fiasco was not nearly as easy as writing the previous sentence.

For the past two months we have been practicing the graduation plays with our classes. This includes songs, choreography, hand actions, gently reminding the kids that their parents don't want to stare at their bums when they talk etc. etc. I'm assuming you get my drift. On top of all that we needed to first write the plays, in some cases write the songs, teach them all of this, make props and still cover all of the curriculum. In addition to this worry we still needed to prepare for the new preschool classes that were coming TWO DAYS after grad!! Oie Oie Oie.

If I ever hear the words "Teacher have you made my bow and arrow?" again from James I might just lose it!! The kids did not understand the concept of "Teacher doesn't have time sweety!!"

Luckily for us graduation went without a hitch... well mostly.

First the youngsters went. Even though Quality class (one of my classes) was not graduating they still had to put on a play. They performed the Ant and the Cricket. They were extremely cute, but it was a disaster. Richard forgot all of his lines (he's the one on the far left) which didn't suprise me because he usually has a vacant expression on his face during class so I don't think anything ever sinks in. Doyoung had some technical difficulties with his microphone (he's the one sitting down), plus he couldn't keep a straight face when he was supposed to be dead! By the end they cut the music short because it went so long.! Totally embarrassing! I think Becca and I were more upset than the kids. They were very "whatever" about the whole thing!

Paul had two graduating classes (Diligence and Belief) and I had one (Hope). All three of their plays went great!!

Hope class went first and I was so proud of them. They performed If a Tree Could Talk What Would It Say? (Is anyone reading this suprised that I picked that play??) Everyone remembered their lines, they were smiling, moving their hands, their songs were great (especially Reduce, Reuse, Recycle... it was a big hit) and they didn't talk with their backside to their parents. A teacher could not have asked for a better performance!

Next went Diligence class (Paul's homeroom). They also did a fantastic job. Paul's play was The Ugly Woodpecker, a spin on The Ugly Duckling. Everyone in the class has a great time doing the play, especially when they performed Hit the Road Jack! A couple of the kids forgot that their mics were on the whole time and decided to hold side conversations... but luckily it got a good laugh from the audience. Unfortunately we don't have a picture of them on stage because my kids went right before Paul's and I was occupied changing my kids into their graduation gowns.

The last play out of our kids was from Belief class (Paul's second class). They did The Nightingale and the Rose. They also did a great job! Their songs were fantastic and all the girls were excited about their big beautiful dresses. Sabrina caused some laughter because she kept speaking everyone else's lines under her breath not realising her microphone was on! Charlie (the guy in the shiney purple pants!) was supposed to be "the handsome young man", but he looked more like a matador. It was awesome!

To be honest most of the costumes were not suited to the roles they were playing but the kids were content to be wearing something fun that didn't belong to them!

Well that's graduation in a nutshell. It was a long, tiring, fun day, but we got through it and we're glad that we were apart of it.

No... We're not dead...

Okay, okay, okay... I know its been a while, but to be honest we weren't even sure anyone still read this. After some gentle nudges via email from our friends we have realised that we really are neglecting our blog! In other words... WE SUCK!

We'll do better in the future... i.e. Paul will stop writing blogs (just kidding honey I still love you).

Its safe to say that we aren't going to write anything more about our China trip. That boat has clearly sailed. If you want to know more details just drop us an email and we can gladly fill you in. Also, we did post all the pictures on our photo album so please check those out.

So what's new with us you ask? Well... not much. We do the same thing pretty much everyday, hence the lack of blog entries. The most exciting news would be preschool graduation which will be covered in its own post (which will be done right after this!)

Thank you to everyone who still reads this. We appreciate that you are still interested in our mundane quasi-Korean lives.