Korean Job Discussion Forums

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

It's been cold here, eh. Our school is only heated by these crappy "Fisher-Price Baby's First Electric Heater" jobbers. Which, I should note, are mounted on the top portion of the wall because heat doesn't rise. Does it?

So anyway, this one class was particularly cold. The boys hogged the desks under the heater and the lone girl, Christina was left shivering on the other side of the classroom. Now the solution in my eyes was for Christina to move closer to the heater. But this would defy the Laws of Korean Child Physics that state:

1) children of the same sex cluster close together

2) these clusters occupy points in space/time furthest from clusters of the opposite sex.

It was physically impossible for Christina to move closer to the boys. Like, forget maglev. Just strap a Korean girl on the underside of a train and line the tracks with Korean boys and you'd get rapid, frictionless movement.

Anyway, I grabbed my pair of little black stretchy gloves from my office and gave them to her for the duration of the class.

McNasty · Joined: 04 Jul 2003

I know the feeling of teaching in a freezer. Shocked

I have those old radiator style heaters in my school that are not turned on until the temperatures are well into what is considered winter here.
So instead of just freezing in class I brought my own heater from home.
It works great and now the other teachers come into my classroom to unthaw. Wink

Heater cost: 30,000 won
Cost of comfort: priceless Laughing

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

McNasty · Joined: 04 Jul 2003

mindmetoo wrote:

tomato · Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 1:49 pm Post subject:

Hello, Mindmetoo!

I thought maybe girls were concerned that a boy's testosterone would drip off onto her and change her into a boy, and that boys were concerned that a girl's estrogen would drip off onto him and change him into a girl.

hojucandy · Joined: 03 Feb 2003 Location: In a better place

funplanet · Joined: 20 Jun 2003 Location: The new Bucheon!

sounds like you guys work with some cheap skates...geeze.....our place is always toasty in the winter and nice an cool in the summer

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

Doing something yourself in front of the boss seems to embarrass him into fixing something at my hagwon - like bringing in bathroom cleaner and washing the old, stained whiteboards finally convinced him to replace them. If I can get a screwdriver I'm going to make a point of trying to fix a certain classroom's door handle in front of him. Maybe getting your own heater and bringing it with you from class to class would give them a hint.

schwa · Joined: 18 Jan 2003 Location: Yap

Be careful what cleaning agents you use on a whiteboard. They seem to have some kind of coating & once that's compromised theyre basically useless.

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

tomato · Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 2:06 am Post subject:

To play this game, the children join hands while you join hands with one child.
While you repeatedly sing the song, the child at the other end walks around you and you stand still.
Finally, this results in a tight coil which makes the children giggle, giggle, giggle.

You have to play this game twice, though--once for the boys and once for the girls.

This song is sung while joining hands in a circle and rotating.
The second stanza goes:

Dear Larry, dear Larry, your true love is dead,
The king wrote a letter to turn back your head.

Larry drops hands, turns facing out, and joins hands again.
Sing a stanza for each child in the circle.

You have to play this game twice, though--once for the boys and once for the girls.

kangnamdragon · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Location: Kangnam, Seoul, Korea

When I first came to Korea we huddled around a furnace and shovelled coal into it.

peppermint · Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 7:23 am Post subject:

Cause it's winter vacation and I'm pretty much the only teacher at my school, I've gotta turn on the electricity and the heater when I come to school. Not a big chore really but it means coming in a half hour early so the classroom is habitable by the time the kids get there.

BTW, I bet the laws of Korean kid physics are dependent on the ratio of girls to boys. I've got two boys and five girls in my winter camp and the boys are a little standoffish, but the lure of Twister cured them of that. Laughing

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

peppermint · Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 4:09 pm Post subject:

Twister- think g-rated.( no baby oil, vodka or jello)

I made mine, cause I figured the circles would be too far appart for the little ones. I cut the circles from construction papaer, then laminated them and taped them onto the floor, pretty close together. Instead of a spinner, I made flash cards for right foot/left foot, and right hand/ left hand for each color.

I think the kids mostly know right from left now, and they had fun, so all is good.