Wow, I need to whip out my camera and take some photos - it is sooo beautiful outside! After all the recent storms, wind, hail, coldness, power outages all this sunshine feels fantastic!
The week is flying by - a blur of textbooks, photocopies, classrooms, sandwiches, mountain views, buses, newspapers, and students' bright faces :) Seriously though, I can't believe how quickly time goes by these days! Perhaps I need to do some grounding exercises :)
Today at lunch time one of the teachers was telling us about a class he used to teach called the Book Club class. He would choose a simple novel (like a Roald Dahl book, or other children's books such as Charlotte's Web, Anne of Green Gables, etc.) and each student would be assigned a character. So everyday they would read the book aloud, with every single student playing one of the parts. That sounds like my dream class! Teaching + reading + acting + children's literature = oodles of fun! I hope one day I get to teach a class like that :) Well, at this point I'm just hoping I'll be given the chance to keep teaching for a long time :)
Today I also learned something interesting from my Korean students - April 14 is Black Day in South Korea. Traditionally, people who are single (as in they have not found their other half just yet :) ) eat noodles with black bean sauce on this day and it's kind of sad. On Wikipedia it says that single people get together and celebrate their singledom, but my students made it sound like a less-than-happy event. It sounds like everyone wants to get married :)
Do people in North America celebrate their singledom? I think for the most part people prefer not to be single, but we do have a lot of individual freedom and it's okay to be single as well. Although men are seen as attractive bachelors while women quickly become old maids. Anywho, time for me to eat a nice, juicy orange :)
Cheerio!
The Book Club class sounds like a blast! Those were my favorite kinds of classes when I was little because I liked acting out all the parts. I'm sure you'll get to teach your own Book Club classes because it seems like you'll be teaching for a long time :)
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of Black Day, but it sounds so sad! I suppose with the greater emphasis on family in many Asian countries, getting married is the ultimate goal for many people. I agree that here in NA we are much more comfortable with being single than other countries. I also agree with the idea that older bachelors are more accepted, even admired! while spinsters are looked on with pity. Hopefully that will change!
Have a wonderful rest of your week :)
Hooray for Book Club! It's all about bringing language to life :)
ReplyDeleteBlack Day sounds very sad indeed! Yesterday I asked the students to make plans for the weekend using local newspapers, and one group presented a wine festival and talked about how you might meet your partner/soul mate there - it seems like that's always an important concept that they gravitate towards! It's very interesting to learn about other cultures :)
Enjoy your weekend!