Although this past Thursday, the last Thursday of every November, is the day that America celebrates Thanksgiving, I've learned that it is not always celebrated on the same day, like I once assumed. Canadians and Koreans both celebrate the holiday in October. Therefore, I felt like the holiday was already passed when it arrived. It was strange too, because since I live in the future now, I celebrated Thanksgiving the day BEFORE all my friends and family back in Chicago celebrated.
My students all "wowwwwwww"ed at the fact that while my family was eating their huge turkey and mashed potatoes Thanksgiving dinner at 4pm on Thursday last week, I was eating cereal for breakfast at 7am here in Korea and talking/seeing them through the internet. It was so nice to see my grandparents, brothers and parents! I miss them!
I had a great Thanksgiving lesson last week at school. It was the kind of lesson that you think will be a great idea, but you're just not sure if it will end up working with your ESL students. Well, I was very impressed with my students and proud of the success of the lesson, even after the 19th time of giving it once friday rolled around. For the lesson, I first had my students guess what day of the week the holiday was on. It is interesting to know (even for me) that, unlike many holidays celebrated in the US, it is not on a specific date on the calendar, but instead on the same day each year. Why is this?? Does anyone know?
Well, anyways, I then had a cute Thanksgiving cartoon on my title page of my powerpoint (I have it posted above so you can understand the meaning). I ended up using this as a introduction, since it brought in the idea of turkeys, what people eat on Thanksgiving, who are the pilgrims (which my co-teacher explained and summed up very quickly in Korean b/c some of them already learned about it in elementary school), and it brings up the idea of a "feast". So I had my students guess what we eat for Thanksgiving. All of them knew about turkeys and some knew about pumpkin pie, but then I had to explain mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, corn, etc. My kids are so funny...because of course, they guess that we eat rice...something they eat at every single meal! They even seemed sad that we don't eat that as part of the feast. When I explained that "feast" is a huge meal, usually referring to the big turkey we all divide up at Thanksgiving dinner, they understood the joke of the pilgrim and turkey switching roles and the turkey being smart b/c he was having a true "feast" or HUGE dinner of human, instead of a small turkey. Some of my kids laughed. :)
Next, I added in about the importance of being thankful on Thankgiving and explained that it is usually a tradition in America to go around the dinner table before eating the feast, and say something you personally are thankful for. I played a video clip that I found on youtube that shows in pictures and words the many things that people are thankful for. The students were given a worksheet that I made. It had all of the lines from the video of the things people appreicate. They were actually all very inspirational and touching and because of the sweet music, it made the video even more meaningful.
While they watched the video, the students had to pay close attention to the words from the video and fill in the blank. I gave them a word bank at the bottom of the sheet to help them. I also played the video twice since it went pretty fast and it is difficult for students to read on the screen and then read the same line on their paper. I loved this lesson because at first, the students acted a little frustrated because they think they cannot do the worksheet because of how fast the video goes. However, after watching it twice, helping one another, and using the words at the bottom, almost all the students had completed the worksheet. I then read the lines aloud and had the students as a class tell me the words that go in the blank. If my students could tell me all the words correctly, they receive 3 class points (which goes towards a free TV Show Day after their finals for good behavior, participation, etc.) Along with the class points, then my students can play a fun Typhoon game.
This game is so exciting for the students (and for me as well!). You pretty much can use any information that you teach your students and then it is just a big competition for them. They are in groups (we had 4 big groups) and the team has to answer the question correctly (all of my questions were quizzing them about filling in the blank with the lines they had just learned about things to be thankful for, plus you have to remember to tell them to put away their papers...I almost forgot this important part a few times...and this is just one reason I am so thankful for my co-teacher! :) ). If the team gets the answer right, then they can earn one, two, three, or four points, depending on what point comes up on the screen. However, if there is a typhoon (or a picture of a man holding onto a tree and being blown away, the team loses all of their points. If there is a picture of the tornado (and all of these pictures are animated which makes it even more exciting), then the team can tell another team that they lose all of their points. And if there is a picture of a man stealing money, then the team can steal another teams' points. I would recommend this lesson to any of you teachers out there, because it's a fun and exciting way to quiz your students plus they get so competitive and are more willing to participate. Along with the inspirational lines from the video, one quesion that teams could land on was to tell me 5 things they are thankful for. Students also liked this question and had to answer differently each time, so they ended up being very creative and sometimes very funny with their answers! For example, they are thankful for policemen, for the soil and their country, and for the air they breath, while some answers included that they are thankful for their computer games, pocketmoney, and for their beautiful face and makeup. hehe
I learned a lot about my students in this lesson. I learned to trust my instinct when challenging them, because it is a wonderful feeling both for the students and for the teacher when the students end up accomplishing something that first seemed impossible for them. I also learned what my students already knew about the US Thanksgiving holiday, the things they are thankful for, new vocabulary that they used that I did not know they had already learned, and I also learned that some of my boys know the exact time difference from Korea to USA. My co-teacher told me this was because some of the boys follow sports' games in America, so watch the baseball and soccer games at certain US times.
Besides being able to see my family on skype this week and having a successful teaching lesson at school, I also had a fantastic week because of great food and great people! On the actual Thanksgiving day, Keith and I went to this delicious Mexican restaurant, Zapatos, near our apartment in city hall (the downtown area about 20 minute walk from our apartment). We randomly saw 4 of our friends there so ended up all having dinner together. I also saw 5 English teachers from my school who were celebrating a birthday so they sent some delicious cake over to our table. Also, another 2 of our friends randomly came to the restaurant a little bit later. The whole restaurant was filled with people Keith and I knew...this is the great part about living on an island. You always bump into people you know; however, the island is also big enough that you are always meeting new people. The toasted shrimp/fajita burrito and maragarita that I ordered was like heaven.
Then on Saturday, Keith and I ate some more delicious food. We went with a group of about 8 friends to this new Indian restaurant, Rajmahall, in the next city over, ShinJeju. Another amazing meal....Chicken curry, spinach dip with lots of garlic nun, and Indian spice chai tea! :) We then all went to have chocolate cookies and this pure hot cocoa/chocolate drink at Chocolat Cafe (a coffee/chocolate shop). DELICIOUS. This is a cute little coffee house that has little displays of chocolate houses and village set up, along with colorful Christmas trees, and neat lighting and other decorations. After hanging out there for a while and having good conversation with these new amazing friends we've met here, we all met a a popular bar we go to in City Hall...Island Stone. This is the bar that has the fun bartenders who put on a show with tossing bottles into the air and lighting fires. We celebrated our friend's (Claire) going away party. She just got engaged and is going home to start an exciting life with him. The night was so much fun and the bar was filled with almost everyone that we knew. About 40-50 people all met up and it really felt like my old favorite bar at ISU, The Pub....where you go in and keep bumping into everyone that you know! Like the show, Cheers.
The next day, Keith and I got up pretty early to meet a few of our friends, Nate and Sean, to go to the final horseraces at the horsetracks. This was my very first time going to the tracks (haven't even been to them back in the states) so it was pretty exciting. Since we're foreigners, they make it a little special. We all were invited to sit inside this private room a few floors up to watch the races. There, we are served complimentary coffee and tea while we make our bets and relax with lots of room around us and in big, comfortable chairs. There is food and snacks that you can buy as well. We shared the room with many Japanese visitors...I learned they love to bet and are known to win big (because they put down a lot of money on their bets) Unfortunately, the Koreans also love to bet and since they are not allowed to gamble in Korea, they go crazy at the horseraces. They do not have a private room either, so on two different floors, and outside in the stands, so many Koreans are all squished together, shoulder-to-shoulder and yelling and watching the screen to find out the final results. Since it was my first time, I only bet a little bit and spent most of my time being entertained by the rules of betting and watching and hearing the excitment of the crowd and the noise getting louder and louder as the horses got closer to the end of the race. Keith ended up winning $40 (40,000 won), but with losing some too he ended up gaining only $10. Sean and Nate won and lost a little and so came out even. However, Nate was sooo close to winning $4,000!! He was off by one number! And Keith was so sad b/c we had all rushed on that last bet to go outside to watch the final race so Keith did not have time to bet on that horse, but it was such a high odd that he would and most definitely should have betted on it. Oh well, it was a fun experience and so funny to see the little Korean horses that they use in the races (they looked like tiny ponies and some looked like donkeys!).
After the races, we headed to our friend, Daphne's apartment, where about 40 people ended up meeting and squeezing together in this little room to eat our HUGE Thanksgiving feast. Everyone brought a dish so there was tons of food. Keith and I brought a few bottles of wine. There was one small turkey which we all shared (it cost $70!!! because they're so rare to find here!), and tons of mashed potatoes, salad, fruits, veggies, rolls, stuffing, cheese and crackers, cranberry sauce, and lots and lots of dessert....pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie (which looked very green b/c of the sweet potatoes here:), apple crisp (yum, my favorite!), cookies, pecan pie, etc.
SO MUCH FOOD THIS WEEKEND! lol It was a great Thanksgiving feast. And the best part was the amazing people we were able to spend it with. Although we've only been here on Jeju island for 3 months, the huge group of friends we've made has all become so close, like family. People from Seogwipo, which is an hour away from us,in the southern part of the island, were all troopers to make it up to the north where we celebrated the holiday (even after a LOOOOONg night out drinking...some stayed out til 5am). We are always making the effort to get together and spend time getting to know one another. It really makes you appreciate the friends you have, especially when you don't have your family and friends from home close.
This Thanksgiving, I am truly thankful for all the wonderful people we have met here in Korea that now live with us on Jeju. They are each so unique and bring so many qualities to our group of friends here. I feel like I still have so much to learn about them and to hear their stories and learn from their experiences. Life is great:)
Hope you all had an amazing week and Thanksgiving holiday as well! Keep in touch and cheers!
My students all "wowwwwwww"ed at the fact that while my family was eating their huge turkey and mashed potatoes Thanksgiving dinner at 4pm on Thursday last week, I was eating cereal for breakfast at 7am here in Korea and talking/seeing them through the internet. It was so nice to see my grandparents, brothers and parents! I miss them!
I had a great Thanksgiving lesson last week at school. It was the kind of lesson that you think will be a great idea, but you're just not sure if it will end up working with your ESL students. Well, I was very impressed with my students and proud of the success of the lesson, even after the 19th time of giving it once friday rolled around. For the lesson, I first had my students guess what day of the week the holiday was on. It is interesting to know (even for me) that, unlike many holidays celebrated in the US, it is not on a specific date on the calendar, but instead on the same day each year. Why is this?? Does anyone know?
Well, anyways, I then had a cute Thanksgiving cartoon on my title page of my powerpoint (I have it posted above so you can understand the meaning). I ended up using this as a introduction, since it brought in the idea of turkeys, what people eat on Thanksgiving, who are the pilgrims (which my co-teacher explained and summed up very quickly in Korean b/c some of them already learned about it in elementary school), and it brings up the idea of a "feast". So I had my students guess what we eat for Thanksgiving. All of them knew about turkeys and some knew about pumpkin pie, but then I had to explain mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, corn, etc. My kids are so funny...because of course, they guess that we eat rice...something they eat at every single meal! They even seemed sad that we don't eat that as part of the feast. When I explained that "feast" is a huge meal, usually referring to the big turkey we all divide up at Thanksgiving dinner, they understood the joke of the pilgrim and turkey switching roles and the turkey being smart b/c he was having a true "feast" or HUGE dinner of human, instead of a small turkey. Some of my kids laughed. :)
Next, I added in about the importance of being thankful on Thankgiving and explained that it is usually a tradition in America to go around the dinner table before eating the feast, and say something you personally are thankful for. I played a video clip that I found on youtube that shows in pictures and words the many things that people are thankful for. The students were given a worksheet that I made. It had all of the lines from the video of the things people appreicate. They were actually all very inspirational and touching and because of the sweet music, it made the video even more meaningful.
While they watched the video, the students had to pay close attention to the words from the video and fill in the blank. I gave them a word bank at the bottom of the sheet to help them. I also played the video twice since it went pretty fast and it is difficult for students to read on the screen and then read the same line on their paper. I loved this lesson because at first, the students acted a little frustrated because they think they cannot do the worksheet because of how fast the video goes. However, after watching it twice, helping one another, and using the words at the bottom, almost all the students had completed the worksheet. I then read the lines aloud and had the students as a class tell me the words that go in the blank. If my students could tell me all the words correctly, they receive 3 class points (which goes towards a free TV Show Day after their finals for good behavior, participation, etc.) Along with the class points, then my students can play a fun Typhoon game.
This game is so exciting for the students (and for me as well!). You pretty much can use any information that you teach your students and then it is just a big competition for them. They are in groups (we had 4 big groups) and the team has to answer the question correctly (all of my questions were quizzing them about filling in the blank with the lines they had just learned about things to be thankful for, plus you have to remember to tell them to put away their papers...I almost forgot this important part a few times...and this is just one reason I am so thankful for my co-teacher! :) ). If the team gets the answer right, then they can earn one, two, three, or four points, depending on what point comes up on the screen. However, if there is a typhoon (or a picture of a man holding onto a tree and being blown away, the team loses all of their points. If there is a picture of the tornado (and all of these pictures are animated which makes it even more exciting), then the team can tell another team that they lose all of their points. And if there is a picture of a man stealing money, then the team can steal another teams' points. I would recommend this lesson to any of you teachers out there, because it's a fun and exciting way to quiz your students plus they get so competitive and are more willing to participate. Along with the inspirational lines from the video, one quesion that teams could land on was to tell me 5 things they are thankful for. Students also liked this question and had to answer differently each time, so they ended up being very creative and sometimes very funny with their answers! For example, they are thankful for policemen, for the soil and their country, and for the air they breath, while some answers included that they are thankful for their computer games, pocketmoney, and for their beautiful face and makeup. hehe
I learned a lot about my students in this lesson. I learned to trust my instinct when challenging them, because it is a wonderful feeling both for the students and for the teacher when the students end up accomplishing something that first seemed impossible for them. I also learned what my students already knew about the US Thanksgiving holiday, the things they are thankful for, new vocabulary that they used that I did not know they had already learned, and I also learned that some of my boys know the exact time difference from Korea to USA. My co-teacher told me this was because some of the boys follow sports' games in America, so watch the baseball and soccer games at certain US times.
Besides being able to see my family on skype this week and having a successful teaching lesson at school, I also had a fantastic week because of great food and great people! On the actual Thanksgiving day, Keith and I went to this delicious Mexican restaurant, Zapatos, near our apartment in city hall (the downtown area about 20 minute walk from our apartment). We randomly saw 4 of our friends there so ended up all having dinner together. I also saw 5 English teachers from my school who were celebrating a birthday so they sent some delicious cake over to our table. Also, another 2 of our friends randomly came to the restaurant a little bit later. The whole restaurant was filled with people Keith and I knew...this is the great part about living on an island. You always bump into people you know; however, the island is also big enough that you are always meeting new people. The toasted shrimp/fajita burrito and maragarita that I ordered was like heaven.
Then on Saturday, Keith and I ate some more delicious food. We went with a group of about 8 friends to this new Indian restaurant, Rajmahall, in the next city over, ShinJeju. Another amazing meal....Chicken curry, spinach dip with lots of garlic nun, and Indian spice chai tea! :) We then all went to have chocolate cookies and this pure hot cocoa/chocolate drink at Chocolat Cafe (a coffee/chocolate shop). DELICIOUS. This is a cute little coffee house that has little displays of chocolate houses and village set up, along with colorful Christmas trees, and neat lighting and other decorations. After hanging out there for a while and having good conversation with these new amazing friends we've met here, we all met a a popular bar we go to in City Hall...Island Stone. This is the bar that has the fun bartenders who put on a show with tossing bottles into the air and lighting fires. We celebrated our friend's (Claire) going away party. She just got engaged and is going home to start an exciting life with him. The night was so much fun and the bar was filled with almost everyone that we knew. About 40-50 people all met up and it really felt like my old favorite bar at ISU, The Pub....where you go in and keep bumping into everyone that you know! Like the show, Cheers.
The next day, Keith and I got up pretty early to meet a few of our friends, Nate and Sean, to go to the final horseraces at the horsetracks. This was my very first time going to the tracks (haven't even been to them back in the states) so it was pretty exciting. Since we're foreigners, they make it a little special. We all were invited to sit inside this private room a few floors up to watch the races. There, we are served complimentary coffee and tea while we make our bets and relax with lots of room around us and in big, comfortable chairs. There is food and snacks that you can buy as well. We shared the room with many Japanese visitors...I learned they love to bet and are known to win big (because they put down a lot of money on their bets) Unfortunately, the Koreans also love to bet and since they are not allowed to gamble in Korea, they go crazy at the horseraces. They do not have a private room either, so on two different floors, and outside in the stands, so many Koreans are all squished together, shoulder-to-shoulder and yelling and watching the screen to find out the final results. Since it was my first time, I only bet a little bit and spent most of my time being entertained by the rules of betting and watching and hearing the excitment of the crowd and the noise getting louder and louder as the horses got closer to the end of the race. Keith ended up winning $40 (40,000 won), but with losing some too he ended up gaining only $10. Sean and Nate won and lost a little and so came out even. However, Nate was sooo close to winning $4,000!! He was off by one number! And Keith was so sad b/c we had all rushed on that last bet to go outside to watch the final race so Keith did not have time to bet on that horse, but it was such a high odd that he would and most definitely should have betted on it. Oh well, it was a fun experience and so funny to see the little Korean horses that they use in the races (they looked like tiny ponies and some looked like donkeys!).
After the races, we headed to our friend, Daphne's apartment, where about 40 people ended up meeting and squeezing together in this little room to eat our HUGE Thanksgiving feast. Everyone brought a dish so there was tons of food. Keith and I brought a few bottles of wine. There was one small turkey which we all shared (it cost $70!!! because they're so rare to find here!), and tons of mashed potatoes, salad, fruits, veggies, rolls, stuffing, cheese and crackers, cranberry sauce, and lots and lots of dessert....pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie (which looked very green b/c of the sweet potatoes here:), apple crisp (yum, my favorite!), cookies, pecan pie, etc.
SO MUCH FOOD THIS WEEKEND! lol It was a great Thanksgiving feast. And the best part was the amazing people we were able to spend it with. Although we've only been here on Jeju island for 3 months, the huge group of friends we've made has all become so close, like family. People from Seogwipo, which is an hour away from us,in the southern part of the island, were all troopers to make it up to the north where we celebrated the holiday (even after a LOOOOONg night out drinking...some stayed out til 5am). We are always making the effort to get together and spend time getting to know one another. It really makes you appreciate the friends you have, especially when you don't have your family and friends from home close.
This Thanksgiving, I am truly thankful for all the wonderful people we have met here in Korea that now live with us on Jeju. They are each so unique and bring so many qualities to our group of friends here. I feel like I still have so much to learn about them and to hear their stories and learn from their experiences. Life is great:)
Hope you all had an amazing week and Thanksgiving holiday as well! Keep in touch and cheers!
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