Grade 6 Lesson 12 I'm Faster Than You - Place Your Bets Activity

It was speaking period for my 6th graders today. We started off with completing and reading the sentences on the slides as warm-up and review of comparatives.

After finishing the textbook pages, we moved onto one of the games that's super popular with my 6th graders: the betting game.

Key Expressions:

That's right

That's not right

They start with 6 points. After the reading the fact on the board, they decide in their group how much they want to bet if the fact is true or not. They can only bet an amount that they have. We play 6 rounds, and if their group ends up with  25+ points, then all the group members get stamps.

After playing, we watched a fun video of a CG cheetah out-running Usain Bolt in a simulated race.

First Thanksgiving In Busan

I'm thankful for my family. Both the wonderful one that I was born into, and the one I get to choose in my friends, people of great character, genuine quality, and general awesomeness.
I'm thankful for my youth. It may sound somewhat shallow, but it's what allows me to do what I want, at this point in my life. Bernard Shaw once said that "youth is wasted on the young", and I refuse to let that ring true with me.
Finally, I'm thankful for health. In myself, in my friends and immediate family, in most of my close acquaintances. Without health, everything becomes trivial and pointless. It's good to be thankful on more days than just Thanksgiving.

With that said, this past weekend was amazing.

Friday

Giddy all day looking forward to seeing my friends. Went to A's place around 7:30, bringing my peace offering of spaghetti alla carbonara. We ordered a catered turkey dinner, but we were also doing a potluck alongside it.

Us looking radiant.

Posing.

Then Michael spilled pepsi, and we all panicked. Except me, I was still posing. That's how professional I was.

Saturday

Went to Costco with N and AB to pick up stuff for another pot luck that night. After going home, I attempted to work out, not to burn off calories, but to work up an appetite for later. 

We headed to Em's place around 6:30, and we kept all the dishes warm with her electric blanket waiting for everyone to arrive. 

Had a jolly old time. We split up later, with half of us heading to Gwangan for a crazy night out, and the other half going to a chicken restaurant to sit, drink beer, and ponder the mysteries of the universe. 

Minions Singin' In The Rain

My 4th graders are by far my favorite bunch, and we had a great class last Thursday as usual. We started by watching Gene Kelly frolicking around in "Singing In The Rain". They were awed by his tap dancing and umbrella spinning moves, but some students asked in genuine puzzlement, if he was an idiot.

While they listened to the song, they filled in the -ING verbs on the lyric sheet.

The next activity was the Minions worksheet. The students drew them doing various activities and wrote the corresponding sentences underneath. Here they are in all their adorable potato-like glory.

I am not ashamed to say that I ran back to my office to grab my phone so I could take a picture of my masterpiece. 

Finally, we got to play our wrap-up game: Chase the Vocab.

I tell the students which pictures I will be asking them for beforehand, the cards flip over, then they scramble all over the place. The students have to keep track of where the target card is with their eyes, and write down their answers on mini white boards, like so:

2 - swimming

3 - singing

The extreme round was very exciting. My kids' eyes became the size of golf balls, and their mouths hung open due to intense concentration.

Worries For This Week

Tuesday, Oct. 17th, 4:17 pm

I managed to get sick over this weekend, so my goal is to sleep before 10:30 these few nights. 

Plans for the upcoming weekend include a potluck Thanksgiving dinner on Friday at A's place, a Costco run on Saturday morning to prep for another Thanksgiving dinner that night at E's place, a birthday dinner on Sunday night for which I'm nervous nobody will show up for, and another small birthday dinner on Monday night for which I'm also nervous nobody will show up for. 

I'm a neurotic mess this week, and I don't know why.

Actually, I do know why, and I wish I didn't.

This week more than ever, I wish I have my clothes from home. Being well-dressed would have  given me some consolation.

4:29 pm

Time to pack up at lightning speed.

G6 and G3 Wrap Up Computer Games

The Grade 6's did a fix-the-sentence writing game and word lotto activity today. It was wrap-up time for Lesson 12 - Who Drew This Picture? For our free talk portion, we talked about goals for next year, and these are the top 3 contenders:

1.) "I want to grow taller." - all the shorty's.
2.) "I want to meet new girls." - Mandu
3.) "I want to go to NASA." - Roy

Wrap-Up Activity

 There were 7 sentences, and they needed 5 correct for 2 stamps. For the lotto portion, they chose 3 words, I make 6 disappear, and each word they have still standing is worth another stamp.

Students who had no idea how to fix a single sentence were very excited when they got stamps through sheer dumb luck in the Word Lotto portion.

Grade 3 Pokemon Bomb Game

It was also the last time for my 3rd graders Lesson 12: Who's She?. We played a bomb game that reviewed pronouns, Lesson 11's How Old Are You?, and the Who's He? He's _______ question and answer format.

The rarer the Pokemon, the more XP they get.

Always exciting when the mystery balls show up, I'll admit I got pretty pumped up too every time a Pokemon I recognized from my childhood popped up.

Grade 5 Writing Practice for Lesson 12 - What a Nice House!

My grade 5's completed this worksheet for stamps today. I made the kids fix every single mistake before I would accept it. Students try to cut corners every time when you're not strict with them.

Took about 20 mins for completion, checking, and stamping.

Cafe Ean in Geumyeonsan

Had a true girl's day and night out on Saturday. We started with brunch at Cafe Ean near Geumyeonsan, which probably has the best food I've tried so far. I got the Brunch side (7000 won), which was still steaming when it came to the table, and the fig yogurt (8000), which was in season, fresh, and scrumptious.

We made a pact to return next Sunday to try different stuff. I have the crepe in mind.

Cute, kitschy art and decor

vintage oriental silver chest with old school tv and sewing machine

My awesome brunch side and fig yogurt

French toast which I have yet to try

Afterwards, we went to Centum to catch the new James Bond flick, Spectre. It would have been better if they didn't cut out all the sex scenes. I paid good money to see some nudity. I feel cheated. 

At night, we bar hopped to HQ, Eva's, Almost Famous, and Ghetto. Midway, we stopped for a snack at Monster Pizza, and I had 2 slices. I would have been ashamed if it didn't taste so good. 

Crashed at R's place with D, and took the subway home next morning. Spent all of Sunday recovering. Ditto.

Grade 4 Connect 4 Worksheet - Speaking Activity

For my grade 4's speaking period yesterday, we played connect 4 with this worksheet. Not terribly exciting, but the kids enjoyed it nonetheless. You could see them faking each other out as a part of their strategy in extremely transparent attempts.

Our worksheets were in black and white, because my school has no money.

Friday 1:04 PM

Fridays are always busy, stressful, and exasperating all rolled up in a giant lint ball with cat hair. I like Fridays for the obvious reason of the impending 2 days of freedom, but I also loathe teaching 7 classes, especially the 3 afternoon ones where I have to create new games every week. 

Goals for this weekend:

Save money

Distract self

Study Korean

Yep, I don't have much to talk about. I was binge-watching these videos last night. They're short clips from a Korean drama called, "Let's Eat". The faces and sounds they make are annoying and disgusting, respectively. But they're addictive.

Gross and appetizing at the same time, isn't it?

Wisdom

Are we still wise if we learned about it, read about it, knew about it, but forgot about it?

I forgot where I read this, but I jotted them down in my notebook. Maybe it's a good idea to refresh the memory on some words of wisdom.

1.) Don't smoke.
2.) Stop eating crap.
3.) Maintain (or repair) relationships with family.
4.) Stop going out without sunblock.
5.) Exercise regularly.
6.) Start saving money. Even if it's just a little bit.
7.) Learn to be content with what you have.
8.) Don't delay pursuing your life goals.
9.) Get some sleep.
10.) Take care of your teeth.
11.) Collect memories instead of things.
12.) Give something back.
13.) Read at least 10 books a year.
14.) Travel. As much as possible, whenever you can.
15.) Learn to meditate.
16.) Stop comparing yourself to others.
17.) Keep a journal.
18.) Become a homeowner. "Buy a house. It'll be nearly paid for by the time you're 50".
19.) Take care of your friends.
20.) Forgive.

Grade 6 Lesson 11: Jeopardy Speaking Game

1:34 PM, Tuesday Afternoon

Mulling over what to do for Reading Club in 16 minutes, also dreading afternoon classes tomorrow, because the teachers swapped their alternating days, and I had to pull stuff out of my ass to create game material.

Today, I had a good lesson with my 6th graders.

For the free talk portion of class, in the aftermath of the Paris terrorist attacks, I posed the question, "Should refugees from Syria be allowed to come to Korea?". The kids talked among themselves for a minute, we did a poll, and I asked for their reasoning and ideas.

6-3 - most thoughtful and sympathetic
6-2 - most logical, inquisitive, and expressive
6-1 - most open-minded towards both sides

Surprised and pleased that most of my kids watch the news everyday, and knew what was going on in the world.

Today was the speaking time of the lesson, so we played this Jeopardy game. Messi was very excited when he thought that I was giving out hundreds of dollars to the students.

The kids got really competitive, and I had to think of harder questions when the game ran out so we could keep playing. They now know that the president before Barack Obama was George Bush, and Canada's national sport is ice hockey.

Weekend at Seomyeon and TongMyong University

Come Saturday night, I met up with M and some Korean friends from KSU at Seomyeon to go for dinner and drinks. In true Korean style, we did 4 rounds.

1 차

Kimchi and onion pajeon with makgeolli (and cider) at a tiny hole in the wall place in Seomyeon. Dingy, cramped, served by ajummas who owned a horrible, hissing cat whom I was too chicken to pet.

2 차

Went to the meat restaurant located right beside Language Cast for samgyeopsal and beer. I ignored the meat and focused on eating the melted mozzarella cheese in the side bar of the cooking plate.

3 차

Went to Groove for more drinks, pool, and beer pong. I kicked someone's ass at foosball, but I forgot his Korean name. 이 something. We stayed for a bit, and was joined by H and C, but they decided to stay.

4 차

Went to the noraebang place in Seomyeon across from Ashley's with the see no evil, hear no evil monkeys, the tiny bridge and the miniature stream. 

Sunday morning, rain ain't falling

Met up super early at KSU to go to TongMyong University together to help some Korean friends film a reaction video to IU's new songs, before going for lunch together afterwards.

The songs we listened to.

Us chilling hardcore.

It was a good weekend.

I think.