Spring/Printemps/春/봄

Spring is here!! Which means mostly nice weather with a few intermittent rain showers! And we all know "April showers bring May flowers!"

So, here are just a few photos of UE's gorgeous campus at spring!! (Spring is the best time to visit campus)

Campus Life as a Student Teacher

Basically my life on campus is non-existent. My friends constantly say to me "I miss you! Where have you been?" My responses are either "Teaching," or "Grading papers..." Outside of my student-teaching, I have no classes on campus, and I'm in the school from 7:00 AM until sometimes as late as 4:30 PM, so I'm not even present on campus very much. My social time is restricted to dinner hour, really, because after dinner I have papers to grade, and lessons to prepare, and copies to make, and so much else!

However, this week I've finally had the chance to catch up with everyone! It's finally spring break!! Or, rather, it was spring break as it's already Friday evening. Unfortunately, it's not spring break for my friends, so our time to hang out is still limited. Thankfully, there are always events on campus.

This past Saturday, for instance, was the International Banquet. The Banquet is a big event that the International Student Club puts on for the campus community. I've attended it every year I've been on campus, so of course I couldn't stay away this year! Since it was my spring break, I even volunteered to sell tickets!

The food was of course amazing, and it was all prepared and served by international students on campus. There were dishes from the Phillippines, South Korea, India, Germany, and others! Including baklava and chiros for desert, which I just had to break my Lenten promise to eat...... Sorry, God! I'll go to Confession this week.

In addition to the wonderful food, there were some great performances. As always there was a fashion show, and there were several musical and dance performances. The Korean girls performed a fan dance, the belly dance class also performed, and several students played musical instruments for us. Just wonderful.

But, although the food and performances are superb, I was really there for some social time. Many of the international students will be returning to their home countries, so I want to spend as much time as I can with them, no matter how limited that time is.

Which is why I'm cooking French food tomorrow. The crepes/galettes may take me all afternoon to make, but it will be worth it! Commraderie is the best part about living on a college campus.

Fulbright Update!!

The other day when I got on the student center computers to check my e-mail (my old Toshiba has finally died after 5 years), I found the most wonderful message from the Fulbright Scholarship Board. All it took was for me to see the word "Congratulations" and I was squealing like a little girl!! I think other students thought I was crazy or something! My hands were flapping, I was grinning from ear to ear, and the words "oh my gosh" came out of my mouth at least a dozen times. I was so excited I could barely post it on facebook!

Then, two days ago, I received my official acceptance package with some of the juicy details. The sholarship will initially last from July 5th, 2012 until July 13th, 2013, but I can apply for renewal two times, giving me the possibility of being in Korea for three years. Orientation is six weeks long and begins July 5th. It will take place in Goesan, Chungcheongbuk-do, which is a good ways south of Seoul. The closest major city is Daejeon. During orientation, I will be placed at a school, and that school will place me with a host family. Honestly, after my host family experience in France, I'm a little bit nervous about this part of the grant. Of course I'm excited to share cultures with a family in Korea, I'm just worried I'll end up in a similar situation as in France -- an uniterested (and uncaring) host.

More details on what will happen will come once I send in the grant acceptance forms -- all 3 of them. Two go to places in the US, and the third goes to the Korean American Education Commission, or KAEC, in Korea. The KAEC is essentially the party that organizes everything.

In addition to those forms, I have to prepare my documents for receiving a Korean visa. This means that I have to go down to the Police Department next week to get fingerprinted -- a prerequisite of obtaining an FBI background check, which is required for the visa. The background check, and my diploma, need to have an apostile, which is basically an official seal assuring that the document is not a fake.

The other thing I need to do? E-mail all those recruitment agenice and TAPIF to tell them I'm no longer applying......

Now that I have been accepted, things are going to move quickly!

Waiting...

With my final semester mostly consisting of student teaching, there hasn't been much else for me to write about, honestly. However, contrary to what a few of my friends believe, I do have a life outside of student-teaching. If I didn't, I would probably be going crazy. Having a strong group of friends (aka social time) is essentially to succeeding during any internship -- whether that internship is full-time or part-time; in education, or in business. Without the support of my friends, and without having time to talk to people about things other than grading papers and faculty meetings, I highly doubt I would be sane.

So what are some of those things I do to keep me sane?

Well, I cook. I eat with friends. I attend basketball and other sports games. And I spend way too much time playing facebook games.

Of course, the time that's left over I dedicate to planning my future. I think it's something in my nature; I just can't help planning! Especially when I'm worried about what's going to happen after I receive my diploma. So, lately, I've been looking at the teaching job market. In the US, there's not a whole lot of jobs being posted just yet since the school year doesn't start until August, and current teachers have to be rehired first. However, the jobs are just beginning to crop upoverseas. Now, I'm sure some of you are thinking, "wait a minute.... I thought she was doing the Fulbright?"

The answer is: kind of? I did apply for the Fulbright, and, at the end of January, I received an e-mail telling me that I'd made it past the first cut. Now, I wait around until late-April/May to find out if I'm truly accepted to the Fulbright program. So, to keep myself worrying constantly about my fate, I've been applying to regular overseas teaching jobs, and waiting for EPIK and GEPIK applications to go up online. And, thus far, I've been successful. Wednesday evening I had three interviews -- back to back.

The first was with Korean Horizons. Korean Horizons is foreign teacher recruitment company. Basically, they gather applications from foreign teachers, interview them, and pass on the information to various school boards/private language academies (hagwons) within the country based on the preferences and qualifications of the applicant. This particular company is run by former ex-patriat teachers of English, so my interview was with a British guy. In truth, I was very glad to be interviewing with Korean Horizons first because the interview was fairly low-key and his English was the easiest to understand.

My second interview was with Korvia, another recruitment company. This recruiment company is certified by the Korean government to process applications for the EPIK and GEPIK programs, and they also work with various school boards/hagwons. The lady who interviewd me was a very nice Korean lady, and her questions were a bit more difficult because she actually asked me teaching questions.

My last interview was one of those "Are you free to talk now" type interviews.... This one was with the Yeosu Office of Education, and so the interview was much more centered around education and teaching. I was told exactly how many people they would be hiring versus "we'll find a place for you." Questions about classroom management, forming relationship with Korean staff members who don't speak English, and utilizing technology in the classroom made the interview a bit higher-stakes, and the interviewer's English level sometimes made the converstaion hard.

Overall, the interviews weren't bad at all, and this fact gives me confidence for the interview I have tonight with Gyeonggi International School in Suwon. Since this position is with an actual school (Christian and private), I am expecting a more hard-core interview with questions about my teaching philosophy and skills, plus a few God-related things thrown in on the side. Actually, I think I'm most nervous about having to answer God questions. Questions about teaching, classroom management, relations with faculty and parents don't bother me much at all because I know I have the experience and knowledge to come up with an answer and provide examples. For the God questions, though...... It's not that I don't have experience or knowledge about my faith and belief in God, it's just.... my personal liberal Catholic views on religion can sometimes clash with various Christian groups. Hopefully the name of my faith won't get in the way.

The Crazy Life of a Student-Teacher IV

I realize that I haven't written about my student teaching experience in over a month!

As you can imagine, a lot has happened since February. The first grading period has ended, and there's just one week until Spring Break--and only five weeks until my student-teaching time comes to a close. Instead of talking about everything that's happened in the past four weeks, I'll just give a brief view of the more interesting events.

Tornado Warnings = Unhappy Teenagers
Since my school is located in the Midwest, we have a season during the spring called Tornado Season. Generally, during the moths of February and March (and sometimes later), there will be several tornadoes in the area, resulting in either a Tornado Watch or a Tornado Warning. A Tornado Watch means that the type of storm that creates tornadoes is in the area; the Warning is used when a funnel cloud/tornado has been spotted. For a school, the Tornado Watch equates to antsy teenagers. It's actually a rather interesting phenomena to observe. As the storm rolls in, the students behavior actually changes -- they begin to get rather rowdy, even those students who are normally very well behaved. In the lunch room this results in students drumming on tables -- causing the whole lunch room to do so -- or in vocalizing "ooh"s and "ahh"s.... Once a tornado warning has been issued, students are evacuated from the classrooms and into a safe environment away from doors and windows. Where I am currently placed, this means the hallway. Students are supposed to sit facing the wall, but when it's an actual warning and not a drill, students never stay in that position for very long.

In February, we had two tornado warnings. The first was at 5:00 AM, resulting in a delayed start for the school district. The second was more serious. A couple of weeks ago, on a Friday, there was a large break-out of tornadoes in the Southern Illinois/Southern Indiana/Kentucky area. The tornadoes that went through the area devastated many communities and caused deaths and injuries to many people. It also wreaked havoc in the schools, though certainly not in the same terrible way. The warning was issued in the middle of C lunch, which I help monitor. There are over 100 students in C lunch that we had to evacuate into the hallway. The way the school is built half of that hallway is unsafe, so some students had to be quickly moved to another floor or part of the building. At first, students were okay with not being in class, but as the time wore on, they began to get upset. "Are we going to get to eat?" "This is stupid, I just want to go home!" The warning lasted nearly 3 hours, and students were kept past the bell. What I found shocking was the amount of students who actually wanted their parents to drive to the school and pick them up -- in the middle of a tornado. And trust me when I say this, you never want to be trapped in a school or classroom when students are told that the school day has been extended -- especially on a Friday.

Students Say The Most Amusing Things
Sometimes, you can't help but laugh at things students say -- either in the hallways or in class. The best one that's occurred in my classroom so far: "Mandarin orange.... Isn't that, like, Chinese or something?" The other student's response: "Yeah, only they don't speak orange." Or, when learning the word for donkey (l'ane), "Hey, that's Layne!" It's a good thing Layne found that funny. Granted, the students aren't the only ones who say things like that; occasionally, I just have to stop speaking to laugh at myself!

Disney Will Always Be Popular
The other day, French 2 was learning forest vocabulary, so I decided to do an activity where they would color in a picture of a scene in a forest and then write a paragraph about what was in the picture. The students had four choices -- a cabin scene, some birds by a lake, Snow White singing to her animal friends, or Sleeping Beauty talking to some squirrels. The most popular one? Snow White. I made 10 copies of each page, and had no Snow White's left. Of course, I expected mostly girls to go for the Disney princesses, but was again surprised -- only one boy in the class did not ask for Disney. I now have an entirely new image of the guys in my class.

Of course, much more than these little snippets occurred during the past month, but these are a few of the most memorable. As I've been saying every time I write an entry for this series, student-teaching is an experience.

The Crazy Life of a Student-Teacher III

better take cover., a photo by karrah.kobus on Flickr.

When I first started this semester I thought it couldn't possibly disappear like sand between my fingers, but here we are already halfway through February and almost halfway through my student-teaching experience! How crazy is that?!

Speaking of crazy, that's pretty much what the past three weeks have been. We've had about every drill imaginable: a tornado drill two weeks ago, then a lock-down drill last week, and now this week there was an earthquake drill. Next week will probably be the monthly fire drill, too.

On top of all that craziness, basketball homecoming was last weekend, so there was a pep assembly Friday, followed by the game and the homecoming dance in the evening. Unfortunately, the basketball team was creamed and only 12 people showed up to the dance. Not even the homecoming court went!! Why on Earth would a kid not want to go to a dance? I mean, I know that I didn't go to many dances during my high school years, but that was because I never had anyone to go with. If I had been asked to homecoming, I would have gone in a heartbeat. And now I really kind of regret that I didn't go to them. I mean, it's kind of sad when I say that my first homecoming dance experience was when I was chaperoning the dance at BHS last year...... Plus, it's not like the dance was expensive: $5. Seriously, kids, have some good fun!!

So what else is crazy? Teaching. Students. The whole thing, pretty much. I've had some good days, and I've had some bad days. And I've even had a day where I nearly broke down and cried from all the stress. But, then there are the "kids say the darnedest things" moments, and everything is peachy again.

Actually, I'm getting pretty well-adjusted to the working part of my life. What's hard to adjust to is the fact that I'm not really a part of campus anymore. I mean, I'm on campus for a limited number of hours each evening, and when I am here I'm so busy I can't really hang out with my friends anyway. It's really hard because I often feel like I'm left out in some way. I really love teaching, and I know that's what I want to do for a very long time, but sometimes I just wish I could be a normal student again, instead of this semi-student/semi-working adult thing.

Life as a Fifth Year Senior

~ The Beginning of the End ~

La marche matinale, a photo by monilague on Flickr.

Yay! It's my last semester (which can also be a "boo-hoo it's almost over" from time to time).

Since this last semester is already underway, here's brief update of what's been going on in this fifth year senior's life.

First, as you may remember, way back in October I completed my application for the Fulbright ETA Grant to South Korea. A couple of days ago, I received an e-mail. The first few words of the first line are as follows: "I am pleased......" When I heard that the e-mail announcements about the first stage had been sent out, my stomach went crazy jumpy. In fact, I was actually shaking when logging in to my e-mail...... Those three little words only made me shake more -- from relief and excitement! The e-mail of course isn't a declaration of "yes, you have the scholarship and you're going to Korea." No, it is merely, "we think you may be a good candidate." In other words, I have made it past the first cut. Now, the application is forwarded to the true DC headquarters as well as to the Korea headquarters, and a panel reads and debates my application. I, on the other hand, get to sit on pins and needles for a few more months while I await the final decision, which should arrive sometime between April and June.

Since I am a proponent of being pro-active, and because I'm way too much of a planner for my own good, I have applied to a different program, just in case the next e-mail I receive is one of rejection. The program I've applied for is the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF). The program is run through the French government, and many, many French majors apply and participate in the program. I personally know several people who have done it, including former teachers and current professors. The application process for TAPIF is much less daunting than that for Fulbright, even though it's in French, and I've heard it's a bit easier to get into as well. So, I may have a pretty good chance.

Many people have asked me what I'm going to do if I get accepted to both. It's something that I've struggled with all this year. For a while now, I've had the goal of teaching English abroad. This goal was realized in France, and France does have a very dear place in my heart. But so does Korea, and lately it seems that that's where my passion lies. When I've been in Korea, it just feels so comfortable, whereas when I was in France, I wasn't always at home. Of course, these are first impressions from a rough homestay experience, and, on the other hand, an experience living in dormitories surrounded by other international students and interacting with Koreans who were already my friends. In any case, my love for the two nations and cultures have been in competition this past year as I find myself yearning more and more to return to France.

Of course, on another level, the choice is a no-brainer: the Fulbright carries much more prestige than TAPIF does. So, my choice would be Fulbright, even though my heart is truly torn in two.

But, honestly, the sun is only beginning to peak its head up from below the horizon; I still have a long way to go before I begin to see the dawn of a new chapter of my life.

**Aside: I think I must be in a very literary mood, today.... I'm using way too many literary devices in my last few posts.... Maybe it's the creative juices flowing after my art therapy course.... **

The Crazy Life of a Student-Teacher II

~ The First 3 Weeks ~

Walk Wherever you Want, a photo by cliccath on Flickr.

My student-teacher experience began on January 2nd, bright and early at 7:00 AM. Having to live in winter housing in Hughes Hall where there is not air condition, so the rooms are constantly stuffy, and where I had none of my usual amenities (including a pillow and a blanket), I had already been up for several hours and hadn't gotten much sleep to begin with. During the day, so much information was thrown at me -- schedules, school rules, location of offices, student names, teacher names, etc, etc, etc. -- that by the end of the day, I felt as though my circuits were fried.

FJHS is on a complete block schedule, which is a lot to get used to, actually. When observing, 90 minutes seems like a lot of time, but when you're in front of the class, it's amazing how quickly those minutes fly past! What the block scheduling means is that odd numbered periods are on one day, and evens on another (Silver and Green for FJHS). So, 1st and 2nd periods we have French 1, 3rd is homeroom, 4th is planning, 5th is lunch duty, 6th is French 2, 7th is planning, and 8th is French 3/4/5. Silver days we only teach one class, and Green days we teach 3 classes, but 5 different levels. Why an administrator would think it's a smart idea to put French 3, 4 and 5 in one class is beyond me. 4 and 5 I can understand because they essentially have about the same mastery of the language, but French 3 is still learning some of their tenses (like the subjunctive), so putting them in a classroom with two classes that are much more advanced is probably the dumbest idea ever. But, unfortunately, it's something that nearly any foreign language teacher faces, especially if they aren't teaching Spanish.

Anyway, it was a lot to get used to. Of course the evacuation on Thursday during that first week only added to the crazy. Apparently somebody's VCR was smoking, so they evacuated the school. Just goes to show what unexpected curve balls can be thrown at you!

The second week went much smoother. The students had finally readjusted to school after a good break, and things were up and running again. Of course, that meant classes on campus had also started back up. This semester, in addition to my student-teaching, I have two evening classes. Monday I have an art therapy course, and Wednesday is the student-teaching seminar class, which is more or less a crash course to prepare you for the working adult world. I chose to do an art therapy course because I figured I could use a creative outlet. I'll just need to make sure I drink some coffee before class so that I don't start dozing off halfway through the 2 1/5 hour course......

Last week was a short week thanks to Martin Luther King Day (yay!!). So there were a few activities and assemblies that messed with the usual schedule, but nothing too big. Well, except for the tornado warning. Thursday, in the middle of team-teaching weather with the French I students, a tornado warning was issued for the county. This meant that the students were taken from classrooms into the hallways where they sat facing the wall for 45 minutes. Of course, the fact that a tornado could be brewing outside didn't really faze them, and they took the time as social hour instead. This meant a lot of "Guys, be quiet," came from multiple teacher's mouths, as well as "Put the phone away. No, you can't 'listen to music' on your iPhone." Honestly, I think cell phones should be turned in to the main office when students walk through the front doors!! There's absolutely no reason for them to be taking them from class to class when all they're going to do is text their friends or "listen to music," which they shouldn't do in the first place. Luckily, my students are pretty good about the cell phone and netbook issues, although some students still think that I'm not going to notice them texting in their hoodie pocket. Guys, seriously, I have eyes!! Plus, I'm a student, don't think I don't know the tricks!!

So, my first three weeks were certainly packed and really kind of seemed like a crash course in the life of a teacher, which is really what student-teaching is all about.

The end result: Friday nights are not for going out. You're too dog-gone tired!! So, please don't ask me to go out Friday; let's save that for Saturday when I have the energy to have fun!

** Aside: I'm trying something new by posting a photograph from flickr that I think embodies some part of my post. Let me know what you think! **

The Crazy Life of a Student-Teacher I

~ Introduction to the Series ~

The Classics, a photo by isayx3 on Flickr.

Now that I'm finally doing my last semester of university (took me long enough, huh?), I get to commence the experience known as student-teaching. All to-be teachers must go through this head-first plunge into the realm of teaching, where they are suddenly thrown back into the waters of their former schooling years. In my case, these waters are known as high school. And let me tell you, it's only been three weeks and the word "experience" fits this semester like a glove. (Like all the metaphors and similes in that paragraph?)

The first week is similar to that first encounter with swimming. Basically all you're doing is the doggie paddle trying to keep your head above the water and figure out what on Earth is going on. When you try to think back on it, it's all just one massive blur. You meet about 15 teachers and faculty all at once, and some how have to remember that Mrs. Smith is the attendance secretary, but Mr. Smith is the teacher of record for your 504 student, and the attendance hall is down the hallway, to the right, and over the "link," whereas the foreign language office is no where near the foreign language classrooms, but actually up a few flights of stairs on the third floor by the business classrooms. Oh, and by the way, you have 4 periods of French classes each with 20 students, and 12 of them have accommodations, and 6 of them have 504 plans, and there are 4 girls named Sarah, and three students with the same last name but only two of them are related. That was my first day. I believe I came back to Hughes, where I was staying because Moore hadn't reopened for the semester yet, and wanted to sleep the rest of the afternoon I was so exhausted from the strain of trying to remember things. Plus, I'd been forced to get up at 5:30 AM.

Now, after three weeks of getting up when the sun is still asleep, I can no longer sleep past 8:30 -- even on weekends. I finally remember which door goes to the counseling office, which one to the attendance office, and which one to the main office, and I know where the nearest faculty and girl's bathrooms are. Plus, I have one entire class of students name's memorized, and most of another class. The other two are getting there. I still have my training wheels on, however.

The first two weeks of student-teaching are basically just observations. You observe your co-operating teacher, you observe the Spanish and German teachers, you may even observe a random math teacher. By the second week, you're doing some of the grading, and maybe even doing the flashcards for vocabulary practice with students. Then, during the third week, you begin teaching part of the lessons. This is now my second week of team-teaching French I, and beginning next week after the chapter test, I'll be teaching French I on my own, and team-teaching French II. Another two weeks of that, and I'll be teaching French I and II, and team-teaching French III. Two weeks later, the training wheels are off and I'm hoping I don't skin my knees too badly. Of course, skinned knees are part of learning how to ride a bike. Therefore, Titanic Moments, as my seminar professor calls them, are essential to learning how to teach. Thankfully my Titanic Moments thus far have been things like spending too much time on one activity so that my pacing is terribly off, or accidentally clicking out of an Internet browser that had a weather map I needed for an activity. Hopefully I won't have an iceberg-like Titanic Moment......

In any case, I'm finding that journaling this experience is not only useful, but also cathartic, and, quite possibly, interesting for others to hear about. So, I'll be posting snip-its here and there of things that are appropriate to share. All names of places and people will be fake to protect their identities. I would certainly love to hear opinions/comments from readers around the world, especially if you are a teacher or have gone through a teaching experience. I always love learning about other ways of thinking/doing!! So, feel free to comment on any post!! ^ ^

2011: Year in Review

It is officially the last day of 2011, so here's my commemoration for this year!

During the spring semester, I took a (welcomed) break from internships. After a rocky placement at BHS, I really needed the non-crazy semester. Finally got of the dorm for a semester, and now I seriously miss that little stone house!! But, more importantly, I miss my house-mates: Bonnie and Virginia! Lots of good memories in that house. Like bibimbap parties..... And movie nights...... And St. Patrick's Day.......

Then there were the trips: spring break in DC/Charleston with Bonnie and Mijin, and we can't forget my six weeks in South Korea!! Both trips were just great, and this summer was just amazing! I met so many wonderful people from all over the world, and I loved meeting old friends, too! After such a great time, how can I not want to go back and teach there?!

This last semester went so fast! My internship in the Intensive English Center was a great time. I really loved working with Barbara in her reading class. All those kids are just great, and hopefully I'll still see a lot of them this coming semester even though I'll be off campus most of the day student teaching.

This semester was also pretty crazy with a few intense classes. I'm so very glad I only had to have double Pieroni classes once during my college career! So tough! And of course there was also Japanese added to that mix of 400-level French literature and senior seminar. My course on the UN was a great learning experience for me. I'm so much more knowledgeable about what's going on in the world now politically, and the mock UN up in Indianapolis was a great experience. Then, right before Thanksgiving, my mom moved to a new house in Lexington.... Talk about a crazy vacation!!

Gosh! So much has happened this past year! I can't believe it's already 2012!!

And with New Year ringing in, it's time for a few New Year's Resolutions:

1. Get a job (in Korea)
2. Save money!
3. Exercise more
4. Get a boyfriend....
5. See some friends I haven't seen a few years (like Stella, Susan, Boya, and Ben....)
6. Keep up with pen-pals and the family
7. Graduate CUM LAUDE!! (And after working my butt off this semester, I've got my 3.5 back, meaning that if graduation was today, I would definitely be graduating cum laude. Oh what a streak of A's can do for you!
8. Learn to ride a bike. That's right; I don't know how to ride a bike.....

Well, that's the past and the future. As for the present. I'm currently sitting in my mom's living room watching the hype for the ball dropping in NYC on TV while wearing some new threads from this Christmas and a new 'do I got today!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

BEST WISHES FOR 2012!!