An Interesting Saturday

Saturday Morning

Dec 2 was the "annual" meeting of foreign teachers to "ensure quality of education". It was a big waste of time. All they did was read the immigration law to us and then subject us to pointless speeches (that if you have an education degree, you've heard the contents of at least 3 times). Then, to kill time, they had a horrible excuse for a music group "perform". The whole event was insulting. I spent 6 years in college and earned a teaching certificate and 2 education degrees. The event was organized by a person who obviously has no clue about education--during the sessions she learned "Success breeds success." I could've emailed her that and saved 500 people a lot of time.


Saturday Afternoon

After the morning meeting, several of us went to Express Bus Terminal and went shopping. (Yes, it is a bus statation, but it has several floors, and the top ones are devoted to shopping.) I was inspired while we were there and bought several items to put together table centerpieces. We used them as gifts at our staff Christmas party.


Saturday Evening

Our staff Christmas party was Saturday evening. We had loads of fun. We had finger foods, sang Christmas carols, and had a gift exchange. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and helped make up for the wasted morning.

Time

I believe it will become evident that my spare time during the week is slim to none. I am only logged in to the site because my husband found a typo in a previous post. (Isn't it great to be able to go back and edit old posts?) So I thought I 'd send a line or two out into the void that is the internet.

Life here is progressing as it usually does. We came back from Thanksgiving Break to find the students just as thrilled as we were to face another day of school. Is it Christmas yet?

Oh, here's a wonderful thought for those of you who may be considering working in a foreign country--you are completely at your host government's mercy (or lack thereof). We were notified today that all "international teachers", meaning anybody on a work visa for the purpose of teaching, has to go Saturday, Dec 2 (yes, that is this weekend!) to a "seminar" from 9 am to 1 pm. If it is anything like last year, it will be a complete waste of time. I'll let you know about it later.

Facials

If you read Laura's blog, you know that she had a facial on Saturday. Well, I was the fellow teacher that accompanied her. It was great! The experience was incredibly relaxing, and my skin feels a little softer, too (but I'm willing to acknowledge that that effect could be entirely psychological). Laura and I have agreed that we are going to purchase their package deal that gives you a discount. We paid about $6 for our hour long facials. The package deal gives you 10 for $4 each. I'm looking forward to my round of facials.

Taxi Rides

Today is a prolific day for me--3 posts! This is what happens when there's no school for a few days.

Today I had my first taxi ride--ever. There's one for the baby book, Mom. Here in Seoul, if you have a group of 3 or 4 people, it is frequently cheaper to take a taxi to your destination than to ride the subway. Our taxi ride actually came out slightly more expensive, but only by about 100 won per person. (That's about $0.10.) I'm not going to give up the subway, because it is still the best way to get around when you're by yourself; but it was nice to be dropped off at my destination. That was worth the extra 100 won.

Math Words

As a math teacher, I feel responsible to teach everyone around me mathematics.

Okay, so not really. But it is fun to dispense information when possible. Since I can't hear your groans or see you rolling your eyes , I will probably do that regularly here.

So, lesson #2: Learn your prefixes.

In math and many of the sciences, we borrow words from Latin and Greek. So knowing some of the number prefixes from those languages are helpful. Here are the prefixes for 1-9. We will wait for a later lesson to go farther.

1 hen- or un-
2 di- or bi-
3 tri-
4 tetra- or quad-
5 penta-
6 hexa-
7 hepta-
8 octa-
9 ennea- or nona-

In situations where I have given 2, the first is the one most commonly used in mathematics.

Now, why do you need to know these? The most common mathematical situation is in the naming of polygons (2-D figures) and polyhedra (3-D figures). A pentagon is a 2-D figure with 5 sides. A tetrahedron is a 3-D figure with 4 faces.

Pampering Yourself

A few weeks ago, I decided that I wanted to do some things to pamper myself. My list included the following:

1. manicure
2. pedicure
3. facial
4. massage
5. having my hair done
6. getting flowers
7. being taken out to dinner

Those last 2 may seem a bit presumptuous, but as a married woman I can ask for things that single gals can't. Also, this list may make it sound like I want to spend a fortune; but here in Korea many of these services are much cheaper than they are in the U.S.

Thankfully, I have a wonderful husband who seems willing to oblige me with #6 and 7. I also have wonderful friends who are willing to help me with #1-5.

I managed to get a manicure on Thanksgiving Day. Remember, here in Korea it's not a holiday. So I went out with some friends and we got really good manicures for about $15. I found out that the same place will do pedicures. They did such a good job with my hands; I think I'm going to go back next week to let them give me a pedicure. Again, cheaper than in the U.S.--$25.

Our administrator's son is in the process of becoming an elite hair stylist, and I was in need of a trim. So on Friday morning I went over to the apartment that had been designated "Salon for the Day", and he gave me a trim and blow-dry/style. Out of curiosity, I asked him what his services would run if I were to go to him at a salon in the U.S. His answer totally amazed me--$180. There's no way I would pay that much to get my hair done. But I suppose enough people do, becuase these salons stay in business.

Math for Mom

My Mom read my comment on Roca's blog to "The Randomness of Life" and wanted to know, "What's a heptakaidecagon?" So I told her, it's a 17-sided polygon. Now, if my self-described math-impaired mother can learn this word, anybody can. I think I'm going to post other interesting math words for her regularly.

Have a nice weekend!

Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and it was a very good one. We enjoyed going over to Larry and Elizabeth's home to celebrate the holiday with them and most of our coworkers. We had a traditional meal that everybody helped make (we all brought one or two items). Though it wasn't exactly what I had as a child growing up, it was definitely a traditional American Thanksgiving and a welcome taste of home.

I recognized a few of the elements that I had felt were missing as I talked to my family last night online, and so Momma promised to make turkey and dressing with the trimmings when we return to the States in June. Grandpa promised to take me to Ruth Chris' Steakhouse. You better believe I'm going to take both of them up on that.

That's a verb?

Unfortunately, this story starts with a sad moment. One of students was misbehaving, and I rebuked him. He didn't seem to mind that I had had to reprimand him. So I asked him, "Doesn't it bother you when I constantly tell you to stop doing wrong?"

"No," he replied in all sincerity.

"That's very sad, " I replied. "It's sad that you are sinning and it doesn't bother you."

I was about to continue the conversation when another student says, "Sinning? This is a verb?"

The student sitting in front of the questioner turns and says, "Yes, it means 'to sin'."

"Oh, okay," replied the questioner.

Life is never boring with these kids.

What's that thing called?

Working in an ESL environment frequently means interpreting the student's version of English into a real meaning of some sort. The funniest times are when the student has gotten a word that means basically what they want to say, but without the nuance or with an added nuance. It is frequently a frustrating occurrence for the student, since I must determine what he is intending to say instead of what he is saying. Several days ago, one of my students presented me with this situation.

Student raises hand during homework time, and I acknowledge him.

"Mrs. Smith, may I go to my cupboard?" I was momentarily perplexed by this. I thought I knew what he meant, but I had to make sure.

"Where would you like to go?" I asked.

By the way, this is the same student that wasn't sure what class he was in at the beginning of the year.

"To my cupboard," he replied.

"What do you mean, your cupboard?"

"The place where we keep our things with the blue door." Now I was certain of what he was trying to say because at SCS the student lockers have blue doors.

"Do you mean your locker?"

"Yes, my cupboard," the student replied, apparently not even noticing that I had used a different word.

Locker, cupboard--same thing, right?

We'll see how it goes

I announced my webpage to my classes today (the school-related one, not this one). Most of my students seemed to like the idea. Some of them seemed impressed that I was computer literate enough to create a website, even if it was by using a blog service. Hopefully some of my students who frequently give excuses will now actually get something done. I'm not holding my breath on that one, but I can hope.

Where am I?

Seventh graders are famous for being clueless, especially during the first few months of school. Here in Korea things aren't any different. Our seventh graders were traumatized the first week of school. Apparently several went back to the sixth grade teacher during the first week and told her that seventh grade is very hard. Few though have managed to be as confused as one young man was about two weeks into school.

First some background. I give a homework check pretty much every day. Students are given a quarter sheet of paper with space to write their name, the date, the class name (Algebra 1, Geometry, etc.), and the section number. There are also places to put the answers to questions that are indicated on a transparency that looks like their homework check. To help, I typically write the section number on the transparency along with the problems that they are to give the answers for. The students are expected to know the other information--name, date, and class.

So, now back to the story. One day, I noticed that filling out the homework check was becoming automatic for most of my students, and I was pleased because that meant I didn't have to explain the process everyday any more. One student in the back row, though, had a perplexed look as he raised his hand.

"Yes, [insert student name]"

The student looked at me for a moment longer before responding, "What class is this?"

"When in doubt," I told him, "Check the cover of your book." So the student picked up his book and read the cover.

"Pre-Algebra?"

"Yes, this is Pre-Algebra." I wasn't sure what to think at this point.

Dance Crazes of Past Decades

Now for a story. Our seventh graders are a very lively and spirited group. They never fail to amuse at least one teacher a day, if not several. During the first week of school, one of the seventh grade boys was apparently bored during my Pre-Algebra class. In the middle of my lecture, he started doing the "YMCA". I asked him stop, and he promptly did so. The students in the two rows behind him giggled but came back on task fairly soon.

I began working a problem at the board, and when I turned around to ask a question, the same student was now doing the "Funky Chicken". Trying to keep my composure, I once again told him to stop and pay attention. I kept teaching.

Again, when turning around from writing on the board, I saw the same student, this time performing a move from a popular commercial*. I don't think anyone knew what math was going on at this point. I worked to get the class under control and went back to teaching--again.

During homework time (seventh grade usually ends up with 5-10 minutes to work on homework), I looked up from helping another student, and the same boy is now performing "Walk Like an Egyptian"! How did he learn all of this stuff!

Needless to say, I now use the overhead projector to work problems becuase I never have to turn my back on the class.

*The third "dance" by my student involved placing the right hand on the right shoulder and the left hand on the left hip. The hand positions are then reversed, with the right hand going to the right hip and the left hand going to the left shoulder. As the hands are switched, head is thrust slight forward and pulled back.

Funny Stories

Since the avowed purpose of this blog is to preserve for posterity some of the funny things that my students have done, I will post one soon for your consideration. By the way, if you would like to see what my classes are doing now, click on the link to "SCS Math Classes". It will send you to the page I give to my students. But be warned! There is no return link! That is business, and this is pleasure. The only reason I provide that link is because several people ask about how school is going.

Finally!

All right, so I finally started a blog. I am not doing this because everybody has been bugging me too. I found out that "Google Calendar" and "Google Documents & Spreadsheets" will let me post assignments and handouts for my students on the web. But I needed a place to pull them all together and organize them. So, I created a blog under the name SCSMathTeacher and made class pages for all of my classes. They are all linked to calendars for each class that will be updated weekly with assignments. I have been wanting to get this stuff online so that no student has the excuse "but I didn't know what the assignment was" and so that the parents of students have a better chance of keeping up.

Once I got done with that, I realized that it would be nice to have a place to record all of the really funny things that my students say. And since the Beta version of Blogger has made it so easy to create, customize, and maintain a blog, I figured, "Why not?" But then I had this great dilemma--what should I name my blog? Nothing seemed to work at first. My original thought was "i is a number" but that seemed to hurt my husband's grammar sensibilities. (He quipped that next I would insist the "e" is a number.) So I ditched that one and searched the web for math quotations. (Isn't Google great!) I found the Erdös quote and knew it was perfect. Coffee and theorems--I have never been far from one of them since I started college. Frequently both were close at hand as I tried to embody Erdös's assertion. To be honest, I'm not sure which I like more.