January and beyond

I have been teaching an intensive winter session at school. I had reading/writing. I assigned them journals everyday. So, the first part of class I checked their writing and corrected it. I always find it difficult to explain why you use one word instead of another. For example, when to use ‘while’ and ‘during.’ Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t remember learning grammar rules, I can tell you which is correct but maybe just by practice. My students know the name of parts of speech and some grammar rules, more than what I learned in school. I diagrammed sentences in just one class, 8th grade in Mrs. Dowling’s class. I bring in articles from Wikipedia and ask the students question about it. I have gotten some random topics, like parachuting, backpacking, hurling, texting, and others. I have one talkative class and one super quiet. Some of the students told me about games they played in high school. It’s a good idea to ask them, because my idea of a fun game doesn’t always turn out that way. Students here are not very creative. I found that out when I played mad libs. That is where I write a sentence and leave blanks for noun, adjective, verb and see what funny sentence you get. Yesterday my coworker and I combined classes and played “mafia.” It’s funny, I really didn’t like that game growing up, but now I found out that students are familiar with it so I play it. Oh well, things come in cycles I guess. I have a vacation in February before starting spring semester. It seems all of the teachers are going somewhere, either back home or vacation, although one is just staying here. I don’t try to figure people out, you mean you don’t want to see your family, I’m thinking. I’m going to Taiwan for almost two weeks, then I’m going to Jeju Island to help with my church “winter camp.” It’s like VBS, but in Jeju. The children’s pastor asked me to help out, they are paying for me. I am looking forward to it, although I will have to teach 10 year old kids lessons. Oh well sacrifices are a part of life. I started to take Korean class again at church. I last took class in September perhaps. I’ve learned a lot since then, but not necessarily book material though.