Koreans go Canuck

For those of you that don't know, though we are teaching in China, most of our students are Korean. Their parents are here doing business (many in the fashion industry) and they send their kids to international schools to learn English. So we've lived in China for almost a year, but spent the majority of our time with Koreans and feel like we've learned more about Korean culture than Chinese. For example, did you know that Korean kids should ALWAYS accept a paper from a teacher with two hands? It's a useful little tidbit of information when keeping everybody in line.

The cultural exchange goes both ways. My classroom is just down the hall from the music room and I was quite surprised one afternoon to hear Corb Lund's "The Truck Got Stuck" blaring through the halls. I took a peek in the music room, and there is Scott's guitar class rocking out to some good old Canadian country music. Wish I had a couple cowboy hats and a video camera. If you don't know the song, find it on youtube and then imagine it being played by a bunch of Korean city kids that have probably never been in a truck, or a tractor.... hee hee

Corb

I teach a grade 1/2 class of non-english speakers. They're an incredibly hyper, fun bunch, but its challenging to find literature they can understand, or relate to. On a whim one afternoon, I read them the classic Canadian kids poem - Dennis Lee's "Alligator Pie," and it stuck. They think it's possibly the best thing they have ever read/chanted/heard. So very exciting...
Here's a picture of us presenting it to the school yesterday. We were a hit.

Yes, there I am doing the elementary school teacher thing. I used to be annoyed by such people, but you try getting a bunch of kids to perform in unison without it. It has to be done!