Today is graduation day at my school. Last year I dressed up and came prepared to participate in the ceremony. As I sat at my desk it waiting, it eventually became clear they had started without me. I went down to the cafeteria to take a peek, and I immediately understood that I hadn't been snubbed, there was simply no room for any extra spectators. See, my school doesn’t have an auditorium, so between the students, parents and teachers, the cafeteria was packed tight. I even think only the homeroom teachers attended the ceremony.

Today I wore jeans and a polo.

After today the kids will go away for three more weeks, but I will have yet another class to teach. This time I’ll have one class for students and one for adults. Right now I’m trying to put together some activities for the classes and I’m having a harder time than you might think. While there is a temptation to photocopy any old worksheets I find and recycle activities I’ve used a hundred times before–indeed, that seems to be exactly what my superiors want from me–my training and instinct as a teacher tell me I should try to put my lessons into some kind of meaningful context. Fortunately I guess, there is no time for philosophical dilemmas such as these. I’m under a deadline. (Thanks Mr. Vice Principal. No, really.) As a sort of compromise I’m trying my best to choose worksheets, warmers and games that cover similar content areas.

I was going to give an example of a lesson I’m planning for next week, but that sounds incredibly boring. There is however, one activity I’m going to try that I want to mention. I think the official name is Number Battle, but I call it Math Hands. It’s sort of like a rock, scissor, paper game, but with numbers. The complete instructions are here.

Labels: EFL teaching, Korean middle school.