Skillet Blogging

Yellow dust

2007-03-24T15:52:00.000+09:00

So about this time every year, dust from the Gobi Desert area starts blowing through most of East Asia. I didn't really know about "yellow dust season" before I got to Korea, but boy have I gotten an introduction. While I haven't actually SEEN the dust, I've definitely felt it. Started last week with some wheezing -- I've used my fast-acting inhaler about once in the last year. As severe as my asthma was in childhood, it's mild to nonexistant these days, and I was naturally surprised to find I had breathing difficulties. I developed a slight cough and the breathing worsened, so Monday I went to the hospital.

Korean medical care is interesting. I go see the general doctor, who speaks enough English, tell him I'm having breathing trouble and am asthmatic and all he does is listen to my lungs. It sort of freaks me out how they prescribe anything without taking a medical history, asking about possible interactions or even doing a real physical. Anyway, he gave a "Turbuhaler" to take twice a day and two doses of prednizone and that was that.

My wheezing did get better, but I got sicker. I went back on Thursday and I've progressed to full-blown pneumonia. This time my "physical" consisted of listening to my lungs, temperature and a chest x-ray (this is the nice part of Korea: a $10 chest x-ray!). I got lots of drugs (they don't tell me what they are, and it's a convoluted process of looking up the insurance number on druginfo.co.kr and then googling the active ingredients). Hopefully, they're working.

I did get Friday off work, though not if The Hagwon had had their way. I don't have any sick days left, because I used them both for India-related things, but even if I did the Korean view on illness isn't terribly pragmatic. They try to bargain with you, "well, maybe you can come just for this one class, because parents expect there is foreign teacher--"

PNEUMONIA. NOT TEACHING ANYONE.

Again, the weaknesses of Hagwon education

2007-03-09T13:40:00.000+09:00

As I said, the new semester started last week (that's why I've been so busy). I've touched on some of the frustrations of teaching at a hagwon, but a couple things happened this week that really highlighted one of the major reasons my "school" can be counterproductive to actual learning.

Unrealistic expectations
Yesterday my coworker called a teacher meeting to discuss discipline. In the course of developing a sticker system to encourage homework completion and discourage, say, yelling in class, the issue of the textbooks came up. Without any consultation with the foreign teachers (or, for that matter, the Korean teachers), the school purchased books far too advanced for the classes. First graders with no experience in real classwork were being given Level 2 Dictation books for listening, and the speakers were at conversational speed.

But they aren't willing to slow down or change. We just have to "make it work" because the parents expect more. As a coworker aptly put it, you can't go from arithmetic to physics in a week. You'd think that these parents, who are not by ANY means fluent (I've spoken to most of them) would realize how difficult it is to master a language, and yet they expect their small children to do it in a month? There's challenging students, but there's also going so far over their heads that they can't even reach.

The same day, one of my B-level students' mother came in for a meeting and to observe. She was furious that her daughter (first grade) was in the second-level class -- even though two of the smartest kids in the grade are as well, and we use the same book as the A-level. She yelled and screamed and carried on and finally my boss decided just to move the girl up, after the mother called the kindergarten teacher to get confirmation that YW's English was in fact remarkable. The truth, of course, is that she belonged and was doing well in B-level. But it wasn't about the kid. It was about the mother, and the image of being in the top class.

At least I have one sane parent, though! A former kindergarten student of mine who'd been placed into the C-level class was bumped up, and after a day his mother asked that he be moved back down to give him a chance to master the fundamentals. That kid will probably end up with better English than any of them!

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Found a new website for general bookmarking: This Week in Evolution summarizes a paper a week. So much of my reading is either on the mechanisms of evolution or the general evo-creo debate that it's nice to interject some current research in there. Keep an eye on it.

It's a whole new year.

2007-03-02T22:29:00.000+09:00

Today was the opening of the new year for Korean schools, which means changes at The Hagwon too. We have a new crop of baby first graders coming in, which means everybody else is shuffled and pushed up an hour. Reshuffling of the afternoon teachers, too: one teacher got transferred out and another brought it; all of my wonderful classes were taken away from me and given to the disciplinarian teacher, who really should be doing, oh I don't know, the classes with discipline problems. But that'd make too much sense for The Hagwon! In fact, in a stunning piece of reasoning, The Director is pointedly not giving the bad classes to Disciplinarian because if the boys can't spend English Hagwon time playing with their friends, they might quit.

Sometimes you just have to shake your head and get on with it.

So, my new and vastly unimproved schedule:

2pm - first grade, mid-level. I had half of them in kindergarten. They're solid students and mostly good kids. I won't have any trouble with them; also, there's only six.
3pm - kill me. Rotating class (so, a different group MWF than TR), low level, no interest.
4pm - no, seriously. Big rotating class, equally low, much worse discipline-wise.
5pm - low level underacheivers, but small class size and only on MWF. I can do a little with these guys, anyway.
6pm - thank the hockey gods for this one. Our six smartest elementary kids in one room. I've got my 4th grade writing genius (more on her at a later date), two 4th graders who lived in the US for two years, a very talented 5th grader and one of the funniest kids I know, even if he is a bit behind the others and in 6th grade (he's the "daughter of a bitch" boy).

Aside from losing all my kids that I've had since I started at this damn place, the big downsides are that I'm no longer teaching my 8-year-old math genius and my favorite first grader won't be with me anymore, either.

This whole thing would be so much easier if I didn't care about my job or my kids.

On a high note, I got to name a couple kids today. One was "Weasley" already, but I tagged two more "McKay" and "Carson." Cookies for whoever gets the reference.

Yes, yes, meme time

2007-02-26T12:39:00.000+09:00

...from All in a Day's Work:

1. Grab the book closest to you.
2. Open to page 123, go down to the fourth sentence
3. Post the text of the following three sentences.
4. Name the author and book title.
5. Tag ~~three~~ two other people to do the same.

Fourth full sentence? I'll go with that:
"But as I have already allowed, this does not rule out biological laws; it merely sets the burden of proof for those who want to propose any. And in the meantime, it gives us a framework for describing large and important classes of regularity we discover in the patterns in our biosphere.
CHAPTER 5: Biological possibility is best seen in terms of accessibility (from some stipulated location) in the Library of Mendel, the logical space of all genomes."

The closest book to me happens to be the one I'm reading, Darwin's Dangerous Idea by Daniel Dennett. I'm not actually to page 123, but I'm enjoying it thoroughly so far. It's my first non-Dawkins evo book in a while, and while I don't think anything can surpass The Ancestor's Tale as my favorite nonfiction of all time, Dennett is a bit more philosophical and willing to apply these concepts to humanity, which I guess makes sense since he's a director of cognitive studies.

I tag Bug Blog and Beautiful Biology.

A splash of culture

2007-02-25T19:58:00.000+09:00

I will admit that what passes for foreigner culture in Korea -- especially the smaller cities, such as mine -- is drinking. We drink a lot, and the teachers who DON'T drink have essentially no social life around here. But you actually learn a lot in the bars, and cultural exchange via alcohol can be the best kind, so here are a few of the things we tend to find continually amusing, no matter how long we're here:

1. Soju. The official alcoholic beverage of Korea, this stuff is essentially vodka's weak little brother. It's made of rice (shock.) and tastes like diet lighter fluid, but it's only about 40 proof. We shoot it most of the time, but a lot of places make sawa, flavored soju, with fresh strawberry, kiwi, grape, etc., and that stuff is good.
2. Side dish. This isn't even just a drinking thing. When you go in a restaurant or bar, you are immediately showered with side dish (note: this is never plural), and I think it could be a federal law that kimchi be served with every meal. In bars, side dish tends to be the normal pretzel-peanut-salty fish combo. In some you have to order side dish with your alcohol, fruit, sausage, soups, omelette, that sort of thing. In soju tents and maccoli houses, side dish comes with your drinks and ranges from shrimp to squid to egg to veggies...
3. Soju tents. Open-air (in nice weather) permanent tent-thingies with plastic tables and chairs, usually a projection TV with soccer on, cheap-ass soju and good side dish. These places are wonderful.
4. The soju drinking game. So you know when you open a bottled drink, the circle of plastic that the cap seperates itself from on the initial twist? Well, on soju that circle is aluminum and breaks upon opening the bottle, but one end stays attached to the cap. You twist it tight and pass it around the table, with everyone taking a turn flicking it. The people on either side of the eventual person who flicks it off take shots. Then the winner looks at the number that's indented on the underside of the cap. It's always between 1 and 100, and you go around the table again guessing numbers (so if the number is 37 and the first person guesses 50, the caller will say "lower" and the next contestant's range is 1-50). Whoever gets the number takes a shot. Simple and elegant, as drinking games go, and built right into the bottle.
5. The two-hand thing. Ok, so, it's actually impolite not to do this when handing ANYTHING to anybody else, but especially money and alcoholic beverages. The basics, for drinking: a) always pour with your right hand. b) the left hand should either be on the bottle, on your right wrist, on your right elbow, or on your chest. c) always hold your glass with the same two-handed grip when someone is pouring for you. d) never pour your own drink. e) never let someone else's glass remain empty. Not following these rules results in bad luck for the people across from you, so says tradition.
6. Kombae! "Cheers" in Korean.
7. Nore bong. A fairly common post-bar/tent destination, the nore bong translates as "music (or song) room" and it's private karaoke. For like $15 you and all your friends can go croon drunkenly in your very own room. And you can bring beer.

So now you know a bit about how to drink in Korea, which I'm sure will come in handy. I know that when I go home in five months (speaking of which, I was accepted to UAH for a second degree last week) I'll be pouring with two hands for months.

It's February!

2007-02-20T13:11:00.000+09:00

Which means pitchers and catchers report and the NCAA ping is sounding again. Forgive the diversion, but my Tar Heels are ranked number 1 by Baseball America for the first time in program history, and I'm pretty excited. Granted, Seton Hall (our first-weekend opponent for several years now) is not the most fearsome of teams, but a sweep and 27-4 outscoring in three games is a good start.

Robert Woodard, who was awesome last year and will be awesome this year, took a perfect game into the 7th in the Friday season opener, retiring the first 20 batters and ending up with 7.2 scoreless, one-hit innings. Brilliant. I thought last year would be the best chance at a national championship for a while since Miller and Bard would be leaving, but I guess being an out away improves your recruiting.

Among recent graduates (or draftees), Andrew Miller is looking really good at Tigers camp, looking like the best of the young arms, though he'll probably start the year at Lakeland. I doubt he'll be there long, as he managed to ascend to Detroit last year. Chris Iannetta's a shoe-in for a roster spot in Colorado, even though their signing Javy Lopez makes it a bit harder for him to earn the starter's role right off the bat. Still, .260 after his call-up last year's nothing to sneer at.

I think those are the only two in camp so far, so it'll be a month or before I can check up on how the minor leaguers are doing and where they got assigned this season.

Let's go Tar Heels!

Bigger lies and bad science

2007-02-16T13:02:00.000+09:00

Yesterday we wrapped up a week and a half of kindergarten parent interviews. It wasn't too bad, fun to meet some of my kids' parents and to show off their reading, but there were parts that bothered me immensely. For instance, did you know that every child in my class is WELL above average? I know! Shocking! It was a reminder of what I do try to forget -- we aren't a school, we're a business, and keeping the parents happy comes before teaching the kids.

The format of the meeting was pretty straightforward. We gave a powerpoint presentation on the elementary school program, then our director came in and bullet-pointed it in Korean, showed off the textbooks and explained the prices and schedules. We brought the kid in and had them do a reading rate test in a minute, told the parent the kid was unbelievably great and then asked a few questions to show off their listening and speaking skills. Of course, the questions were rehearsed and for half of them the reading was basically them saying "a" and "the" and "to" and us providing the rest.

The reading rate test was shit, of course. We took first and second-grade level tests off a website that measured reading speed, but it was one with a start and stop button, so the passages weren't meant for a 1-minute timed test. However, without any supporting data, my coworker decided that the passages (which, remember, weren't made for a 1-minute test) weren't meant to be read in 1 minute, so the average must be about half the passage, in this case 20 words. So she persisted in telling EVERY parent whose kid churned out 45 words a minute -- the lowest "score" amongst our 7-year-old ESL students -- that he or she was well above the reading level of the average American first grader. Even after I explained that a) the passages we chose weren't intended for this sort of test, b) data on the topic shows first graders average 50-80 wpm according to a couple different studies and c) not knowing how to say a word SHOULD affect their score, she STILL didn't stop telling parents that.

But the bad science for marketing ploy bothered me most. At my university, only one science major required a research methods class for graduation, and that was psychology. I imagine that part of the reason is that because of the nature of psych research, the variance, the difficulties in study design and the impossibility of generalizing most things to a whole population, it's more important that students be capable of distinguishing bad science from good, but whatever the reason, I did very well in the class and misrepresentation of psych research is a huge pet peeve of mine.

So my fellow kindy teacher dug up some study showing that children who change schools have worse grades, while those who remained in the same school got better grades, went to university and got better jobs. First of all, university follows from having good grades and better jobs follow from being university educated, so I objected right off the bat to essentially telling parents that if they changed hagwons on us at age 7, their kid would be working at 7-Eleven in vocational high school.

Then, the attached graph showed that of the kids who "stayed in the same school," 70% had an A average, about 25% were B students and the remainder were C or D students. The A-B-C/D-F breakdown for kids who "changed schools" was 25%-25%-35%-15%. I couldn't find the exact study, because she didn't cite it, but I did read some similar research for a class in development of social behavior last year. Most of the work seemed to be focused on grade spans, illustrating that the jump from elementary to middle and middle to high could affect grades, especially in students that were going through puberty at the same time as the change in schools. For all I know, the study was looking at at-risk sixth graders making the jump to seventh. Or it was examining the grades of students who changed schools midyear, or those who had changed schools more than once in a five-year period. I don't know, and neither did she, and neither did those parents.

Of course, I can say with certainty that this study was not addressing the grades of 7-year-olds who are starting the first grade in public school ("changing schools") anyway and are only deciding whether or not they want to attend English academy in the same building that they attended kindergarten. And every time I had to explain that stupid graph, I thought about how I didn't deserve that A in Research Methods.

I do know that hagwons are first and foremost a business. It's why we can't give bad grades or bad comments, it's why 8 year olds have black belts in taekwondo. That didn't bother me at first, when I was teaching the kids who didn't want to learn English and never would. But now I'm teaching the really good kids, the ones who can be fluent, who can study abroad and go to college outside of Korea if they want to, and I do care more about what they learn than what their parents think they learn. These are bright, creative kids and they deserve better than the hagwon business, and I hate sitting in meetings being the only one on their side.

So in honor of solnal, the lunar new year, a resolution: I get five more months of these students, and I get to teach 'em not just English reading, but creative writing, science and social studies. In my class, this isn't going to be about what the parents see, it's going to be about what my kids learn. What's wrong with this system that that isn't enough?

Genius kids and DNA

2007-02-13T12:43:00.000+09:00

In honor of Darwin Day, this is a writing sample from one of my favorite students. JS is about 9, just started the third grade and is a certifiable genius (btw, does anybody know of online IQ tests geared for children? He really wants to take one, and the kid scored 109 on an ADULT test. In his SECOND language). He routinely presents me with lists of mathematical operations to learn to say in English and his favorite phrase, since I taught it to him, is deoxyribonucleic acid. The assignment was a "personal narrative." They were supposed to write about an event in their life, fiction or nonfiction, in first person. Here's JS's contribution, a final draft, mistakes preserved:

If I were a DNA molecule, I would make a pupil rainbow. This is not a joke, and I'm just saying what I want to do. And I'd make that rainbow-colored-pupil-person's head is on Deneb (1500 lightyear away). It'll be the tallest person ever, and he or she will be bald because I want to tease him or her. But it's not a joke! And he or she will be a good basket ball player. But it won't get a exact shot because he or she couldn't see! HeeHee...And I'll make his/her IQ hi-lo (high, low) If he wants to join a Mensa club, I'll make his/her IQ 157. Why 157? I like 169, but it's too high, so I like 13 to, because root(169)=13. And 169-13 makes 156. I don't like even numbers, so I changed the 13 to 3x4=12 so 169-12=157. I can make 155 changing 13 to 14, but I don't like 2 same numbers in a row even though it's easier to remember the number. Oh, back to the rainbow-colored-pupil-person story. Some of the story is about numbers, that's what I'll tell. He can be a prime checker. Like the prime calculator in the murderous maths site (www.murderousmaths.co.uk). Like some one say '101' and he'll say prime. If someone says 76001, he'll say prime. If some one says 68103491, he'll say "No. It's 197x523x661." And everyone will say "Wow! You're great!"

Great indeed, JS.

Happy Darwin Day!

2007-02-13T09:31:00.000+09:00

So February 12 is Charles Darwin's birthday, and thus DARWIN DAY! Some links in honor:

Pharyngula: My favorite evo-related blog!

Talk Origins: The best resource out there. The FAQ break down the most common questions and misconceptions about what evolution is and how it works.

Pocket Darwin: A good, short primer on evolution.

Understanding Evolution: From Berkeley, a wealth of resources for everyone (including teachers) with some interesting topics, such as "How does evolution impact my life?"

Time for work for me.

Sorry, sorry, just a meme.

2007-02-09T09:42:00.000+09:00

I don't normally do these, but I didn't have time for a good post yesterday, so this can fill in 'til I get a chance to write about my genius kids tomorrow...and also I love doing memes. Why? Because Richard Dawkins coined the term and I love so very much that it has become netspeak.

1. What time did you get up this morning? Alarm went off at 9. I'm not really tired yet, but I think it's likely I will be during about the second spelling test today.

2. Diamonds or pearls? I have one piece of jewelry, and it's diamond.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Blood Diamond, and it was awesome.

4. What is your favorite TV show? Just one? I keep up with NCIS, House, Grey's Anatomy and Battlestar Galactica via download, but right now I'm hopelessly addicted to Stargate Atlantis.

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Sometimes Oatmeal, more often nothing

6. Favorite restaurant? Memories, this German place in Seoul. My standards for good food are lower in Korea, but...so good.

7. What is your middle name? That sort of thing makes it hard to stay anonymous, doesn't it?

8. What food do you dislike? mushrooms

9. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Kris Delmhorst, Strange Conversations

10. What kind of car do you drive? Toyota Rav 4, when I'm in the US to drive it.

11. Favorite sandwich? Fried egg, lately.

12. What characteristic do you despise? Stupidity, vapidity, willful ignorance

13. Favorite item of clothing? It's kind of cop-out to say my Thrashers jersey, isn't it.

14. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Geez, how 'bout home? But no, I'd go back to St. Petersburg.

15. What color is your bathroom? white-ish

16. Favorite brand of clothing? I don't really have a favorite brand.

17. Where would you retire to? I haven't really thought that far ahead, honestly.

18.What was your most recent memorable birthday? My 21st. My sibs, mom and stepmom came to Chapel Hill and we drank a beer in the hotel lobby at midnight, then bloody marys at Sunday brunch the next day.

19. Favorite sport to watch? baseball and hockey

20. Farthest place you are sending this? I wouldn't know.

21. Who do you least expect to do this? Uh. I don't know.

22. Person you are tagging? I'm not compelling anyone else to do this.

23. Favorite saying? Honestly.

24. When is your birthday? 04/10

25. Are you a morning person or a night person? Both.

26. What is your shoe size? 260

27. Pets? 2 dogs of my own (that's them on the sidebar), my family also has a dog and two cats

28. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? CAROLINA 79-DUKE 73

29. What did you want to be when you were little? I went through phases of fireman, vet, roboticist, virologist, aerospace engineer and sport psychologist. Now I'm going to be an evolutionary biologist.

30. How are you today? Very tired, because Korean soju is Not A Good Thing.

31. What is your favorite candy? tictacs, which they don't have in Korea.

32. What is your favorite flower? Don't have one.

33. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? July 24.

34. What church do you attend? Why do we assume I attend a church? I am an atheist, and we don't do organization.

35. What is your full name? JeonjuTarHeel

36. What are you listening to right now? The Thrashers laying a beatdown on the Avs.

37. What was the last thing you ate? Galbi YanTanJip last night.

38. Do you wish on stars? Nope.

39. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Orange

40. How is the weather right now? 'bout 35 and cloudy

41. Last person you spoke to on the phone? One of my friends

42. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Well, I don't really know the person who's blog I took it from, but sure!

Curriculum changes

2007-02-07T13:39:00.000+09:00

Looks like a bit of an overhaul in The Hagwon's new year, starting in March. I was helping the other third year kindy teacher design a presentation for our kids' parents on the elementary program, since obviously we want them to send their graduating kindergartners to our elementary program, and there's all sorts of new stuff.

The biggest thing is that we're going to start accepting MWF students (now every student is here M-F). This is a bit of a challenge for the teachers, since we have to get all the important stuff in on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and still not get repetitive for the weeklong students on Tuesday or Thursday. So it appears that we're adding social studies and science to our English program.

In some ways, I like this, since it really broadens the kids' vocabularies and their knowledge about the world and the English-speaking world (social studies is often American history and geography), but it does make things things a little more difficult when it comes to preperation. I already do more prep work than most hagwon teachers, because I write Wednesday worksheets and reading comprehension tests for my students. Now I've got to throw social studies and science lessons and homework in there too? Great...

But maybe it'll work out, maybe The Hagwon will pull through with some good materials. Otherwise I'll have to network with some US first and second grade teachers for help, I think. And that's just me with the advanced kids, the teachers for the lower levels will have an even harder time.

Back to work, then taekwondo. Wendesday is such a long day for me...

My religion...

2007-02-04T11:30:00.000+09:00

...is a cold, icy early morning, with the moon still up and nearly full, making ending a Saturday night early to be up for it just that much better.

...is finally pronouncing Hwasan Cheyukwan so the taxi driver understands it the first time.

...is a freezing, dark arena, abandoned except for the basement rink.

...is the slow, flickering awakening of the not-quite-bright-enough lights on rough ice, the red and blue of the new paint giving it a fresh look that it lacked for my first six months.

...is the fumes given off by the kerosene heater as it sputters to life in the frigid locker room.

...is the easy rhythm of dressing, pants-skates on-shinpads-skates tied-elbow pads-jersey-helmet-gloves, right to left, same every time.

...is walking down a flight of stairs in skates.

...is the first step onto the ice, the crunch of the blade echoing in the rink.

...is my breath somehow adding to the haze that settles over the surface naturally.

...sprinting blue line to blue line, remembering how much fun skating really is, somehow still novel every week.

...is just feeling the puck on my stick.

...is the eagle eyes of the players waiting to come on the ice, calling the one rule we actually enforce: "Offside-uh!"

...is the moment I realize my toes and fingers are warm.

...is sixty minutes of five on five and one shift off the ice.

...is playing every position save goalie.

...is an end-to-end rush, a breakout pass, defending a three-on-one, one-timers and tips and great breakaway saves and how they're all the same even if I can't hear a word of English to describe them.

...is how good I feel after an hour of hockey, no matter how I played, no matter how much sleep I got the night before, even when I'm coughing up a lung.

Who needs a god, when you've got hockey?

Cursing

2007-02-02T09:36:00.000+09:00

The nice thing about teaching ESL is that the potential for unintentional humor is quite high. One of my favorite examples comes from my best class, five conversational students ranging from third grade to sixth. The oldest student, SY, watches wrestling often and will come into class with questions about things he heard pretty frequently (I refuse to explain the shocker to him, no matter how many times he asks). So the other day, he asks if "son of a bitch" is a bad word. I told the class it was sort of a "medium" bad word, not too horrible but you wouldn't say it in front of your parents. I gave examples of using it as just a curse and of what it meant literally. SY seemed to absorb all this thoughtfully and we went on with class. The next day, he interrupted our definitions as if he'd just thought of something.

"Teacher!"

"Yes. SY."

"Son of bitch is bad word, yes?"

"We talked about that yesterday. Yes."

"Well, if you say son of bitch, can you say...daughter of bitch?"

And really, why can't you?

Little lies...

2007-01-29T21:43:00.001+09:00

Every Monday, the kindergarten teachers at The Hagwon are required to write a "weekly diary" for each student as sort of a progress report for the parents (most of whom can't speak English anyway). We are not allowed to be negative in the least with our comments, so what I actually write corresponds with something far different in my head...

Speaking skills are coming along. Your child continues to sound as if he hasn't used an f, th or short i in his entire life, despite the fact that it's his third year of English kindergarten.

Speaking will continue to improve as she gains confidence. Your kid refuses to say a word of English. Ever.

Enthusiastic speaker! Your little monster won't shut the hell up in Korean.

Initiating conversations in English. Asked me if she could go to the bathroom.

Improving understanding. Understands three English words: "playroom," "sketchbook" and "bathroom"

Good at picking out key words. Tells me every day is Tuesday.

A leader in the class. Your evil daughter controls the classroom with an iron fist and is without a doubt the biggest bully I have ever encountered.

Vibrant and enthusiastic. Finds staying in his seat akin to riding a bucking bronco. Eight seconds is about the limit.

No behavioral problems. Is only quiet when forced to stand in the corner with her hands in the air.

No major behavioral problems. Hasn't killed anyone yet.

Reads class materials with minimal prompting. Needs prompting on every word longer than three letters.

Beginning to pick up sight words! Can now read "I" and "a."

Understands the sound and usage of the letter p. Can tell a p from a w.

Able to add two-digit numbers. ...but still uses his fingers for 1 + 1

Solid critical thinking skills. Able to copy the answers off the board or her neighbor very effectively.

This goes along with the weekly spelling test grading scale. They aren't actually allowed to have any wrong answers on the test; we have to erase things until they get every word right.

6/6! -- 0 correct
Nice! -- 1 correct
Good! -- 2 correct
Very good! -- 3 correct
Great! -- 4 correct
Outstanding! -- 5 correct
Excellent! -- 6 correct

The kids are wise to that one, though. They're always disappointed if I don't start scrawling an "Excellent."

2007-01-29T20:58:00.000+09:00

So the unannounced hiatus -- not that anyone's reading anyway -- was due to a re-evaluation of the blog's purpose. I was going a little broad, I think. Pretty much the only unique insights I have here are related to teaching and living in Korea, so I'm going to stick to that from now on, with only the occasional forays off-topic. I'll leave the science mostly for a few months from now when, hopefully, I'll be enrolled in college again for a second degree in biology.

Back! Alive!

2006-11-25T11:28:00.000+09:00

Well, I'm mostly recovered from India after a course of Cipro and a few hours on a dextrose IV. I enjoyed myself anyway.

Today's topic is education (shock.) in Korea and the US. I got into an argument with a coworker on Wednesday about the Korean education system versus that in the US. I'll admit that when I was at her point (1 month into my time here), I was a bit enamored with the Korean system too -- hell, their sixth graders actually KNOW their multiplication tables! But last week was my four-month anniversary, and I've had a bit more observation now and a couple differing opinions. I still like the hagwon system, which really does allow for instensive study in an area of particular interest to the student, though I'm sure parents abuse the system by keeping their poor, overworked kids in as many as 12 at a time.

But what really bothered me was that her parting shot was, "Not everything in America is the best!"

Well I certainly never said that. It did, however, make me realize that she was arguing from personal experience. Now don't get me wrong. I was a student that would have absolutely excelled in the Korean system. The worst thing that could have happened to my grades was going to a high school where the emphasis was on how you thought, not memorizing facts, but I got a far better education for it. I don't regret the decision, and I'm not bitter that I'm in Korea now (saving a good amount of money at that). Unfortunately, she does seem to be a little bitter about the way her life has gone, and I'm afraid that colored the debate.

Her: I think the Korean system is great, kids have a chance to study exactly what they want and focus from a young age.
Me: That's good for some, but they're also so test-intensive that if a middle schooler fails the wrong exam, he or she gets shuttled into the vo-tech track with no hope of escape.
Her: Maybe that's where they should be, though. It means they don't have to waste time learning things they don't need and can just learn a career.
Me: What if they want to learn those things they don't need?
Her: But at least they graduate with job opportunities, unlike our system where you end up with people in their mid-twenties who have no idea what to do with their life!

Which is when I backed off, as she has a masters and is teaching English to small children in Korea and was clearly talking about herself being failed by the US education system. I'm not sure how. Is it the school system's job to find the thing you're best at and train you in it to the exclusion of all else? Or is that your job? I admit that I don't know what I want to do, and after earning a BA in psychology and exercise science, I'm considering returning to school for a BS in biology.

If I'd grown up in Korea, I'd probably be a medical student right now, but I wouldn't be nearly so educated.

So which system IS the best? I've no idea, but I do know that different types of students would excel in Korea and the US. Many would excel in both, but they'd end up completely different thinkers as a result of their education. I wouldn't say one is better. But I think that the differences speak a great deal to the differences between the cultures themselves.

Bye...

2006-11-04T08:39:00.000+09:00

Sorry, no TWISH or links this week or next. I'm leaving in a few minutes for India for eight days, little to no internet access. Have a good week!

Kindergarten prowess

2006-10-30T08:50:00.000+09:00

I wrote earlier on immersion learning in preschoolers, and how the benefit of English-themed kindergarten doesn't actually teach them English so much as it primes them to learn it in school/hagwon throughout their lives. But there's a great deal more to kindergarten here than the English. Elementary school in Korea begins in the first grade, when kids are "8" years old. That deserves a bit of clarification, so to start, school here goes from the beginning of March to the end of November. That means that on January 1st, each child's age for school purposes is considered the age they turn during the school year. So a kid whose birthday is on December 31st will start school a full year younger than a kid with a January 1st birthday. In addition, Koreans consider the gestation period to be the child's first year of life, so the day a Korean child is born is his or her first birthday. When I say they start school at 8, well, most of them are really 6.

So preschool, or kindergarten, is a private enterprise (there are general kindergartens, not just language-themed ones) that not all kids use. I wonder sometimes how far behind the kids who can't afford it are than their peers in the first grade...

But that's beside the point. I really want to compare Korean kindy kids to their American counterparts. We start kindergarten at 5 years old (effectively 3, in some cases), but my class is the oldest, the 7-year-olds. However, I have the lower-level 7s, so due to crowding in the 6yo class, I have three kids that will have another year of kindergarten before they start school. Here are the textbooks we use in class:
Spectrum Math - Grade 1 -- A book intented for first grade students. All of my students can add and subtract with ease and most of this book isn't challenging for most of them, even in English.
Super Easy Reading 1 -- I can't find much about this book, so I think it's used mostly for SLA. Very simple, but certainly very similar in structure and difficulty to some US kindergarten materials I've seen.
Master Skills Thinking Skills Grade 1 -- Again, a textbook for first graders. This one is more of a challenge from the language barrier standpoint. There were definitely some problems with sequence, but they were all because of not knowing what "last" means, not because they truly don't know. Still, most of my kids do an excellent job with this book.
Modern Curriculum Press Phonics Level K -- This one is intended for kindergartners, as to be expected.

But that's in English. In Korean, every single one of my kids can read and write (as can the age group below us) in Korean. In this, they are ahead of the majority of American kindergartners, unless there have been some dramatic changes since my siblings and I were in those grades (of my siblings, I was the only one who was reading when I entered school).

Further, I would put three of my fifteen kids into any US kindergarten right now and be completely confident that they would have no trouble with any of the material. Three more would probably be ok. And the teacher of the other 7yo class thinks all of her kids could do it.

What's the difference? Why can my Koreans read and write in Korean far better than most American kids can at the same age? I don't have an answer, but perhaps there is an expectation that kids will already be able to read, write and be proficient in basic arithmetic here when they begin school when in the US, there is a pressure for the same but perhaps not an outright expectation. Another possibility is that hangul (the Korean writing system) is easier to learn. It's certainly easier to spell, but I don't see how matching sounds to symbols is really going to be different in Korean than in English. I certainly don't think Korean children are intrinsically smarter, but perhaps the expecatations do make all the difference. The testing begins the minute they enter school, so perhaps parents make sure their kids know the basics -- even before starting kindergarten.

Politics...

2006-10-27T17:55:00.000+09:00

Googlebomb the election. From A Blog Around the Clock...Go here and copy the text into your blog.

--AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl
--AZ-01: Rick Renzi
--AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth
--CA-04: John Doolittle
--CA-11: Richard Pombo
--CA-50: Brian Bilbray
--CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave
--CO-05: Doug Lamborn
--CO-07: Rick O'Donnell
--CT-04: Christopher Shays
--FL-13: Vernon Buchanan
--FL-16: Joe Negron
--FL-22: Clay Shaw
--ID-01: Bill Sali
--IL-06: Peter Roskam
--IL-10: Mark Kirk
--IL-14: Dennis Hastert
--IN-02: Chris Chocola
--IN-08: John Hostettler
--IA-01: Mike Whalen
--KS-02: Jim Ryun
--KY-03: Anne Northup
--KY-04: Geoff Davis
--MD-Sen: Michael Steele
--MN-01: Gil Gutknecht
--MN-06: Michele Bachmann
--MO-Sen: Jim Talent
--MT-Sen: Conrad Burns
--NV-03: Jon Porter
--NH-02: Charlie Bass
--NJ-07: Mike Ferguson
--NM-01: Heather Wilson
--NY-03: Peter King
--NY-20: John Sweeney
--NY-26: Tom Reynolds
--NY-29: Randy Kuhl
--NC-08: Robin Hayes
--NC-11: Charles Taylor
--OH-01: Steve Chabot
--OH-02: Jean Schmidt
--OH-15: Deborah Pryce
--OH-18: Joy Padgett
--PA-04: Melissa Hart
--PA-07: Curt Weldon
--PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick
--PA-10: Don Sherwood
--RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee
--TN-Sen: Bob Corker
--VA-Sen: George Allen
--VA-10: Frank Wolf
--WA-Sen: Mike McGavick
--WA-08: Dave Reichert

This Week in Southern Hockey

2006-10-25T21:28:00.002+09:00

Atlanta 7-1-1 1st in the Southeast
Three games, three wins. The Thrash defeated Washington once and Florida twice in the past seven days, giving them a six-point cushion in the Southeast. Yes, it's early, but luckily the ol' "points count the same in October or February" adage comes true, and doubly so when most of those points are against SE opponents. The blazing start has been mostly attributed to Kari Lehtonen and rightly so. The kid's been outstanding and the extremely capable Johan Hedberg has seen exactly two seconds of ice time in 9 games. Look for him to play Thursday against Philadelphia, however, giving Kari a much-deserved rest before Atlanta heads up to Buffalo to take on the league's top team. Oh, yeah, and Kovalchuk's on track. His hat trick to beat the Cats came after saying in an intermission interview: "I'm doing my job. I'm plus-four!" On deck: Four road games should really put the Thrashers' early hype to the test. Carolina's looking better, Philly will still have a pathetically slow defense but might be fired up with their sudden overhaul, Buffalo's 9-0-0 and Toronto is never an easy place to play. 6 out of 8 would be an excellent week.

Carolina 3-4-2 T-3rd in the Southeast
Only two games, and the sole point came in an OT loss to the New York Islanders. However, they're still 3-1-1 in their last five, and the loss was to Buffalo, which isn't anything to be particularly ashamed of. They aren't getting shut out, either -- they put up four against the Sabres. Carolina's still got some significant injuries: Letowski and Stillman aren't ready, Andrew Ladd should be back for the Atlanta game and Wesley and Wallin are maybes. On deck: Atlanta will be a tough game, with the Thrashers looking to avenge the last-second loss back on Friday the 13th. Carolina follows up the Wednesday game with a home-and-home against the Bolts. They need four points.

Florida 4-5-1 2nd in the Southeast
Not such a good week for Florida, though they maintain their second-place spot by a point over the Canes and Bolts. They did defeat the Flyers 3-2 (but really, who hasn't), but fell to SE rivals Washington once and Atlanta twice in the meantime. Captain Jokinen continues to lead the team with four goals and 11 points, with Stephen Weiss just behind at 3-5-8. Mike Van Ryn leads the team with 8 assists. On deck: The schedule doesn't get any lighter. The Cats have another four-game week on tap, including the first three on the road at the Rangers, Devils and Isles, before returning home to host San Jose. And 1-3 isn't going to keep them from falling to double digits behind Atlanta.

Nashville 4-3-1 1st in the Central
A prolific week for the Preds! Wins over the Rangers and Devils and a point gained in an overtime loss to Vancouver vaulted Nashville from fifth to first in the West's Central division. Sure, it's a one-point lead and nobody else is better than .500, but take what you can get, and all. On deck: Hosting the Sharks before it's out west to face Calgary and the Canucks. Four points would be a good way to enter November.

Tampa Bay 4-4-0 T-3rd in the Southeast
Two games and two wins over Philadelphia and Washington bring the Bolts back to .500 and into a tie with the Canes behind Florida at third in the division. On deck: After a five-day break, Tampa plays three games in four days. Home-and-home with Carolina and then San Jose continues their southern tour. I don't see them taking more than two points this week.

I write less and less as I go along. It's because as I type, I'm thinking of how I have to get up at 6 a.m. for a 14.5-hour day, nine of which are spent teaching.

Weekend Links

2006-10-22T10:25:00.000+09:00

Not it! Mass. elementary school bans tag - Yahoo! News
First kickball, now tag...I have studied and understand the need for inclusive and safe games in gym class, but limiting what kids do in free play? If tag is too dangerous, you may as well never let your kid out of the house.

Congressman dies, surviving spouse denied benefits for first time in U.S. history
A bit of politics.

TROYIS™
A pretty damn addictive game. I only got to level 6 because I suck, but it's a good game.

After Pat’s Birthday
Via Deadspin. A scathing commentary from Kevin Tillman.

50 States - Presented by Addicting Games
And it is addictive! Try to put state cutouts in their place. I played five times and my best score was 96% with an average error of 4 miles. Part of it's luck of the draw...if you get a lot of border states first you do much better, if your first state is, say, Colorado, it's like impossible to get it exactly right.

Carnival of Education

2006-10-20T12:54:00.000+09:00

My post Immersion learning? is part of the 89th Carnival of Education at Poor, Starving College Student.

On tap, hopefully this weekend:

Cooking ramen
Dominance in preschoolers
Baseball

This Week in Southern Hockey

2006-10-18T12:51:00.000+09:00

Atlanta 4-1-1, 1st in the Southeast
Atlanta played three games in three days this week and didn't show signs of slowing. They beat Boston at home 4-1 and lost a tough 4-3 game to Carolina on Saturday night, but bounced right back to defeat the Caps in Washington in OT. Lehtonen continues to be outstanding. I'm a bit concerned that this early in the season Hartley has him playing back-to-back, but perhaps it was a confidence booster for the last-second goal against the Canes. Yes, Carolina scored with a second on the clock to send the Thrash to their only regulation defeat so far, but the bright spot in this game was that Atlanta battled back from 3-0 down. Last year, they'd have lost 5-1. Even more importantly, they went into Washington and came away with a tough victory on the road and Kovalchuk finally put one in the net. He's been playing outstanding hockey to start the season and it's about time one went in for him: and no better time than overtime! On deck: More SE. Home against the Caps Thursday night and then home-and-home with the Panthers Saturday and Monday nights. They have to be looking for 6 points this week.

Carolina 3-3-1, T-2nd in the Southeast
The defending champs look to be back on track with three straight wins this week. The Thrashers proved to be their only test, requiring a last-second goal by Ray Whitney of "Where's Whitney" fame (a million points if you get this reference) after blowing a 3-0 lead in the last two periods, but two straight 5-1 wins over Pittsburgh and Tampa were just what the doctor ordered. The Pittsburgh game had its price: for the second straight match against the Pens, a Cane left the game on a stretcher. Trevor Letowski was knocked out cold by a seemingly clean, if fluky, open-ice hit from Colby Armstrong. I'm sure he'll miss some significant time, but luckily it wasn't a broken neck. Cam Ward's looking strong, with 25 saves against the Caps and 34 on the Pens. They seem to be spreading out the scoring, too, the league lead in goals is 7; the team lead is 3 and shared by Scott Walker, Eric Staal and Justin Williams (who tallied all three in the Pittsburgh game). But that's par for the course for the Canes. On deck: The final two games of this long road trip, at Buffalo and on the Island, back to back on Friday and Saturday nights.

Florida 3-2-1, T-2nd in the Southeast
It was a good week for the supposed worst in the southeast. The Cats ran their home record to 4-0 by doubling up Carolina 6-3 and then beating the Bolts 3-2. They lost the second game of the back-to-back with Tampa by a 4-1 score, but four out of six points is certainly a good week for this team. It's probably not a coincidence that the loss was with Belfour in net. It took approximately no time at all for Auld to solidify himself as the starter. He's playing good hockey. Captain Olli Jokinen and young Stephen Weiss currently lead the team with 3 goals apiece and Weiss is also a +3 on the year. On deck: Four games this week: at Washington and home against Philly before the home and home with the Thrash.

Nashville 2-3-0, 5th in the Central
The rematch with the Blackhawks didn't go so well for Nashville, as Chicago handed them a third straight loss, but the Preds did pick up a couple of wins against Phoenix and the Islanders. Tomas Vokoun has continued to play well and seems to be the key to their team, not that that's news. Perhaps I was overenthuastic in my preview, but I'm not quite admitting it yet. Yes, they're in last place in the division, but it's only five games in, and they've won the last two. Scoring might be an issue: Steve Sullivan leads the team with 3 goals and Paul Kariya only has one. But again. It's early. On deck: We're off to face the East...Rangers and Devils on the road, then home against the Canucks.

Tampa Bay 2-4-0, T-4th in the Southeast
Another 1-and-2 week for the Bolts sinks them into a tie with Washington for last in the division. They split a home-and-home with the Panthers -- though the second game was against Belfour, which should be an automatic win for everyone -- and then were blown out by Carolina. Ryan Craig leads the team with 4 goals and 5 points, though he won't be the only one scoring for long. A great deal of the problem is that neither the power play nor the penalty kill have been effective: the Bolts are in the bottom third of the league in both. On deck: A light week in volume and opponents. Home against the Flyers on Thursday, at Washington Saturday.

(South) Korea: No inline this week on account of low numbers. No ice for me on account of my damn alarm didn't go off.

I'm in a book!

2006-10-18T12:41:00.000+09:00

I heard about the release of The Man Watching: A Biography of Anson Dorrance, the Unlikely Architect of the Greatest College Sports Dynasty Ever by Tim Crothers from a friend on Livejournal who posted a couple excerpts from the first chapter. It already looked like a fascinating book for a Tar Heel and sports fan, but I got a heads-up today that I'm actually in the book!

I frequented Carolina soccer games as an undergraduate, usually standing at the bottom of the bleachers, leaning on the fence, at field level. The book has a picture section, one of which is a shot of the team singing the Alma Mater after a game from behind, so that you can see the student section. Front and center is me and one of my best friends! He's now a manager for the team, so it was taken during my sophomore year. He says you can definitely tell it's us, so I hope I can get my hands on a copy somehow...

Saturday Links

2006-10-14T11:53:00.000+09:00

Video - World on Fire by Sarah McLachlan
I'm sure this has made the blog rounds, but I just discovered it, so if anyone else is behind the curve, here you are. A lovely song and better sentiment.

It isn't bigotry when it's true

A Republican state lawmaker is criticizing Gov. Brian Schweitzer for comments he made to a newspaper here about the lawmaker‘s belief that the planet is not millions of years old.

I've also seen this around, but the stupidity of the "anything I don't agree with is bigotry" worldview astounds me.

Tar Heel Baseball - Fall WS draft

Woodard and Steed arrived with three sheets of paper, one of them meticulously printed on a computer, listing their draft board. The Blue Steel braintrust, meanwhile, decided they needed a piece of paper at 2:17--the draft was slated to begin at 2:15.

This is why I love college baseball, and this team in particular.

Jesus and Mo on atheism
This is rapidly becoming my favorite comic.

This Week in Southern Hockey

2006-10-10T08:50:00.000+09:00

Or TWISH, for short. I think I'll do this every week. That's right, I'm going to do a weekly hockey post from Korea. Should be fun!

Atlanta - 2-0-1, 1st in the Southeast Lost a shootout to the Lightning at home and beat them 1-0 at Tampa, shutting out Florida in the middle. As predicted, Lehtonen has been outstanding. He was challenged only mildly in the game against the Panthers, but was flat-out outstanding against Tampa on Monday night, especially during a full two-minute five-on-three advantage for the Bolts in the second period. The defense is showing marked improvement early and overall team defense is significantly better -- both of these things are predominantly a case of additon-by-subtraction. Both Kari and the D led to the Thrashers posting the league's best goals against early. The tight-checking Tampa game is one that they'd never have won last year and is a good marker of where the team could be. Kovalchuk's lack of a goal so far is troubling, but not overly so. He's showing responsibility in all three zones, is on the ice in the last minute of a game and is leading the team in shots. He just needs a center. The Thrashers are also tops in the league in penalty kill and 5-on-5 scoring ratio. On deck: Atlanta's up against the Swiss cheese defense of Boston and then have the hapless Canes at home, so their perch atop the Southeast could easily continue. They'll also take on the Caps in Washington, and Kovalchuk-Ovechkin games are always fun. Plus, of course, Alexander Semin's leading the league in goals.

Carolina - 0-2-1, 5th in the Southeast Losses to New Jersey and Buffalo with the lone point gained in an opening-night shootout loss to Buffalo. It seems the summer was a bit short for the holders of the Cup. They've started slooowly and things came to a head at practice Monday with Kevyn Adams and Bret Hedican getting into a fight. They haven't played since, so we'll see if they're able to get back together as a team and back on track. Scoring is a problem: they're in the basement of the league in goals per game as well goals against, which naturally isn't going to get you very far. Actually, the only statistic in which they're at the top of the league is faceoff wins. On deck: The Canes are in the midst of a long road trip, and they'll be playing four games in six days against Pittsburgh and three division rivals: Atlanta, Florida and Tampa. If they can't turn it around here they'll be making up a lot of ground.

Nashville - 0-2-0, 5th in the Central The Preds only had two games in the opening week, but they weren't pretty. Despite being second in the NHL in goals per game, Nashville has exactly 0 points to show for it. Opening night was a shootout at home against the Blackhawks, but Vokoun looked shaky and gave up 7 goals on 32 shots as they fell 8-6. The prolific scoring continued against the Wild, but the Predators seemed disjointed and a number of odd-man rushes hung a stronger Vokoun out to dry. All but the GWG came on special teams, and I'm not sure how far the Preds are going to last at 30th in the NHL in PK... On deck: Nashville's up three times this week, a rematch in Chicago against the 'Hawks, at home against Phoenix and a showdown against the league's other pointless (that's "without points" rather than "irrelevant") team on the Island. Taking less penalties should be a good goal for the week.

Florida - 1-1-1, 2nd in the Southeast Florida opened with an impressive offensive outpouring in an 8-3 victory over Boston, then turned around to be shutout by Atlanta 6-0 the next night. They finished off the week in Toronto with a 2-1 shootout loss. Alex Auld played extremely well against the Leafs, something that he'll have to continue to do if they're going to play with any sort of consistency at all. It could be a wild year for the Cats, but I'm not overly impressed with the offense since Boston has no defense to speak of and that score is unlikely to translate to the rest of the league. On deck: All-southeast this week. They host the frustrated and potentially dangerous Hurricanes Wednesday night and play a home-and-home with Tampa on the weekend. Auld is going to have an awfully long season if he's forced to relieve Crazy Eddie Belfour in the second game of every back-to-back this year.

Tampa Bay - 1-2-0, 4th in the Southeast Marc Denis has had an excellent start in Tampa, but unfortunately for him, the offense hasn't seemed to come to life. After a shootout victory over Atlanta on opening night, they couldn't overcome the Bruins (at 5 goals against a game) for a 3-2 loss and then were shutout by the Thrashers. The 1-0 game was a pretty good hockey game, but as a friend of mine put it, "They kinda look like shit." So there you are. On deck: Three games this week, the home and home with Florida and then Carolina comes to town. Could be a chance to gain some ground in the division and start their offense.

Korea: No hockey in Korea this week, as it was Thanksgiving.

Here we go...

2006-10-09T12:51:00.000+09:00

I'm not an expert on politics. I'm an amateur, an informed voter who's done a bit of volunteer campaigning, but I'm not an expert.

So I can't really say what the consequences of this nuclear test are, but here's what I know. I think.

1) The won will plummet, won't it? That's not really good for me. That actually sucks.
2) The US doesn't have the resources to actually do anything in North Korea.
3) North Korea is less likely to bomb South Korea than lots of other places.
4) The US will evacuate American citizens if it gets dangerous. I think.
5) My parents will totally recommend I come home.

There's a bit of panic starting up, but I'm not really sure it's time to panic yet. Or time to leave.

Immersion learning?

2006-10-09T09:49:00.000+09:00

As I'm currently working as an immersion teacher with the Korean vocabulary to tell my students to sit down, it seems like the whole issue of immersion learning is one I've had ample opportunity to consider. There are three scenarios of immersion with which I have experience, so I'll talk a bit about those.

First, as a student:

I was the recipient of an immersion education, albeit later in my educational career and actually in the target language's country. As I'd already had two years of instruction in college, immersion was not a sink-or-swim enterprise. I knew plenty of words, could work out what I didn't and could make it clear what I could and couldn't understand to my professors, most of whom spoke very little English (or at least, very little English that I didn't already know in Russian). I benefited greatly and can still consider myself an advanced, nonfluent speaker of Russian.

Currently, I live in Korea. I have never formally studied the Korean language and before I came I had the time really to only learn the alphabet. In two months my vocabularly is at about 50 words. It's easy to memorize the words -- I find uses for all 50 almost every day, whether I'm buying food, teaching or in a taxi. However, I find that it is extremely difficult to get a handle on the structure and grammar of the language without formal study, and I can't imagine sitting in a class with a teacher speaking only Korean.

As an observer:

I had a sibling experience the wonders of language immersion as an elementary school student. The school, in fact, forbade those who taught German to speak to the students in English and required that all students speak to those teachers in German, even outside of class. The program, unique in its district, drew rave reviews, record fundraising efforts from parents, and produced proficient fifth-grade speakers, every now and then even a fluent one. However, these students encountered problems in middle school. The public middle school for which the students were districted drew from a wider area and thus had to establish a special German program just for these incoming sixth graders. Additionally, a good number of fifth graders from these suburban Atlanta neighborhoods went on to private school in the sixth grade, schools that didn't teach German. My sister was one of those -- she studied Latin in the sixth grade and French in the seventh and forgot most of what she knew about German, though the early exposure to another language undoubtedly helped her.

As a teacher:

As I've mentioned, I teach several different age groups and ability levels.

Adults: These students are similar to me as a Russian immersion student. They've all received formal training from a Korean teacher in the past and understand the structure and grammar of English well enough to understand my lessons. They also have a high enough vocabularly to a) tell me what they don't understand and b) figure out with context clues the meanings of words they don't know in my speech.

Kindergartners: Kindergarten is interesting. There are three age groups at my hagwon, and I teach the oldest, kids that will enter elementary school next year. We do reading, phonics, math and reasoning (like opposites and synonyms) every week entirely in English. Don't get me wrong, the don't speak English. They can't construct a sentence or understand most of what I say. But they do know a lot of words, and because they're starting to hear the sounds so early, many will find erasing their accent as they get older easier.

Elementary: I teach one high-level class of 7 and 8-year-olds. They, I think, benefit a great deal from hearing a native speaker every day, because they have very high vocabularies, some have spent time in English-speaking countries and many have parents that speak English. They're well on their way to fluency and they are able to transfer what they hear me say grammar-wise to their own speaking and writing. I also teach TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) listening classes, but again, about half these kids are effectively fluent and the rest are advanced speakers, so while they have things to learn, they can communicate fairly easily with a native speaker.

It's the beginner classes that are the problem. I have four classes of kids who quite simply do not know enough English to be taught in English. Many have no understanding of phonics and can't read aloud, even looking to me for help pronouncing the words "a," the," and "and." They don't understand the word "homework" or even commands like "read" and "repeat". It's frustrating for them to have a teacher who speaks no Korean and a textbook with no Korean in it, it's frustrating for me and I feel like I don't get anywhere with them. Don't get me wrong, I have some great kids in those classes, smart kids, but they are not ready for immersion classes.

So, the verdict, or at least mine.

I feel that the real benefit of English kindergarten is not producing fluent six-year-olds. It's making these kids that much more receptive to the English classes they'll have in schools (and probably hagwons) for the rest of their academic lives. I like the idea of language-themed kindergarten, actually, and I like teaching it.

Immersion classes for advanced elementary students is also helpful. It improves their accents, forces them to be creative to be understood, increases their vocabularly every day and requires them to process in English to a greater extent rather than just translating in their head. The children I teach will be TOEFL students by middle school easily.

However. Immersion classes with beginners is counterproductive. I'm not saying beginners shouldn't have a native speaker as a teacher, but the difference between being taught by a native speaker and being in an immersion class is shown in the difference between my elementary class with a Korean co-teacher and the two without. The class with the co-teacher is excellent. They're coming along nicely, learning their vocabulary, already recognizing sight words, showing excellent progress with phonics and the alphabet and generally learning well and eagerly. This is because exercise directions are explained in Korean. The simple sentences we use for reading are translated and the grammar is explained in Korean. Questions are answered in Korean. Yet they still hear English pronunciation, English grammar and English intonation from me. However, in the two classes that change, with me one day and their Korean teacher the next, my class is a joke. We get through a page, maybe two a day, it involves a lot of miming and drawing poor explanations for words. Part of the problem is that the school isn't treating the kids like beginners and thus the books we use are too advanced for them. Most of the problem is that I can't explain enough for them to understand what we're doing.

Because I don't speak Korean.

So what's the difference between my immersion classes with beginners and my sister's German class? I would guess... 1) those teachers and licensed and trained, they aren't just native speakers and 2) the curriculum is likely far better. Here they don't ask us about book recommendations, or I could've said what was too hard.

But there isn't a lot I can do, aside from keep drawing pictures. We'll see how the next two months go.

Oh, Fox News

2006-10-05T12:49:00.000+09:00

Thanks to a buddy via AIM, I heard that FoxNews had on a broadcast yesterday shown that Mark Foley was a Democrat. Here's a screenshot:

...seriously, just...fuck you, Fox News. What kind of amateur bullshit is that?

Sports Post!

2006-10-04T19:25:00.000+09:00

Well, the baseball playoffs have started, so I'm behind in my predictions, but here you are anyway:

National League
Padres-Cardinals: Cards in 4
Dodgers-Mets: LA in 5
Dodgers over Mets in 7

American League
Yankees-Tigers: Yanks in 4
Twins-A's: A's in 3
A's over Yanks in 6

A's over Dodgers in 5

The problem I have with predicting the outcome of things like "the playoffs" is that I then look back and see that I picked Oakland to win the World Series and that's just ridiculous.

Also ridiculous: Andrew Miller not on the Tigers postseason roster. Who cares if he's given up 7 ERs in 9 innings of work! He went to the CWS this year! He's 6'6"! He's left-handed! I need fewer exclamation points! Seriously, though I hope Detroit pulls it out against the Yanks and he gets added. Some of the most fun I have as a sports fan is watching the kids (I say that like I'm not the same age or younger) I cheered for as Tar Heels make the big leagues: my (other) boy Chris Iannetta made his debut with Colorado this year.

It's nearly hockey season and I'm psyched. I'm disappointed not to be in Atlanta, for the Thrashers WILL make the playoffs this year, but what can you do. I say Lehtonen stays healthy, Kovalchuk's in the race for the scoring title and Hossa could be an MVP candidate. So the outlook for Southern hockey:

Carolina Hurricanes: It's not the same lineup that won the Cup, with Recchi and Weight back to Pittsburgh and St. Louis, respectively, but I don't see any reason Staal won't equal last season's production and with Cole healthy again and Walker wearing red and white, the offense isn't going to be a problem. Ward and Tverdovsky have departed, but Wesley-Hedican-Kaberle-Wallin is a solid top-4 and Carolina has always been about defense as a unit. The biggest question mark for this team, I think, is Cam Ward. He was outstanding in the playoffs, but he's untested in a full season, and I'm not sure Grahame is the answer if Ward falters. Still, they should take the Southeast.

Nashville Predators: They have an outstanding, proven goalie in Tomas Vokoun and he can take them a long way. Proven scoring up front with Kariya, Hartnell, Erat, Legwand and a strong defensive corps. Jordin Tootoo and Scottie Upshall add a chippy presence (Tootoo already had a run-in with Atlanta's Kovalchuk in the preseason) and the fans in Nashville seem to have come to life. They have a good mix of youth and leadership and their team speed is excellent. I think they compete for tops in the West.

Atlanta Thrashers: Ahh, the Thrashers. An excellent deal this summer dropped some dead weight by sending appalling bad defenseman Jaroslav Modry and original Thrasher Patrick Stefan to Dallas (where true to form, he'll start the season on the IR). Aubin, Petrovicky and Vigier are easily replaceable players, so the only big losses Atlanta suffered in the offseason were Marc Savard and his 100 points and the team's third-leading scorer Peter Bondra. As I don't see Steve Rucchin stepping in for Bondra numbers-wise, it'll have to be a group affair to replace the two centers. Are Ilya Kovalchuk and Marian Hossa up to the task? If Bob Hartley can find the right mix of linemates for his stars, I'd say yes. The good news is that Rucchin and Niko Kapanen, who came over from Dallas, are strong defensive centermen and should help a slightly-better Thrashers D -- with the addition of Vitaly Vishnevski -- rise from the bottom of the NHL in goals-against. Atlanta's biggest signings, however, were probably in goal. While the playoff fate of the team likely rests on Kari Lehtonen's somewhat skinny shoulders and hopefully no-longer-fragile groin, Johan Hedberg is a more than capable backup and Fred Braithwaite is a solid third option. There should be no ECHL goalie sightings at Philips this year. I say second in the SE, sixth in the conference.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Hopefully Marc Denis solves their goaltending issues, but I'm not terribly convinced of that. They're a fast and dynamic team well-suited to the new NHL, with a well-meshed defense and high-flying offense. I can't say I share John Buccigross's optimism that they'll win the entire East, but Vinny Lecavalier and Mary St. Louis could sneak a third SE team into the playoffs this year.

Florida Panthers: I think the Cats are one big question mark. How will Bertuzzi fare in Miami? I'd guess that the change of scenary could only be good for him, hell, half of the Panther fans probably don't even remember Steve Moore. Some of the best young players in the league are down there too -- Jay Bouwmeester, Nathan Horton, Stephen Weiss. Mix them up with Gary Roberts, Marty Gelinas, Joe Nieuwendyk and Ruslan Salei with Olli Jokinen's leadership and I guess anything can happen. But their goalie is Ed Belfour. So I'm going with 10th in the East.

Four out of five playoff-caliber teams. We're coming along nicely, my fellow southerners.

My Korean Medical Adventure

2006-10-02T19:45:00.000+09:00

There's a lot to be said for socialized medicine and a national healthcare system. Certainly there's a lot of agreement that everyone should have access to such care. I found out today that this system has its downsides as well. Of course, I'm sure it isn't this way everywhere. It could easily just be Korea...

The story starts on Saturday, when my hockey team ended up at Bone Hospital for x-rays on our defenseman's leg. We'd played a three-game inline tournament in Gwangju, about an hour and a half away, and at the end of our last game a PP situation had gotten a little ugly and led to a fight. Our d-man had someone fall on his leg in the chaos and it was swelling up pretty badly. We didn't want to search for a hospital in Gwangju, so we brought him home to Jeonju. Sure enough, he had a broken fibula. He was x-rayed, diagnosed and casted in under half an hour. I was shocked -- that would take hours at home, especially on a Saturday night! As we were heading to the van, I noticed he had started hopping, keeping his casted leg (just a soft cast, for a couple days because they hadn't determined yet if he needed surgery with all the swelling) above the ground. I inquired about the whereabouts of his crutches. "Oh," said our club president -- a medical student -- matter-of-factly, "the store with the crutches is closed."

So yes, it only takes 30 minutes for your x-rays and the cast on your broken leg, but...come back Monday for the crutches!

So today I reluctantly informed the director at my hagwon that I probably needed to the see the doctor. My knee hadn't shown any improvement in the week I'd had pain (yes, playing three hockey games probably wasn't helpful) and I was afraid that if it got any worse I wouldn't be able to see a doctor over the holiday this week. My director took me to the same hospital - Bone - at around noon. I presented my resident alien card and she told the receptionsist I needed to see the orthopedist. We were told the wait was two or three hours, so I, used to the American referral system, suggested I just see the internist, the general MD, to see if this even warranted an orthopedist. They said no, I should go straight to the specialist. So I went home, and she brought me back later in the afternoon. We were told the wait was 20 or 30 minutes, so while I sat in the reception area, she went back to the hagwon, promising to return (to translate!). Naturally, I was called in 15 minutes later and...no director. (interesting sidenote: Korean names are three syllables. My first name is three syallables. At the hospital, they disregarded my family name entirely and just called me by my first name, Korean-style)

I entered the office and was directed to sit by a nurse. I call her a nurse, but they didn't seem to do any nurse-like things that I'd get at home. I observed other patients while I was waiting, too, and I saw no nurses taking vitals or history. The doctors seemed to do everything. Apparently they aren't quite as qualified here, though of course I don't know what their jobs are up for those who are admitted. The doctor came in, and luckily spoke some English, so we didn't have to wait on my director. Again, no history, no vitals. He did a routine ortho exam on my knee and found no pain except for some tenderness medially and started to tell me it was an MCL sprain, but I gave him history unsolicited and said there'd been no improvement in a week and a half and that it was sharp, medial and anterior pain and that it was acute up and down steps and standing up and sitting down. I have no idea if he understood, but he nodded and sent me to x-ray.

X-ray was also pretty interesting. Now, it's been a couple years since I last had an x-ray, but I don't remember it being quite like this. First of all, the tech stayed in the room and held the machine for two or three shots. Also, I didn't get the lead jacket thingy, which I'm pretty sure I got even for ankle x-rays. But they were very efficient.

I waited another 15 minutes or so and an orthopedic surgeon called me in. My director was back, so I had a sort-of translator, though naturally she doesn't know any remotely medical English words. Again, no history. Another ortho exam where he didn't produce pain, so I had to show him afterwards that it was flexion and extension with resistance that was the problem, and yes there was clicking. But my x-rays were clear, so he said I needed to "strengthen my anterior muscles". This is undoubtedly true, but I told him I'd been diagnosed with patellofemoral syndrome several years ago. I know my knees, they hurt a lot. This is different pain, in a different place, for a longer period of time, and I thought it was a meniscus issue. I was kind of brushed off and told that it was in the patellofemoral joint and "articular cartilage". He also threw the word "lesions" in there, said he'd write a prescription and did I have any questions? ...I didn't. I had no idea what to say at this point.

Now remember, without a history or asking about drug allergies (I don't have any), he gave me a prescription and sent me on my way. This cost 35,000 won -- less than $40. The five-day, three-pill regiment was 7,000 won. Of course, I'm doing my best to look up the pills now and here's what I've found:

MUSKEL: chlorphensin carbamate 250mg - used as a skeletal muscle relaxant. So I guess he did think it was a ligament and was just humoring me? Why else would I get something for strains and sprains?
PRONAGEN: pronase 133mg - anti-inflammatory, although the Google translation of the Korean druginfo page seemed to indicate that it's mainly used for bronchitis, asthma and tuberculosis.
GATT F: aluminum hydroxide 250mg, magnesium carbonate 160mg - this...seems to be an antacid. I am decidedly not a doctor, just an undergraduate human performance major, but reading the Korean druginfo page coupled with another page about the active ingredients really leads me to wonder why I'm on this for a knee problem.

So. Quick and efficient, cheap as hell. No nurse-like people in the ER. Little concern for x-ray radiation. No history, no questions about drug allergies or current conditions. And no explanation of the medication, since he told me he was putting me on only anti-inflammatories. It's true, I'm not a doctor. Maybe it's stupid for me to try to tell the real orthopedist that I think it's a cartilage issue, but then again, it's my knee.

All-in-all, the most frustrating thing about the whole affair, and what gives me a lot more sympathy for American immigrants, is the communication problem. I couldn't tell him exactly was wrong because he didn't understand. I didn't understand what he thought was wrong. So all I really got out of the whole affair was knowledge that my x-rays were clear. Which...for $40 is, I guess, something.

Saturday Links

2006-09-30T11:22:00.000+09:00

From this week:

Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on September 11. You can also look up his response to the New York Post's making fun of his anthrax scare, which is another good listen.

Panda Bites Man, Man Bites Back This really needs no explanation, does it?

ESPN faking crowd noise along party lines? ESPN denies it, of course. But it isn't a huge stretch, after The Path to 9/11.

Evolution for Everyone! I passed this one along to my mother, a middle-school science teacher.

And, of course, We are now officially living in a dictatorship from A Blog Around the Clock.

And I'm suddenly glad to have 10 more months in Korea...

My week

2006-09-29T12:27:00.000+09:00

It's been a week since I posted last, and it's because I have no time! Not really, I suppose, but it IS limited, and with Grey's Anatomy and House starting up this month, I've been taking my spare 45-minute blocks to watch downloads instead of blogging. So perhaps a glance at the weekly schedule of a hagwon minion will help you understand...

Five days a week, I teach a class at 7am at Norske Skog paper factory. The class is pretty good, and I enjoy the adults, but it's really early. I get up at 6, catch a cab around 6:40 for the 10-minute, $3.50 ride over and have my "Idiom of the Day" on the board by 7:05. One of my students usually takes me to breakfast in the company cafeteria -- cereal and toast -- and I get home around 8:30.

I take my hideously ugly shihtzu, Aby, for a walk and feed her disgusting wet food. I usually have about an hour, so I run through my morning web routine: e-mail, Facebook, the Chicken, Dave's, the blogroll and my favorite webcomics. I check sports scores, sometimes bring up a game on MLB.TV or audio or gamecast or NHL scoresheet, if the timing's right.

Kindergarten starts at 10. Monday through Thursday we do reading, thinking skills, math or phonics as the academic subject and song time, crafts, Gymschule or "weekly diary" as creative time. Monday through Thursday I have 12-2 for lunch, which really means errands -- banks, immigration, travel agencies, vets...all lunchtime visits. Plus, y'know, the eating. If I get a free lunch, I usually either nap or write (I write fiction too). Fridays I only have an hour, so everything's compressed. Then my afternoon classes...

2:00 (M-F): 7-9 (all ages are the Korean version). This is my favorite class of the day. They're the most advanced students at their grade level. They can be hard to control, but overall, I love the kids. They're smart, funny and don't stress me a bit.

3:00 (M-F): (7-8) These are the beginner kids, but I have a wonderful assistant for that class, so it's easy. They're at a very low level and comprehend essentially no English, but they're very enthusiastic and the fun thing about teaching beginners is seeing how quickly they make progress.

4:00 (MWF): (9-11) The lowest level at this time. Some of them have no concept of phonics and can't read the word "the". They're also very talkative. Most classes, I feel like I'm really only teaching three of them, the rest are just hanging out in the back.

4:00 (TR): One step up from the MWF kids. They aren't bad, though unfortunately my two smartest kids insist on talking to each other the entire class, and they'd probably benefit the most from paying attention.

5:00 (MW): My worst class. There are too many of them, their level is very low, they're unruly, and all but about two couldn't care less about learning English. We're lucky if we get through a page a day of the book.

6:00 (TR) and 7:00 (TW): TOEFL listening. Great kids. Anywhere from second to eighth grade, they're the bst at the school. Several are effectively fluent*. For both classes, one day we do work with the TOEFL book and tape and the other we do something more fun. This week was ghost stories.

Private: Three days a week (TRF), I tutor a sixth grader at his apartment. It's a challenge sometimes doing an hour's worth of material for just one student, but it's actually pretty funny, and he's a good kid and good student.

I finish at 6 on Monday, so that's cleaning day. I'm done at 7 on Wednesday, so I usually do any grocery shopping that day. And every other day I get home about 9:45, take the dog out, and go to bed. It isn't that I'm cranky when tired or can't get by on six hours sleep. It's just that this job can drive you crazy, and the quickest way to start letting kid-things stress you is to be tired. So I'm trying not to be tired.

*the lone second-grader is a genius little boy who's also a math whiz. He asks me often for lists of how to say math-type things in English. We've done angles, shapes, things like that. I included polygon names up to 1000-sided figures on that list, telling him jokingly, "When you draw a shape with a thousand sides, you let me know." The next day he presented me with a ciliagon. So, quite a kid.

I should use this Asia thing to my advantage

2006-09-22T08:24:00.000+09:00

Great stuff on the science front! Two days ago (as the subject says, I should really have posted right when I saw the article -- being 12 hours ahead does give me some advantage!), we heard about the find of a 3.3 million year old fossil in Ethiopia of the species Australopithecus Afarensis that is already telling scientists a great deal about how we evolved. Some highlights from the article:

The infant's brain size is estimated at 330 cubic centimeters. This is not much different from that of a similarly aged chimp. However, when compared to adults of her species, she had formed only between 63 and 88 percent of her adult brain size. This is relatively slow brain growth compared to chimps, which by three years of age have formed more than 90 percent of the brain. This rate of brain growth is actually slightly closer to that of humans, possibly pointing to an early shift in human evolution.

Very interesting, I think, that this evidence points to the brain's rate of development slowing before brain size was any bigger than that of a chimp. What would've been the adaptive advantage to a slow-developing brain? Longer dependency on the mother, so bigger size and more likely to survive once the mother quit carrying her everywhere?

The skeleton also shows that she (and thus our ancestors in this period) was walking upright and her toes indicated that she had to be carried and couldn't cling to her mother like a chimp infant. However, the upper skeleton and finger bones, as well as the semicircular canals in her inner ear, showed that she would have been a climber, and that Australopithecus afarensis still lived in the trees.

There's also evidence that her voice sounded much more chimplike than human.

Of course, I posted the link over in my Monster Evolution Debate on Dave's ESL Cafe and my Hare Krishna adversary immediately said it was just evidence of Lord Rama's army of ape-men and started posting pictures of the Adams Bridge...

My deconversion

2006-09-21T19:57:00.000+09:00

I would say the seeds of my atheism were apparent from a fairly young age. I grew up in a fairly liberal, educated family -- both parents and stepparents are college graduates (my mother even went back for two years for a teaching certificate and is in her second year as a middle school math and science teacher), my father has an advanced degree in busines, my maternal grandfather is an MD and my maternal grandmother attended two years of college before going to work for the FBI. In fact, I graduated from the same university as my great-grandfather. So while my family is religious, they are hardly fundamentalists and religious education was pretty lax around my household.

Of course, I went through the motions as a kid because I was weird enough already and it takes a pretty strong second-grader indeed to not cave to the looks you get in the Appalachians of northwest North Carolina when you profess that you don't know what "being saved" is. So I did children's church, sang in the choir (funny story -- most of my elementary years we attended this tiny, old, stone Presbyterian church of which the vast majority of the congregation was eldery and spent winters in Florida, meaning the winter choir was me and three old ladies), did a few VBSs and church camps. Thinking back on it, I feel there was only one time in my life when I truly believed.

In fact, there were a couple instances that probably pointed to my atheistic leanings early in life. I was about 9 when, during a the children's sermon (the children in the congregation were me, my two brothers, and the pastor's three kids), I answered the question "what's a prophet?" unhestitatingly with "the money you make after a job." It took me a long time to figure out what was so damn funny, too. A couple years later at Baptist church camp (I went with a friend, it was my first sleep-away camp) I made the mistake of mentioning at some sort of Bible study circle that my grandfather had told me that even if there was no god, it was a nice enough idea that it isn't so bad to believe something that might not be true. The counselor gave me this evil glare and said in what seems in my memory to have been a particularly nasty voice, "But there is a god."

The height of my religiosity came in the seventh grade. My softball coach died in a car accident in the middle of the season while driving the church van back up the mountain from a trip to Carowinds (an amusement park in Charlotte). Both she and a two-year-old boy were killed in the crash. I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about it, I recall, she was the first person I'd known that had died since my grandfather when I was 8, but I do remember quite clearly the PE teacher who took over our team calling us all in for a meeting and informing us that the last thing she said was "I see Jesus." Yeah, I think that qualifies as "lying to impressionable children," but I dreamed about it for weeks, and it seemed to be a sign that after a subpar season to that point, we didn't lose a game the rest of the way out.

Of course, my higher-level thinking skills probably weren't fully developed at the time, so I don't think I can be blamed. The surge of belief faded in eighth grade as I began to have more of an understanding of the world around me (I prefer to think it not coincidental that this was also the year I started Algebra 1). I became cognizant of issues that this tiny, homogenous, rural community had sheltered me from (I don't fault my relatively worldly mother for this -- I distinctly remember her being appalled one day coming back from school when I was 12 that I didn't know what AIDS was): abortion, homosexuality, racism, evolution.

From that point on the faith began to fade away. Once I realized that it wasn't actually a requirement for existing on the planet, I felt free, at least in the intellectual sense. My early high school rebellion didn't have anything to do with drugs or sex. I started refusing to go to church or, alternatively, agreeing to go to Sunday school and then arguing vehemently about the age of the earth or evolution with the somewhat taken-aback teacher. I wasn't necessarily debating the existence of god yet -- just the church tenants that seemed to be contradicted by known fact.

The turning point was late in my sophomore year. I had been accepted to the North Carolina School of Science and Math for my last two years of high school and was beyond thankful to leave the mountains. In my world humanities class, our final project was to pick a song, any song, analyze the lyrics and do a visual and verbal presentation, including clips of the song, to interpret those lyrics. I chose "Ants Marching" by DMB and talked about falling into the trap of doing the same thing every day, blah, blah, I can't even remember my own presentation, really.
What I remember was a classmate of mine, a guy I'd never had any particular conversations or disagreements with, picked a song by Carman, a Christian singer. Searching the lyrics now, I'm amazed and a little appalled at the drivel contained therein. At 16 and likely a bit hormonal, I remember being completely stunned at the approving nods of my classmates as he played a snippet with the words "when you eliminate the Word of God from the classroom and politics, you eleminate the nation that Word protects". And when I heard "when it gets to the point when people would rather come out of the closet than clean it" I was nearly crying in anger. It may not seem like such a big thing now, but for me, at that point, it was the last straw. I almost left the classroom, but I forced myself to sit through his speech, though I don't think I heard much of it because I can't remember now. But the hypocrisy of religion was never so apparent to me as this teenager trying to talk about Christianity as a faith of peace and love while the very song he chose was advocating hate.

And the blind, earnest faith of this kid at such a young age just struck me. It had taken just the smallest amount of contemplation on my part to come to the conclusion that the whole organized religion thing was a lot of crap (I used to read Revelations during church, and I mean, seriously?). But here was an entire class of kids that I'd grown up with who would likely never bother.

I left Avery County, and I have to say I haven't really been back. Tenth grade was the instant I was absolutely certain that not only was religion stupid, the whole premise was false. There was no god, and from then on I was secure in my atheism. I've been happier for it.

Life is good...

2006-09-19T13:12:00.000+09:00

Something that bothers me a great deal about the religious folk who argue for creationism is when they imply (or flat-out state) that my godless, materialistic life is somehow lesser than their own, which is filled with the supernatural and thus complete.

It's happened to me on more than one occasion. Sometimes, I can overlook the sentiment because it's delivered in such a sincere ignorance that I can't get angry and can only gently tell the speaker that yes, my life is good, thanks. However, today a statement was delivered in such an overwhelmingly condescending way that I couldn't help but to turn a little vicious in my reply.

The conversation in the last couple of pages of the monster evolution thread on Dave's ESL Cafe has been about human babies as blank slates and animals as entirely instinct-driven (the blank slate thing needs its own post). My adversary in this case was a man who clearly knew just enough science to be annoyingly elitist about his position. He capped off his last tirade with "they must live dreadful, dreadful lives" referring to people who saw human-like behaviors in apes. I overreacted -- he actually called me on it, saying his statement was not meant to be religiously-tinted and simply implied that he would have a dreadful life if he lived like an ape. (incoherent in its own way -- if one were an ape, one would be content as an ape)

But still --

Excuse me? Why do people -- not necessarily him, but the overly religious-- insist that their life is better than mine? Why MUST I be unhappy as an atheist? The truth, of course, is that my life is great, and I have no complaints. I'm self-sufficient, I have a great family, 1 fantastic dog and 1 mediocre dog (she's a shihtzu, what I can say), I've had the opportunity for higher education and took it seriously, I have the resources to read constantly...I'm fulfilled, with no other Sunday morning ritual than to play a 7am hockey game (arguably a religious experience in and of itself).

Of course, I suppose an atheist could be mired in some sort of cognitively dissonant state where he must convince himself that he is happy because otherwise religion wins, but I feel like the most viable theory for this phenomenal assumption is that the religious folks can't allow themselves to believe that atheists could lead normal, loving, full lives and could actually appreciate nature and the good of people more fully than those with god.

Welcome to Skillet Blogging

2006-09-18T20:50:00.000+09:00

So I've given in to joining the blogverse. I plan to blog on teaching, Korea, atheism, science, politics, sports and dogs, perhaps with a theme on each day. I hope to update every day, or every other day.

As for who I am, well, I'm about four months out of college at the University of North Carolina and am employed in Jeonju, South Korea as an ESL teacher to kids from 5 to 16 and adults. I'm a hockey player with past experience in soccer, baseball and team handball and am currently in search of an adult beginner taekwondo class.

I consider Newland, NC and Atlanta, GA to be my hometowns but have also called Scottsboro, AL; Nashville, TN; Charlotte, NC; Durham, NC; Chapel Hill, NC and Jeonju, ROK home.

I studied sport and exercise science and psychology at Carolina. I also studied Russian for four years. My future academic goals involve sport psych, developmental pysch or psycholinguistics, or even some sort of meshing of two of them.

I think those are the basics. I imagine I'll cover a lot more over the life of the blog.