Work Hard. Play Hard.

In Korea, work takes priority. It is not unusual to see businessmen in their suits on a Saturday, or to spot teenagers in school uniforms late in the evening hours. It's normal to leave my roommate in the kitchen grading papers when I go to bed, and to find him still editing essays early the next morning. Work is work, here in Korea, and there is much to be done.

For my students, English is a gateway to a successful future. Though many Americans take it for granted, speaking English as a first language is a mighty privilege. Korean parents push their children to study study study, and focus on English in particular. Many parents send their kids to private after-school academies, known as hakwons, in order to "get ahead"--a tradition that is now easily the standard. The lucky will go abroad to attend the finest high schools and universities in America.

With this in mind, I try not to feel bad for the students sitting in my "intensive" TOEFL class each day of summer vacation. Even though they come to school for four to eight hours a day, five days a week, and take on hours of homework in the evenings, they are the lucky ones.

On the other hand, you can only memorize so many vocabulary words, and color in 10,000 bubbled answer choices. A little fun is in order...

(sticker pics with the students)

By my watch, that means, teaching the students absurd handshakes and dances during classtime and making them perform these routines in order to earn extra credit. Dances like Madonna's "Vogue," "Ahhh, Freak Out," and "Hoyah Hoyah Hoyah, Juliana is the Best" were at first hated by some, but with time, a game the students enthusiastically enjoyed. For added entertainment, my coworkers and I occasionally dropped tidbits of personal information to our students and let their imaginations run wild. A simple lunch with Paul returned back to me, in the words of my students, as a "date." A lunch with Paul and Christine became a vicious love triangle, developing into love, heart break, and one teacher punching another. It's just all part of the daily humdrum of life.


Things like this make the days a little bit more enjoyable.

As for the teachers--our fun happened around planning lessons, grading papers, and writing student comments. (But hey, it was better than being a student and doing homework--at least you have the answer key). The hours making notes in the textbook and writing vocabulary quizzes were balanced by the sacred moments of lunch hour.


We often organized special meals for our "lunch bunch." Lunch hour occasionally turned into a special "teacher meeting," including lots of talk about our students, Mr. Pizza (potato gold), and Taboo.


And of course, lunchtime practice sessions at Norebang.

All with incredible awards...

Work hard. Play hard. That is the key.