Conversations, Club Activities, and Counseling

Monday we had a meeting with all of the student teachers from the U.S. with our cooperating teachers and Dr, Lee with the ministry official who coordinates the program. There was much discussion about ways to improve the program in the future, like having better guidelines about hours teaching. The meeting was productive and afterwards we had a traditional Korean meal.



Korean Side Dishes



Korean Fermented Crab

 At Pizza Night this week we had Sushi it was a great change of pace. We talked about the role of education in society. There were a lot of different opinions on the matter. Some of the responses were "to prepare students to be successful in life", "learning to learn to gain new knowledge", "and training to learn for the workplace". We also talked about how to prepare students for assessments. Tests are the backbone of the Korean educational system. If students fail to attain their educational goals they are often left aside by society. There is a brain drain from the Korean countryside into Seoul; everyone wants to move to Seoul. One Korean student at our meeting is also a professor at a university in southern Korea. He said he tries to encourage his students by repeating positive mantras each English class period. He sees firsthand the effects of the "SKY" university pressures and the after affects if students do not get into those universities. He tries to teach his students to regain their self esteem and give them hope for the future. The differences between the U.S. educational system and the Korean system are great. It seems like the best system would meet somewhere in the middle.

Pizza Night Sushi

This Saturday I went to a play with the students. It was a play about a noodle shop and a poor family. The owners of the noodle shop helped this poor family for three years and looked forward to seeing them once a year on New Year’s Eve. The family unfortunately did not return for 14 years and the noodle shop owners waited for them each year. After 14 years the family returned and the children had become very successful and thanked the noodle owners for their kindness.

This week I am including two weeks of my counseling notes. The students are not too excited to meet with me each week but once we start talking they seem to become more engaged.

Counseling 10/26/10

I met with some of the girls from my homeroom class for counseling this week. As usual I asked them their ambitions and a few were unsure but one girl wanted to study Spanish in college and another history. They said they usually get about 5-6 hours of sleep a night and stay up studying for the KSAT and finals. They study for the KSAT for 3 years. When you take the KSAT you choose different tests to take. Three tests are required one each in Math, English, and Korean. Some students also choose to take a KSAT in another foreign language. Students get to choose other KSATs to take also, which will help determine what they can study in college. For example, if you want to become a doctor you need to take science KSATs.  The class that they struggle in at SGHS is English conversation. The students were very surprised to find out I was married and said in Korea many female teachers don’t get married because they are considered rich and smart and rich and smart women don’t get married.

Counseling 11/3/10

This week I asked the students a few questions that I had prepared before the meeting to try and engage them in more conversation about school and their lives at SGHS. The students I met with this week talked about their professional and educational goals. One girl wanted to study economics, another elementary education, another was not sure because she is interested in so many things, and the last girl wants to study in Korea but have the opportunity to study abroad. They said it was important to stay in Korea to build strong relationships.

1.     Do you think standardized tests are useful and fair?

A.     “The tests just show that you work hard and know how to study. They are not fair but they are useful. It makes it easier and more straightforward when applying for university.” I wanted to know if they wanted to be considered on things other than their test scores and they said that it would make things more complicated and stress them out even more.

2.     Are standardized tests a good assessment of students’ skills and learning abilities?

A.     “no they are not a good assessment”

3.     What do you like best about your high school?

A.     “Teachers accept the students well. Sometime students disagree with their teachers but the teachers listen and then tell their opinions. The people here are good friends and are interested in the same things, because they all did well in Middle School.”

4.     What is the worst thing about your high school?

A.     “The schedules are bad. Sometimes students want to study more on the weekends but they are forced to go home where it might be more difficult to study. They study for 6 hours a day after classes. They stay in self-study rooms until 11pm and then are allowed into their rooms where some students continue to study. Then they have to wake up at 6am to exercise. They wish the schedule will change so they have more time to study. They want to be able to study in their dorms sometime and not in the self study rooms.” I asked them if other schools have the same hours and they said yes.

5.     Why did you want to attend SGHS?

A.     “Teachers and parents support, encouragement, and pressure. It was a good opportunity.”

After Club Activities we went to the War Memorial of Korea. It was a very nice museum and had lots of interesting artifacts.