Why NOT to teach in Korea in 3 minutes.

BRILLIANT little film found by a former co-worker in Korea.

This really does the job of summing up the incredible instablity of life and work over there.
And yet they don't even go into the nightmare of classroom teaching!




If that doesn't warn you off enough or you are just feeling blessed (or lucky), at least remember to ALWAYS check blacklisted sites before accepting any job in Korea.


Cheers! (^_-)-☆
Thanks again for stopping into my little corner of the 'net, and Happy Browsing!!

All translations copyrighted and owned by myself. All copyrights of their respective owners. No part of this web site may be produced, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner.

Collards with Lentils, Tomatoes

Yummy , Quick, and very mild for an Indian dish.

veggie oil, as needed 2-3 TB
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1+1/2 teaspoon garlic (chopped, not powder)
2 teaspoons garam masala
1/2 teaspoon salt

Put all ingredients above into a deep cooking pot and cook until onions transparent, but not limp or soft.

Then add, stirring constantly for 2-3 minutes for flavors to absorb.
1 (15-ounce) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes
1 cup red lentils

Add 2 cups water and as much of the collard greens as you can fit.
half of 1 bunch collard greens (thick stem tips removed. leaves sliced into 1-inch-thick ribbons.)

Cook 15 minutes covered at which point the greens will have cooked down.
Cook 15 minutes more and keep adding more greens until all are added. Stir in well.

Serve with jasmine (best) rice or basmati.


Cheers! (^_-)-☆

Thanks again for stopping into my little corner of the 'net, and Happy Browsing!!

you want how much???

In preparing for another trip, I am once again desperately hoping to unload some stuff.

I was using Ebay back in 1999 when people were still afraid of using their credit cards online. (Admittedly, those said people still feel that way today.)

NOW is different though.
Everyone wants to know the exact price it it to ship to their city, the price under several shipping options, how long under each option...
Or my favorite, is I buy several, can I pay only one shipping? How much?
well, it depends on which items, the total weight, etc...

In the end you spend more time entering and researching information than the 5 dollar profit you might get for it.

Looking for other alternatives, I remembered something I saw in Columbus, Ohio several years ago - a brick-and-mortar Ebay outlet. o.o

With the caveat that selling on ebay is NOT easy (Not like it was 10 years ago. Again, it's a profitless pain in the a$ now.), an excellent article about ebay consignment shops:

30 Days, 30 Ways to Save

Still feel up to it?
Then you will want to find an eBay Drop Off Store or eBay consignment seller through eBay Trading Assistant Directory

For general stuff, there's this site to search through: Consignment Pal
Their blurb being use the Consignment Pal Resale Shops Directory to find consignment and resale shops, collectors, eBay consignment stores, liquidators, antiques, estate sales, art, etc.


Cheers! (^_-)-☆

Thanks again for stopping into my little corner of the 'net, and Happy Browsing!!
All translations copyrighted and owned by myself. All copyrights of their respective owners. No part of this web site may be produced, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner.

more windows crap

Windows is a piece of sh1t.
Yes, it is.
As someone who has worked with computers both professionally and personally since the late 1980s, I can say with confidence - Windoze u r a piece of overpriced sh1t.

My latest beef with windoze is the fact that it on occasion, randomly and without warning, forgets the keyboard. As in can not recognize the keyboard that it even came with.

Fert, I miss my linux machine.

Some fixes I found later to be edited copied here to make sure I have them for my own reference.

* Method One, Summary:
Not only must you add the Japanese layout to IME, but you must also install a Japanese keyboard driver. Here's the set of instructions, updated to Windows XP SP2. Of course, use at your own risk.

1. Navigate to Start->Control Panel->Keyboard
2. On the Hardware tab, click Properties (note that the current driver is probably "Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard")
3. On the Driver tab, click Update Driver...
4. The Hardware Update Wizard launches. When it asks if Windows can connect to Windows Update to search for software, select "No, not this time" and click Next
5. Select "Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)" and click Next
6. Select "Don't search. I will choose the driver to install" and click Next
7. Uncheck "Show compatible hardware"
8. Select "Japanese PS/2 Keyboard (106/109 Key)" from the manufacturer "(Standard keyboards)" and click Next
9. Click Yes to continue with the installation when the warning about installing incompatible device drivers appears
10. Click Yes to continue with the installation when the warning about replacing PS/2 mouse port drivers appears
11. Click Finish and reboot

I really recommend reading the FULL ARTICLE.

However, what worked for me this time is contained in the following site. This site offers several suggestions for fixing the windoze botch, but what worked for me was the dreaded registry edit. o.o

* Method Two, option#5, registry edit:
ドライバでキチンと日本語キーボードになっているのに英語配列になっちゃう場合は、
この方法をとる。こちらも自己責任で。
regeditを起動して、以下のキーに移動する。

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\KeyboardLayouts\00000411
（この操作もXP/Vista/7、32Bit/64Bit共通です）

まずはバックアップ
▲まずは該当キーの上で右クリックしてエキスポートしておく。
PCが更に不調になった場合は、このエキスポートファイルを「結合」する事で元の状態に戻せるようになります。

次にデータの変更。
「Layout File」をダブルクリックして「KBDJPN.DLL」　と入力
「Layout text」をダブルクリックして「Japanese」または「日本語」　と入力

変更が終わったらregeditを閉じてPC再起動

注意：
似たキーがありますがコッチじゃありません。
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout
▲末尾にsが無い

Again, I really can' stress how much I recommend reading the
FULL ARTICLE. And if you can't (since it is in Japanese), let me know which method you are interested in. There is over five methods offered. I will post the translation in the comments.


Cheers! (^_-)-☆

Thanks again for stopping into my little corner of the 'net, and Happy Browsing!!

All translations copyrighted and owned by myself. All copyrights of their respective owners. No part of this web site may be produced, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner.

wheat woes

Yes, thank you.
Someone qualified pointing out how harmful wheat (food) allergies are.

Gluten Sensitivity and the Impact on the Brain

What can one say?
One of the reasons I hate living in the US is the blatant disregard for people suffering from wheat/gluten allergy. And at the same time, America is a wheat and meat based food culture. In other words, everything from chocolate to coffee (flavored) is CONTAMINATED.
That is unless you want to cough up 3-4 times the $amount$ for 'safe' food with 1/3 the equivalent taste.

But worse than the price gouging is the outright mean ignorance.
Just see what happens if you suggest to the mother of a shellfish allergy child, "Oh, it's not that bad. She can eat a little."
Or even better, "Ugh, you're just making it up."
(really)

I have never met this kind of mean, arrogant ignorance in Japan or Korea (and Korea, in general, is an angry, angry country) so I can only attribute it to the culture here. Personally, I always suggest that before insulting another person, get your facts straight first before you show how much of a self-centered idiot you really are.
But that's just me. I like to be soundly armed. (^_-)-☆


Cheers!
Thanks again for stopping into my little corner of the 'net, and Happy Browsing!!

Ads make the world go around. Help us out!

DOUBLE Chocolate Chip Cookies

As much as I scoff @ the whole concept of letting desserts sit for xxx minutes...blahblah before consumption, in this case you really DO need to let them sit at least 5 minutes before attempting or you are just going to get a handful of crumbs to eat. (The cookie will "settle" and hold together after the wait period though.)

OR!
You could just scoop one up really quick and toss it in the freezer for 2 minutes like I did.
nummers.

3/4 cup raw sugar
1/2-3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons milk (cow, soy, rice...)
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1/8 cup starch (tapioca, potato, corn...)
-----
1/4 cup of cocoa powder
1 3/4 cup of flour (regular or your own wheat/gluten free concoction)
1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2-3/4 cup MINI chocolate chips

. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

. Whisk together the sugars, oil, milk, vanilla and starch until smooth and dissolved.

. Mix in flour, cocoa, baking powder and chocolate chips.

. Resulting batter is extremely dry! Scoop and mold into golf ball sized balls in hands. (Your fingers will get a workout here.) Then flatten with fingers on greased cookie sheet.

. Bake for 10-14 minutes. Makes a perfect 24..


Cheers! (^_-)-☆

Thanks again for stopping into my little corner of the 'net, and Happy Browsing!!

Ads make the world go around. Help us out!

In search of the perfect muffin

A traditional comfort food 4 most Americans - a piping-hot muffin fresh from the oven.

This recipe is both simple and fast.
AND works perfectly in those spiffy space-efficient micro+ovens popular throughout Asia.

2 cups flour (regular or wheat/gluten free concoction)
1/2 cup raw sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
------
3/4 cup milk (soy, cow, rice...)
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon ground black irigoma + 3 tablespoons of water


.Preheat oven to 200C (about 400F).

.Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl. wet ingredients in a second smaller bowl.

.Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture all at once. Stir just until combined and do not over-mix.

.Add batter into a muffin pan and fill until 2/3-3/4 the way full and cook for 15-20 min.

Thanks to vegweb 4 the inspiration.

Enjoy! (^_-)-☆

Thanks again for stopping into my little corner of the 'net, and Happy Browsing!!

Ads make the world go around. Help us out!

FINAL comments, nightmare POSEF

Remedies have been 'suggested' for the POSEF problem.
My response?.

In short--been there, DONE that, sadly DOES NOT WORK.

Suggestions and my answers(?).

*Use physical punishment like the Korean teachers:
Yep. And pretty much from day 1, those students were so awful.
There was my special stay-after room cleaning for the really bad table or group. Plus group or individual humiliation punishment of kneeling out in the halls or in front of the rest of the class.

* Be loud and be heard.
HENCE I used a mike.
Not only did I use a mike, but any instructions were also typed out and projected on the screen. With most the class talking non-stop over the mike even, you had to have 'visual' explanations of the instructions.
note: My instructions were never more than 5 minutes, if that even. So there was no excuse for "English is too hard/too long..." whatever.
I taught at ELEMENTARY level previous to the high school and they had no problem understanding my very basic instructions.

I had other things I tried out that I will not bother going into here because really, at the heart of the matter, lies a more insidious two fold problem. At the macroscopic level, fundamentally Korean society still views women as lesser. So you can swear and whack and punish all you want, but if you're not doing it in a pair of pants, you'll find yourself just doing it all over again the next week. At the more microscopic level, if your fellow teachers don't have the decency to show professional respect for you (and they don't), the kids won't either. They aren't stupid. Ignorant, yes, but not stupid. They can see how the Korean teachers, teachers THEY respect, treat the foreign teachers. If their native teachers show they don't care, the students follow suit and also do not care.

And that's it.
If you have any suggestions then leave a comment for the other victims of that place. It's highly likely I have already tried and done them, in which case I will note that and how it doesn't work when they are published.

But if you are smart, you won't even bother.
Take my advice--bypass Korea and head straight for a different country like I am.


Thanks again for stopping into my little corner of the 'net, and Happy Browsing!!

Ads make the world go around. Help us out!

POSEF rule #32 - we don't care.

POSEF rule #32:

Stealing and defacing the foreign teacher's property is OK.

We don't care and will do nothing about it.
So if you are feeling frustrated and destructive, knock yourself out!
Just get those scores up and we will turn a blind eye to it!


Really, they don't care.
What else should one think when one returns from the weekend to find their two sweater jackets missing? (weekend of 5/15-5/16)
I reported it immediately to receive yet again another bland, "Oh, that's too bad. I don't know what could have happened."

～＊～FIN～＊～

And that's not the first thing to go missing or be defaced to the point of complete uselessness.

Numerous personal magazines (usually missing, several obscenely defaced), comics (horribly defaced like the boys spit in them or blew their nose in them), and other "extra" materials to make the classroom environment more well-rounded and inviting. Because as anyone with even a few months experience much less a few years will tell you, the English conversation class is even more worthless than the music class.
As such, the clever teacher must find other ways to get them to do things.

If they still care by that point that is. -_-

The ironic(?) thing is they gave me NOTHING but a filthy, empty classroom to start with.
Not even a textbook.
And I revamped it from floor to ceiling with posters, a book corner, a separate work/lab table, a special free-chat corner to the point that one upperclassmen English teachers came in to take pictures of it because "the daughter of this teacher is just starting an English club and he wants to show her what a good classroom looks like. You are the best English conversation teacher we have ever had."

*click*snapsnap*

At least they could reimburse me for my loss incurred by one of their precious students. After all, until the items were recovered, the ENTIRETY of sophomore-world came to a screeching halt when a bunch of the students' items were stolen from their classroom. The only people with keys to the room are other teachers and the porno-movie club. Not even the janitor goes in to clean that place, so it was one of your little darlings..

You know what I have to say to that all-mighty POSEF?

You make it very obvious that you don't give a sh1t about what happens to the foreign teachers, so why do you expect them to care about anything in return??


Cheers! (^_-)-☆

Thanks again for stopping into my little corner of the 'net, and Happy Browsing!!

Ads make the world go around. Help us out!

plush, cottony POSEF tissue

Well, I was going to post something different about why you want to avoid taking any ESL teaching post with POSEF in South Korea, but something better came up.
(And, yes, I am being sarcastic.)

My contract ends on May 31.
However because I am traveling with a pet I can not leave until June 7.

They are aware of this.

Last week Ellen (Unyeong Lee, 2-fa[ed b1t[h-a13rt) assured me that "POSEF doesn't pay for it, but you can stay longer in that apartment until you are able to leave."

TODAY it's "You have to be out when the contract ends."

Excuse me?!

And I am supposed to do what for an entire week?
Sleep outside??

With all my luggage and a pet?

That would be GREAT advertisement for how POSEF treats its employees.

Actually, sadly, that would be a very accurate advertisement -

WELCOME TO POSEF WHERE WE USE AND LOSE YOU AFTER HINTING THAT WE WANT YOU TO STAY ON.

Our lessons, my friends?

We, the ESL teachers on the front lines, are the only ones protecting ourselves.
And we can only protect ourselves by sharing information.

Because to organizations like POSEF and Hagwons like Avalon, we are just toilet tissue to be used for wiping their a$e$ and then be flushed down the drain. After all there are a dozen rolls more out there waiting to be used so just wipe, flush, and move on.

Look forward to more fun POSEF information in the future!


Cheers! (^_-)-☆

Thanks again for stopping into my little corner of the 'net, and Happy Browsing!!

Ads make the world go around. Help us out!

Disinterested, Detached, and IN DENIAL

Three words to describe the administration's and (to a certain degree) native teachers' level of awareness in Pohang Jecheol High School.

I was informed today that like the other teachers, I would have to do some paperwork for my absence since "this process is what all teachers do when they are absent officially."

That's reasonable.

THIS is NOT:
"what you need to do is write 2 pages(A4) about what you were going to teach today for 1st graders."

I practically choked on laughter.
They are all still under the disillusion that there is any teaching going on??
Talk about naivety. Well, given their age, more like severe DENIAL.

I wrote back stating in no uncertain terms that although all my lesson plans are done a week in advance, I could barely fill one page much less two.

Newsflash!
Just because everyone sits up straight, listens attentively, and answers in unison while you are in the room, it is the height of ignorance to assume it would continue afterwards.
In a normal foreigner's classroom it is NON-STOP TALK.
It doesn't matter if I use the timer bomb or crank up the mike to ear-drum piercing range. No effect not counting their whining about how loud it is.
I wouldn't have to turn it up that loud if you would all SHUT THE F()%#) UP for 2 MINUTES for a few instructions!!
The logic of which is naturally, completely lost on them.

As a language class there should be talking. It is one of the four parts of language teaching/learning.
But the incessant talking in Korean classrooms is non-excusable and completely unworkable which is why any lesson 'plan' fills up at most 3 lines.

It is an attitude problem.
One at critical levels because I have been doing this for over 5 years now and I have NEVER had such mean, racist (mostly a boy-problem), rude students as the ones in this high school.

When I first came they tried to pass it off as "they aren't used to your style yet". First off, I have been doing this long enough to smell that was NOT the case. Secondly, even if they didn't want to believe me, a year later, NO CHANGE. And it is not just No Change, the new students coming in are the exact same way!

Then there is the other common 'excuse' for this behavior - the foreigner's class doesn't effect our grade so wth cares?
BUT the flaw to this argument here is that in Japan and Korea - NO GRADE MATTERS. All students advance to the next grade regardless of their previous work.

It's not style, not grades... That leaves us with the life-determining "college entrance exams."
English isn't on them so...

Oh, wait. Yes, it is.
Including a listening test.

But conversation isn't so again WTF cares?
...Except elite schools also include interviews in English.

And even if you weren't going to one of the highly-tauted elitest schools.we can still take out even this argument.
All you have to do is walk the halls during other classes.

English is useless?
NOT exactly...
You know what IS a useless class from a student's perspective?
Chinese. Japanese, Gym, S.E.W.I.N.G. class.

And yet if you walk past these classrooms, whether it be girls or boys, there is attentive silence while the teacher is talking. There is no one reading magazines, watching movies on their PMP, surreptitiously writing email on their cell phones.

The teacher does not have to spend 5+ minutes constantly asking for and not receiving attention.

Of course not.
That teacher is KOREAN and that is all that matters..
And that is what is boils down too - a severe attitude problem towards non-Korean teachers.

And specifically Korean.
I never had this crap in Japan which is why I can never answer their "which country do you like better?"

Gee, I don't know.
WTH do you think??


Cheers! (^_-)-☆

Thanks again for stopping into my little corner of the 'net, and Happy Browsing!!

Ads make the world go around. Help us out!

tis the season - TOEFL

The biggest problem encountered in TESOL education overseas has been the new speaking part of the TOEFL. For once in the mostly passive educational environment of Asia, students are forced to not just speak, but THINK.
As in think about something other than the latest movie, cell phone app, or trashy, vacuous trend.

Materials to support such thinking activities (hence speaking) are notoriously lacking even in regards to sources in their native language.

In an effort to avoid spending more money for my own textbooks (my company - POSEF - can not apparently afford to purchase a few meager learning materials, much less text books for its students much less the teachers.), I searched and found some sample question sites online.

English Club : includes actual audio file samples and transcripts in case the audio files flunk out on you.

TOEFL HELPDESK : Nice lengthy list of speaking topics.

Internet TESL Journal : HUGE selection of questions arranged by category. Not necessarily TOEFL related.

English-Test.net : sub-forum concerning the TOEFL test. Nice wealth of material, but you need to search through to find speaking-related posts.


Cheers! (^_-)-☆

Thanks again for stopping into my little corner of the 'net, and Happy Browsing!!

Ads make the world go around. Help us out!

a different kind of morning shower.

Since ancient times, chocolate has been tauted as an aphrodisiac.
But coffee....?



I'll just stick with chocolate, thank you.
(click on picture to read the English "To Use" instructions.)


Cheers! (^_-)-☆

Thanks again for stopping into my little corner of the 'net, and Happy Browsing!!

Ads make the world go around. Help us out!

... and Fauna of the sub-tropics

There's always Bupo Beach if you are feeling to lazy to make the 2 hour trip to Busan.
(I love the cliff-like crevice dug out by the waves. I have never seen that phenomena at any other beach.)



But this will surely forever sum up the image of Korea for me.





Cheers! (^_-)-☆

Thanks again for stopping into my little corner of the 'net, and Happy Browsing!!

Ads make the world go around. Help us out!

Flora of the sub-tropics

Around the neighborhood:


And around my doctor's office:
(In addition to the color, I love the puffy, fan-like shape, how they seem almost furry.)


One thing I absolutely LOVE about Asia is the abundance of these flowers which I only know as 蓮の花 and 木蓮.

蓮の花 in clay water pots are all over, particularly around hospitals.


And 木蓮 flowers are giant and have the most amazing smell:



Cheers! (^_-)-☆

Thanks again for stopping into my little corner of the 'net, and Happy Browsing!!

Ads make the world go around. Help us out!

Gift Giving Gone Wrong.

While waiting for the taxi that never came I was accosted by two very nice (and hence very rare) girls that had attended camp.
One peeked around the street post I was huddled against for shelter. "Teacher. Why are you standing here?"
"Waiting for a taxi."
"You should take bus."
"... Yeah, I'm thinking there's no more taxi." After 15 minutes in 2 degree weather it was long past time to give up anyway.

She was carrying the wrapped gift from the Camp Closing Ceremony.
"Ooooh! What is it?" I grabbed it and started squishing it for consistency. It was obvious what it was immediately, but apparently not only to me since before I could declare what knowledge the fruits of my man handling had brought me, her friend piped in, "It's a note book."

That conversation ended as flatly as her statement.

But it did get me thinking about the rampant, pointless gift-giving.
The girls had gifts from giving speeches and so did the class leaders. Class leaders got an extremely exciting package consisting of a 3-ink ballpoint pen and yellow post-it notes!!!!

Seriously. Even if these middle school kids wanted a notebook in the first place - a dubious presumption at best - it's highly unlikely they wanted the generic, bargin bin leftovers bought enmasse that they were handed.
As gifts.

So what was the point of this shameful waste of money on unwanted gifts when they couldn't even provide the teacher's supplies to teach?

I realized then that the gifts were not for the children, but for their blind and adoring parents to see - Look. We, too, adore your preciouseses. We have given gifts to your preciouseses. We can't say we gave much in the way of an educational experience over this past week, but we did spend money on a real gift that you can hold and see for yourself.

...
And thus ends another torturous two weeks of English Camp.


Cheers! (^_-)-☆

Thanks again for stopping into my little corner of the 'net, and Happy Browsing!!

Ads make the world go around. Help us out!

New? Year

We start off the New Year (寅年) with the realization that we have reached the age level described as 'mature'.

How can you yourself gauge if you have reached that esteemed level yet?

Simple physically painless, possibility emotionally devastating Test:

1. You sit amoungst your stash of Christmas gifts and gazing about a thought flits across your mind -
Wait. No toothbrush?
I didn't get a toothbrush?
damn.

2. You set your alarm for 8AM Sunday mornings because you really, really don't want to miss that Economics Round Table discussion. Matter of fact, you feel a sense of disappointment and loss when it gets cut for some golf or other inconsequential 'special'. The week simply does not start without it.

3. You find yourself all excited to have a 3-day weekend because that means you can really clean things up to be all sparkly-shiny.

4. After accomplishing your various cleaning duties you feel deeply satisfied with yourself and a sense of relaxation. As far as you are concerned, at this very moment in this very place, all is at peace.
=====

Should you have happened to answer yes to any other these questions, CONGRATS!! you are on the road to MaTuRiTy!

Should you have happened to answer yes to all of these questions...


Cheers! (^_-)-☆

Thanks again for stopping into my little corner of the 'net, and Happy Browsing!!

Ads make the world go around. Help us out!