Author: Samuel Tew

by Brooke Bobela, Greenheart Travel Spain School to School Exchange Instructor in Segovia

Hola todos!

Ya terminamos con el primer día en la escuela.  De verdad, fue estupendo!  Es un edificio muy muy pequeño y incluye todos los grados desde Pre-kinder hasta secundaria.  Primero, por la mañana, comimos churros y chocolate en en restaurante.  Riquisimo!  Después fuimos a la escuela para conocer otros profesores, estudiantes y todo.  Había una presentacíon de musica como bienvenida.  A nosotros nos gustaba muchisimo y muchos bailaron!

En ingles–  it was a very fun a busy day in Segovia, Spain –  starting with the Churros and chocolate was fantastic!  Imagine eating fried dough and thick delicious chocolate for breakfast—mmmmm.  We were greeted by a wonderful group dressed in traditional Segoviana clothing and we enjoyed some music and a special dance.  After, we visited classes and met other students.  One of the most exciting things was meeting the little children!  Since the school is Pre-K-12, we met classes full of 3, 4 and 5 year old Spanish children—–CUTE!!!  Our students will be teaching them some English later on this week.

by Melissa Reitcheck, Greenheart Travel High School Abroad Participant in Italy

This past week was by far the craziest and best week I have had yet in Italy.  The high point of my week was a trip to Pescara with my girlfriends on Thursday. After school, we went to lunch and I had my first (of what is sure to be many) kebab. I can’t explain what makes this sandwich so delicious, but I think it may have something to do with the magical Italian food ingredients they use. I seriously believe it is impossible for the Italians to cook something that is not delicious (one disclaimer, Antonella cooked Sardines last week and I did NOT find those tasty…).  This sandwich consists of fresh lamb meat right off the spit, mayo, ketchup, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, and bun right out of the oven. Delicious.

Then we bought our train tickets, which only cost 3.5 Euros each way, and got on the train.  The ride was only a hour long, but when we got off the train, it was clear something had changed.  It no longer felt like I was the obligatory American guest who was following around this group of close knit friends; we had clicked during the train ride and were starting to become friends.  We were sharing secrets and gushing about boys and making fun of my awful Italian skills. It was a fantastic feeling and I felt a lot less homesick Thursday night.  It was the first time I felt like I would be sad if I left here right now…don’t get me wrong, Antonella and Giovanni and the boys are wonderful, and I would be sad to leave them as well, but they couldn’t fill the huge void I felt from leaving my family and friends and native language in America on their own.  I needed the companionship of girls my own age.

In other excitement, my package with the marshmallows finally arrived! Valerio and Francesco were beside themselves with excitement and they absolutely love them! We made s’mores last night, and at first they were a bit skeptical about the legitimacy of roasting the marshmallows, adding Nutella (we had no chocolate), and a graham cracker, but once they tried them, they were hooked! They are begging me to make them again, so now I am off to start a fire:) (not really…just turn on the gas stove 🙂 Read more of Mel’s amazing weekend…

by Chris Kwarciany, Greenheart Travel Teach Abroad Participant in South Korea

I’ve been in Korea for about a month teaching English at a middle school in Andong, South Korea.  Andong is a city of about 180,000 people near the center of the country.  While it’s not exactly the cosmopolitan giant like Seoul, it’s a nice city with plenty of things to do.

Despite being here for a few weeks, I’ve had technical difficulties getting internet at my apartment, and I don’t feel comfortable writing blogs at my school.  Then there’s the fact that I’ve been fairly busy starting teaching and settling in to my new locale.  Probably the most important thing is I’ve just been exhausted.  It’s all big transition, and for some reason sitting at my computer typing away has seemed like an excruciatingly laborious task.  So the other issues have just made me blissfully willing to do no blogging .

Luckily, it’s Chuseok in Korea, which is essentially Korean Thanksgiving combined with a healthy dose of ancestor reverence.  Chuseok happens to fall on a Wednseday this year.  Meaning I have Tuesday through Friday off, plus my normal weekend.  That coincides with the internet finally being set up at my apartment, and the weather being generally undesirable for much adventuring around.  Thus plenty of time for blogs.  I will try to focus on my teaching experiences and adjusting to living in a different country.  Anyone considering a teach abroad program needs to remember that this is more than a long vacation.

Perhaps the most important thing in being an English teacher is finding proper expectations for your job.  Initially all my expectations were completely off.  I assumed that as a middle school teacher, my students would have some basic level of English since they have already had it school for several years.  Thus my job was to enhance their fluency.  This is not the case.  Most English instruction is grammar based, often Korean words in English grammar structures.  There is not much emphasis on speaking (probably due to lack of time, resources and means of assessing speaking), beyond the class with the foreign teacher, a mere forty to fifty minutes a week.  The result is many kids know the past perfect tense, but have difficulty speaking basic sentences.  So as a teacher, you need to think in terms of working with limited knowledge with little time.

Also, don’t assume the students are necessarily interested in class.  They don’t speak well, if at all, and the get by perfectly fine without it.  So there’s often not much motivation.  Luckily each class a few students who are interested.  It’s especially nice when these are the more fluent students!  But sometimes getting the kids to talk can be a challenge.

Another issue is knowing your audience, and it’s not really the students.  You work with Korean co-teachers.  I have six co-teachers.  I feel I need to make the classes for them, to fit their idea of what is too easy or difficult, along with accommodating their teaching style.  My challenge is I work with each teacher for such a short amount of time each week,   there hasn’t been much time to build up a repertoire and understanding.  I hope to build good working relationships with my co-teachers.

All this sounds pretty doom and gloom, guessing what the co-teacher you don’t know wants you to present to a class that isn’t capable and doesn’t care.  I don’t think it needs to be that way.  At least I  hope there is someway to make the class meaningful!  But after teaching for only two weeks, I’ve yet to discover that way.  I am still adjusting my expectations.

My trip to South Korea began with a weekend in Seoul. Researching where to stay in Seoul quickly revealed Seoul as a very huge and confusing city. With no previous point of reference as to where anything of interest or importance was, my eyes glazed over the sprawling and winding map in front of me.

Of course, I turned to my usual method of just putting everything into Google maps as a point of reference. But even Google was confused! This is never good.

You see, addresses don’t mean much in Seoul. The city is divided into 25 administrative districts, or “gu”. The name of an administrative district always ends in a –gu (Jongno-gu, Dongjak-gu). Those 25 gu are divided into neighborhoods, or “dong”. The address for a teashop in the interesting Insadong neighborhood area might just be #54, Insadong, Jongno-gu, meaning building #54 in the Insadong neighborhood, within the Jongno district.

Usually, the idea of an address is that you can use it to find the exact location of that building. NOPE, not in Seoul. The buildings are numbered, but they are assigned numbers in the order they are built, not according to their relationship with other buildings on the street. Therefore, these numbers are pretty much useless except for the postal service.

This means that even local Koreans have an extremely hard time finding a place if you give them the address. The system revolves around using landmarks and directions. Most hotels and guesthouses have a card that they will give you, which has a map and directions on it. That way, you can hand it to a taxi driver to help them take you back. Almost all directions that I found about Seoul gave me directions based on landmarks (no street names, no building numbers). They always included a sentence at the bottom saying, if you don’t find it, ask a Korean to use their phone to call this number, and we will come get you!

I took a taxi from my meeting back to my guesthouse. Our partners wrote instructions in Korean on a piece of paper for me (since most taxi drivers speak little to no English). The driver had to pull over to the side of the road, where he sat muttering to himself for a few minutes. I tried throwing out helpful hints: (Bukchon? Anguk station?). Eventually, after a couple of phone calls and the help of his GPS, he got me pretty darn close.

To make matters even more confusing, since Koreans use Hangeul alphabet, they use romanisation so that foreigners can read the words. However, in 2000, the government switched their method of romanisation. This resulted in most places having two different names, which change depending on who you are talking to or what you are reading. Some maps use the old system, and some the new. This is why you’ll hear Busan referred to as Pusan, or Jeju as Chechu. Those are easy enough, but when you get to the names like the province Chungcheongnam-do, things can get pretty confusing!

All of these things initially make the idea of getting around South Korea feel pretty daunting. But, once you understand the points above, it will make things much easier! With the use of maps, gestures, and a sincere attempt to pronounce the Korean words, you’ll get by juuuust fine.

Interested in Teach English abroad in South Korea? Learn more here:

by Stephany Barnes, Greenheart Travel High School Abroad Participant in Japan

The girls I sat near all giggled and looked back at me whispering, “Kawaii! Kawaii!” The Japanese word for cute. Several teachers got up and spoke, I understood nothing. We stood up and sang what I can only guess was the school song, I understood nothing. I might have been starting to drift off when Ibuzuki-sensei tapped me on the shoulder-finally, the time to give my speech had come.

I was first.

In front of the entire school, I told everyone my name, how long I’d loved Japan, and that I looked forward to learning their culture and teaching my own. In my lightheadedness, I think I sat back down as more teachers got up to speak. I can’t remember who spoke or what they talked about. By the time my fright had worn off, though, an event that I definitely do remember was beginning: The uniform check.

The girls, row by row, went through a number of stages. First was the skirt length check. Everyone dropped down onto their knees, checking to make sure their skirts touched the floor before the teachers did. Any one whose skirt did not meet said length requirement was sent to a corner of the gym to sit and wait. This, I as expecting, and I knew already that my skirt was fine. We would finish, and all go to the classroom. After that, though, we were not finished. Once again, row by row, students held out their hands, turned their heads side to side, and pulled their bangs back. The teachers inspected each student with terrifying thoroughness. They checked fingernails for length and nail polish, both of which are not allowed. They checked ears for piercings and necks for jewelry, also not allowed. They spent nearly a minute leaning close and away from each student’s face, pulling their bangs back, then pulling them down. This was the check for eyebrows, which are not allowed to be waxed, plucked, or cut, and for bang length, which cannot be too long. The final check was for the colour of our camis (Which we are required to wear), which must be white.

My class was one of the last to be inspected, so I watched with growing anticipation as the teachers got closer and closer. Finally, it was our turn. As I held up my trembling hands the teachers took one look at me and my hair colour and waved me on, saying, “Okay. You’re okay.” My heart’s erratic beating slowed and my knocking knees steadies. Diplomatic immunity, perhaps? Whatever it was, I had at least survived my first school assembly.

When I arrived at my class, everyone was moving from desk to desk laughing and socializing, in a language I hardly understood. How would we communicate? Would they even try to communicate? Again, I was gripped with terror. I took a seat next to the door, and a few of the girls around me smiled and waved. Everyone quieted and a boy, the class leader, got up and read an introduction to our “Welcome Party” in English. I was then called up to the front of the class where I gave a short, awkward, embarrassed introduction once in English and once in Japanese.

After that, all forty (yes, forty) students stood up and introduced themselves in English. Each one said their name so fast that it might have been a hiccup. I still only know the names of eight people in my class. I’m learning though! Meeting new people always starts out awkward, because everyone already knows my name so I’m not sure what to say after they tell me theirs. They said their name, and one thing about them-usually the club they were in. The English they used was almost unrecognizable, “I berongu tsu za bareboru curabu. (I belong to the volleyball club.)” I’m going to have a lot of work to do with everyone when it comes to pronunciation. They learn impressively fast, though, and are always eager to learn new things, so I’m always excited to teach them. I was presented with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, and then classes begun.

Read more of Stephany’s first day of high school in Japan…