A Teaching Machine and Pageant Queens

On Thursday, July 28th, I taught my third and final lesson for Camp Fulbright.  This time, we had to team-teach with one of our peers.  I really lucked out having Meredith as my teaching partner.  We have similar classroom personas and worked seamlessly together.  Perhaps the most challenging aspect of the third lesson was the level of our students.  Having come from the Low Advanced class, we found it difficult to suddenly adjust to the Low Beginner class, the absolute lowest level in the camp.  With the former, we were able to get away with speaking quickly, breezing over complex ideas, and relying on current events to inform our lessons.  However, we knew that this time, we'd have to simplify our extensive vocabulary and speak at a painfully slow rate.  Nonetheless, we accepted the challenge and created a lesson plan about extrovert/introvert personalities.

In line with our daily theme of World Heroes, here was the takeaway message for the day: Regardless of your personality or interests, you too can achieve international acclaim and popularity.  Kinda cheesy, but when supplemented with fun games and activities, it was an overall success.  We received overwhelmingly positive feedback from our Camp Instructor and peer evaluators.  One comment was particularly noteworthy.  In response to my vigorous efforts to get my team pumped up about the game, one peer evaluator wrote, "Note to self: Don't get into a competition with Danielle - She is INTENSE!"  Of course, I've never been accused of half-assing anything.  If there's any sort of competition involved, you better believe that my team is going to win. ^^

Saturday, July 30th marked the end of Camp Fulbright.  In the morning, we helped out with the Closing Ceremony.  It was kind of a bittersweet moment.  On one hand, I was felt relieved that the chaotic 2 weeks were over and I could give due attention to my language classes.  On the other, I met so many sweet Korean students and really enjoyed this opportunity to practice teaching.  More than anything, this experience instilled in me the desire to begin the grant year with purpose and commitment.  Here's a photo of me with a little girl who ran up to me during the Closing Ceremony.  I took her to get some juice and she reciprocated by calling me 친구 (friend).  Secretly, I wanted to steal her and take her home with me.  But alas, I'm sure that kidnapping (or the prolonged borrowing of cute children) violates my contract.

Immediately after the Closing Ceremony, I packed my bags and hopped on the bus for GLEE Club Membership Training (MT).  So in Korea, organizations and clubs regularly go on MT retreats for bonding and recreational purposes, quite a novel idea when you think about it.  More accurately, they are an opportunity for club members to have fun, play games, eat lots of barbecued meat, engage in harmless debauchery, and then try to squeeze as many people as possible into one room to sleep.   Our MT location was 30 minutes away from Jungwon University and next to a fast-moving lake.  Despite being in the middle of nowhere, I had such a great time hanging out with this entertaining group of Americans and Koreans.

Without question, the highlight of the MT trip was the 5th Annual Miss GLEE pageant.  Prior to the trip, girls were informed that they should bring pageant wear and makeup for this event.  Little did we know that it'd be the BOYS who'd be the contestants!  We voted on three American boys and three Korean boys to compete in the pageant.  Then, the rest of us split into teams to help beautify the boys for their debut.

I immediately jumped at the chance to be a pageant coach for YB, a slender, mild-mannered Jungwon student.  First, I knew that he'd fit into our dresses and second, he totally pulls off the androgynous Korean pop star look.  Initally, he was super shy but after a while, he totally got into it!  The guys helped him with his personal introduction, Meredith did his hair and makeup, and I, the pageant veteran, coached him on walking and posing.  The pageant was absolutely hilarious!  I took a ton of photos but most came out blurry, as I was laughing so hard.  In the end, YB won hands-down!  I felt like such a proud pageant mom!

One more look - seriously, he's prettier than I am!

All in all, it was a great way to end Week 4.  Now that Camp Fulbright is over, one would expect that I'd have more free time.  But I'm sure they'll find some way to keep us busy.  That's it for now.  Time to catch up on some much needed sleep. ［(－－)］ZZzzz...