Open Class 5/23/2012

Each semester a teacher has to hold an open class. This is a class where the teacher goes all out, makes an elaborate lesson plan, and is observed by any teachers that want to travel to see how the teacher works. Usually around 5 teachers may attend an open class...mine had 20.

My open class was yesterday and it was a stressful but interesting experience. I had an hour break before my class was scheduled, so I got to greet and see the many teachers that were arriving. This, as you can imagine, got me more nervous than I already was. I didn't know what was expected of me or how they would judge my performance. I knew nothing. As my lesson time arrived everybody sat down and it got quiet. I looked at my watch and started at the exact time my lesson was supposed to start. Then my nervousness vanished.

When I was actually teaching I didn't see the many teachers in my classroom. I was only focusing on the kids. I never interacted, looked at, or really cared about the other onlookers. Perhaps this was a defense mechanism, but it worked out perfectly. My lesson was on restaurants and how to order food in English. I had the student make their own menus and practice ordering food from their partners menu. I focused on the key phrase "I would like.." throughout the lesson. It was really fun to see the students interact with each other, especially considering how..unique their menu choices were. The open class turned out to be an easy event that I actually enjoyed.

After my class there was an hour critique where the other Korean teachers took turns saying what they liked and didn't like about my lesson (in Korean of course so I could barely understand). They said I have a kind heart and smart mind, and the students open up to my warmness. They also said I talk too fast to the student, so I do have some stuff to work on to improve my teaching ability.

After the critique we all went across the street to have dinner at a restaurant nearby. It was some variation of bipimbap. Delicious.

After this experience I feel more confidant as a teacher and in my work, it turned out better than expected.

The teachers gathering in the critiquing room after my lesson.

Dirty Urban.

It has been awhile since I have posted anything, mostly because I've been working and being lazy when I'm actually home.

Last weekend I went to Japan! It is so cool to be so close to completely different countries that you can take a quick, relatively inexpensive, flight to go there for a weekend.

Tokyo Tower.

I arrived in downtown Tokyo on a Friday night and my first experience was walking around Shibuya, which is one of the many popular areas of Tokyo. Shibuya is famous for its crosswalk which is supposedly the most busy in the world, and I believe it. When I left the train station there was a flood of people I had to navigate through. What was striking was the fact that they all seemed unique and similar at the same time. This is very different from what I am used to in Korea, where collectivism is at its best. There were punk kids, lolita girls, business men, foreigners, shoppers, and many many more different kinds of people all packed into this one area. It was late however, so I only spent a little time here at night.

The next day I went to Shibuya again to look at the shopping areas they offer. It was intense to see the amount of different fashions and merchandise in the area. Shibuya 109 (a shopping building) was probably the most insane. There was nine levels (I think) of cramped shops without any windows and a constant stream of people walking through it all. Each person likely shopping for an outfit to wear for the next time they go shopping in Shibuya, as they were all very stylish.

Shibuya 109

Then I went to an area called Harajuku. Harajuku seemed to be more crowded that Shibuya. It was basically a torrent of people walking down one small street. Barely enough room to stop and look around. I don't remember a lot from here because I couldn't read what the shops were or take the time to browse. It was Golden Week, which is a week long holiday in Japan, so there were many sales which could account for the amount of people. Though it could always be that crowded, which is unfortunate. I do remember the temple in Harajuku though. It was beautiful. Surrounded by trees, it may have been the most peaceful place in all of Tokyo as far as I know.

Harajuku shopping area.

Temple entrance.

Main temple.

After Harajuku I headed to Akihabara, which is famous for its many anime and videogame shops. I spent a long time in this one store that was many floors of just anime merchandise. It was so big that I couldn't make it to the top, not because I was physically exhausted, but because I wore terrible shoes (sperry topsiders) so my feet were killing me from hours of constant standing and walking.

Akihabara was very colorful.

That night I had the most amazing sushi of my life. I tried a new sushi called Bintoro, which I could eat all day it was so wonderful in both taste and texture.

Sushi from the sushi place. This is not Bintoro, but delicious none-the-less.

The next day, Sunday, I had to catch the plane back to Korea. I explored this area called Ueno near the train station to the airport. I liked Ueno a lot. It was very contrasting in the amount of shops it had and the amount of built up industrial urban decay it had. I had the best bowl of Ramen in my life in a small Ramen shop under the train tracks. Every couple minutes the restaurant would rattle from a train going by overhead. It was very very cool.

The mix of modern technology and decay, dirty urban.