Field Trip: Kids Sports Club

I've been SO lazy about updating this blog lately. For the summertime you are probably expecting more out of me, but due to a few circumstances life has been pretty slow. We did however take a field trip with the kiddies recently and it was actually pretty hilarious.

We hopped on our school buses, braced for a ride lasting an hour (it's what we were told) and about 2.4 minutes later we got off the buses to head into the Kids Sports Club to take the childrens swimming. Sounds like harmless fun right?

For the most part it was pretty entertaining. At the Kids Sports Club everything there is built for kids. The pool is in this room that I even had to bend down a bit as to not hit my head. They all went into their respective locker rooms to change and they came out in what looked like a parade of children in their stylistic bathing suits. I took a few pictures but it seems wrong to put photos of kids in very little clothing up on line.


I feel that the kids got gypped because once we got into the pool they had maybe 30 minutes of pool time? And I only got to play with maybe 6 kids in the "deep end". We were back at school by noon and we weren't supposed to be back until 12:30. They had fun though, so I guess that's all that matters. And I know I love field trips, especially ones where I don't have to do much babysitting and actually get to play. Plus I got to spend the morning with my favorites (and I do play favorites). I mean, look at these kids - how could you not?

Field Trip - Train Museum!

Every month we go on a field trip. The last field trip was terrible as it was to the Land Museum - but at the end of April we went to the Korean Train Museum and it was actually pretty entertaining. Not to mention it was a well taken care of, huge and beautiful place.

The exhibits were well put together and had every piece of every train you could ever imagine. A good portion of it was in English too, which was pretty impressive. The tour ended with a 15 minute show in the Panorama Room where they had model trains set up and a model of Seoul that each train went around to give you a working view of the various types that go around Korea. It was even accurate in telling which trains were the fastest (KTX - Korea's newest high speed train) and slowest (freight as you'd expect).

Afterwards we went and had a picnic lunch on the grounds with the kids and even got to play around with actual old train cars later. I actually wish we were able to spend more time there, but what can ya do. At the end of the day everyone had a pretty good time.

January Field Trip... ZZzZzzzz

Well they can't all be gems...

Thursday, January 17th we gathered up the kiddies and trudged them out into the cold for yet another classic SLP Field Trip. I'm in the minority at my school because I actually like field trips. I use it as time to enjoy being in Korea doing things I wouldn't normally do, and also to learn a bit of Korean from my kids without feeling guilty. This time I learned "What?" "What are you doing" and "How?" (phonetically: Ma, Mo Hey, and Oh-toe-kay).

This month we took them to Korea Land Corporation's Land Museum. Now, the last time we took the kids to a museum, there was a guide there to tell them all about what they were about to see (in Korean) and to take them around to see all that there was to offer. This time, not so much.



First off, museum is a bit of a strong word here. We were taken to the Land Corporation Office Building in Migeum and their bottom floor happens to have a rather large 3D model of a new city that is being built and a small circular room consisting of some old pottery and rocks. It took a solid 30 minutes to really see what there was to see, and the rest of the time was spent playing photo shoot.





Overall, I was looking forward to learning more about how Korea builds what they build (they do it at an alarming rate), maybe a bit more about Korean architecture (which is lacking) and watching my kids have some fun. None of that really happened, and everyone kind of agreed that this one was a bust. Oh well- can't win 'em all. But at least we entertained ourselves somehow:

SLP Science Fair Day!

Once a month we take the little kiddies in the IP classes (Intensive Preschool) on a field trip. Instead of doing a field trip in November, the school decided it'd be a great idea to let the kids have a science fair day at the school instead.

I usually love field trips - get on a bus, see something new, the kids have a great time, they're generally on their best behavior it's a great day and a good memory for the teachers and for the kids.

Science Fair Day might have been the exact opposite of that. The teachers came in 30 minutes early to learn how to DO all of the science experiment. In one room it was explained to us that one experiment was going to be using Nickel, Cobalt, and ACID in water that was made of glass? And that if the children consumed it, they'd die. It was a very stressful day of stuff I've already seen before, and there was a LOT of yelling to get them to listen to directions and pay attention. There were also a lot of tears when whatever it is they were attempting to make broke, or didn't work, or eventually just fell apart.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the death juice, making bouncy balls, playing with little balancing bird things, and the kids using their newly made flying rockets (SERIOUSLY who thought this was a great idea?!?!)

Field Trip: Speed Demons on Bikes

It was a pretty exciting week around SLP. Full of fun activities for all the kiddies, and lots of work for the English Teachers. A 5 day week full of the usual teaching funness, but Thursday was a special treat for the kids. Field trip!

We took the kids to Yuldong Park near Bundang for some Bike Riding and outdoor fun. The park even had a fully functional Bungee Jumping Tower over this gorgeous little lake, that at some point I will take advantage of. However we went past this tower and onto the park. We got there, let the kids have snack time - which is my favorite time because they share all of their goodies with each other and with us. And the parents usually give all sorts of things to the kids to give to us. One parent made hot dogs soaked in ketchup, mustard, and the most amazing sweet pickle relish I've ever had, and another parent cut up Korean Pears (much different than pears at home) and peaches:





I also got cookies and Krispy Creme donuts from another parent. But after snacktime we had 30 minutes of play in the field time where we were given a ball and told "Be Creative", and then 30 minutes of bike riding. I consider the day a success because the weather was absolutely beautiful, my kids only cried maybe 3-4 times, and only 1 of them wound up bleeding. Victory! Anyway, I'll let you get the idea through pictures:

Field Trip: KBS (Korean Broadcasting Station)

This morning myself, one other foreign teacher, a handful of Korean teachers, and about 30 korean preschool children went to the Korean Broadcasting System on a field trip. And I have to tell you, field trips are just as much fun when you're an adult as they were when you were a kid. The only difference is that you have to pay attention as an adult so you don't LOSE your children (which no one did today). Also, since I do not speak Korean it was almost a license to do what I wanted.

KBS is comparable to NPR in America. Now, I don't know much about NPR's complete set up to speak on it, but I do know that KBS is pretty big here. We went to its operation located in Suwon, which was about a 30 minute drive from Suji on a very hazy day. Both of my preschool classes were in attendance and today definitely helped me find my inner child. Believe it or not, even though I always thought myself to be a big kid (I like toys, cartoons, and generally don't ever want to act like an adult) I've had a hard time being creative and thinking child-like when it comes to these kids.

Anyway, we got the kids on the bus... got to KBS, wandered through the museum part and then onto the actual tv sets. The best part was when we got outside and walked through this old tyme Korean Western Village:



The day overall was pretty great. The kids were really well behaved and enjoying themselves, and there was so much korean spoken that I really have no idea what was going on, but it was some place I never expected to go, and that in and of itself is cool.