January 6, 2012 at 9:15 pm · Filed under Lifestyle
I’ve always been impressed by the durability and endurance of my iPod Nano. However, October 5 is a day that I dont think I’ll forget.
That morning, I woke up and went about my regular routine. I made cereal, sat down, and checked the internet: It was a pretty average internet day. As I got ready to go to work, I jacked in Nano and put in my ear buds. On second thought, I thought that I’d leave my Nano behind. I had a lot of things to carry and concern with that day. As I unjacked the Nano, it slipped from my hand and hit the floor. I checked it, and it was giving me a blank white screen. It was still playing music, but I couldn’t get it to display a menu or anything: just a bright screen. It wouldn’t respond to any clicks.
When I arrived at school, no more than 30 minutes later, a coworker came into my office. He said, “Did you see the news? Your friend just died.” I inquired, “Who might that be?” And he said, “Steve Jobs” I declared bullshit, because I had checked the internet just before leaving work. There had been nothing in my RSS reader or the blogosphere about his death. But sure enough, I checked the latest news and it was loud and clear. Steve Jobs had past away.
Was his life somehow intertwined with my iPod Nano? I can only wonder…
January 5, 2012 at 9:06 am · Filed under Lifestyle
At the university, there are 7 English teachers. I’d say that 4 of us are fairly social and “good” teachers. We talk with each other about classes, teaching material, due dates, and about what’s expected from us. The other 3 are just kinda … out there… and they don’t discuss what they’re doing in classes or much of anything.
All the teachers are told to issue grades on a curve. Each class, no matter, if they are high or low level students, should have A to C students. (Ds and Fs are at the teachers discretion.) One of the problems that arises is that if you have a class of high level students, who try hard and speak English well, it’s difficult to give Cs to some of those students. And one teacher, apparently, can’t do it.
The first semester, SK told me that XXX teacher gave As to ALL his students. Every class, every student got an A. WTF? We were told not to do this! What grading scale on tests, quizzes, debates, presentations, etc did XXX use that every student could get an A. XXX teacher was told to go back to his grades and give some Bs. He did, but only a few.
He created grade inflation, and all the students learned about it. Students not in his class complained. They said it was unfair to have a “harsh grading teacher.” Since, students knew that XXX teacher graded lightly, they sought out his classes. This semester, when we changed teachers, YYY teacher had a difficult time giving grades to students, because they said, “Ahh, but XXX gave me an ‘A’ last semester. How can I get a C this semester?” And even in my classes, I had some low students talk about XXX teacher and how they could have got an ‘A’ in his class. It was annoying.
From the beginning of this semester, the Head of the English Department stressed that all of teachers should be grading on a curve. As, Bs, and Cs. She said this numerous times. She talked about how students were talking. In the beginning, because SK had told me, I was the only teacher who knew what XXX teacher had done. I kept my mouth shut, but later, the other teachers slowly asked questions and had to find out from students what XXX had done with grades. In the last meeting of the semester, the Head of the English Department stressed this again. This time, I could see her staring directly at XXX teacher. I wondered, “Holy Cow. Is she calling him out? She’s looking directly at him. How awkward.”
After the final exams, when it was time to figure out grades, the 4 “good” teachers came to school. We got our curves and paper work finished. The other 3 teachers … were … not around. They didn’t have to be around, but where were they? What were they doing? Around the deadline to turn in grades, SK told me that XXX came in and turned in grades. She said it was all As and Bs. There were no Cs. I was just dumbfounded like “WTF?” What is wrong with you that you couldn’t give a single C to any of your students? What were you doing on quizzes and tests? SK notified the Head of the Department, and she said that XXX was going to get a personal email from the Director. Seriously, just WTF?!?
The other 2 teachers, apparently didn’t finish all that was required from them. Therefore, SK said she had to go back and fix their mistakes. If these teachers had been around and got their work done with the rest of us after the final exams, it is hard to imagine that they would have made these mistakes.
December 18, 2011 at 11:05 pm · Filed under Lifestyle
Here were my resolutions for 2011.
- hapkido, yoga, pilates, dance, or general physical activity
- spend less time dicking around on the internet
- read more books
- cook more meat
- make $10,000 trading
- complete Sogang Korean 3B textbook
- Theory of Literature Theory
- Death with Shelly Kagan
- Hobbit Lectures
Some of these, I have not met or I’ve come close to completing. I have been going to the gym very regularly which has been great. That, in itself, has helped me to decrease the time that I dicked around on the internet. I have been reading more books. I finished ‘Tom Sawyer’ today. Breaking my iPod Nano and using the Kindle app has been a huge factor in this. Recently, I’ve finished the Steve Jobs book, Tony Hsieh book, and I read ‘Alice in Wonderland’ before that. So, when I have long or short commutes, I whip out the iPhone and read.
My biggest regret is that I haven’t finished that Sogang Korean 3B textbook. My Korean proficiency just hasn’t been improving as well as I would like it to have been. Every Saturday, I’ve been going to my Korean classes. However, I dont think that they help me that much. We use a different book in this class. There is too much grammar comprehension rather than practical usage and conversation. The Sogang textbooks are wonderful for conversation and critical thinking.
This year, I was delighted to get rid of one mutual fund. I bought it in 2007. It went down in the stock market. That wasn’t a bad think, but it never gave consistent dividends. Year by year, I expected some kind of return, but it never happened. Luckily, it did go over my initial purchase price and I sold at a small profit. But I got out of it at a good time. Over 4 years, it gave me next to nothing.
I haven’t been cooking much meat, but I have still been eating it. Every time I make a pilgrimage to Costco, I buy some meat and cheese. (You joke CJ, but Korea is lacking in deli meats and real cheese) I try to eat a little bit of meat and cheese each day.
For 2012, I’m probably going to keep the same goals. I think there is room for improvement for each of these goals. And these are the most fundamental for me.
December 8, 2011 at 7:33 am · Filed under Lifestyle
YTN reports that Seoul plans to gradually sack all native English speaking instructors teaching English at elementary, middle and high schools throughout the city by 2014.
A Seoul Metropolitan Council official said according to a poll, students and parents preferred Korean instructors fluent in English over native speakers, and that the council plans to slash Seoul Office of Education’s budget for personnel costs for native speakers.
In the next fiscal year, the city plans to reduce the 30 billion won budget for native speakers by 4.9 billion won; it appears 707 native speakers—57% of the 1,245 total—will leave their schools.
I saw this in the news today. Of course, I’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
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