Testing Time :P

It's that time of year again. The time where I spent a good portion of my dad testing each student individually on their English speaking and listening skills. Last time I begged for two weeks of testing time, which turned out to be barely enough. This time, I only have one week...shame. In fact, my co-teacher wanted to call it off all together because he procrastinated to much and thought there wasn't enough time. I hear that a lot from foreign teachers...the fact that there Korean co-teachers decide to call things off because whatever it is would inconvenience them too much. It's not as if I enjoy testing kids, but I do believe it's important. Even if it has no impact on their grade, and their grade will have no impact on their immediate future, the shear fact of the positive reinforcement by the awards they will get for the A's & B's they make, is important. I think.

Each of the two test I've given consist of eight questions from the last three lessons that were covered in their text book. Last test covered lessons six, seven, and eight, and this test will cover lessons twelve, thirteen, and fourteen. The test is as follows:

Lesson 12: Will you help me?

1.) T: I want to make sandwiches. I need your help. How can I ask for your help?

S: Will you help me? / Can you help me? / Please help me make sandwiches.

2.) T: Will you help me with my homework? Give me two answers please.

S: Yes; Of course. / No; Sorry; I can't.

Lesson 13: That's too bad!

3.) T: What would you say to a friend who is very sick?

S: That's too bad. / I'm sorry you are sick.

4.) T: Kevin can't go to school today. Why?

S: Kevin can't go to school today because he is sick. / Because he is sick. / Kevin is sick. /Kevin has a stomachache. / Because he has bad cold. / Kevin is fever and earache.

5.) T: Your friend brings you beautiful flowers. How does that make you feel?

S: It makes me feel happy. / I feel happy. / I feel good. / I'm happy. / I'm good.

Lesson 14: Would you like to come to my house?

6.) T: What did we learn about in lesson 14. The title is "Would you like to come to my house?"

S: We are learning about extending invitation. / We are learning about inviting. / We are

learning about expecting invite. / We are learning about invite. / We are learning about

inviting friends.

7.) T: What American holiday did we learn about in lesson 14?

S: We are learning about Thanksgiving day.

8:) T: Complete my scenario... My birthday is this Saturday. I would like to invite you. How do

I ask?

S: Would you like to come to my birthday party? / Would you like to come to my house?

Just as before, each two answers is one letter grade, and failure to answer any questions is an F. However, I am pretty lenient on the answers. I don't expect the answers to be grammatically correct, nor do I expect them to be in past tense, even though they should know how to do this. But of course, answering "Kevin is cold" to the question "Kevin can't go to school today; why?" is not just grammatically incorrect, it's just plain wrong.

If I could have ample amount of time with students, I feel as though I could help them understand the question and what I expect them to answer more easily than I can in 1-2 minutes. Unfortunately, I am unable to do this. Despite the fact that I have been asking my co-teacher what lessons he would like on the interview exam, and telling him that I would need lots of time to give it, for over a month now, it has just come down to this.

Last night I went into Seoul after school to Hadden's Grocery in Oksu for my last four small containers of white frosting. Two were Pillsbury and two were Dunken-Hynes... All this work will pay off when the kids have fun during camp...I hope anyway. I looking forward to just going home afterschool today and sleeping. I spent lots of money traveling and eating out this past month, so I need to cool down for a bit.

However, when I get paid, I would like to go in Seoul in Myeongdong and buy me some cheap, knock-off Ugg boots. I need black and brown. I have huge feet though (well, huge for Koreans), so we'll see. I saw some really nice boots for 12,000W in a subway station that went as high as American size five. I asked for 250mm (American size eight), and the clerk looked at me with wide eyes and said "nOo," as if having 250mm shoes was an absurd notion. She handed me the size five and said "Just try it." I looked at her and said, "Meeyeonheayo (I'm sorry), size too small!" With my crazy feet, boots look nice and fit a lot better than dress shoes, so I can wear them with skirts and dresses.