OK, a little bragging is in order. In my last entry, I mentioned briefly that some of the students and the principal were all in the United States at an Odyssey of the Mind competition. For those who don't know what that is, I'll just let their website tell you: “Odyssey of the Mind is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from Kindergarten through college.” I've grown up around this all my life. I think Anneli may have been a part of it at one point as well. That being said, well...THEY WON! And I don't mean we won one of the categories or our division. Those amazing Gyesong Elementary students swept the whole thing! They are the World Champions! They competed against schools from thirty other countries...and won! One of the students is in my class. His name is Jason. He was back yesterday, but there were news crews at the school interviewing, so I didn't see him. But today he brought is metal to English class and told me all about how great it was. I could tell that he is so proud of himself, as is the rest of the school. I have some pretty amazing students!
I wanted to post some of the pictures from the Gyeseong website, but it wouldn't let me, so if you want to see them, just click on the purple Gyeseong and it will take you there. In lieu of that, here's a picture of the banner the school put outside of the building the day after they won in Iowa.
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ReplyDeleteHi Amanda, I left Korea in 2010, and I absolutely LOVE reading about your everyday experiences and relationships with the Koreans you met and cherished. Absolutely lovely. I stumbled on your blog because I googled Gyeseong because from 2002 - 2007 I worked there. I moved with the school from Myeong dong to Banpo, Sr Rosa was my second principal, Scarlett was on my team and Park Sung Min was our supervisor ( I still talk to him). I was the first foreign teacher in your classroom but when I had that room there were more tables and I had a smartboard. Everyone thought I had gotten the worst classroom because the drum class practised next door once a week. That wasn't so much fun but I loved it. I am still besotted by Korea and her people and I can hear the love in your writing. Thank you
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