Who are these people?

First 5 correct responses in the comments get extra points.  If you can only guess two out of the three, that's OK. 

Congratulations!

To all of you who guessed that the man above is the youngest teacher (not PA or TA) at GLPS.  The first five correct comments were given points. 

Get Creative!

For those of you who have finished your second skills post I'd like to give you an opportunity to do a little creative writing.  Above, you'll notice a picture I took yesterday of one of the buildings on campus.  It is always one of the first buildings anyone notices when they come here, but after staying here for a while it tends to slip into the background of our minds.  We all know it is there, but nobody really cares or pays any attention to it.  Well, I think it is time to make up for this neglect.  I'd like you to take a nice long look at the picture and make up a story about it.  You can be as creative as you'd like, but keep it decent.  Feel free to write in whatever kind of genre, just use the picture as a jumping off point.  I'll be giving 15 extra points to any really well written stories. 

Post your stories on your blog.  Feel free to use the picture from here. 

Challenge

I always get a little bit confused when students ask me, "What is your hobby?".  It appears that they expect a person to only have one hobby.  I, and most of my friends, are interesting in a number of things and spend a little bit of time doing a lot of different things.  I like, cooking, watching movies, taking pictures, swimming, cycling, gardening, reading, sailing, playing frisbee, yoga, badminton, hanging out with friends, traveling, hiking, and scuba diving. If it is interesting or fun, I'll probably do it.  I've just taken up tennis and went rock climbing a couple of times recently and thought it was really fun. 

Anyway, one of my hobbies (actually a couple of them combined) is responsible for the picture above.  I took the picture when I was on vacation in the Philippines, 12 meters below the surface of the ocean on a dive.  If you are one of the first five people to identify the creature you will receive ten points.  Hint: some of the relatives of this kind of animal have a shell.
Here is a different one.  It is the same type of creature, but a different species:

Standout Blogs of the Week

Hi,
I'd just like to give some recognition to some of the students who did a really good job on their blogs, particularly their skills posts, this week.  An extra ten points each will go to the writer of:
Class 15's "i luv me" http://iloveseanpark.blogspot.com/
Class 17's "GLPS Announcer Note" http://glpsannouncernote.blogspot.com/
Class 16's "Morning Cereal" chocochex16.blogspot.com
Class 16's "Containing Faces Including Ours" http://containingfaces.blogspot.com/
Class 15's "Here at GLPS" http://glpsclass15van.blogspot.com/


Class 15's "I love sports" will get an honorable mention.  I would like to award you some points but I cannot find the material again. 
I have checked all of the skills posts I could find.  If there is no comment at the bottom of your post, I did not see it and you need to tell me your URL again. 
If you think I have overlooked your blog and you deserve some recognition, you can let me know in the comments and I will double check.  There is a lot of good writing out there and I want to give recognition to the people that deserve it.  Tell me if you think you deserve more.
YB

Question!

Here's a little test to see how much you know about the teachers here at GLPS.   Who is the youngest teacher (not TA or PA) teaching here at camp?   The first five correct answers will receive five points each for their class. 
Write your answers in the comments.

Zombie Food!

No, not the food that Zombies eat.  Everyone knows

No, I'm talking about food that is actually a Zombie.  For those of you who don't know what a Zombie is, it is a dead person (or in the following case, a frog) that rises up out of its grave to steal the brains of living creatures. 
Take a look at the video below:

I found this on a news site I read regularly.  They have a blog there devoted to "Sciencey" stuff.  If you are curious about why those things dance, or would like to see the other video that goes with the article, follow the link below:
      http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/08/01/138890515/food-on-a-plate-shouldn-t-move

Yoga

Well,
I guess most of your yoga classes have finished now but I wanted to post a little about it anyway.  I talked to some of the folks in my class and a lot of the boys seem to think the yoga was a little bit ridiculous, and a little painful.  Well, yoga is actually on of my hobbies.  I do it almost every day and think its a really great form of exercise.  It takes a lot of strength, flexibility, agility, and concentration, all of which I think are pretty important.  It also takes practice.  A lot of practice.
Some of you probably already think it's funny that a man does yoga.  These days, in Korea, and even around the world, yoga seems to be associated with women.  It wasn't always the case, the practice was actually restricted to only men when it originally started.
Anyway, I wanted to show you a clip of a man who amazed me when I first started doing yoga.  When he came to Korea a few years ago I even had an opportunity to take a class with him and learn a few things.
Check him out:

And now, no matter what you thought of the yoga class you just had, take a look at this next guy and be happy he is not your teacher.  The poor guy wants to introduce young people to yoga but I think he probably just chases them away.  Write an interesting adjective to describe him in the comments.   The best one(s) will earn ten points.  When you write, tell me what class number you are in.  

Skills Post 1

                                                                                                      Photo by Automania on Flickr.com

Modeling a compare and contrast essay.

For the first skills post, all students will have to write a “Compare and Contrast” essay. In class together we all did a great job talking about the good and bad points of a number of English Language camps that might appeal to young students. They had to look at the benefits of each program and decided which one was the best for the class to attend.

During class I also asked students what a major difference between speaking English and writing English was. For me, good writing always has smooth transitions from one idea to the next. In spoken English you can use all different kinds of techniques to signal small changes in the direction of your conversation; tone of voice, body language, pauses, volume, or eye contact. In writing, the reader needs a little more help. This is where “transition” words become valuable. They signal the changes to the reader and bring different thoughts together. When used well and with good variety, they can take make a simple comparison seems lively and readable.

Here are some of the transition words or phrases that are commonly used with the “Compare and Contrast” essay format:

compared to, similar, alike, both, as well as, although, even though, however, but, on the other hand, despite, contrasted with

As a demonstration of the type of essay I am looking for, I will pretend that I am a Korean student of English in a University class and write about my preference for one the schools below:  (taken from http://esl.about.com/od/teachingintermediatelevel/a/Which-English-Language-School-Do-We-Choose.htm)

British Best

• London, England
• Language instruction 6 hours a day, Monday through Saturday
• Housing with a British family - breakfast included
• 14 days - 12 days of instruction
• Teachers qualified with TEFL Certificate
• 4 Outings included: Tate Gallery, Concert in Royal Albert Hall, The Countryside around London, Cats (Musical)
• Price: $1,500 round-trip airfare included
  

Hawaiian Paradise Learning

• School located in a park on Oahu Island 60 miles from Honolulu
• Language instruction 4 hours a day, Monday through Friday
• Housing in a bungalow 5 minute walk from the beach - breakfast, and dinner included
• 14 days - 10 days of instruction
• English native speaking teachers
• Beach Party, Scuba-Snorkel Safari, Wind-Surfing included
• Price: $1,700 round-trip airfare included
  

English Program at University of Whatchamacallit

• School located in the small town of Paluka in Wyoming, USA, population 40,000
• University staff - all teachers with Masters Degree
• Language instruction 5 hours a day, Monday through Saturday
• Dormitory style housing, breakfast, lunch and dinner included
• 14 days - 12 days of instruction
• Nature walks, meet American students party (party to make introductions between US students and international students), skiing at weekends included
• Price: $1,400 round-trip airfare included
  

I'm sure nearly everyone would agree that one of the best ways to study English is to spend some time abroad and immerse yourself in a culture where English is spoken all around you. Any program that enables a student to speak in a natural way on a daily basis is bound to be very beneficial. Even though each of these programs may be beneficial, the benefits are not the same and each program has some drawbacks. 

On the surface it seems that they are all fairly easily acceptable programs. They all have a minimum of four hours a day of English instruction by highly educated and trained teachers. Each offers the opportunity for a Korean student to experience a new culture and learn from new teachers. All three offer great activities outside of the instruction of the camp, although they do have very different types of activities. 

One of the important things for me to think about when I am choosing a place to go is the quality of the instruction. Compared to the University of Whatchamacallit and the Hawaiian Paradise learning, I think that British Best has the best instruction. All of the teachers there have TEFL certificates, which means that they have been trained to teach English to speakers of other languages. Even though the teachers at the University of Whatchamacallit have Masters Degrees, I don't really know what subject they studied and I don't know if they have any experience teaching. In contrast to both of those, Hawaiian Paradise learning doesn't seem to care about qualifications at all. Their ad says that their teachers are “native speakers” which means they could have very little or no experience teaching. 

I also look for opportunities to interact and speak English with local people. The University of Whatchamacallit looks attractive because, on the one hand, it has a party where we can meet American Students and we can stay in an American dorm. On the other hand, though, I can't be sure that the dorm won't be filled to the brim with Koreans while the American students stay far away. Compare that to the interaction promised by the Hawaiian school and it seems like you are guaranteed a lot. They make it seem like you will be at the beach by yourself all day. While I could probably find a way to meet some people in both of those situations, I don't think that either one is as good as British Best. A home-stay situation with a British family will let me learn all the different aspects of the language, not just what we study in class. 

In short, although I've considered other factors, the two reasons above are enough for me to choose British Best. I feel that the quality of the instruction within the classroom will be better than both the others. Also, staying in another family's home will be a great help to my language skills, despite the difficulties I may have adjusting to a different household.