Nhemskie's Haven

by Thess Manangan (Busan, South Korea) ---------------------------------- This aticle was shared with us by Ate Thess last Saturday at the FEESK meeting. It was published as a featured article in KOTESOL's English Connection ten years ago. We were very thankful and fortunate to have her as a guest speaker this month. Thanks ate Thess~! --------------------------------- Are native speaking English teachers better qualified to teach English than non-native speaking English teachers? Since living in Korea for more than six years, I have asked myself this question countless times. Non-native speakers of English, especially non-white Asians, face a difficult task finding quality teaching positions. Being Filipino, I have faced many closed doors when looking for teaching posts. It is not easy because Koreans hold certain perceptions of what foreign English teachers should look and sound like. If you don’t fit their perception, then you are simply “not qualified” to teach English. I came ...

Yup. I have a new phone and this is because of Chloe. She knocked out my phone so hard on the bathroom floor that made the monitor useless for two whole days! I went to a near Anycall service center and actually planned to repair it but they said that I had to pay for around 25,000won for a part replacement, I just thought of buying a new one since there are a lot of free phones nowadays and I had used my phone for more than two years. To pay 25k for an old, really full of scratches phone (because of Chloe) is too much for me since sooner or later I also need to replace it. In the end, it turned out not to be a free phone(850,000 won / $690). Tommy bought this phone for me saying that I need a "much, much better phone" because of his daughter...hahaha! and because I've been always using free phones since I came here in Korea (which are NOT really FREE PHONES because of the additional services included in the phone bill for the first few months). So, I resulted picking thi...

Have you ever experienced walking on the right side of a sidewalk when suddenly a rushing Korean run into your direction, literally? If you won't give way, you'll just hear that someone muttering something under his breath. Or have you ever had these cases like you were doing " patintero "(pah-tin-teh-roh) with the other person when you are walking? I find this behavior very bothering (sometimes odd and funny) especially when I use the stairways in the subway. Some subway stations have escalors going up installed at the left (e.g. Deokcheon Station). What is surprising is that they even have this sign: I told this to Tommy a few days ago and I just found out from him that they learn walking at the left side of the road in their elementary days. They even have this song that goes lilke this: "People keep to the left and cars to the right. Let's cross the street after looking right and left." So, it must be because of an old convention of walking on the le...

My students prized possessions: Syringe mechanical pencil M&M style calculator Burger set erasers Ice cream mechanical pencil Pizza ballpen

Daddy Bear Tommy. Spiky-sports cut (this is how he says it).I believe this has been his hair-style for more than 12 years. Mommy Bear Nemie. I actually hesitated between having a perm or a short cut. I guess you know what I chose. I feel, I got "chubbier" with this cut. What do you think? Baby Bear Chloe. Chloe's grandma brought her to a nearby hair salon in the neighborhood and had her bangs cut. She really looks like a baby boy here! hihihi.

It's not the Taiwanese F4, but tonight (August 12 @ 11:30 ~ 3 am) a meteor shower is going to happen. Tonight is the peak of The Perseid meteor shower ,also known as the "Tears of Saint Lawrence". I am looking in the skies while typing this entry and hoping all of my wishes with every star that falls may come true (if the sky would clear up a little, Oh! Grrr... it's raining T.T!!!). Say your wishes too tonight! ^^ "Wish I may, wish I might get the wishes we're wishing tonight"

Smiling Chloe @ Shinsegae Dept. Store Rooftop Feeling cold on the top Hi James! Chloe making train cookies Hi Percy! Posing for Toby Backwards--- Fun...Fun at the Slides Working hard on balls! Chloe and her friend Ka-Hyeon Chloe after a rolling experience!

Filipina wins ASEAN Essay Writing Title Posted using ShareThis Mary Anne Therese Manuson of the Philippines won the ASEAN Essay Writing Competition Top Prize. Mary is the overall winner of the AEC Feature Articles Competition on “Opportunities through Integration”, which was jointly organised by the ASEAN Secretariat and the ASEAN-European Union (EU) Programme for Regional Integration Support (APRIS) to raise awareness of the benefits of economic integration. “With lowered or no barriers, the movement of people, ideas and money has been gaining momentum,” she said, and “as ASEAN countries get closer to becoming an economic community, life for the man-on-the-street will be infinitely sweeter,” she added. The AEC is envisaged to be established by 2015. A 26-year old Research Associate from the Philippines, Mary won herself a return air-ticket to Jakarta and the opportunity to meet Dr Surin Pitsuwan, Secretary-General of ASEAN. The meeting took place at the ASEAN Secretariat today, where ...

TESOL is the teaching of English to people whose first language is not English. TESOL stands for ` t eaching E nglish to s peakers of o ther l anguages' (From left to right: My two sisters-in-law, Chloe, me, mom-in-law, Dong and father-in-law) ( Tommy, Chloe and me posing after the closing exercises of the 12th Cycle of TU-PUFS TESOL) I enrolled the TESOL certificate Program at PUFS last March, 2009 hoping to learn some new things and get a plus qualification (incentives~!) next time when I apply for a teaching job. Actually, I considered Times TESOL , or SMU first but since Times TESOL doesn't credit units for Korean graduate universities and SMU which pioneered the first TESOL programs here in Korea but is quite far here from Busan, I chose PUFS for practicality and convenience. This certificate program made me very busy for the last six months. I did the classes in the morning and had my work in the afternoon. I tried to do multiple activities all at the same time, b...