Silk Road Embroidery

For the Spring Coronet in the Far West the reigning baroness set a single item, no documentation needed, A&S competition. The rules said that it had to be something to do with the Silk Road. What better to make than a silk handkerchief with a Korean motif on it. 

The design I got from the end cap tile for a palace roof. This particular tile can be found at the National Museum in Seoul, and is dated to early SCA period, being Goguryeo. 

I decided to use the central motif as the corner piece for a handkerchief. The finished design was a lot simpler than this (after all, I'm just a beginner), but still held a lot of the same imagery and ideas to it. To get from the tile to the image I opened the picture in Photoshop and did a very slow tracing of the outline that I wanted. From there I simplified it down. 

However, before I could simplify the design I had to shrink it down to the size that I wanted. The original filled a A4 sized paper. During this phase I also decided what colors I wanted to use where. I decided on a very Korean blue-green, and a purple that matched the traditional Korean pink. (I really don't like pink).  

I chose these because the information posted with the tile did not say whether or not the original had been painted or what kind of flower it was. So I got to do a lot of guess work. 

The design went through several simplification steps. The one on the left is the original. The one in the middle is with some hand drawn finishing touches and simplification lines. The one on the right is the final design I decided to use for the handkerchief. 

Then I had the task of transferring the image from the paper to the silk. I used the poor man's light box at school to do it. I taped the paper to the window. And then taped the silk to the paper (and partially to the window). I hung the design upside down so that I could hang the handkerchief upside down as well to let gravity help rather than hinder. The transference took a very long time. I ended up with cramped hands, and a pained back, but I had it done. The reason it took so long was all of the intricate details and the stuff that was placed beneath the window. (I was at school so I had to contend with immovable shelves and such). 

Once I got it off the window I started sewing. I used a split to trace the design, leaving it as an outline. The design stretched a little bit in the process of being made, because it was tucked into a corner. (I'm sure there's a way to fix this. I'll have to do a little more research next time). However, I still think it came out okay. 

I didn't win the competition. This is partly because I was running around getting ready to leave so much that I forgot to wash away the extra detailing before taking it to the competition. However, it is mostly due to the fact that the other two just had outstanding pieces. +Tammy Warren made a beautiful painting that I claimed to take home with me, and Will had a prayer bead piece that he had made. Both of them were gorgeous. So I came in third/last place. 

Types of Beginners

In the TESOL 19 Unit we focused on special groups of learners. The first group we concentrated on were beginners. For this task we had to list out types of beginners and then give definitions for each type of beginner. 

• Absolute beginner
• False beginner
• Adult beginner
• Young beginner
• Beginner without Roman alphabet

Beginning students exist on a three way continuum. Although they will all need to start from nearly the same place the style for teaching them should vary based on where they land on this cube. Along the X-axis is the age of the beginner. Young beginners should always be taught English in English. While the youngest are naturally curious and eager (I loved teaching the six-year-olds at my last kindergarten) the older they are the less they are motivated to learn English. It is probably a requirement pushed on them by the school or their parents. However, adult beginners are those who want to start learning as adults. For them they have motivation to learn English, they have some specific reason to do so - a person or group to communicate with and an idea they want to communicate.  

Along the Y-axis is the previous exposure to the language. The may not have even been exposed to the roman alphabet (these the textbook called “beginners without a Roman alphabet”). Most of the students in the Middle East and Asia will be starting from this point. The ‘most advanced’ of the beginning students are the false beginners. These students have already been exposed to the language and the alphabet. They may even know some of the standard questions and answers by heart. Laying between these two is the absolute beginner. It is possible that they can recognize English when they see it written out (though they probably don’t know what it means). However, they have no idea how to communicate in English.

The last axis is Z, and this axis is the motivational axis. Students will exist across this spectrum too. Some will want to study and others will detest it.

3rd Grade Ads

For lesson two the 3rd graders (9th graders) were studying about words in advertising, buyer beware, and language to use if you needed to exchange something or get a refund. So for the activity I chose to do poster advertisements that can be used during the smart shopper lesson at the end of the book. Or in any other lessons about shopping and advertising.

I had my own example made up to show them from last year's activity in which they were supposed to make an ad for an invention. I showed it to them, gave them the requirements and turned them loose. I like pushing them to explore their creativity.

A lot of the kids worked really hard on the poster, some were even working in two colors at once. They made some really brilliant posters. Some classes did not have time to finish of course, and others didn't even have time to start because they chose to lolligag while working on the text book.

 We have one for Elastine, which is a real shampoo, but I love the line "Seduce your boyfriends" that they used as a tag on it. Another group did a comparison of three different smartphones. We have the Galaxy Note 2, which is the newest and most expensive, the Galaxy 3, which is smaller, older and less expensive, and the Galaxy 1 which is old and cracked and free. Personally, I'll stick to my iPhone.

One group tried to sell Miss Jo's (my new co-teacher's) clothes. I think they did a very good job of creating the clothes that she wore that day and giving reasons to buy them. They aren't that expensive either. Hmm... Anyone else think this is a hint that I don't dress like a "career woman"?

The rest of these advertisement posters as well as previous poster making activities are all available in the album Student Works 2013. If you would like to see more of my students try checking out Songok 2013.

Student Works 2013

Songok 2013

Phrasal Verbs and Relative Clauses

More TESOL stuff! (But I promise it's almost finished.) This time we had to explain the different sorts of phrasal verbs and the different types of relative clauses. 


The first kind of phrasal verb is the intransitive verb. They cannot be followed by a direct object. In other words, they are complete in themselves and don’t need any help. Two examples are “go” and “sleep.” The sentence “He went,” is a complete sentence, though without any details the context is unknown. The same is true of the sentence “The baby is sleeping.”

The second sort of phrasal verb is a transitive separable verb. These verbs involve two words, and are separated by the object pronoun. “let down” and “write down.” In sentence form: “Many parents often worry about their students going to good schools. So the students are afraid to let them down. Instead they write everything down in their notes and study very hard.” Note that sometimes some separable verbs are used together, when the object is long and involved: “Get it down,” may become “Get down the red box with the blue ribbon.”

The last type of phrasal verb is the transitive separable verb. These phrasal verbs cannot be separated. The text notes that this kind is particularly hard to learn the meaning of, and may be studied as vocabulary words. For example: “In any bureaucracy some people fall through the cracks.” and “I stood up.”

In a defining relative clause the information given is essential to the meaning of the sentence. If we take it out the sentence is either incoherent or points in too many directions at once. For example, “The glass which is red and blue polka dots has the paint-brush cleaner. The glass which is green and yellow striped has the drinking water.” If you take out the color and design of  the glasses (“The glass has the paint-brush cleaner. The glass has the drinking water.”), then you cannot tell which glass is which and may end up killing yourself (or at least getting very sick). 

In non-defining relative clauses the clause is not necessary to understand the meaning of the sentence, but gives some extra detail of information. For example, “My betrothed, who is in the military, knows how to shoot guns.” In this case, “My betrothed knows how to shoot guns,” is a clear and understandable sentence, but adding in “who is in the military” gives some idea of why or how he learned to shoot guns. 

2nd Grade Questions

For the second graders (read eighth graders) lesson two was all about hobbies, sports, and activities. For them I had a three stage game that involved everyone getting points (though it was possible to lose points).

For the first stage of the game they had to brainstorm a list of hobbies, activities, and sports. They had two minutes on the clock and had to list as many as possible. The two teams with the most got 3 points, the two teams in the middle got 2 points, and the two teams with the least got 1 point. I had the team with the most read out their list to the class quickly and then we moved on.

In stage two we played the game from ESLGamesWorld that I mentioned in a previous post. I already knew that there was going to be a problem with the fact that about half the teams would get an extra round, and thus boost their points, but I didn't anticipate that the game would be TOO easy for them. It was. Far too easy, I had to start removing points from teams that talked. As much as the video interface and the point keeping is great I would prefer to build my own jeopardy games. I just wish I knew how to get the PowerPoints to keep score as well. If I was here longer, I would probably look into it some more, but at this point it's not worth it. I awarded points the same way as in the first round - top scorers received 3 points, lowest scores received 1 point, and the two in the middle received 2 points.

For the last round of the game I wanted students to make up questions similar to those in the game, but around hobbies, sports, and activities of their choosing. This was probably the hardest part of the classes, but it also gave them the opportunity to stretch their creativity and imaginations. It gave them a chance to use what they enjoy in class.

Here are some of the questions:

1. Today is Sunday. Miss Park wants to go out with her family. Her mother prepares some food and her father drives a car. What are they doing?
A. playing soccer
B. going on a picnic
C. going to bed
D. going shopping

2. How many players do we need for basketball?
A. 6
B. 4
C. 5
D. 9

3. 김중범 likes the sport with a bat, a ball, and a glove. What is it?
A. basketball
B. soccer
C. baseball
D. DDR

4. We need 11 players and a ball to play this sport. We have big matches every 4 years. The most famous players for this sport are David Beckahm and Ji-Seong Park. What is this sport?
A. Basketball
B. Soccer
C. Baseball
D. Ping Pong

5. T-Ball is a form of ___________.
A. Basketball
B. Soccer
C. Baseball
D. Tennis

6. When is it best to go skiing?
A. Spring
B. Summer
C. Fall
D. Winter

7. What do you need for baseball?
A. A big ball
B. A glove
C. A book
D. A desk

8. During winter, we can ____________.
A. go hiking
B. go on a picnic
C. go snowboarding
D. go swimming at the beach.

Bonus: What sport is this?
Hint:
- ball
- 11
- kick
- Spain

__________________________.

Answer Key:
1. B
2. C
3. C
4. B
5. D
6. D
7. B
8. C
Bonus: Soccer

How I Teach

For this particular TESOL unit we had to describe and show how we taught students. In particular they wanted us to show how we would teach active vs. passive verbs to lower level learners. 


I would start with the sentence “He washes the car,” placed next to the sentence “The car is washed by him.” I would ask the students if they think the sentences are the same.

The smart alek students will say “No, it’s backwards.” The smarter ones will say “The second is in the past,” and maybe one or two of the students who have studied similar things before will say “There is no difference in meaning.” (Or a sentence of similar meaning).

I would then ask what is the same between the sentence. Hopefully they will tell me “He/him” and “the car” and “washes/washed.” Then I would say that these sentences mean the same thing, but the focus is in different places. Then I would pull out two pictures. In one the car is big and the man is small. In the other the man is big and the car is small. I would put them over the correct sentences.

“In the first sentence,” (pause for them to read it to me) “we should look at the man. He is doing the work, he is big and strong. The car is not important. We don’t care about the car.” (pause for giggling to subside)

“In the second sentence,” (pause for them to read it to me) “we should look at the car. The car is very expensive and beautiful. The  man is not important. We don’t care about the man.” (pause for giggling to subside)

“The first sentence is “active,” the man is doing the work.” (Write active under it, or push for power point to display it) “The second sentence is “passive,” the car is not working. Who is working?”

Hopefully the students will say “the man” or “him.”

“See? It is the same. The man is doing the work in both sentences. He is washing the car. However, the thing we look at is different. In the first sentence we look at the man, and in the second sentence we look at the car.”

Now, I would change the slide or put up new sentences to read: “She reads the book,” and “The book is read by her.”

“Who is doing the acting?”

Hopefully the students say “she/her/a girl/a woman.”

“Good. What does she have?”

Hopefully the students say “a book.”

“Alright, which one is the active and which one is the passive sentence?”

After the students correctly identify the first as being active and the second as passive I would reveal pictures with a normal girl reading a normal book and then a little girl reading a big book.

Depending on how easily they got that one I might do one or two more to make sure they had it.

Then I would reveal all the sentences studied together in matching columns.

“He washes the car.” “The car is washed by him.”
“She reads a book.”          “The book is read by her.”
“It eats the eggs.” “The eggs are eaten by it.”

Then I would ask “Alright, how do I take an active sentence and make it passive?”

I’d let the students answer and make drawings on the board as they tell me how to move things. I would also remind them that “by” always comes after the verb, and that the verb is always helped along by “is/am/was/were/are/will be” while underlining those. I would also note the change in pronouns. Lastly, I would note that the verb is not put into the past tense, but is instead in the “-en” form (if it has one).

All of these notes would be written on the board, and the students would be required to write them in their notebook.

“Now, what is this sentence when I put it in passive form?”

“Miss Jo writes books.”

Hopefully students will say: “The books are written by Miss Jo.” If they miss small things I would go back and point it out. I would do a few more like this, as well as giving them a few of the passive sentences and asking for the active.

Then I would ask for questions and move onto the pair/group study or the activate stage of the lesson.

Classroom on a Deserted Island

Task: Using the list given last time, choose five of the items on the list and state why you would choose them. 

The computer would be my number one choice for my desert-island-school. This is because if you have a good computer and a digital projector (the little USB ones are not that expensive any more and can be projected against any white wall) as well as an internet connection and printer you have the entire list above. So a computer with a good set up would be my first choice, but even just the computer and printer would be helpful because I could make my own worksheets.

My second choice would be the video camera. It has educational uses: it lets absent students see the lecture; as well as fun ones: video taping a skit or music video. It is also one of the few things on the list that cannot be duplicated easily with just a computer and a good set up. (Though a computer with internet would aid in the distribution of said video.

My third choice is the course book. I enjoy making my own lesson plans, but even three plans a week is a lot of work (I teach 20 classes, but only three grades so they all get the same lessons over and over). The course book gives me a good solid foundation as well as a basis for what the students should know that the other teachers, parents, and I can agree on.

Visuals would be my fourth choice. Visuals are wonderful things to engage a student's attention. They focus them and get them all looking and thinking about the same things. They can also be used for games and activities as well as educational purposes. (Flash card games is just one example of how these may be used).

A photocopier would be my last choice because a photocopier means that I can make something for all the kids to do quickly without wasting ink in the printer. It's quick and fast for when I need something to fill in because equipment broke, students have finished previously planned activities, or the teachers say "Oh by the way, you need to teach this class now."