Pieces of a Grant Year
Our own Infusion Staff Editor Monica Heilman allowed us to take a look at her grant year through her art and quite literally, allowed us to take a piece of her art home with us. At the ETA Final Dinner, Monica displayed 55 pieces, all done on cardboard cup holders. This is how she describes her work: “Pieces of a Grant Year” is a collection of moments I experienced in Korea, from the mundane (students sleeping during self-study time) to the touristy (Beomeosa Temple, Busan) to the seemly insignificant but actually very influential (squatty potties). Why use coffee cup warmers, also known as cup cozies, java jackets or paper zarfs? Just because? Actually, the materials came before the plan. Thanks to encouragement from our own Hillary Veitch and my frustrated art drive, I began collecting java jackets in January. It wasn’t until many months and paper zarfs later that I decided to draw, paint and paste memories of Korea onto these pieces of cardboard. The concept was broad enough for any number of cup cozies and finding a connection to the material wasn’t too much of stretch. Cardboard cup warmers are always wrapped snugly around your cafe drink-of-choice, but afterward they’re nothing but trash. Cup warmers are insignificant physical tokens, whereas the memories I wanted to capture were meaningful but intangible. Through “Pieces” I give form to these memories, but only in snippets, the same way one might experience memories. The final component of this piece is up to you. The memories here are meant to be applicable to the general ETA experience. Our memories of Korea will eventually grow faint, but I’d like to think you could slip a zarf into your jacket pocket, fly back to America, and later look back on that piece of cardboard with some degree of fondness. So what I’m saying is, if any of these catches your eye, take one because my jacket pockets aren’t big enough for them all. To see more of Monica’s art, visit her website: https://monicaheilman.com/ [slideshow_deploy id=’5054′]
Blog Posts I Didn’t Write
On Kimchi: Brushing My Teeth After Every Meal HanCOOL: In Celebration of Recognizing the ‘Bathroom’ Sign The Designated Tambourine Shaker: Noraebang Nights Making My Parents Proud: So-Mek Magic Tricks Writing my Will: Coming to Terms with the Daily Bus Commute Roses Are Red, Your Poodle Is Blue Naked and Afraid: The Jimjilbang Diaries Anne Hathaway + Elsa + Emma Watson = Teacher: My Students’ Love-Child Fantasies Joking or Fighting? The Host Family Mystery My Students Are Throwing Things Out of the Windows But My Co-Teacher is Chill With It So I Guess I’m Chill With It Too Drenched: My Umbrella Betrays Me Where Should I Put This Cup? And Other Trash Adventures Shush Yourself Before You Buckle Yourself: Nunchi Maintenance on Public Transportation An Ode to Naver: The Real Lifesaver I Found A Unicorn: Female Taxi Drivers in Korea I Wore My School Slippers Home Again, or, Monday Cultural Ambassadorship: Static Cling and Blushing Boys Crying in the Bathroom: My School Blocked Wi-Fi Access A Crushing Critique: “You Take Bad Selfies, Teacher” Apologies to my Mom, Aunt Shirley, and that Boy Who Liked Me in 8th Grade: Sorry for the Failed Attempt at Blogging; I Was Having Too Much Fun Allana Wooley is a 2015-2016 ETA at Masan Girls’ High School in Masan, Gyeongsangnam-do.
Korea and Taiwan: Classroom Moments
Memorable Classroom Moments from Korea and Taiwan In both Korea and Taiwan, the Fulbright ETA grant year has come to a close. Some ETAs have said their goodbyes, while others are staying on with Fulbright for a second or even third year. Regardless, the end of a grant year always invites reflection. Here, Korea and Taiwan ETAs share their most memorable moments from the classroom and stories they know they’ll still be telling in five years. — All of my students chose their own English names the first week of class. Among the names were Kentucky, Fried, Chicken (yes, they all sat next to each other), Blue and Orange (they were dating), Pikachu, Larva, Adele, Sam Smith, and Beyonce. One of my 2nd grade high school students chose the name Obama. Flash forward to the next semester. I no longer taught Obama because he was a 3rd grade high school student. I saw him one day and asked him to remind me of his Korean name because I felt weird yelling Obama across school all the time. He said, “Kim.” I repeated, “Kim.” “Ba.” I repeated, “Ba.” “Ma.” – Monica Mehta, ETA 2015-2016 Naju, Jeollanam-do, South Korea My second-graders came to class one day and said, “Good afternoon” to me in Vietnamese. I am Vietnamese-American; I came to Taiwan to teach English and American culture, and ended up learning from my students the true meaning of intercultural understanding. – Chloe, ETA 2015-2016 Taitung City, Taitung County, Taiwan [I’ll always remember] seeing the excitement in the students’ faces when we learned about the fifty states and seeing them try to find the states on a US map. After that lesson, every time they came into my classroom, they would run up to the US map and try to find another state before we started our lesson of the day. It was great to see them genuinely interested in learning about how each state is different and unique. – Kristin Krzic, ETA 2015-2016 Iksan, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea Given the flexibility of my school, the administration often let me create my own activities. While on Jinmen, I collaborated with a number of musicians and eventually started a band with three other friends. Our music was, shall we say, against the Jinmenese traditional grain. We played punk music. On Mother’s Day, we held a performance for students and their families at Shumei (my school). I was deathly afraid that the music would be too abrasive for the young learners, but once we started playing a song we wrote about Mother’s Day, the crowd began clapping on time and some of the students were nodding their heads. At the end we gave out our band’s stickers. Even today, I see our stickers on my students’ water bottles, bags, and other items. Cultural exchange through music, passion, and unspoken tones had a profound impact on our process of understanding each other. The beauty of the Fulbright program is that it allows ostensibly irreconcilable differences to be mitigated through creative engagement and artistic dialogue. – Oliver Thomas, ETA 2015-2016 Shamei, Jinmen County, Taiwan It is not a specific story, but what I will still be saying about teaching in five years is that your students, no matter age or where in the world, will always make your experience. They will challenge and frustrate you beyond belief, but they will also make you smile when they finally understand the material and laugh on the days you need most. – Alessa Strelecki, ETA 2015-2016 Sejong City, South Korea One ordinary Monday morning, I was preparing to teach a second grade dance-themed English class. Right before doing the morning greeting, I realized that each of my 30 giggling second graders had a balloon stuffed under the shirt of their school uniforms. When I questioned one little boy, he responded “I’m having a baby,” and proudly rubbed his little balloon belly. I didn’t ask any more questions. Once it was time to dance, I turned on the music and encouraged the students to stand up and move around. Suddenly 30 little blue balloons were flying in the air. In complete chaos, the students desperately tried to find their precious babies and stuff them back under their shirts. In that moment, I stopped taking myself so seriously and started to just go with the flow. – Sheridan Baker, ETA 2015-2016 Taichung, Taiwan The first time I heard the song “Cheer Up” by TWICE, I thought during the chorus they were singing “Shut up, baby” instead of “Cheer up, baby.” During a pronunciation lesson I used this as a little example of “why 발음 (bareum, meaning “pronunciation”) really matters” …And the students thought it was hilarious. Now I hear them shout-singing in the halls all the time, “SHUT UP BABYYYYYY.” – Mo Kinsinger, ETA 2015-2017 Mokpo, Jeollanam-do, South Korea During one of my first classes, a male student loudly declared that he “touches man parts!” and eagerly waited for my reaction. In a stroke of calm genius, I turned and wrote three letters on the board: TMI. “Do you know what this means?” I won that round. – Monica Heilman, ETA 2014-2016 Busan, South Korea I was talking with one of my fourth grade girls, and all of a sudden she said “Wait” and she slapped me on the forehead. I was taken aback, and even more shocked when she drew her hand back to show me that it was covered in blood. “蚊子” (mosquito) she said, and then we both started laughing. – Matthew Noah Baker, ETA 2015-2016 Taichung, Taiwan The one story I’ll be sharing five years from now is just being there to listen to students. One day, one of my 6th grade boys who speaks great English and is well-mannered stayed behind class and told me he needed to talk to me about something. He said “I cannot show this to my mom or sister. But this is