Asian Dust

It's yellow dust season over here in Korea. Ever heard of it? I hadn't before coming here. In short, it's sand and dirt particles kicked up by storms in China and then swept over towards Korea and Japan. It can trigger respiration problems in people who are prone to them, or have asthma. This past weekend, Korea noted record breaking amounts of Chinese dust in the air- granted, the country has only been tracking it since 2005. 


Wikipedia Asian Dust
Korea Times


These sites explain it much better than I care to. Coincidentally, I've come down with a cold, so I more or less feel like poo. On the upside, the temperature is going up! 


I'm working on some file folder games/activities to have in the classroom. I downloaded a cupcake template for an English numbers 1-10 activity. I'm also developing a telling time in English, color name, and eventually an alphabet matching thing. The most challenging part will be getting students to understand that they're for them, and meant to be used. I'm going to assume it's cultural right now; from a foreigner's perspective, they're thick headed.


 My school is combining 2 high school classrooms into an English Zone; I got to watch my co-teacher do a presentation about how it'll be set up and some examples of existing English Zones. He tacked in a group picture of the night when he and some other teachers met my friends, and also me in the Seoul ice bar holding up a drink... I mean, totally appropriate... If there are bulletin boards, I'm going to be all up on them.