What a weekend, I don’t think this city sleeps, there is just so much to do. Sightseeing, shopping, skiing, you name it Seoul has it. We thought we would make the most of our free time this weekend, so Saturday started fairly early meeting at Gyeongbokgung Palace (pictures below).

What a place, although a lot has been rebuilt, everything is immaculate, the throne halls, the gardens and even the smaller out buildings. Built in 1395, this has served as the main palace for Joseon Dynasty – it was hot and busy, but spectacular! We then refuelled and cooled down in the national museum just around the corner. This houses a lot of the palaces artefacts and treasures, another interesting viewing.

We then moved onto Cheonggyechon River area of the city, which was once one of the city’s poorest areas. The river has now been cleaned and revamped, and the surrounding markets are a hive of activity. Thriving with small local businesses and stalls, the markets offered some great sight and some interesting food too. We sat like locals in the street, sharing traditional Korean pancakes and drinks.

We then hurried to meet Mr Choi (Simon’s host teacher) as he had booked us in at the indoor ski slope. We hired all the gear, booted up and enjoyed 2 hours on the slopes. Well I never thought I would be skiing on this trip! The escape from the heat and humidity was pleasant, but the skiing was a real treat, thanks Mr Choi.

Sunday was slightly quieter, we met in downtown Gangnam first of all. A real business part of the city with some breathtaking skyscrapers! We visited another local monks temple which provided a soothing contrast to all of the modern architecture. We browsed the 4km underground shopping mall before meeting later that evening for a Korean baseball game. Doosan Bears v Samsung Lions, I have never been to or watched a lot of baseball, but this was not what i was expecting. The stadium was by no means full, but for £6 the entertainment value could not be faulted. Family’s take picnics and ice boxes in, music is poured out of the speakers providing a booming atmosphere for the fans to sign and dance too. All of this whilst there is huge sporting derby taking place. Amazing.

Today we got up fairly early to grab some breakfast from the recommended cafe around the corner. Then met up with the other Newcastle teachers from Heaton Manor and Longbenton, before arriving at our host school in Seoul for the day.

First impressions were very good, greeted by a large banner with our names on and then a breakfast meeting in the library, before have cactus juice with the head teacher. After an hour’s meeting we were then taken on a tour of the school by Miyung and Year 8 students. On first comparison, there appeared to be a bit more discipline around the corridors, but still fairly bare in places. Both schools have only had 2 computer rooms and every classroom has a large TV for displaying PowerPoint slides – nothing cutting edge as yet! However, the top floor was gated off due to suicide risk! It hadn’t happened in this school, but has occurred in other Korean schools.

Lunch was an interesting experience; as student are mainly taught in the same form room all day they also eat in them too. As soon as the bell sounded for lunch to begin, food trolleys were wheeled out into the corridor and outside each room students would serve portions of food to their classmate. All in a very sensible and mature away, they ate the food in their room and washed and tidied everything away for lunch to begin. We ate our own lunch, and observed a few more lessons in the afternoon, all very similar to those in Gwangju.

Well the typical monsoon weather has started with a bang, literally. Huge thunder storms and thunder claps all morning and it has properly poured down! School has been excellent again today, much of the same, there is a bit of stress around with final examinations starting next week. So I thought today I would be a bit more reflective on my time so far…

“Transformation took place through a dedication to education”  – Prof. Peck, Sat 29 June

Korea has changed massively over the last 50 years, one of the fastest countries to develop, definitely, and this is due to the dedication to education parents and students show. Every parent wants their child to succeed at school and every child want to go to the top universities, they are expensive but this doesn’t hold the 90% back.

However, as successful as this education system appears on paper, Prof. Peck explained and I have witnessed that it does lack creativity. I have been thinking about his honest statements on Korean Education: students here are brilliant at learning to succeed in exams, they quickly learn information and then apply it to an answer, but their is no original thought or creativity from this text book process.

Prof. Peck talked honestly about how Korean students are intelligent but industry requires more creative minds, not those that can copy already excellent products. Surely, knowledge is something, but is this formal way of learning exam answers inhibiting young learners creativity?

The lessons I have observed this week have not yet ‘wowed’ me in a T&L sense, but I hope this is due to the urgency of next weeks exams. Professor Peck’s concern is coming from the top of Korean education and he mentioned we may well see both a traditional style and a new creative approach to teaching apparent in practice as the latter is slowly being distilled into schools. It humours me to think; Korean Education wants to take ideas from our system in the UK and Mr Gove has suggested our structure should be more like theirs. A vicious educational circle perhaps.

Annyeahaseyo! So, today started with Frosties for breakfast, that very traditional Korean cereal, another treat from the lovely family I am staying with. We had time for a quick Korean lesson, Hena the daughter of the family began to teach me the alphabet and a few more basic phrases. I can now read the days of the week! They then kindly gave me a lift to school today where I met Sun-A, Paul (CCE Manager in UK) and Sol (Korean Organiser APCIEU), we were given a thorough tour of the school and discovered an Art class being taught to parents!

We then observed a music lesson and had a very intriguing meeting with Mr Kim (principal) over more Iced coffee. Lunch today consisted of dried fish soup, spiced chicken and cheese, kimchee and plenty of rice! Paul and Sol departed for Seoul and I observed a boys PE lesson – dance! Each group created their traditional dance routine to Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’. They were fantastic and as a reward the whole class and I were treated to lolly ices (Scousers, I hope you are reading).

[SIC – I think you’ll find in Toon, and everywhere else, they’re called ice lollies – Ed.]

15:30 soon rolled round and myself, Sun-A and Suwhee (Art Teachera) went to Gwangju Gallery of Contemporary Art, which was very interesting indeed. Plenty to see and a diverse selection of some quite moving pieces – all generated from the 1980 civil conflict in South Korea.

As a final treat of the day, we had a traditional sit down Korean meal that must have consisted of 20 separate dishes, if not more. Truly delicious!

Keep up to date with the trip through Twitter and Instagram feed: @MardenArt

For visual updates make sure you go to: http://mardeninkorea.weebly.com/index.html

I have made it 4 hours south to Gwangju via bullet train and was introduced to a very friendly and welcoming Korean family, who I will be staying with this week. They treated me to some traditional food then some ice cream and a walk around the local area, with the odd Korean lesson along the way. I am learning, slowly.

First day in school.

I took a taxi into school – Unnam Middle School, for the first morning as I was told the bus could be quite complicated, especially for my limited Korean, perhaps tomorrow… but even the taxi driver struggled to find the school. I met Sun-A’s (Korean Host Teacher) class first of all, they were very excited as they had just finished their 45 minutes of daily cleaning. Yes, Korean schools have no cleaners, the students have to take up that responsibility!

I was then invited to meet with the principal, over iced coffee we talked about Unnam school and Marden, he seemed to like the clip on tie idea and showed a lot of interest about our handbook. I quickly changed into a pair of compulsory ‘school slippers’ before going to observe a science lesson where students completed a practical experiment to see how different temperatures made Coca-Cola react / bubble the quickest – they were even allowed to drink it afterwards. From first sights, a Science lab is very similar, a house style as such wasn’t present but learning objectives and tasks were delivered through a large TV and projector. The biggest difference was to hear the teachers voice echo around the room through her microphone and speakers!

I have had a tour of the school, met many teachers and have even been given a desk in the staff room. Lunch was great, lots of rice and traditional Korean side dishes – the no.1 rule being red things are generally very spicy! I observed an English lesson after lunch, again delivered through a microphone this showed how speaking English is highly valued and regarded over here. I made my own way back to my accommodation but had forgotten that it was 32 degrees and very humid outside after being in the comfort of air conditioning and fans all day. Thankfully rain is on the way..

Mr. Prytherch will show this video to students in South Korea, our Year 8 students telling them a little bit about life at Marden.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5FqW43rbL8&feature=youtu.be