Leeum Samsung Museum of Modern Art

Adventure time in Korea!

So Hanh and I decided to use our mini vacation to become more exposed to the arts!

Well, the plan really was to dress up and act pretentious…which worked for all of 5 seconds before Hanh ran over to the artwork presented outside the museum, declaring in a very loud and high pitched voice “It’s so PRETTY!”.

(here she is after taking photos)

The museum has two main sections, as well as a children’s learning area and an area for special exhibits. To view just the permanent exhibits costs about 10,000 Won and will take you roughly an hour, perhaps a little more if you choose the guided tour. Hanh and I completed it in an hour.

The special exhibit was 8,000 Won, or you could choose to see both the permanent and the temporary exhibit for roughly 13,000 Won.  The woman we spoke to recommended at least 2 hours if we wanted to do both, but since we were there close to closing time (6 pm on weekdays), we opted to see the permanent exhibit.

The entrance to the museum is quite breathtaking. Right away you are exposed to modern and contemporary art with a visual display and a gorgeous staircase + skylight combination.

Inside the actual exhibit, no pictures are allowed (however you can see  an idea of artwork presented on their website.)

The first museum exhibit was based on the historical, with vases, metal work, and paintings scattered throughout 4 floors.  It was nice to have the ability to see the traditional artwork from Korea.  On the plaques though, detail was scarce. If you would like to learn more about the artwork and pieces presented, I recommend to get the auditory tour!

The second museum was what Hanh and I had come for.  It was a nice balance of some more well known modern artists and included the Korean painters who made their footprint throughout the various periods of modern art.  I really enjoyed reading the signs at the beginning of each floor which provided a great introduction to the work you were about to see.

For almost all the floors, pictures are not allowed, however in the stairwell, it is fair game!

(Stairwell in Museum exhibit 2)

I thought the museum was a little expensive (many museums in korea provide free entrance or as low as 3,000 won) but I really enjoyed the modern art ^^

(The ramp to the parking garage…We didn’t realize that until we walked down, but the light and lines were so beautiful!)

Directions: 

Subway Station: Line 6, Hangangjin (one stop from Itaewon)

Exit: 1

Just go straight out of the exit about 150 m, then turn right.  Follow that road all the way to the museum, which will be on your right. (about 200m)

There are signs on the route to help direct you as well 🙂

happy hunting!

xoxo- 

Ms. Fish

Winter Camp planning: Camps in korea

Oi Vey!

Winter Camp planning has me so tired!  I’m trying to get it all ready and it’s amazing how time consuming it can be.

I decided to do a camp on habitats and animals, and there is surprisingly little on deserts that is easy enough for a ESL student to follow. So I will be making my own…but for everything else there is actually a lot of materials!  Which is really nice for me and also makes it easier to entertain my students 🙂

For those of you who don’t know, during winter and summer break while teaching English in Korea, you are contracted to do a Winter Camp.  Now these can be 2 or 3 weeks long, and the time varies for each school.  The time you aren’t in camp you are “desk warming”, which can also be called,”planning every lesson for next year and running out of youtube videos to watch”.

My winter camp will be three weeks long. every day, I teach two 80 minute lessons; one for 5th and 6th grade, and one for 3rd and 4th grade.  A typical day could look something like this:

Hello
Animal Yoga (warm up activity)
Elicit from previous day
Arctic Introduction powerpoint
Write animals names! (practicing)
motivational video on penguins (typically I do these before a powerpoint)
penguin ppt
Put the part on the penguin! (practicing penguin body parts)
I’m a little penguin song and motions
Penguin craft
Making Snow.

This is my lesson for my lower level students, so I focus on simple sentences and make everything very active.  They love to learn English so entertaining the lower levels is pretty easy!  It’s in 5th and 6th grade that their motivation goes down

Overall, always give a lot of time for crafts and have a back up video (that matches the theme) or worksheet, just in case 🙂

I like to practice basics with 3rd and 4th and add in a lot of phonics, as well as build on what they know.  My third graders LOVE sign language, so I will be adding that for sure!

Anyways, this has allowed me a nice little break…now to continue in my day and plan some more!  Planning 30 lessons and make the worksheets to go with them is not the easiest thing!