As a child, I remember being sent to the movie theater on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon for a free matinee (at least I recall it occasionally being free, however, as a child all things appear to be essentially free thanks to the pocketbooks of one's parents). Regardless, weekend afternoons in small-town America provided cheaper-than-usual-if-not-free access to entertainment (if I recall correctly, the free show was always an older movie of sorts).
Having now grown older, however, I generally view movies as a pricey form of entertainment especially since our small-town America still posts 'cheap-seats' at an old, run down theater. Alas, there is always an itch and a desire to head out for a movie, enjoy the smells of popcorn and lounging in expensive theater seats with surround sound and big screen action.
Yet, this Spring, after nearly two years of living in South Korea, the man and I learned about Korea's gift to the early bird in the form of Morning Movies. Most theaters will open around 8:00 or 8:30 and until roughly 10:00 am all movies are offered at the discounted price of 5,000 won! The man and I enjoyed our first morning movie on my birthday and recently headed to the theater again where we enjoyed watching The Dark Knight Rises on opening weekend in a full-theater for a discounted price!
If you're new to Korea or just arriving, be sure to drag yourself out of bed early a couple of times on the weekends because honestly, Morning Movies are just friggin' awesome and leave you the rest of the day to do as you please!
Desperate for a sense of security in the form of hotel accomodation, Mike Harrington awoke on the morning of Thursday, January 26th and made his way to a cyber cafe to book 3 nights accomodation through Agoda. With only a few roadblocks, the Harrington's soon had accomodations at Paradise Hotel in the Ximending district of Taipei, near where they began their trip five days ago.
Since the rain had yet to cease pouring from the sky and hotel check-in was not until 3:00 pm, the couple opted to meander the impressive series of three underground shopping areas linking the central stations of Taipei's metro system. The duo was impressed by the variety of shops and styles available to the Taiwanese customers and compared the claw machine shops, anime shops, rubix cube shops, hippie-style cloth shops, shoes, gadgets, cutesy clothes, etc. shops of Taiwan to the sock shops, cell phone and clothing shops that most often and abundantly compose the Korean underground shopping experience.
Additionally, the couple enjoyed spotting an area devoted to the practice and perfection of pop dance cheoreography as well as the infamous b-boying hip-hop moves, an area lined with mirrors and slowly filling with dancers of all types. Fortunately, the dancers were not to be confined to this mirrored wonderland and the couple soon stumbled upon two Taiwanese rockin' out to a non-controller based video game of fashionable dance moves.
Finally, the hour came and the couple could relocate to the Paradise Hotel. As for the name of the hotel, the only thing that was similar to paradise was the moisture and lack of ventelation lead to an impressive amount of mold which is likely to occur in, say, a Rainforest or Tropical Paradise. Not to mention the exotic view of crumbling buildings set next to the scaffolding of new life, Paradise was perhaps a far cry. Regardless, having a place to sleep indeed instilled a sense of paradise for the couple and so their arrival coincided with a bit of reading, rest and relaxation.
After a bit of a snooze the couple once again considered the rain factor and decided it'd be a great night to grab some quick grub from the street food vendors and head to the "Living Mall" in hopes of seeing Sherlock Holmes 2. While out on the streets the duo snacked on a sad (but tasty) fried pork cutlet, sausage on a stick, Taiwanese green onion pancak and grilled green onions wrapped in thin slices of chicken or pork.
Satisfied, the couple made their way to the giant globe of a building described as the "Living Mall". En route, they spotted a foreigner bar named 'Hell's Kitchen' which was advertising their Happy Hour specials. Drawn by a good deal and cold beer the couple entered the Irish pub for a Carlsberg and live tennis on the tele. Drinks finished the couple continued on their way to the 'Living Mall' where they took a few photos, watched a family set off some fireworks and eventually sat down to an action packed Sherlock Holmes. In this way, another rainy day came to an end, leaving the Harrington's refreshed and geared up for the nexts days adventures (or misadventures as it were).
If you haven't watched the movie Shark Tale, you might as well. Particularly if you can do so as part of your after school class two weeks before school is out for vacation.
Some common sense tips for 'teaching' 3rd and 4th graders using a movie:
Pre-teach vocabulary - especially to ensure your principal will look on you favorably as an English instructor
Watch the movie in small parts
For low level students use subtitles in English or Korean depending on student need
Review vocabulary and parts of the movie throughout the instruction process
Guide students in drawing some characters, the setting and a favorite scene of the movie. Advanced students can add a written description of any or all the movie.
Enjoy the movie with the students, you'll probably understand the humor and such more than they will anyway ^.^
