Saturday Basketball

We havn't played baskteball during the October break, but today we did after so long.
Since this was the first practice after break, not many people showed up today. In fact, our OSC basketball team for SAISA had the practice in the morning, and so none of them showed up. All players were basically from other international schools.

We had a match though. First, we played the full-court; 4:4. But we soon got tired, so we decided to play half-court. Since MrGresham who was meant to be in charge of the Saturday basketball session hasn't showed up, Mr.Shipley put me in charge since I was the only one who was from OSC. All I I had to do was to make sure that we finish at 4 and bring back the balls that we used.
and I did my job :D

It actually finished 4:05 PM, and unlike the other days, no one seemed to play more since there were not many players, and so not much fun. Everyone left, and I had to wait for my brother who's playing football every Saturday.

I joined them like always :D Apparently, they were organising a fund raise for the local children to play football and as one project, they are having a tournament next week. So basically, today's practice was to prepare for the tournament coming up next week.

I played in the small pitch, and then we all moved on the full-pitch game. We played and finished at 5-6 PM. The adults who are organising this football practice every Saturday and in a good relationship with me for last months :P seemed to expect me to show up next week too, but I'm not quite sure yet since I was the only big boy(or a senior). I thought I would rather let the little players to play instead of me.

If they are lacking of the players, that's a different story :P so I will see if I will play or not next week :D

Math Tutoring 2010

So we had the first class since school started again from the October break. They have done their homeworks :D and they told me that math class these days are way too easy for them to bear :P That just made me feel proud tutoring them

With more enthusiasm, we moved on to the next chapter, solution to the quadratic equations. I explained how to do them first, but then they seemed to be confused. This is because, I believe, they haven't done many practices on factorising, whcih I JUST gave them to do by next class as a homework. So I had to explain the basics again. Though they understood finally.

Since they seemed to have more practices, I made them do the questions for half an hour till we finished. While they were working on the questions, I marked their homeworks. WELL, I see a lot of mistakes though I figured out that they had a misunderstanding in the beginning while they now understood. SO I marked them all and made them do the corrections for the next class.

Math Tutoring 2010

Today(23rd October, 2010) we started on the new chapter. Since we are back in school from next Monday, I wanted to go really fast so that they won't find the class hard. So I started on factorising. We finished expanding last class in fact, I gave them homeworks on Expanding by next Saturday so that I can go over some questions that they may have found hard.

Factorising can be hard without having a good foundation on expansion. So I told them to work hard on expanding first, and then try questions on factorisation. They understood the basic concepts though and they could do some questions that I gave them to try.

Math Tutoring 2010

We had the class today(21st October, 2010) again :D Since they had a day off yesterday, we,,, maybe only I was eager to do math with them :D

We started on another chapter, simple equation solving, though I have briefly explained the concepts earlier. In fact, since I introduced the concepts earlier, it was easier to go on. They felt much easy understanding them :D So we could finish the chapter by the end of the class :D

I gave them a lot of.. I mean just a little bit of homeworks to do :D This is in fact necessary evil. Otherwise, we won't have much time to finish the year 9 math.

Math Tutoring 2010

Today(19th of October, 2010) we had the second class !
My father has got the math textbook from Korea as he visited us, so with the book, we did them together. We briefly went over the chapter that I have explained last class(yesterday).

I could see they didn't understand some parts as we went through, so I explained them again. They understood perfectly now ! :D

So, I had them do the questions on the book while I checked their homeworks. They did their homework ! which was good. They didn't get them all right, which was sad, but I believe they can do them correctly by now :D

I told them to try the questions again by next class which would be on Thursday as they wanted a day off tomorrow for school homework and some rest :D

Math Tutoring 2010

Last year, I have tutored Alex Panduro, currently in 10th grade, in math as Ms.Huijnen, my math teacher, and Mr.Tingley, old school counsellor asked me to.

I'm not sure if I helped him understand better the concepts he was doing in his class or made him a little more interested in the subject itself; he didn't seem that he enjoyed doing math. But one thing that is sure that I did learn a lot and improve in my teaching skills.

While I was teaching him, I tried my best to explain the concepts as easy as possible, in fact in the EASIEST way. I thought, only from time to time, he may not necessarily be the 'mathematical' person. It was a little frustrating to teach him because he didn't show any enthusiasm or at least make his mind that he'd try. Sometimes, I even thought that, only in the beginning of the year,
'how can he not understand that..? is he really... that stupid...? It IS something to be shamed of...'
It's mean, I know that, but it's just to show how I was frustrated.

He did improve though; slightly, but gradually. So I was happy.

BUT, I realised that there is someone very similar to him around me, my own yougher brother, Young Seok SONG. He's in 9th grade now, like Alex last year. He was frustrated and losing the interest in math, which I felt it was sad because math is MY favorite subject and I thought my brother would find it fun too if he understands better. For him, language was the problem; he has spoken English only for last three year, and never spoken before.

I had a good foundation in math because I have learned them in Korean first and done them in Korea before. But, in my brother's case, he has never done them, so everything he's learning these days is all new to him. The problem is that he doesn't understand the new concepts fully because he doesn't understand the language fully.

I thought I will have to take care of my brother and help him myself. I knew that he wouldn't do it alone, so his friend, Han Wool KIM, who also felt the necessity of help, joined.


Today, (18th October, 2010. Monday) we had the first class at my house since school's having an October break. They told me that they have done finding the surface area and volume and just started the simple expansion of the equation.
Foundation is always the first thing to go through, I thouhgt, so we went over the chapters again. (HA! They still made some silly mistakes which suggests they did not understand the concept well, and so I explaind the concepts again) Then, I re-introduced how to expand the equation by many examples. I could see they felt much easier to aske me questions in Korean because they could tell what exactly they don't understand ! It seems to be working.

After 2-hour-long class, they were so happy (:P maybe not) to have some homeworks to do for next class, probably tomorrow :D:D so I gave them just a page of homework. :D

I wish they will find the subject interesting like I do by the time I finish with them for extra help :D

homework ! How fun !

Saturday Basketball

I've been playing basketball every Saturday for last few months like I have recorded on my blog earlier. Today(16th October, 2010. Saturday), the school gym was not opened since we went on the October break since yesterday :D

Instead, I played Saturday football with the younger students from our school and from other international schools. While I was playing basketball, my brother has been playing football with them. I also played for a bit from time to time aftre I was done with basketball. Today, I, from the beginning, I warmed up together, practiced together and played a match together.

Today, many 11th graders from our school have come too, and so the match was much challenging and fun :D I brought my camera with me, but then couldn't really take any photos since I was too busy playing football. (I completely forgot about it, in fact.) I will probably take photos next time, since my blog is looking a little boring now without any photos.

Prison Babies(Canceled)

Today, 14th of October, Prison Babies got canceled in the last minute again. Today's session was the last one before going into the October break, but the children couldn't come :(

This happens quite often; the local teacher doesn't show up or many of the children get sick that they cannot come from time to time.

Tommorow we will be celebrating UN day and finish the intermid term going into one week long October break. So hopefully, the first week we come back from the break, we can bring the children to school so that we can do the activities with them.

Church Musical

Every year, at the Korean Church, we, TFC(Teenagers For Christ), have one special night for the younger students and for ourselves to get to know more about God and also to prach His words to the non-believers amongst Korean society. We have organised a worship dance, short skit and one choir performance till last year, but we thought it'd be better if we try something new this year.

And, we came to the conclusion, let's do the musical drama.

Literally, we are planning to organise a 1 hour or so-long musical drama. We have already had the audition for the casting and assigned people to do stage set, costume, props, sounds and lighting, and chorus and dance.

I, being the senior, knew this'd be the last year I'd be participating, and so decided to get involved in it. I knew I may not have much time to prepare or for this due to a loads of homeworks and deadlines at school, so I hesitated a little. But I know we are doing this for good and also, by doing so, I can help younger students get familiar and closer to God even more.

So I signed up for the stage set. I have been involved in the previous school productions several times; once as a backstage and as an actor(even though it was a minute part of the play) (two years before), once as a costume manager(the year before), and as a video filmer(this year). I will make a full use of my old experience to help out this. Like I said, I signed up for stage, but I will be probably helping with the actors, especially with singings, and also with the costume and the sound&lighting tech.

I was once in the Church band; once as a drummer, later as a chorus singer and once as a lead singer. But as I turned into 11th grade, I dropped off everything just to concentrate on studying. I regret it now; time did not wait for me. It's already my last year at TFC, the church service for the youth. I haven't noticed it till last week.

So I want to get involved more actively and passionately for the last time as a teenager.

We will have the first meeting next Saturday and I'm really looking forward to it !

SAISA Boys' Basketball 2011

On Friday afterschool(8th Oct, 2010), we had the last practice before the first and the final cut for the team to travel to Chennai to participate in the SAISA tournament. It was pretty tough since it was the last practice before the cut.

I was chosen for the team; the coach didn't know I could not travel that he put me in the team. It was really sad that I can't travel, but I had to tell him that I'm not travelling and so cannot be in the team. He was indeed surprised and seemed a little frustrated. But soon he said if that's the case, it'd be better for younger players to practice and so get better. And so put someone else in the team.

I regretted a little that I didn't try out for the team last year. I was afraid sinc IB just started last year, and now I'm still afraid because it's the last year of IB. I couldn't be the risk taker this time.

But instead, I promised the coach to come and practice with the team every saturday like I have planned before. Every Saturday, many of Korean players from the Korean Church Basketball team where I play for fun as well come to play at OSC. So, to get more practice for OSC team, I will help organise more games with the Koreans and play with them. Hopefully this will work fairly well.


On Saturday (9th Oct, 2010) I had to sit for SAT exam from 7:00 AM through 1:00PM while the practice still took place between 10:30-12:30. So I couldn't come for this Saturday, but I will definitely come for next week!

SAISA Boys' Basketball 2011

We had the first morning practice today(Wednesday, 6th Oct 2010).

We had a good warm up and then started working on the individual skills; all the posts together on one side of the court and all the guards on the other side of the court. Since I was with other guards, I'm not quite sure what the posts did.

On our side, we worked on our three-point shooting and dribbling. Then we worked on our fundamental again, physical fitness. A lot of push-ups, lunges, sit-ups, sprintings, and so on.

My whole body is sour now, but it was good refreshing session. Now one last practice before the first cut is left. A lot of tensions, I could feel.

SAISA Boys' Basketball 2011

I have decided to sign up for the SAISA Boys' Basketball team this year even though I may not be traveling with the team. I thought it'd be good to come for the practices and practice and play games with them to improve my own skills as well as to help our Gecko team.

Even though basketball has been my favorite sports all time, I could never play in the school team for several reasons. First year at OSC, being only 9th grader tried out for the team, I wasn't good enough, I must say. All the other players were, in fact, way better than me in fitness, physical, and skills, and the team came in the second place in the SAISA tournament. Then the second year, I had more chances to make in the team, but I had a serious injury on my ankle right after the first practice, as I remember correctly; I couldn't walk even properly. Last year, I could or should have made the team ONLY IF I tried out for the team. But I didn't. In fact, I was little scared and freaking out about 'IB started!' so I couldn't really make my mind. I regret it now though. In fact, I think I always had excuses for not making the team or not trying out for the team. Then I thought back to the good old days when I learned all about AOIs and being a risk taker in IB MYP(Middle Year Programme) and thought I should be the one who takes the risk.

In fact, I've got a lot of works to get done, a lot of deadlines for big big assignments like Extended Essay, Geography Internal Assessment, and TOK Essay. It may not be the best time to spend my hours playing basketball. I maybe should be studying for the subjects and get things done. I also know I'd get really tired from exercising and working at the same time. But, in order NOT to regret after I graduate, I thought I should take this risk and so try out for the team.

Actually, I'm not taking 100% risk. If I was, I should actually try out for the team and travel with the team for the SAISA tournament. But, I thought that'd be too much for me to handle. I have an exprience how hard it was to catch up the classes in physics, chemistry and math HL after track and field from last year. (It was worse since I had MUN, Track&Field and Geo Field Trip after one another.) SO this time, I'm only coming for the practices to practice with the team. So 'not traveling' would be my insurance. Playing in the team helps me improve more and also build up stronger relationship with other players.

My initial goal would be to improve in team-playing since I never played in the team before and also to get to know better and familiar with the new students or younger students who try out for the team.


We had the first practice on Tuesday afterschool(4th of Oct. 2010). Around 13 players showed up. After we had a good warm up, we went through several drills to learn and improve in our fundamentals such as stance, pass, defence and offence tactics. Then we mostly worked on our fitness sprinting the court several times.

It was tiring and hard, in fact. I thought, just for a sec, 'why did I even try out for the team?' but soon enough 'Yes. It was good to come for the practices.' I felt refreshed even though it was little tiring. We have a morning session on Wednesday as well and the first cut on Friday. So Friday would be the last day for me IF the coach doesn't allow me to come over and practice with them.

I have an alternative to play with them though. Coach, Mr.Snyder, was thinking of having Saturday play a match with other teams. Since I also play for the Korean team ven though it's not really a proper 'team'(it's meant to be for fun, also it's hard to bring all the players together and play since all are in different schools and so, it really depends on the day where we are all free) But I will still TRY to organise or help organise some games between OSC and the Korean team.

Saturday Basketball(Canceled)

About a month ago, I had the health check at the hospital, and somthing went wrong that I had to take it again on Saturday. So from the morning, I went to the hospital to check what was wrong. It turned out to be there was mistaken about the result, so I am perfectly healthy. I had lunch, then I came back home. It was around 2:30 - 3:00, while basketball has already started.

I really wanted to go and play, but then I thought I'd only play for 30 minutes or so, and also I was tired from playing football on last Friday. So I decided to stay at home instead recover from the fatigue.

Also I'm writing SAT on the coming 9th of October, so I decided to sit and study for the test :S

Friday Afterschool Football

On Friday afterschool(1st of October), we had the last session of Friday Afterschool in Block 1. From Monday, the second Block of the afterschool activities start and I will probably sign up for the football again.

We played a game on Friday after we chose the teams, and the team I was belonging to won AGAIN. The team I ever belonged to never lost, in fact, and I started wondering why :P:P
It was a fun game, it ended up 6:1 or 2, not much difference. The fact that my team won is important :D

I'm looking forward to playing for the second block!