The school.

It's time to talk about the school I am teaching at. And this is probably not the best time for me to talk about it, because right now, so many things are due, and it seems like a lot of work to me. But that’s partially because I’m not used to it, and once I get the hang of it, it will go much faster. But it’s also partially because I had the bad luck to come at an inconvenient time when things like semester reports, lesson plans and teaching philosophies (Oh my!) are due.

(Note: I’m going to not mention specific names for the school because this is a public blog.)

I started teaching on Monday two weeks ago and it was sort of like getting thrown in and having to swim or sink. The 3 days of training did help me get an idea of what to expect. I’ve just been doing the best I can and it’s been for the most part good…a little choppy. Some lessons go really well, a few don’t. Sometimes the kids in my class are challenging to me, other times they are just so smart and well behaved. I am still getting organized and still learning a lot -- it’s a process.

I teach Kindergarten in the morning. I have a homeroom kindergarten class. They are an extremely lively group of 12 six-year-olds. I’m still getting used to all their personalities. Oh, and they’re very cute. So, at 9:30 we have snack at 9:45 is morning circle with everyone.

I teach Phonics to them and two other classes in the morning, rotating with two other teachers. The other two classes are 7-year-olds and there’s a big difference between them and the 6-year-olds. They're fun. Phonics is a pretty easy subject to teach and the class times are only 40 minutes, so my mornings go pretty well usually.

THEN LUNCH! It’s provided by the school. It consists of rice, a meat or protein, a soup, kimchi, and another vegetable dish. It’s healthy and usually good. I can’t complain because it’s free.

Then I usually get a break period. I might teach a short class like journal writing or story telling to my homeroom, or a special class like science or art. Then I teach something called Theme. The theme changes every week. It’s something like ‘animals’ or ‘sports’. It’s up to the teachers to design their lessons for how to teach it. Since we have such free reign I have to really think about these lessons.

If you hadn't noticed, this school's kindergarten program is very structured. My kids only get gym time (20 minutes) two days a week.(!!!) I worked at a very structured American school before this (in after school, but I often subbed during the day) and this is even MORE structured. Part of me feels that these kids NEED things like play time and rest time. Play is such an important part of learning and developing! But the parents pay lots of money to have their very young kids in desks all morning. So...that's what we do. The education system here is intense.

After that, at 2:30 I switch to teaching elementary kids (who come from their regular schools). I teach two groups of kids every day. There are only about 6 kids in each class. I teach a book called Storytown, which is a very comprehensive class. It teaches phonics, grammar, reading, everything. I like these books but they take some getting used to. The kids in my first class are good. In the second, there are some disruptive boys so I really have to be ‘on’. They just joke around a lot so it can be hard to keep them on task. I’m never sure how that class will go. But that class is also really smart and funny. I haven’t made up my mind about how I feel about it.

After that, on most days I am done (at 4:20). On Wednesdays and Fridays though I teach a late class until 7pm…which kind of sucks, but so far there are only two kids in the class so it’s easy. Yeah...the hours are pretty long. 

There are 8 other English teachers there. They’re pretty nice and it’s a good mix of people. I don’t know everyone that well yet but everyone’s been helpful to me and I’m making new friends. Some have been there for a while, over a year. It seems like most people think that, complaints aside, it’s a good school to work at overall.

There’s a Korean co-teacher in every kindergarten room. They teach a Korean class and they help with lunch and kids who are hurt or sick…when the language barrier can be too much for small children.

Speaking of sick, I got sick. Yes! Already! In the summer heat! Just a cold though. I have to admit, I have not been handling stress that well. It has been a LOT and I get home so frazzled and tired. I feel like that’s why I got sick (in addition to there being lots of new germs here). Anyway, I found a yoga mat and I’m going to work on taking better care of myself. I’m in a foreign country after all.

Sometimes it feels like I’ve been here for much longer and other times I feel like I’ve just arrived. My apartment still feels temporary because I haven't gotten much for it yet.  At any rate I'll tell you how it goes. And I’ll try to have pictures in my next post.