Annyeoung Haseyo!

Annyeoung Haseyo (Hello) from Korea!

I can hardly believe I’ve only been here in Seoul for a little over a week. It feels like it’s been much longer than that. Looking back over my first week of teaching, I’ll try to sum up what’s been going on.

Kid’s College
That’s the name of the school I’m teaching it. It is the main branch of a large chain of private, English language immersion schools for kindergarten and elementary kids. As I said before, Tuesday was orientation day at the school for the parents and kids to get to know the school and the new teachers. It was a bit intimidating to stand in front of a room full of Korean parents and tell them about myself and why I was excited to be teaching their kids English. But I managed to get through the formalities and then in the afternoon, all of the new teachers were taken to a hospital to have our physicals done. If everything looks good we’ll be getting our alien cards shortly, which we need to open a bank account, pay our utilities, etc.
Somehow I survived my first 3 full days of teaching – Wednesday through Friday. The days are very long, lasting from 9:30 AM to 6:30 PM nearly everyday. The kids are really great though and already I can tell how they will make it all worthwhile. I love all my kids, even if some are crazy, violent or straight up nut jobs! Well, there is one kid who kicked another girl in the head and told me to shut up, so I foresee a multitude of problems with him. But all the others are loving, friendly, bright and enthusiastic. I also have another student who literally doesn’t say a word, and hasn’t done so since August. He participates well in all the activities except for the speaking part. I really hope I can have a breakthrough with him and get him talking before the end of the year! I know there will be many stories to come about my kids and all the crazy things they do, but that will have to come in a later post.

Here’s my classroom minus the little kiddies – doesn’t it look fun?

And here are a few of my kids acting silly:


As far as the teaching part goes, I pretty much feel like I’ve been dumped in white water rapids raging
through a gorge – it’s all I can do to keep my head above water! Education in Korea is very demanding. I can hardly believe how much work my 6 year-olds are required to do! They have homework and spelling tests, worksheets, art projects, reading, phonics, language arts, etc. It feels like I’m teaching them a curriculum fit for 2nd grade back in the U.S. The teacher who taught my class before me designed a lesson plan for the entire month of March, so it has been up to me to track down the various materials I need and figure out what exactly she had planned for the kids to do. Since the parents already have a copy of the monthly lesson plan I am required to complete every page of every assignment and there isn’t even 1 day of flexibility built into the schedule. It’s been a real challenge getting my feet under me, but I’m thankful to have survived the first few days!

My Apartment
I am so excited to have a place to call my own! Even though it is quite small, it is very nice to have a quiet space all to myself to relax after a long day of teaching. I also really love the neighborhood my apartment is in; it is very modern, upscale, clean and organized. There is a tiny convenience store very close by and it only takes me about 10 minutes to walk to the school. Here are some pictures of my Korean pad taken from both ends of the room:
 


As you can see, it is not very large – pretty much just one room with everything in it and then a bathroom with a sink/shower combo. In the second picture you can see another little space behind the bed which is where the washing machine is and a closet for my clothes. I actually have more than enough room to store all my things and overall I really like my new home!
There is so much more I’d like to share so I’ll try to post again soon, hopefully mid-week if I have some time.