I'd like to make a shout-out now to Ann, who sent me a very lovely email in response to my recent blogging. I'm so sorry I didn't reply to your email, Ann! Anyone who reads this blog can agree that I've been a very bad emailer as of late. >_< She asked a lot of really excellent questions which I think would benefit other people to know, so I'm going to answer them here instead of via email:
1. About my co-teacher. I've mentioned him before, so everyone knows I have one. The title "co-teacher" is a little misleading, as at my school, my co-teacher could be more accurately described as my school liaison. Fulbright came up with the title "co-teacher" and what they do really differs from school to school. At some schools, the foreign teachers are not trusted to handle an entire class on their own, so co-teachers might sit in on the classes, to mantain discipline or to translate English to Korean. Some might even "team teach" with the foreign teachers. At my school, though, my co-teacher already has a very busy schedule (he is a young teacher so he forced to do many of the things the older teachers don't have to do, such as supervise the students' studying until midnight, sleep over in the special student dorms, as well as teach a full 20+ hours a week), so when is he going to have time to check in on me?! Thus, I am alone in all of my classes. I actually prefer it that way--it's a little nerve-wracking to have another teacher watching and judging you. However, even though my co-teacher is not in my classroom, he still has to work for me. It's his job to keep me up to date with my schedule, talk to other teachers for me if I have a problem (or simply cannot communicate with them due to lack of common language), help me set up my phone/bank/etc....... basically do all the stuff I cannot do b/c I'm not fluent in Korean. It is extra work, and he doesn't get paid extra for it. = ( But he's pretty good about it.
2. My school. I teach at a co-ed high school which is ranked the top high school in Mokpo, meaning they get the best test scores. The students are in school longer than any other HS students in Mokpo (while I see many HS kids out at 5 pm, my students can't leave until 10 pm at the earliest. 12 am at the latest). My school is 100% focused on making sure the kids are well-behaved and getting the highest test scores possible. Corporal punishment is allowed and widely practiced here--only 2 young female English teachers (I think) don't hit their students, but they HAVE hit their students in the past. All the other teachers carry 2 feet long sticks/rods/etc. with them to class. I obviously do not and cannot follow this method, and since I have no real effect on the students' test scores, some of them like to blow off some steam in MY class. This makes my job at discipline all the more interesting. =D;;
3. What do I teach? Some schools require the foreign teachers to teach from a book. I do no such thing. I have complete freedom in my teaching--on my first day, I was given my own classroom and told to do whatever necessary. They trust me completely and never check up on me. On the first day, that was a little scary (I mean, I'm hardly an English Teaching Expert), but in the long run such a laissez-faire attitude towards me is great, because I can be creative or do whatever I want to. Everything I teach I plan on my own. I have incorporated ideas/exercises devised by PAST Fulbright teachers at other schools and used them for my own purposes, but my lesson plans are my own. I'm trying to do a different lesson "style" every week so that the class doesn't seem too monotonous; right now I'm trying to find a good balance between "the kids are having fun" and "the kids are learning something." It would be easy to do only games the whole way through, the trick is to make the information/English stick in their brains. My students would LOVE me if I just did 50 minute games and handed out chocolate, but not only would I be broke (chocolate's not cheap), but I would not be doing them any good. This is their chance to get exposure to a native English speaker, they shouldn't waste it.
4. My students. Ann asked me how much English they have, which is a pretty complicated answer. In terms of years of study, my students have been studying anywhere between 6 and 9 years. A couple have "studied abroad" in America, too. That said, some students can still barely string together a full sentence or understand my version of "slow English." But they DO know more than they think--right now I'm working at building up their confidence and trying to give them to ability to tape into their own English resources. Some kids are really very smart, but way too scared or shy to use their English. When they're not in my English class, they have other English classes, which are all taught in Korean and teach only grammar and vocabulary. Some of the English teachers here can barely speak English to me. Yes, really. The students also have all the normal subjects plus electives like P.E., art, singing class....... their day starts at 7:40 am (cleaning time), then study hall from 8 to 8:50 (I sometimes teach during that period, boy do those kids love me THEN -_-), and regular classes 9 am to 4:40 with an hour for lunch. 4:40 - 5 pm is MORE cleaning time, then classes and enforced study hall from 5 pm 'til 10 pm, with another break for dinner. My host brother eats at school every day. The "stupid" kids go home at 10 pm, while the "smart" kids stay for extra studying until midnight. The smartest students LIVE at the school during the week, in a dorm, so their lives don't interfere with their studying. 3rd years, who are prepping for the November university exams, where here over the summer holiday (one week off), studying 9 am 'til 12 am EVERY DAY. ALL DAY. Oh, and did I mention that they have Saturday classes three times a month? Just for a half day, but still. Essentially, my students have hardly any free time. They always look sick, they're always tired, etc. etc. Even so, most of the kids find things to be optimistic about, and I think they probably WILL remember HS fondly.
5. My schedule. I have the easiest schedule probably of all of the teachers, which causes me no little guilt. By contract I am only allowed to teach 20 hours a week. In general, 20 hours a week is a lot to teach, but at my school my teachers teach more like 25 hours a week......... Also, contractually I cannot be forced to teach on Saturday. I teach the first and second graders (10th and 11th graders in the U.S., years 12 and sixth form 1 in the UK), not the third graders (seniors) who are too busy getting ready for the BIG UNIVERSITY EXAM WOO. I teach EVERY class once a week, so 16 classes a week. That means the same lesson 16 times! I might devise different lessons for the 1st and 2nd graders in the future, but their levels are practically the same. Also, I teach the "advanced" student an additional 1 hour in the morning (study hall), so that's 20 hours total. On test days for 1st and 2nd grade, I don't have to come in. I also get midterms/finals periods off. I get holidays, but there are not a lot of those in Korea...... until the winter. I get a REALLY REALLY long winter break, Dec. 22 (by my contract) until March 1st. And I get payed for that time off. Happy days. Take note, people who want to come see me. I'll probably be in Seoul that entire time, so that's the cheapest/easiest/coldest(!) time to come a-visiting.
I think that just about answers everything........ oh, about people wanting to comment: I think you need an account. You MIGHT need a gmail account for that, but last time I checked you didn't. All you need to do is give your email address, a chosen passwork, and correctly read an "encryption code" to confirm that you're not a robot. Pretty simple, but feel free to email me if you have any questions about that.
Now! Before are a bunch of snippets from my personal journal about my first few days teaching. Maybe you guys will find it interesting, maybe you won't. If you can read through it all, you're a stronger person than I am. = )
And since you've read so nicely up 'til this point, have what few pictures I have uploaded:
Me and my adorable co-worker, hanging at a Chinese themed bar last Friday! BTW, before anyone mocks my giant, shiny forehead, apparently it's a.......... good thing in Korea? wtf?! And sel-ca-ing is still hard; holding the camera straight, that is.
Look, my room! The thing hanging upside down is a bouquet of flowers, btw. (From the students.)
One of plans for what my host dad is working on. I took this picture mainly for the sister. =P
Who's hungry...... for some cows' feet? =D
Big picture so it's a link. I went to the Korean food market!
This dam! It was very..... hot? Oh, and beautiful.
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8/24
God I am exhausted. I left the house at 7 am and got back at 8:30 pm. X____x; Today was crazy. I had my first day of school--in which ALL BUT ONE of my classes was cancelled, what the hell, went out for coffee with my adorable 23 year-old female (!!) co-worker (who's already promised a free place to crash in Gwangju City, sweet), walked around for like a half hour with said co-worker, spent an hour with a personal trainer WHO ONLY SPEAKS KOREAN, and then sped-walked home for a half hour 'cos I was SO LATE.
Class: My ONE class (hahah what a ridic day) was quite a handful. My co-worker was like, "Oh, they're loud" and I thought, "Okay, whatever, better than silent!" I just didn't realize that that meant that they like to hold regular-volume conversations over their classmates and teacher! And this isn't like one group people, it's pretty much everyone! I got them to shut up for random periods of time (when it was quiet it was actually quite eerie), but I really was shouting and clapping for most of the class. The weird thing was, it wasn't a bad class--I see a lot of potential for them, if I can get them to follow the rules! The first lesson plan is not really fun (mostly me being like, "Follow my rules, brats! And I have a LOT of rules!", but they did pretty well when I had them do activities together, when is a good sign. So yeah, an exhausting but very eventful 50 minutes. I'm going to die tomorrow when I teach 3 beginner classes back to back at the end of the day. PAIN.
Co-workers: The older teachers certainly don't get me (they're old, male, Korean, and baffled as to why I can say ANYTHING in Korean), but they are really nice. I'll just have to be careful to show them even reverence. I love the girl who's desk is next to mine, she's the one I went out for coffee with. I love my co-teacher, too, but he's........ a guy. Which would be fine, except hanging out one-on-one with a male in Korea is a little dodgy. Also, my "office" (where my desk is) is full of hilarious and nice people, so I'm very happy with that. =D Since my school is Christian and everyone is super-busy, the teachers don't out to "party" very often (if ever), but that's quite fine with me.
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8/25
So, today was my second day of school, but my first really Big Day, in that I normally have morning class, then pre-lunch class with the second years, then English teacher's meeting, then the three afternoon periods is just one big block of first year classes. Intense. But the good thing is that today they canceled morning classes so I could sleep in (A WHOLE HOUR XD) as well as my English teachers' meeting.
Even so, today.......... was exhausting. If yesterday was exhausting then today somehow managed to top that. =D; First I ended up missing my stop on the bus (CURSE YOU, HOST BROTHER! YOU FAILED ME!--funny thing is, I wasn't even mad by the end of the day so I didn't get to yell at him), so I ended up having take a cab from ACROSS TOWN to my school because I wanted to be there early to prepare. My second year class was a bit like pulling teeth, they're so quiet, and then my three first year classes were HYPER HYPER HYPER! They were really fun, though, just a LOOOOT of work. A lot of me getting them to shut up. Apparently I come off to some students as scary, which makes me sort of proud. =D; (I only know this 'cos my host brother who's in one of my classes told me. He's a good spy.) But yeah, definitely altering the lesson plan a bit for tomorrow. X_x;
Then it was 5 pm, and I was informed that the whole English department would be going out to eat at 7 pm, so since I had time I took a quick breather (my legs felt dead, I was hopping and running around and standing for three hours straight), then sped-walked to my gym, worked out a little, showered, sped-walked back, then went out to dinner.
Oh, dinner.
We had been warned about this. School dinners are majorly ceremonial--you can't eat before your elders, you have to drink alcohol, you have to drink the alcohol a certain way (too lazy to explain), etc. etc. I think I did okay. ^^;; We drank soju and green tea mixed together?! The taste was....... whatever. Soju-like. The vice principal was also there--his drink of choice is 7-up and Coke mixed together. I don't even know. But the food was delicious! The first course was a little random and boring--crab, which I fail at eating in Korea, a few potatoes, a few shrimp, dry cooked white fish--but the second course was Mokpo local sashimi. SO GOOD OMG. Koreans eat this type of sashimi Korean-style: you dip in wasabi-soysauce/chili paste, add a bit of garlic (okay, this is Korea: A LOT of garlic), wrap it all in a lettuce/sesame leaf and enjoy. Then we had more raw fish was tasted a bit like I imagine raw chicken to taste but.......... I liked it? And finally 해물탕 (heimultang), which is essentially spicy fish soup: very good.
I thought after dinner we were done, and so did my co-teacher, who was driving me back home, but then he got a phone call and he had to answer it (seriously, I thought he was waiting on a super-important call, 'cos he yelled at me to grab his bag in the backseat and was all, "Hurry hurry!"), but it was just the young English teachers being "Let's noraebang!" And since in Korea, you do whatever The Group is doing, we turned around and went noraebang-ing, which meant we had to do MORE drinking. Except this time there was ridiculous dancing and tambourine-ing involved. I sang Cher's "Believe" and Sean Kingston's "Beautiful Girls" with my female co-teacher (don't........ ask) and as a tribute to my b/f, "Never Gonna Give You Up." Hells yeah!
Left early (10 pm) 'cos I had to go with my co-teacher (thank God), went home, and watched half of "Kill Bill 2" on the telly. Once again, IDEK, but I love Korean television so much. It has so many American movies!
And that was my day. Wow. I wrote way too much. Anyways, it was fun, and I feel like I really bonded with my co-teacher a bit, too. He was whinging at me about his g/f problems, which is certainly pretty personal, so I think that's a good sign. XD;
OMG. I am deliriously exhausted. I have work in not that many hours. SLEEP.
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8/29
In school-related news, I have acquired a nickname from either my teachers, students, or both........... "Hippo." Oh yes, you heard me. Hippopotamus. I was, of course, mildly horrified with the music teacher gleefully told me, 'cos in America, hippo just means fat-ass. XD (Fine, Korea, I can take a hint.) He assured me that it doesn't mean that, and my host mum did explain it a little better to me. "Hippo" (like the animal) is the nickname for these weird jar thingies that Koreans buy to trap humidity in their closets. (To keep the clothes from going all moldy in the overly humid summers.) As a result, "hippos" are little jars full of water. (Host mum showed me HER hippo.) As the music teacher explained, I'm called Hippo 'cos I drink so much water. Guess it's appropriate. XD; I don't actually drink that much water as my school, funny enough........ I do have to drink a bit between back-to-back classes, though; all the talking seriously dries my mouth out. I'm practically spitting by the end of class.
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9/3
I've taught 12 lessons in the last 3 days. 8 more lessons to go for the week..... I'm changing up my lesson plan for the third time this week, 'cos it still doesn't quite work. I.E. with certain classes it's a mess, because........ they pretend not to know English/they have a hard time with it. It's hard not to have overblown expectations--you never really realize just how FAST and fluid your own English is until you're dealing with a stubborn Asian high schooler. Some kids I have to speak at 1/6th my speed. And then rephrase and do a bit of charades. And I get a one-word answer in return. *thunk*
But I know it's worth it. The weird thing is, kids won't say a peep to me but then at the end of the class, shy students will come up to me and speak in FULL SENTENCES and it just makes me want to cry, I'm so happy. Now I'm trying to plot how to do non-graded "speaking tests"--maybe around midterms. And things will be easier when I don't expect so bloody much out of the kids--I wish I could do really inovative lesson plans but that is so not happening at this level of English. Maybe later. X_x; But this does make me see the appeal of teaching upper-level English conversation at a university.
On the plus side, my morning classes are a dream. I preprepared a reading assignment (my own writing, how lame XD) and had them write and not talk at all and it was glooooooorious. So quiet and simple, and the responses I've gotten are AMAZING. I asked them to write about themselves and their schools--will post good quotes later. One student made an unfortunate mix-up with the word "clapping"--Koreans SPELL with "r"s, too, not just say them. Think about it for a second. Now I finally understand why my teachers would give us those stupid in-class writing assignments. It wasn't for OUR benefit, but for the teacher's benefit!--finally, a break from shouting, talking and thinking. Especially thinking. I have so, so, so much respect for lifetime long teachers now. (Except the horrible ones who HATED teaching, like Langone.)
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9/6
Gwuangju adventure! Today! I am so tired!
Highlights & random strangeness:
+ Getting to be in a "big" city for the day--I didn't realize how much more compact Mokpo is until I left it =D;;
+ Checking out the Gwangju Biennale, i.e. biannual art festival which showcases some AMAZING contemporary artwork. And some just "meh" contemporary artwork, too. But mostly good. I have pictures, I NEED TO POST SO MANY PICTURES MY GOD. X_X
+ Ran into fellow ETA at the Biennale gallery! It is is a small world indeed. XD We're all going to have a Gwangju meet-up soon, hopefully.
+ Eating 호꺽 (cornmeal and walnut.......... bread? Kinda?) for the first time.
+ Shopping and spending entirely too much money (-) on an entirely too cute often for work. It was totally worth it, I rationalize. I really need new clothes, my coworkers were starting to comment on my wardrobe, or lack thereof.
+ Running into not one, but five prostitutes in one block. With their pimps in tow. (.......)
In short, I walked bloody everywhere, ate waaaaaaaaaaay too much food today, and I now have someone to go see Mamma Mia with. =D Don't judge. My options for movies in Korea are nil.
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9/10
Proof that just how some white people can't tell Asians apart, some Asian people sure as hell can't tell us apart, either:
1) My co-worker said the other day that I look "just like" Nicole Kidman. HAHAHAHA. Well, we are both pale white--we must be twins! She refused to believe me even when I pointed out our MANY physical differences. The weirdest thing is, my Chinese host sister had said the same thing of me like 4 years ago. Seriously guys, how on EARTH do I look like Nicole Kidman?!
2) My students in 1-8 (the girls) were all insisting that I have Lindsay Lohan's face. Um....... thanks, so I look like a cracked out human being? O_o; (Although actually in Korea, most people are not aware of Lohan's most recent escapades. They still play "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen" and "The Lovebug" on the television here. -_-) And once again, Lilo's face is not like mine, I have much bigger features. We bought have the similarities that come with being of Western European descent, so I guess that's enough for my students.
......... Oh, and did I mention that yesterday an 8 year old boy harassed me and tried to look at my "panties"? (It wasn't even a mildly innocent, hide-under-the-dress sorta act, HE KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING.) This is why you don't accidentally wear an above-the-knee dress out in Korea--the men and male students will all gawk at your legs all day. T_T; It's creepy. T_____T;;; (The senior male teachers made a point of saying, "You look very stylish today." ONLY THE SENIOR MALE TEACHERS SAID THIS, not the women or younger teachers. CREEPY.)
Thank God I'm done with classes for the day. *passes out*
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So, if you finished that all, you get a cookie. The bell just rang for class, so off I go to teach my last class of the day! Wish me luck!
