Oh, So You Do Actually Teach...

I have been told that they do not understand my teaching schedule and so I am guessing probably most of you have no clue what I actually do here in Korea, how it works, or wonder what my classes are like and what my daily schedule is so I will let you know. I do not have a normal teaching schedule like most teachers I actually have a lot of free time which could either be a good thing or bad thing. On my contract I am supposed to teach 20-22 hours a week and the rest of the time planning/desk warming (sitting at my desk keeping it warm and looking like I am doing something important). I am probably one of the only teachers here who only teach 14 hours a week and the rest of the time desk warm. The reason for this is because the teacher I replaced was pregnant the last semester of her teaching so the school cut her schedule so that it would be more manageable for her and they just kept that schedule for me also.

This is what my daily schedule looks like:

Monday: 8:15am – Bus

8:30am- Arrive at school and sit in the teacher’ room drinking coffee until the Principal greets everyone

9:00am- 10:45am- Desk warm

10:45- 12:10pm- Teach sixth grade out of a textbook

12:10pm- 1:00pm- Lunch

1:00pm- 1:50pm- Desk warm/ prepare for the next class

1:50pm- 2:30pm- Teach fourth grade (Lessons to prepare them for fifth grade)

2:30pm- 5:00pm- Desk warm and wait until I get to go home

5:00pm- Leave school and do whatever it is I do at home until bed time

*So now that you know what a typical day looks like I will just let you know what classes I teach on the certain days and just assume I am desk warming during the other times*

Tuesday: 1:50pm- 2:30pm- Kindergarten

2:30pm- 3:20pm- Third grade

 

Wednesday: 10:45am- 12:10pm- Fifth grade (textbook)

1:00pm- 1:40pm- Sixth grade (textbook)

3:00pm- 4:30pm- Volleyball with the staff

4:30pm-5:00pm- Dinner with the staff

 

Thursday: 9:00am- 12:10- Kicked out of my classroom because a native Korean comes in and teaches third and fourth grade English… So during this time I hang out in the teacher’s office.

1:50pm-2:30pm- Kindergarten

3:30pm- 4:10- Second grade

 

Friday: 9:00am- 9:40am- Fifth grade (textbook)

2:40pm- 3:20pm- First grade

3:30pm- 4:10pm- Fifth grade (afterschool fun)

4:20pm- 4:50pm- Sixth grade (afterschool fun)

 

*The weekend usually consists of me travelling to various places around Korea with friends*

 

Now that you know my schedule let me talk about my classes and the students. Again to make it easier to understand I will distinguish by each grade.

 

Kindergarten: This class consists of eight students ranging from 3-5 years old. There are two girls and six boys. You may think wow how do you teach anything to that young of students and you are right. Sometimes I think this is crazy but I have a wonderful young lady who comes into the class with them and helps control them and translates as much as she can. The teacher’s aide and the students do not know much English so the key to teaching this class is to make the activities simple, make examples, and do a lot of gestures/ charades to get my point across. With being tiny little kids they are filled with energy and have an attention span of 5- 10 minutes. So when I am planning for these students I have to make sure I have enough activities to fill up a forty minute block with them. Their class is also in the afternoon so I am not surprised when I see students falling asleep or students crying because someone hit them or took their things. This class is always full of surprises and they are just so cute that you cannot help but put up with the insanity of it for two days a week.

 

First grade: This class consists of five boys. I love them all so much and they are always such a joy to be around. Some days they bring flowers to me that they picked on their way to class and other days they are dancing and giggling in class. Their home room teacher is also my co-teacher so it is a class that I do not have to worry about as much because I know I will have someone who will be able to translate and help me with the class.

Second grade: This is one of my favorite classes out of all! This class consists of six students, three girls and three boys. These students are always bringing a positive attitude into my classroom and are always just so happy to be here. The first week I had them they showed up twenty minutes early and all sat down and were ready to learn. At first I didn’t know why they were here so early and I was trying to tell them that they still had time to play if they wanted but they didn’t really understand me so we just began class early. I love spending time with these students because they are just so much fun and we always end up signing and dancing to “Gangnam Style” towards the end of the class and just laughing and having fun.

 

Third grade: This class consists of seven students, two girls and five boys. This is my hardest class out of all my classes. I have a few reasons for this: 1) These students are at an extremely low level of English knowledge. For some reason they still do not know their ABC’s even though the K-2 graders can read and say them. It is very difficult to teach this class because of the low level learners and whenever I try to talk to them or direct them in any way they give me a blank stare and talk back to me in Korean. Their home room teacher does not speak English at all so I cannot get her to help me translate anything but she is there to control the kids because I cannot do it on my own. 2) These students are trouble makers that do not like to listen to my rules or words and want to play games. I had one incident the second week of school where I had to leave the classroom and get their homeroom teacher to yell at them for me cause they were not listening at all or didn't care. Ever since then, I have decided that by the end of the year I am going to be a bit more assertive and make sure they know their ABC’s and that they will be able to listen and stay quiet while I am teaching. I know I was not an easy kid in class either and now that I look back to it I understand why my fourth grade teacher thought I was annoying. I have a soft spot for these kids and I know they can grow up and be good kids so my hope for this class is that I will get to know them and help them in this class so that they do not fall between the cracks and that they are prepared for middle school and for life.

 

Fourth grade: This class consists of seven students, four girls and three boys. I have not had the opportunity to teach these students very much because the class kept getting cancelled or postponed but I did have the opportunity to spend time with them during a field trip and they are such sweet kids. The entire time during the field trip they were talking to me and showing me things and just wanted to spend time with me and talk in English which was fun. Kids are great and they want to learn English and very well behaved.

 

Fifth grade: This class consist of five students, four girls and one boy. The boy is totally outnumbered and is always being made fun of by the girls so luckily the home room teacher is a man and paris up with him so that he is not too outnumbered. I get to see this class four times a week so I have the opportunity to get to know these students. They are great students are always fun to be around some days they can be super energetic and the next day I learning and don't want to do anything... but can I blame them? They are at school from 8:30am-5:00pm and they are fifth grade girls so that has a lot to say. I really like this class and am happy that I get to have these students for one more year in sixth grade.

 

Sixth grade: This class consists of seven students, two girls and five boys. I love this class. The students are always making me laugh and I can talk to them and they understand me. Again, the girls are a little "too cool for school" but understandable I was too right? I am always curious on what this class will entail cause the boys have such a vivid imagination and always turns the textbooks into something funny. I am sad that I will only have these students for one semester cause they are all leaving to middle school next year but at least I had the opportunity to teach them for a little while.

 

So that is a summary of my classes and a little bit of what I am doing here in Korea. I am sorry this turned out to be such a long blog post and thank you to the people who actually finished this post that just means you love me and that you are my favorite person. Ha-ha *^o^* If you have any more questions about what my life is like in Korea just ask I will make sure to let you know!