Back to School

I assume many of the schools back in the States started this week or will start after the Labor Day weekend, so here's a little reminder of what it's like to go back to school. The students started on August 26th, and I started this past Monday. My first day went well! My co-teacher Mrs. Lee (she is amazing – a mom with three teenage kids who gets up every day at 4:40 to go to church and pray…don’t tell me that doesn’t impress you…) came to pick me up and ride the bus with me to school so that I knew how to get there. However, we ended up chatting so much that we missed the bus even though it stopped right in front of us. Fail. So she ended up driving me, and we pretended we were riding the bus – she pointed out the stop and then the walking route for me along the way.
 

My school, Changpyeong Middle School (I still have a hard time spelling it) is in a little village right outside of Gwangju. It is known as the ‘slow city,’ which means it has retained much of its traditional style and structure. You can see all the buildings are low, and most of the shopping is done in the outdoor market. I love that I live in the city but work in the beautiful countryside – the best of both.

Changpyeong Middle School

The first thing we did upon arrival was take our shoes off and store it in little wooden lockers – each teacher keeps his or her indoor shoes inside the locker and switch them out while in school. I had my Old Navy flip flops at the ready – will need to search to find some slippers for the winter, however. She walked me down to the teacher’s room and introduced me – the teachers don’t have their own rooms/desks, so all of the computers and desks are in the teacher’s room in the main hallway right down the road from the principal’s office.

 

I enjoy having my own desk and computer. I am responsible for getting lesson plans together, presentations finished, etc, on my own time, so I can basically do whatever I want, provided that it looks like I’m working. As long as it's in English. I also organize my life a bit in my notebook here and there – most of the teachers can’t read it anyways (due to both the language barrier and my awful handwriting - double protection strategy) so they don’t know whether I am planning or not. I have my schedule out in front of me – I teach a different number of classes each day, with a couple of extra classes thrown in (teacher’s workshop – where I basically ‘teach’ my English speaking co-teachers – I think it will end up being mostly conversation since it is just the three of us) and English club, which I have to organize and plan at my liberty – I only have eleven kids and I want to make it fun and enjoyable – next week I will do a soccer/grammar lesson.

In Korea there are three middle school grades – Grade 1 (like our sixth grade) Grade 2 (seventh) and Grade 3 (eighth grade.) There are two sections of Grades 1 and 3 and one section of Grade 2, each divided into High and Low classes. So how many classes do I have per week? The answer is 10 (Grade 1, class 1 high/low (2) Grade 1, class 2 high/low (4) Grade 2 high/low (6) and Grade 3-1 and 3-2 High/low (10.) Then you throw in after school Grade 1 conversation class (highs and lows mixed together) on Mondays (every other Monday alternates with Grade 1-1 and Grade 1-2), teacher’s workshop after school on Tuesday, and English Club on Fridays after school (poor kids having to stay after on a Friday!), and that is 13…but then on Wednesdays I go to a different school and teach Grade 1, 2, 3, and English club there. So total I guess that is 17 different classes I have to teach each week (with the help of my co-teachers, of course.) Apologies if that was confusing...it took me a while to figure it out too.

The good news is most classes are repeat classes (same lesson for 4 sections of grade 1) so I actually only have to do about 10 different lesson plans, most of which follow the same structure. I have to make a lesson plan and lesson for each – I rely heavily on PowerPoints for visuals (what we are encouraged to do) because my job is to keep English fun and interesting.

My main responsibility is straight up getting these kids to talk. The Korean teachers teach English class in Korean, which gets into the nitty gritty grammar and listening...then they do all of the grading and testing. My job is to facilitate conversation and help with pronunciation, as well as just demonstrate what a native speaker sounds like, because I automatically speak English ten times better than the Korean teachers. Bonus. So, lots of visuals to keep them interested, and lots of activities to keep them active – I anticipate a new career as a PowerPoint expert by the end of this. I use the book to plan my lessons – there is usually one very small objective (ex – “How was your vacation?” “It was good, how was yours?”) and that is what I have 45 minutes to teach. For that particular lesson I made a PowerPoint of examples of vacation, had them volunteer things you could do on vacation, had them volunteer adjectives of how a vacation might be, and then had them talk to their partner and to me about their summer vacation. Throw in some games, a little time for extra chatting and presenting, and you’ve got a middle school English lesson.

Changpyeong Village, Damyang Country

The students have been pretty interested in me, and so far I haven’t had many discipline problems. Some of the Korean teachers use a bamboo looking stick that they threaten students with – usually just a scare tactic, to rap their desks and keep them in line…but we were warned at orientation that some teachers still use corporeal punishment although it’s illegal in Korea. I am lucky to have a co-teacher with me, however, to help me keep them listening and quiet, as well as translate for me if there is something they don’t understand.

So that’s a little bit about how my first week has gone. I’m thoroughly sick of giving the same presentation about myself (about 15 times, to be exact, as I presented all three classes at the other school!) So far the most common question I get is "How tall are you" and "Do you have a boyfriend?" I converted my height to centimeters and make them guess how tall I am - they always gasp when I write it on the board. The boyfriend answer is "secret," for my own amusement.

The other school is very small, called Goseo (pronounced Koso), and my co-teacher is great – very energetic, in her late fifties, and has been teaching middle school for a very long time. She was so helpful, showed me around, showed me the bus stop, etc. One nice thing at Goseo is that I get my own English classroom, instead of here where I am the travelling teacher.

If any of you are wondering about lunch, (Mom is, I know) the teachers eat the same thing the students eat – we get to cut in line as well! We all sit at the teacher’s table with our metal trays and utensils. For lunch, kimchi and rice is standard, there is always a kind of soup, and then some sort of vegetable/meat dish and fruit for dessert. So far the strangest thing we have had is eel soup and this squid and rice cake dish – it tastes way better than it sounds. I’m mastering my metal chopsticks, but it’s also acceptable to eat with your spoon, so I rely on that if I’m having a hard time. I’m amazed at how fast my little tiny women coworkers put away their rice – I usually can’t finish it because I am so full. I suppose they have had lots of practice, however, as most of them eat rice and kimchi three meals a day. I had a pretty low spice tolerance when I arrived here, but I think I’m acquiring a taste for it – they use hot red pepper powder in everything around here.

The rest of the pictures are of my walk back from school to the bus stop – it was a beautiful sunny day out last Friday. I think I’m going to wrap it up for now – I cleaned up my apartment a bit and took some pics today for you– will save that for another post. I hope everyone enjoys their Labor Day weekend, take care!