C is for Classes

      Today marks the close of my second week of teaching classes. I'm not sure that I love the school itself yet. I'm becoming sure that I may never love the school, actually. However, I do love my students. They are almost all adorable, especially my kidergartners and first graders. I think that I might be in a funk. I almost didn't go to school today because of how tired I was and a disagreement with the directors, but the thought of my kids kept me going.

      My day kind of consists of two shifts. The first is my morning kindergarten class. I teach them from 9:50am until 2:20pm, with some small breaks and a lunch in there somewhere.There are eight students in my kindergarten class. My second shift is a hodgepodge of afternoon classes consisting of first, second and fourth graders. These classes are especially small (1-8 students) and hard to keep track of because some I only have one day a week. I'm still confused as to how it all works, but I'm guessing that at some point I will either get it or stop caring that I am lost and confused 80% of the time.

      I have to say, of all my classes, my kindergartners are my favorite. Not because I don't like my other classes though. I really do like almost every student. They are my favorite because I've really gotten to know them. They are all such fun to have in class. I can see their little brains working as they try to figure out how this new classroom dynamic is going to shake out with a new teacher. I think I do things very different from their old teacher. The learning curve has got to start bending soon though, right?

     My favorite part about my kindergartners is their sense of humor and how surprised they get when they see I have one too. For instance, today I came into class for the second period and said hi to everyone. We talked for a minute and something spurred them to start saying goodbye to me.

      So, since I needed a chair to sit down and tell them a story with anyway and had to go to another room to get it, I walked out of the classroom and shut the door. When I came back in, maybe one minute later, I could tell that they were all very surprised. I cracked a grin and said, "Got you!" They all laughed. I do lots of things like that, and they are always surprised. Like making funny faces, they love it when I do that.

      My afternoon classes are a bit harder to describe, it always seems like I come to class not knowing what's going on. I even taught one class the wrong subject yesterday. Sometimes I feel really discouraged in the afternoons. I feel tired, my throat hurts from yelling at students and I just want to go home to bed. But then there are moments when it all seems worth it. For instance, some of my students actually like their lessons, do their homework and want to be at school. This makes me feel good about my job. But other students are mostly tired and would rather be at home.

      I don't really blame the students who want to check out. The Korean School system is so much different from the States, it makes me shake my head sometimes. Not because I think the States has a better system, necessarily, but because of how much pressure is put on the children at a young age. Most of my kindergartners already have a 2nd grade reading and comprehension level.

      The majority of my students get less than 8 hours of sleep a night and attend classes for 10-14 hours a day. Then they have homework on top of that. When I think of their days I feel like I might cry sometimes. Can you imagine spending your entire childhood in school? I loved school, and that still seems to be an unsavory way to spend a childhood.

      Another thing that I find interesting is the English only policy which is not enforced by the directors of the school. This policy is a challenge for students to follow to begin with, but when you add directors who don't speak English well at all, even though their comprehension is fairly good.

       Also, the Korean co-teachers have to use Korean with the students sometimes, just to make sure they understand a directive, or to get them to stop beating up their classmates. It would be great if the directors led by example at the school. The co-teachers make an effort to speak English, which I think is great, but it needs to be a top down thing. Here in Korea everything is about what your leader is doing.

Well, thanks for reading. This is all I can think of for now. If you have questions, please ask, I will respond, even if it takes a bit for me to get back to you.

This is a picture of my school. I took it coming back from lunch one day. I went to a S. Korean buffet that serves traditional foods. It was quite delicious. I especially liked the marinated fish.