Back in Korea

Hello hello!


Wow I can't believe I've been in Korea for 3 weeks already!! Time has definitely flown by and its been a whirlwind of getting used to my school, where I'm living, meeting old friends, readjusting to everything being in Korean etc....
When I arrived in Korea, they took me straight to the school--bags and everything. I literally was picked up at the airport by a taxi guy (hired by the school) and driven straight to school where I sat in the teachers office for the next couple of hours waiting until someone was available to show me to the guest room (which was just 1 floor down) where I would be living for the next two and a half weeks until the teacher I was replacing got moved into her new apartment. Luckily I had slept on the plane and I wasn't too tired, and I also go to chat with some of my new co-workers and ask some questions about how things work around here.
              The next day I was up and observing classes at 9am. No time to get over jetlag. These people wanted me to start learning how things work immediately. It was kind of crazy, but I had fun watching and it was much better than being given a few days to get over my jetlag and then just thrown into the schedule without knowing anything about how they do things. The teacher I replaced, (Her name is Sarah) was leaving the next week, so I observed her classes for a week and got the feel of how they flowed.
I've been here for three weeks now, and while I'm still not completely savvy with everything, I've learned a lot about how this place works. I'm sure you all would like to know as well, so I'll tell you what I've learned.
                   Okay, first things first. The name of the place I work at is the Seoul English Village-Gwanak Camp. This is not a school or a Hagwon (academy) it's is an English Village-owned and sponsored by companies such as Herald and IBK Bank. We have morning classes, afternoon classes, and evening classes. The work schedule for most teachers is 9am-6pm (with 1 hour for lunch-which is provided by the school-yay!) and some teachers work 9am-7pm (getting paid overtime for 1 hour). I think one or two teachers work 10am-7pm.
           For the morning classes, our students change every week. It's like a camp. (hence the name "Gwanak Camp") They come for one week, have some fun themed classes and then go back to their regular schools after. We get students from the surrounding public schools in Seoul (usually about 100-200 kids) and they are split up into 10-12 classes with 18-22 students in each class. Class time is 45 minutes with a 10 minute break in-between each class. There are 5 morning class periods every day with one hour for lunch. (Morning working time: 9:20-2:40)
      We have orientation every Monday when we get a new group of kids, and a closing/farewell ceremony every Friday when we say goodbye (forever) to them. During the week, we have themed classes (such as a cooking class where we make chocolate chip cookies-which are disgusting in my opinion-and a banking class, origami class, trivia class, movie class, travel class, gym class, etc....) with various activites and games for each class. There are about 15 teachers here-7 foreign teachers and 8 Korean teachers and all the teachers have 3-5 morning classes a day.(Some days you will have a full 5 classes, other days you might have just 2 or 3) The teachers aren't teaching the same class each time, or the same subject.(Like I wouldn't teach just the cooking class all day, or teach one class of kids their whole schedule for the day) What you teach and which class you teach is different (usually) every class period. It might seem like it would be confusing/hard for the teachers, but it's really not. It's well organized and easy to get used to.
Some people think this system isn't as fun(or as effective) as teaching in a Hagwon because you don't get to bond with the kids...but these people probably haven't ever taught in an English Village before. It's actually really great saying goodbye to the kids because if they've been good, you feel happy from a good week-maybe a bit sad to see them go, but life moves on and you've only been around them for a week, so you can't get too attached in that amount of time. If they have been bad, as it seems like that is the case most of the time, then at end of the week you are soooooooo glad to see the backs of those little sh*** for good and you feel great knowing you don't have to put up with them anymore. (Like this week...we had two schools of 6th grade kids and it was awful. I really really, really hated most of these kids. So today (because it's Friday) I was more than happy to see those brats leave.)
             Also, teaching themed classes is really fun. You don't have to think up your own stuff every time and hope it goes well. It's all planned already. You just have to follow the outline that's already been made for you and tweak it according to how the class is responding. The school has all the necessary materials you need for each class, so you don't have to worry about that either. It's a really well put together program and I feel so lucky to have gotten a position here. The only thing about the morning classes is it can be super busy if you have a class every period, and you sometimes find yourself in a time crunch if the students are taking too long with an activity. It's also difficult if you have no breaks and you need to prepare for afternoon classes.
              Speaking of afternoon classes, the way those work are almost like a Hagwon. They start at 3pm and we have regular students that come every time. For the foreign teachers, these are just 25 minute classes. (You have a Korean co-teacher that is in the classroom with you/helping you for your part of the class, then after your 25 minutes of teaching is over, you can leave and they teach whatever they have for the day). (We teach more morning classes than the Korean teachers, so that's why it works this way in the afternoon) These are also similar to a curriculum classes. The only thing you have to prepare is the activity for these classes. (This is only in the case of the Kindergarten classes-there are other kinds of afternoon classes for the elementary students) I have 4 different afternoon classes. 3 classes are Kindergarten (yay!-they are soooo cute!!) and the other is 5th grade kids. The after school kids have a pretty high English level (if they aren't kindergarten) and we teach them out of a curriculum book. My 5th grade class (called 3rd Level Express) can understand pretty much everything I say. It's really refreshing after a crazy morning with loud and obnoxious kids. My afternoon working time: is 3:00-4:50.
        The afternoon classes end at 4:50 and the evening classes start.(Actually, they aren't really called evening classes, but I call them that because it's almost dark by the time they start) They are from 5-7pm.(unless there is a later class that I'm unaware of....) The evening classes are called "Mid-Long term" classes which means we get students who come for a 3-4 month program. The students are given an English test on the first day and split up into classes based on their English level. The mid-long term program is different every year,(<--I think)
           This year we are doing 2 plays and a workbook. I teach the drama (play) part and a Korean teacher does the workbook part. I don't know how the workbook part works, but for the drama part, we have 2 plays with a script, music and basic class outline and timeframe. We choose one of the plays to work on for the first 2 months and then do the other one the second 2 months. Its up to the teacher to figure out how to teach the kids the script/music/stage movement, figure out costumes and lighting etc...
I have level 2 kids, which means their English level is the second lowest level. Hooray for me. But luckily, because of my drama background, I was somehow able to get the kids interested enough in the play to learn their lines and say them without mumbling too much. I have a lot of fun in that class because I get to be a theatre teacher again and it's nostalgic. I didn't realize how much I missed theatre until I started this class. I'm not sure if my students have fun or not, but whatever, if they aren't having fun it's their own fault. (>.<)
          I just have 1 evening class, so I finish at 6pm and go home. I've just moved into my apartment last Monday and while it is tiny and the bathroom smells like mold, (the mold is driving me crazy...suggestions on how to get rid of it? I have bleach...) at least its my own space. I was finally able to unpack and get really settled in. I felt so temporary living in the guest room because I couldn't unpack so I was living out of my suitcase and trying not to wear too many different clothes. Now I really feel like I will be here for a long time and its great. Oh, speaking of great things, the school/my apartment(its literally a 5 minute walk from my school) are right in front of a mountain, so the view here is awesome. And now it is October so the leaves are turning and the weather is beautiful. It's really been a great week so far. I'm absolutely exhausted, but I'm really happy.
I haven't even mentioned all the fun things I've been doing since I got here, but I will save those for a later post. For now, I will say Cheerio and, as always, just to give me encouragement to write more, please leave a comment if you've read this post and would like to read another.
Bye for now! ^-^