Above, you can see pictures of my school and my co-teachers. I teach at Dong Middle School for 1st and 2nd grade classes (or 6th and 7th grade). The classes have either all girls or all boys, with about 35-40 students packed in each class. I also just began a basketball camp that I teach two days a week to two different classes of 10 students, girls and boys mixed. This is extremely fun and counts as my 22 hours of teaching each week. It is during the last year of my working day...3:30-4:30, which is an after-school camp for the students. I begin my work by getting to school at 8:30 am, but do not begin classes until 9:10am (and the teachers do not leave to go to the classes until the bell has rung, which is nice). However, last week I got asked to work two extra hours each week, so 24 hours each week, for extra pay ($25/hr.) to teach reading, so, of course I said yes. This class is from 8-8:45, and has a mix of boys and girls (since it is their before-school class, with only about 18 students in it). I am so happy that I am teaching subjects that I enjoy and have experience in >English, reading, b-ball.
My co-teachers all have been amazing and so helpful with my moving in! I have one main co-teacher, Sunyeong Kang, who is in my 13 1st year classes, who also sits next to me at my desk in the office so we talk all the time and she shares things about Korean life with me. Then, I have two different co-teachers who switch off being in my 6 2nd year classes. (And no co-teacher in my reading and b-ball classes). Plus, I have a team co-teacher, Eun Mi Lee, who has helped me with moving in, getting my immigration card, internet, finding out where the important stores are near us...pretty much being there for me with the move and being new to the area...she's been great!! She just gave Keith and I a pretty plant for our apartment!
Mrs. Hyan, the head of the English department, also sits next to me in the office, so she is very helpful too and we talk a lot. The vice-principal, who is brand new to the school, used to be a high-school English teacher, so is very fluent with his English. He is proud of his English and comes each day to talk to me for a while....a very nice man! The first week, I went out with the English co-teachers for a nice dinner at one of the two mexican restaurants on the island:) It was a good time, we had lots of time to bond and get to know one another, and we went back to Mrs. Hyan's house (they all live in apartments, but they call them houses) for tea, coffee, and huge grapes...and all sat on the floor at a lower korean table.
The night before, almost all of the staff, or at least everyone in my office, went out to dinner after school in celebration of my arrival and the vice-principal's arrival. It was a delicious and interesting dinner...which kept continuing for about 2 1/2 hours...small dishes kept coming, with lots of kimchi, rice, fish, chicken, pork, vegetable dishes, sweet potatos, sardines, some kind of lung, etc.....and we drank "makali"...the delicious Korean rice wine! The vice-principal came over to where I was sitting and we chatted for almost an hr! He definitely drank a lot that night and was opening up to me by using his English and overcoming being shy! Koreans tend to use more English when they drink...and that is actually one of the reasons they take you out to dinner and drink!
My students are great! I feel like a famous star at my school....the boys and girls all seem to be so interested in my height, my "small face" they say (long), my hair color, and my eyes...especially since they're hazel and look like a different color sometimes. They also want to know all about "Tina Teacher". I found out that "Tina" is so easy to say for Koreans because it is an actual word in the Korean language, meaning "different, stands out"...makes so much sense with me being here! haha
Everywhere I go, whether it is the hallways at school, or walking out on the streets, or on the bus, kids and adults are not very shy with saying hi and using the English they know, and asking where I am from. With going to Sarabong almost each day and running by the ports, I think people are beginning to recognize that I live in their area now, because I have more people encouraging my run and saying hi to me. Even police cars will stop and wave to me!!! haha And the cutest thing is when little kids bow down to you...a one year old with squeeky shoes when he walked actually stopped and looked way up at me and bowed practically his whole body....it was soooooooooo cute!!!!! Wish I could have video-taped that!
Since I have a co-teacher in the classroom, all of my students are usually pretty good and listen to my discipline strategies (doing a clap pattern when getting their attention and saying "eyes on me"...and then they say, "eyes on teacher"). However, right now I have 3 2nd grade boys classes that are very loud and disruptive...almost the whole class is!!! I think it is because (1st) they are 2nd grade boys...so because of the adolescent age, (2nd) b/c in that class I have a co-teacher who only comes to the school on that one day, so the kids don't know her or listen to her, and (3rd) because that co-teacher does not help with discipline, and boys sometimes do not listen to woman as much as men...it is part of the culture.
So I am currently trying to find something that will work for these three classes....but at least all of the rest of my classes during the week are great! I can even teach what I want. I just taught a culture lesson last week to all of my classes, and had about 10 supervisors come to watch on friday. It went great and the teachers said they were impressed...plus for that class the students got candy for answering the final review questions for the lesson, so they were happy too! I will be breaking those ideas/themes into different lessons for each week. It has been very exhausting with planning, getting used to my busy schedule, and trying to begin our training (for the jeju marathon)...so running and sprinting hills after a long day of school. We are adjusting and getting used to the schedule though and the fun weekends doing adventures are always something we look forward to! In two weeks, the students already have their midterms! It is insane how fast the time is flying by!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment