I was surprised a few weeks ago when they asked me to teach 4 more classes each week. These classes are grades 1 & 2, and I think one or two 3rd graders as well. I've only completed one week, but it seems to be more of a daycare class than it does an english class. I still use English lessons to fill the time. The head teachers of the program said that many of the students don't have the luxury of learning English at a hagwon (private after-school academy) like many of the other students, so they thought it'd be a great opportunity for them to learn a bit of English to help them get a jump on the language. It's my first time with such young students, and to be honest it was a bit daunting. Teaching 5th and 6th grade was a shock after college, but these kids are a whole new ball game. Describing both 1-2 grades and 5-6 grades as elementary is ridiculous. I was most nervous about general communication and safety of the kids, but luckily so far another daycare person has been with me. These kids speak zero English and are all over the place, so naturally I'm a bit worried about them getting hurt. I'm not the best with crying kids, especially ones who do not speak English. If kids cry in my class I generally just ask them if they want to see the nurse, or get a drink of water. I don't know what else to do... Maybe that changes once you have kids of your own, but I've never had any experience comforting little kids that got a boo-boo from walking into the corner of a freakin' table. Oh well, another opportunity for me to learn something.
There are two perks to teaching these classes.
1- These students have nearly zero English ability, but are overly excited to learn English. They have a ton of Energy, and they want to put all of that energy into participating in class. IT'S REFRESHING. It is the first time I've had the problem of deciding who to call on. I have to be very careful to distribute attention to everyone equally, or I risk a major tearfest. Teaching the ABCs is pretty easy, and can be done in so many ways that it's quite easy and fun. Even things like cleaning the board of the letters is hugely popular.
2- I get paid extra to teach these classes. It is quite a bit to plan 26-28 lessons per week, but the money will be nice in the end.
Within the English department there is a teacher that we have come to our school once a week for two hours to teach both of our advanced classes. She is either trying, or is already preggo, so it looks like I'll be the one to pick up these classes. I already teach these kids two hours each during the week, and have been struggling to find new subject matters to keep them interested. So, to teach them an extra hour each week is kind of weighing on me. 3 hours per week of special classes for two different classes is a lot. There isn't a curriculum for me to follow or get ideas from. Hopefully after this semester I'll get a new batch of kids so I can use some of my old lessons on them.
The 5th-6th grade kids are horrible, and never want to do fun things. Nothing seems good enough for them... It's been the most aggravating thing thus far in my 14 months in Korea. The 3rd-4th grade kids are more willing to participate, and their English is better than the 5th-6th grade class, but they require a certain treatment that can be REALLY obnoxious. All 27 kids demand attention at the very same time, and it seems everyone has something earth shattering to share with me. It tends to be something like "I have a pencil case," or "Teacher, I don't want to do activity today." Which I respond to with things such as "congratulations!" or "That's too bad, sit down and do the activity with your neighbor."
I found out this week that it doesn't look like my winter vacation is going to go as planned. I re-signed for this year with the intention of doing much more travel. Last year I had 20 days of vacation, and did not get to use all of the days. Since the days rolled over to this contract I now have 32 days off. I guess they want me to take two one-week vacations which makes it difficult to make travel plans. Most people go to Southeast Asia for 10-12 days. I will have 7 days off at a time, so this makes it quite difficult. The flights are too expensive to go twice, and flights to places near Korea (japan) are really expensive. I'm not so sure I'll get to take a vacation worth mentioning this year. I'm not happy about this. That'll have to suffice since I don't know who reads this, and I don't need more problems.
We got the results from our English competition, and our school took 3rd. I guess special private schools that are mostly made up of students who lived abroad were allowed in the competition, making it almost pointless, so silver is REALLY good. The principal called our office to tell us that he was happy with the results, so that's nice. Can't hurt my situation, that's for sure.
Well, last week was really long, and I spent the weekend catching up on sleep. I planned a few lessons so my next week won't be quite so busy, and went to the gym a few times. The gym membership is a bit spendy here, but has been well worth it as a stress-reliever.
I've finished my coffee, time to go home.
-keith
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