My Blog

09.05.2005 Monday; well it was my second day of teaching. Let me tell you, I have a newly found respect for Korean teachers. There are on average 40 kids in the class and the classes are not the most well behaved. It is a difficult task to teach and have to deal with the discipline. To take care of this, I am looking for games to play with my students to have them learn without actually thinking that they are learning.

I went to another middle school today where I was greeted with open arms. There are only 60 kids in the 3 grades. That means there are about 20 kids per grade. That was a wonderful switch from the 40. And the teachers and everyone were eager to talk to me and find out about me. The principal had me come into his office about 10 times to talk to me during the break and offered me coffee and some snacks. The students in this class have really never met a foreigner in their life, and so they were anxious to ask me questions and find out about me. I can tell that Monday will be a good day for me.

As for the Haman Boys Middle School, it continues to be an adventure. There are 4 English teachers there and they each have their own style and expectations of me. The overlying fact is that they want me to take full control and teach everything. It is going to be an interesting task. I am not sure if I will be doing this for more than a year!

I would prefer to go back to teaching at the adult level. And although everyone tells me teaching adults is harder (they are a group of your peers and can choose not to be there) I find it more comfortable. Either that or in an organization that has to do with EFL.

I am still in the homestay and things are still the same for me here. I feel like an alien here in a place where no foreigner has ever been to before. And I doubt many will come after me.

Tomorrow is my third day teaching and the board of education has plans to watch me teach. The problem is that they chose to watch the new English teacher and I, so we have no idea what to expect. I spent most of my afternoon preparing for this situation and now I feel I am better prepared to make lesson plans in the future. God bless my co-teacher, she is the sanity to this entire thing!

Will keep you updated as more happens to me.