Teaching. These past few days teaching have been quite the experience. It's easy on some level and very difficult on other levels, but it's genuinely been a good experience. During my first lessons, my co-teacher lead most of the activities, while I explained directions and helped with pronunciation. It was pretty easy and I was able to get comfortable doing this routine. I can see why other foreigners think that 5th/6th grade is difficult. Some of the students can get pretty rowdy and restless, especially during the after lunch hours. I truly feel that Korean public education is lacking in some sort of discipline practice, but I guess that's why they invite foreigners over.
I absolutely adore my 5th graders. They are incredibly cute. While they get rambunctious, they are willing to listen and be obedient when you tell them to be. They are also much more curious about foreigners than the 6th graders. Don't get me wrong, I like my 6th graders too. They are definitely in that puberty phase and transitioning from little kid to early tween and they start developing this sort of attitude toward school. I guess we all went through that at some point.
My co-teachers are really friendly. Honestly, I don't know most of their first names ... I'm not sure if it's because Korean names are so difficult to learn or if they just never told me. But my teachers are Ms. Jeun, Mrs. Ko, Ms. Jeung, and Ms. Choi. They are all really nice. I would Jeun and Ko have better English speaking abilities than the other two. However, two of them are embarrassed to speak English when the other teachers are in the subject room. It kind of sucks having to plan lessons after work with them, but if it makes them feel more confident then I figure why not.
It's funny being one of the new teachers on campus, especially a teacher who is not native to Korea. Honestly, it's sort of like a celebrity type atmosphere with children running around you saying "hi!" just so you can say "hi!" back. It's very cute. Every now and then, I will get a "You are handsome!" or a "handsome boy" from the girls and even some boys haha. I guess I should enjoy this type of fame while it lasts and the kids realize I'm just an average guy.
Overall, Korea has been treating me very well. Beyond the classroom, my adventures outside the school have been very entertaining. I was able to attend a free art show in Yeoksam the other night. It was pretty amazing because it was free and they had free snacks, free buffet dinner, and free drinks! It was glorious! I enjoyed that they had meat and cheese trays. I haven't had that food in so long!!! The following night, I went to Dongdaemun for dinner. Dongdaemun is an area in Seoul that is very popular for cheap shopping and finding brand name knock offs. I didn't do any shopping, but the food was delicious (and cheap!) and they had a TON of places to go and shop and places to sight see and take pictures. I really like Korea so far. Even though after work, I'm incredibly exhausted - I truly enjoy venturing out into the city and soaking up as much of this experience as I can.
Things I want to eventually do here: Go on a hike, Visit Everland/Lotte World (the ... Disneyland of Korea I guess), See a baseball game, shop shop shop, see a KPOP concert (OMG!), etc etc etc
I WANT TO DO EVERYTHING!!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment