I sometimes imagine what it would be like if I tried to return to the States to teach English. I find that it is difficult to imagine such a feat, as I don't feel much of my experience would translate (and not just because of the language barrier).
Though I am certain the dynamics of a classroom are relatively similar the world over, I believe my experience as an English teacher to be rather unique given the educational culture of Korea. As a Guest English Teacher (GET) I am an outsider in many different ways. Some of which I enjoy, other not so much.
Among the pleasures of being a GET in Korea are my freedom from many minute responsibilities around the school. In Korea, many of the school's needs are balanced between staff and teachers. A great deal of administration and maintenance can fall on teachers and even students who are expected to help keep the facility clean. This I find an excellent practice, and in my previous Middle School, I enjoyed seeing students taking the time to mop the hallways every few days before afterschool classes began. I feel it helps students possess a certain amount of ownership and responsibility for their environment. However, as a foreign teacher, these obligations to help with the administration of the school are not expected of me. Indeed I cannot aid my fellow Korean teachers as I don't speak Korean or possess the same training and standing as other teachers. This gives me more needed time to plan lessons and prepare for classes, giving me undivided freedom to simply focus on teaching. However, I am getting a one sided experience. As with most GET teachers in Korea, I am not expected to grade my students or assess them in any quantifiable way. Again, this gives me freedom to focus on teaching, but I am also only getting a slice of the teacher's experience as teachers back in the States are expected to provide plentiful and accurate assessments of their students.
There are also ways in which I feel my experience with not translate in a good way. As the only foreigner in a Korean school I am somewhat of a fetish. I am an obvious outsider in a community where I cannot fit into and I seem to carry some mesmerizing power that I am meant to impart on my students and co-workers (the ability to speak English well). Somehow my presence is meant to impart this as few really go out of their way to learn from me or approach me about English outside of the classroom. Culturally, I am different and exotic and though this makes me easily loved and adored by some students, it also excludes me from any real community. Koreans are very friendly people and are very kind to most foreigners about living amongst them conscious of the language barrier. However, I cannot help escaping the sense that I am perpetually the outsider in a world I cannot assimilate. It makes me a celebrity at times (something I've come to loathe) or a leper in other instances (which is not much better). I have come to experience my introverted nature much more in Korea (ironically, since in Korea I am much more social than I've ever been in my life). I simply don't enjoy being stared at as if I were from space. I've always had fantasies of being a writer in a secluded cabin in the woods, but never have those dreams appealed to me so much as when I feel a dozen eyes on me, shocked and amazed that I naturally possess pale skin and curly hair.
These first few months have been quite difficult to get established and find my way around all of the new material. I've had moments of epiphany and excitement, and days of dread and woe. Working with children is the most difficult thing I've ever done and I'll happily blugdeon the first idiot who scoffs at teaching children to my face. Teaching is tough, especially young buggers, but for all the pain they've caused me things are starting to turn around. Granted a few tend to wander from their seats and don't pay attention, as a whole there is great improvement with classroom management. With the help of my first grader's homeroom teacher, my unruly first grade students are sitting in assigned groups and trying to keep my more problematic boys in line. They're doing better, far from well, but things are... moving I suppose. My other classes have been hit and miss with Mid-terms cutting into my teaching. Rather than teaching regular classes I've been left to myself as my Korean co-teacher drills the students on the test material. It sometimes seems silly to cram for a test at the last minute rather than leaving it to an honest assessment, but I've come to appreciate the extra time to plan lessons and unwind. Especially with another open class in my future. Almost two months in and I can say I'm far from settled, but things are moving... somewhere.... I am honestly more happy here than in my previous job, it certainly seems like this school actually cares about their English program. It will still take time to adjust to the teaching style, and to help me cope I've signed up for online courses in teaching (yeah silly I know after doing this for a year, but there's MUCH room for improvement)
More from the trenches as things develop!
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
They're cute, but goddamn....
One month down! Been Teaching a Hoedong Elementary School in Busan for a month! Hard to believe four weeks could fly by so quickly! It feels as if I just got here! (Of course I was saying that after having been here a year) Simply amazing!
So one month in, it's time for a status update:
Put simply,
I NEVER WANT TO HAVE KIDS!!!!!!!
I enjoy working with my students, they're young, energetic, they absorb information, and you can easily make fun of them when they get whiny. Then they laugh and you get back to work.
Except first grade.
I'm losing my hair over first grade.
Sure they're cute, they love me, they run in screaming "MYKHA-ELL TEACHAAA! MYKH-ELL TEACHAAA!" everyday. They're cute, friendly, and LOVE to jump around with me.
But goddamn they know NO English!
Moreover teaching them 6 times a week with no Koran co-teacher is a special kind of 40 minute hell at the end of everyday. When the bell rings for them to leave I'm so releaved, and wave goodbye with a smile as I survey the wreckage of my classroom.
Cute and maddening, I suddenly want to write to all my old Elementary school teachers and sincerely apologize for acting like a jerk in class as a kid. Not that I did it often, but hey, as a kid you do stupid stuff that we learn to be ashamed of as an adult (at least while sober).
My situation at my new school isn't bad, in fact it's damn near ideal to what I wanted, but as with all good intentions you find them leading you to rather different locations than you'd anticipated.
You'd think that a school that invested in bringing a foreign teacher from the other side of the world who doesn't speak the local language would come up with a better way to utilize that teacher than to strand him in a class full of little kids unable to communicate. However, this is exactly what they've done.
Anyone who knows me, knows I'm not a fan of kids. Sure they're cute, but like wild animals, I enjoy them most from a distance. I've never been comfortable with younglings, maybe that's a result of growing up the youngest in a big family. I've always been trying to grow up and play with the big kids. Now it's time to regress to grade school and I find I'm constantly drawing a blank for how to respond or act. Sure smiling goes a long way, but I'm still at a loss for what to do and how to treat my young students. I can't even fathom why so many of them are happy to see me, sure I smile, I'm foreign, and I give out stickers, but it's more than that and I just can't figure it out. For some reason that bothers me, because I don't know what to do with these buggers.
Specifically, my first grade boys. The girls are great! They tend to listen and understand more, they participate in games and do worksheets well. However, four out of six boys are recalcitrant and refuse to do any of the activities. Granted the reap none of the rewards, it leads them to wander around even leave class while I'm teaching. Granted my Korean vocabulary is rapidly expanding with classroom commands such as "Ha-jima!" (stop it!) "Iri-wa!" (Come here!) and "YA!" (hey!/shut-up). This is bringing better results buuuuuuuuut still not a controlled class. I'm experiencing just how green I still am as a teacher and how little I know about learning with young minds. They're still learning the basics of operating in a classroom, learning English is far and beyond most of them.
Yet, in spite of my lack of confidence and experience. I trudge on, because I have to, and because life is about overcoming fears and challenges. As sad as it sounds, learning to deal with kids is a fear I want to overcome, not unlike my fear of drowning, or falling to my death (and yes, these fears are on the same level that's how I feel about kids). It's slow going, but I feel that as I continue to struggle I am formulating different goals and opportunities for my new set of students come January, when I'll have the chance to start fresh with a new batch of kids that I can train properly. I'm reminded of how difficult it is to introduce new teachers in the middle of the school year, and how strange it must be to students to have a continuous cycle of new foreign faces in their school.
Teaching in South Korea continues to present new challenges, and though there are days I want to rip my hair out and scream bloody murder, my life here is still better than I could have hoped for! Life here is exciting, full of wonderful opportunities and friendships. I am constantly busy with places to go, people to see, and things to learn. I'm happy to begin my teaching career abroad because of these distractions. Because nothing is quite as soothing as ending a bad day by meeting friends for beers and Korean bbq. This place is still so strange and beautiful I can't help but wonder how I would cope with teaching back in the States without these wonderful friends and distractions.
For all the grief I give it, Korea is the perfect place for me to cut my teeth as a teacher. One month down.... let's see how the next 11 go!
So one month in, it's time for a status update:
Put simply,
I NEVER WANT TO HAVE KIDS!!!!!!!
I enjoy working with my students, they're young, energetic, they absorb information, and you can easily make fun of them when they get whiny. Then they laugh and you get back to work.
Except first grade.
I'm losing my hair over first grade.
Sure they're cute, they love me, they run in screaming "MYKHA-ELL TEACHAAA! MYKH-ELL TEACHAAA!" everyday. They're cute, friendly, and LOVE to jump around with me.
But goddamn they know NO English!
Moreover teaching them 6 times a week with no Koran co-teacher is a special kind of 40 minute hell at the end of everyday. When the bell rings for them to leave I'm so releaved, and wave goodbye with a smile as I survey the wreckage of my classroom.
Cute and maddening, I suddenly want to write to all my old Elementary school teachers and sincerely apologize for acting like a jerk in class as a kid. Not that I did it often, but hey, as a kid you do stupid stuff that we learn to be ashamed of as an adult (at least while sober).
My situation at my new school isn't bad, in fact it's damn near ideal to what I wanted, but as with all good intentions you find them leading you to rather different locations than you'd anticipated.
You'd think that a school that invested in bringing a foreign teacher from the other side of the world who doesn't speak the local language would come up with a better way to utilize that teacher than to strand him in a class full of little kids unable to communicate. However, this is exactly what they've done.
Anyone who knows me, knows I'm not a fan of kids. Sure they're cute, but like wild animals, I enjoy them most from a distance. I've never been comfortable with younglings, maybe that's a result of growing up the youngest in a big family. I've always been trying to grow up and play with the big kids. Now it's time to regress to grade school and I find I'm constantly drawing a blank for how to respond or act. Sure smiling goes a long way, but I'm still at a loss for what to do and how to treat my young students. I can't even fathom why so many of them are happy to see me, sure I smile, I'm foreign, and I give out stickers, but it's more than that and I just can't figure it out. For some reason that bothers me, because I don't know what to do with these buggers.
Specifically, my first grade boys. The girls are great! They tend to listen and understand more, they participate in games and do worksheets well. However, four out of six boys are recalcitrant and refuse to do any of the activities. Granted the reap none of the rewards, it leads them to wander around even leave class while I'm teaching. Granted my Korean vocabulary is rapidly expanding with classroom commands such as "Ha-jima!" (stop it!) "Iri-wa!" (Come here!) and "YA!" (hey!/shut-up). This is bringing better results buuuuuuuuut still not a controlled class. I'm experiencing just how green I still am as a teacher and how little I know about learning with young minds. They're still learning the basics of operating in a classroom, learning English is far and beyond most of them.
Yet, in spite of my lack of confidence and experience. I trudge on, because I have to, and because life is about overcoming fears and challenges. As sad as it sounds, learning to deal with kids is a fear I want to overcome, not unlike my fear of drowning, or falling to my death (and yes, these fears are on the same level that's how I feel about kids). It's slow going, but I feel that as I continue to struggle I am formulating different goals and opportunities for my new set of students come January, when I'll have the chance to start fresh with a new batch of kids that I can train properly. I'm reminded of how difficult it is to introduce new teachers in the middle of the school year, and how strange it must be to students to have a continuous cycle of new foreign faces in their school.
Teaching in South Korea continues to present new challenges, and though there are days I want to rip my hair out and scream bloody murder, my life here is still better than I could have hoped for! Life here is exciting, full of wonderful opportunities and friendships. I am constantly busy with places to go, people to see, and things to learn. I'm happy to begin my teaching career abroad because of these distractions. Because nothing is quite as soothing as ending a bad day by meeting friends for beers and Korean bbq. This place is still so strange and beautiful I can't help but wonder how I would cope with teaching back in the States without these wonderful friends and distractions.
For all the grief I give it, Korea is the perfect place for me to cut my teeth as a teacher. One month down.... let's see how the next 11 go!
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
New home whilst on my roam...
After much work and worry and wondering, I am finally moved to my new home in South Korea. Just two weeks ago I got word of my new teaching position in Hoedong Elementary School in Busan (Pusan), South Korea.
Busan is probably third favorite city on the planet (so far), tertiary to Hong Kong and Chicago. Though I imagine it may contend for a higher spot on that list over the next year. I can already tell that this year in Busan will be incredible and exciting in a way that may even surpass last year's adventure!
Not to say that it won't still be the hardest job I've ever entertained in my young life. My new position is with one elementary school on the poorer edge of Busan. However, in spite of being an urban city, it is still modestly sized (composing of little more than 100 students). Hoedong elementary school reminds me much of my former elementary schools, bright colors, lots of energy, and cute kids. However, I am excited to see that despite being considered poor for Busan, this school has a considerable investment in English education. Not only is it investing in my employment in teaching English, but it also employes one full time Korean English teacher as well as another part-time English teacher! This is very exciting and I am pleased to be working with these new colleagues. They are not only warm and inviting, but also eager to help me create a program that benefits my students. I just wish I knew better where to start!
More shop talk as it develops. Needless to say, it's going to be a challenging year, what with me teaching first grade everyday after school! Like I said, they're cute, energetic, and I have no idea where to start with them! However, I'm trying my best to keep my head above water, the kids happy and active, and hopefully they'll be less running around and screaming while we're trying to sing "London Bridge is Falling Down" in the future.
My new home is nearly double the size of my old apartment, including a kitchen I can actually work with! With three gas burners, a refrigerator and an oven left by the previous owner, I'm very pleased to have already spent many a night at home cooking!
Not that I haven't gone out into by grand new city. In fact, I've been mucking about the streets quite a lot lately. My apartment is near the subway station Onchanjang, right next to PNU (Pusan National University), one of my favorite sections of the city! In fact, I went out for supper with some new friends the other night and was very pleased to take the two minute subway ride back to my neighborhood. Only two weeks in and I often find myself walking up the university area. It's a grand spot, not quite as tall and overwhelming as Seomyeon or other popular parts of the city. PNU has a great college town feel, but is still a part of Korea's second largest metropolis. The university itself is quite a pleasure to walk around on, but more on PNU as I explore it over the next year.
The main point of this new blog is not simply to revive my long neglected love of writing (and informing my family of my activities), but simply to express that... I'm happy! Excited, and eager to get into the swing of my new life. I've recently joined a gym to get back into lifting (I've taken up a fitness challenge with my best friend, one in which I aim to win), and I'm happy exploring my new city and learning how best to serve my new students. I'm still green with the whole elementary school thing, but I certainly believe my time in Gangwon-do is invaluable to what I'm doing here. I can't imagine I'd be as ready or comfortable teaching children in Busan as I am without last year's adventure. Though I do miss being in Gangwon, and mostly miss my northern friends, I am happy to finally have a home here that I feel comfortable, if not excited, to host guests! With such an incredible place to live, I'm sure to have visitors soon! In the mean time I'm exploring and enjoying myself. Learning all I can to occupy little kids (especially with the language barrier). I can't say I'm successfully leading them in any way, buuuuut... each day gets a little better I think. I can only hope that trend continues!
Photos of my new home are coming as soon as I work up the will to clean my place! Apparently settling in involves sufficiently mussing up the place to make me feel at home!
Busan is probably third favorite city on the planet (so far), tertiary to Hong Kong and Chicago. Though I imagine it may contend for a higher spot on that list over the next year. I can already tell that this year in Busan will be incredible and exciting in a way that may even surpass last year's adventure!
Not to say that it won't still be the hardest job I've ever entertained in my young life. My new position is with one elementary school on the poorer edge of Busan. However, in spite of being an urban city, it is still modestly sized (composing of little more than 100 students). Hoedong elementary school reminds me much of my former elementary schools, bright colors, lots of energy, and cute kids. However, I am excited to see that despite being considered poor for Busan, this school has a considerable investment in English education. Not only is it investing in my employment in teaching English, but it also employes one full time Korean English teacher as well as another part-time English teacher! This is very exciting and I am pleased to be working with these new colleagues. They are not only warm and inviting, but also eager to help me create a program that benefits my students. I just wish I knew better where to start!
More shop talk as it develops. Needless to say, it's going to be a challenging year, what with me teaching first grade everyday after school! Like I said, they're cute, energetic, and I have no idea where to start with them! However, I'm trying my best to keep my head above water, the kids happy and active, and hopefully they'll be less running around and screaming while we're trying to sing "London Bridge is Falling Down" in the future.
My new home is nearly double the size of my old apartment, including a kitchen I can actually work with! With three gas burners, a refrigerator and an oven left by the previous owner, I'm very pleased to have already spent many a night at home cooking!
Not that I haven't gone out into by grand new city. In fact, I've been mucking about the streets quite a lot lately. My apartment is near the subway station Onchanjang, right next to PNU (Pusan National University), one of my favorite sections of the city! In fact, I went out for supper with some new friends the other night and was very pleased to take the two minute subway ride back to my neighborhood. Only two weeks in and I often find myself walking up the university area. It's a grand spot, not quite as tall and overwhelming as Seomyeon or other popular parts of the city. PNU has a great college town feel, but is still a part of Korea's second largest metropolis. The university itself is quite a pleasure to walk around on, but more on PNU as I explore it over the next year.
The main point of this new blog is not simply to revive my long neglected love of writing (and informing my family of my activities), but simply to express that... I'm happy! Excited, and eager to get into the swing of my new life. I've recently joined a gym to get back into lifting (I've taken up a fitness challenge with my best friend, one in which I aim to win), and I'm happy exploring my new city and learning how best to serve my new students. I'm still green with the whole elementary school thing, but I certainly believe my time in Gangwon-do is invaluable to what I'm doing here. I can't imagine I'd be as ready or comfortable teaching children in Busan as I am without last year's adventure. Though I do miss being in Gangwon, and mostly miss my northern friends, I am happy to finally have a home here that I feel comfortable, if not excited, to host guests! With such an incredible place to live, I'm sure to have visitors soon! In the mean time I'm exploring and enjoying myself. Learning all I can to occupy little kids (especially with the language barrier). I can't say I'm successfully leading them in any way, buuuuut... each day gets a little better I think. I can only hope that trend continues!
Photos of my new home are coming as soon as I work up the will to clean my place! Apparently settling in involves sufficiently mussing up the place to make me feel at home!
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