Disclaimer

Every time I say, "Koreans this," or "Koreans that," keep in mind that this blog is only MY perspective of what I'm seeing, hearing, and otherwise experiencing here in Korea. It does not mean what I post goes for all Koreans nor all of Korea. I know you know this but I thought I'd give you a reminder.  :)

(Yes, I decided to put this in after seeing in on another blog. Liked the idea, obviously.)

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Today we received our Name Badges- yay! Also, without telling us, we had class pictures taken this morning. I hope my cheap adidas-looking indoor flip flop shoes don't show in the photo. Luckily they told us about the all-school photo that will be taken tomorrow.

Shoot. I keep forgetting not to point to students. I've almost gotten down the proper way to put your hands when giving and receiving money and things, but not when pointing or calling on students. One cannot just point your finger; that's a big no-no!

Today at the market I bought a dozen eggs for $2! Another piece of exciting news:  we get paid (for the first time) this Friday by noon; yay!

Photo of the school

Here is a photo of the school. I know it's not great but anyway...

"Dream high. Broaden your wisdom. Love deeply."

My Work Schedule

Some of you have asked, so here's my work schedule as of now. All classes are 4th grade except "After-School" classes, which are 3rd grade, and ESL, which is 5th grade.

Mondays: 
Math (18 kids, 40 minutes)
Social Studies (18 kids, 40  min.)
Lunch
prep

"After-School" - an extra-English help class (4 kids, 40 minutes)
Grade 4 staff meeting

Tuesdays:
I teach two Language Arts classes back to back (12 kids, 80 min. each)

lunch

another L.A. class (12 kids, 80 min.)

prep

"After School" class

Wednesdays:

weekly foreign teacher meeting

Fun Activity of my choice (36 kids, 40 min.)

ESL (15 kids, 40 min.)

lunch

prep

"After School"

Thursdays:

I teach two Science classes back to back (18 kids, 40 min each)

lunch

Math (18 kids, 40 minutes)
Social Studies (18 kids, 40  min.)

prep

"After School"

Korean for Beginners- where *I'm* the student- yay! (5 students?, 30 min)

Fridays:

same as Tuesdays

except no "After-School"

Friday, March 9, 2012

I woke up early today, about 5:30am, to prepare for school. Once at school I taught two 80-minute L.A. classes back to back, then lunch, then the last 80-minute L.A. class. The last class was difficult though, and probably will be a lot of times, because it’s right after lunch. 80 minutes is a long time too, and it’s on a Friday, right before the weekend, and students get out early on Fridays anyway! I had students draw pictures to match with vocab words. Curious- so many of them are good at drawing!

 

Folks back home got my postcard that I’d sent as an experiment through the free iPhone app "postagram." http://postagramapp.com/  Cool app! (To send a postcard of whatever picture you want I think it costs only 99 cent, if you buy at least 4 at once I believe...)

This weekend:  art museum and house-warming potluck. Last weekend I went to “Time World-eu” with other teachers where we ate in the food court of The Galleria (fancy shopping mall). I paid about $6 for a huge bowl of delicious soup that had three sides- seaweed-wrapped rice balls, zucchini tempura, and of course the obligatory yellow pickled radishes (which I love!). Koreans love their side dishes!

I LOVE my experience so far! I feel so lucky because the school I work at is very organized and there seems to be a lot of support for us foreign teachers. It will be interesting to meet other foreign teachers tomorrow at the potluck who don't work where I do.

School

Some things are not the same here at school... Upon entering the door, you must take off your street shoes and put on your inside shoes. Here's where the students store their shoes, by grade. Staff members store their shoes in different place depending on in which building their office is located.

Here's a picture of the school on the wall when you enter the admin building (pictured on the right). I know this isn't easy to see but it'll have to do for now. 

Note:  there isn't any grass. Right now it's all dirt, and a couple days ago it was all mud. It was so muddy that kids were sinking in it up to their knees, and teachers had to pull them out! One girl even lost one of her shoes to the mud! Nope- no aides here to keep kids from going in the mud.

Photos: speed limit; Buddhist sign

(near school)

The red symbol is a Buddhist sign here. This is one of the possible side streets I can take to get home from school on my 7-minute walk.