Teaching English : Day 1
I woke up again at 6:30, made a coffee. A couple of things about my motel room:
1) There's a water dispenser that looks like a run of the mill water dispenser except that it has 2 spouts,
one for cold water, and the other for boiling water. I use it to for coffee.
2) The floor is heated. That is a common feature of Korean homes.
3) There is a dresser and a nightable in the room and they have drawers, but the drawers don't open. Just for looks I guess.
One of teachers, Kim Dong-Jin, the guy that picked me up at the airport, picked me up this morning at 8:30. We went to the school. I was nervous because I didn't know what to expect, but given that everyone I've met so far has been so kind I wasn't that worried.
The day began with meeting the vice-principal, a couple of teachers, and then the principal. There was a special all staff meeting on my account. I was led to a room where all the teachers were seated and put at the front of the room beside the head table. One of the female teachers embarassed me by saying that I'm handsome. I was introduced and was asked to say something to the teachers so, in Korean I said, "It's nice to meet you. Thank-you" (Man Na Saw Ban Gapsumnida. Kamsamnida). That got me a round of applause.
After the meeting I met my co-teacher, Ally. At first she said we didn't have classes to teach today because there was some sort of PD day, but shortly afterwards she said we had to teach one grade 6 class. She said I should concentrate on the letters from A-G. Sink or swim time!
I took a deep breath as I followed Ally into the noisy classroom, She introduced me. I wrote a big 'A' on the board and people shouted out what it was, then we went through the other vowels in a similar way. Then, I asked for some words that started with those letters. Then, Ally left the class for some reason, and I passed out the maple fudge to each student...just enough! Ally came back and we went over the vowels and I showed them the difference between a long and a short 'A' sound by writing words like 'play', and 'bat' on the board. Finally, we went over the sound 'R' makes versus 'L'. They have a very hard time pronouncing 'R' because that sound just doesn't exist in their language. It went so quickly!
Ally and I went back to the teachers lounge and she showed me my schedule...I'll be teaching at 3 different schools and have a different co-teacher at each. I'm off from Dec. 20 till the 25th for Christmas vacation, the children are off from the 20th of December till Feb. 1. But from Dec. 26 to January 20 I'll be teaching at 'English Camp'. If I understand it right it's like an intensive thing, and I have to prepare some kind of plan, some activities, worksheets and maybe teach the kids a simple song. I may bring my guitar to that and do 'Oh Suzanna" or something like that. I'm off from January 21 to January 31st for winter vacation.
I have to admit that I like being a celebrity!! As I was sitting in the teacher's lounge kids were coming to the door to say hi and introduce themselves...one boy said, "I love you". All day kids were coming up to me just wanting to say hi and impress me with their English. They and many others I've met seem impressed by how much Korean I know, and my pronounciation. I learned a long time ago when I went to Spain that if you want to be accepted and welcomed by people in foreign lands you need to make a sincere effort to learn about their language and culture.
I ate lunch at the cafeteria at the school. Except for the peanut butter, bread, and strawberry jam I have in my room I've eaten nothing but traditional Korean food. I love it!
After lunch I spent the rest of the day "shmoozing" with county administrators. Maybe "shmoozing" isn't the right word? I felt more like we native speakers were on display, like trophies. We went to the Haman Board of Education where Dr. Cho works. I met two other native speakers, Christine, from Australia, and Ross, from New York. Dr. Cho took us to the Haman County Government offices where we met the city financial director, then the vice-governor and finally, the governor. All of them completely great and welcoming - the vice governor said he's going to organize a social evening for us.
It's cold here. There isn't any snow, but today it was windy and cold. Probably -10 or so. It seems the schools don't have any central heat or heated floors. Instead each room has a heater unit, or a fan that has heating elements in it. I'm not sure what sort of fuel the heaters use, but if you stay in a room with one too long, your eyes will burn. Smells like kerosene. That explains why the windows are all open. If they weren't everyone would probably die of asphyxiation Everyone walks around in winter coats, moving quickly seeking heat. Oh ya, when you enter the school you take your shoes off, put on slippers and put your shoes in a little locker.
I'm back at my room in the motel. My battery is winding down fast, but I can't go to bed. I need to start thinking about what I'm going to teach tomorrow. One thing that takes some pressure off is the fact that the students aren't tested in English, so the mark I have to hit as a teacher is a very soft one. They will be looking for indications that the students can speak better than they did, that's all. I'm going to a totally new school tomorrow and will have to do some of what I did today all over again.
At this point although I miss everyone, I'm so happy I did this!!
This weekend I'm going hiking in the mountains that surround Haman. I'll take some nicer pictures!
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