A typical day so far

Let me give you guys a typical day for me as it stands so far. It will inevitably change since Korea is, as they say, dynamic but for now here's what it's like for me.

Shannon and I wake up around 6, have breakfast and then around 7 - 7:15 we catch the bus number 115-1 headed to Bansong. The bus ride takes about half an hour and is quite bumpy since along the way the bus goes up and down several hills. Most of the passengers who are unfortunate enough not to get a seat and are left standing have learned to keep a deathgrip on whatever they can hold on to. Drivers here are crazy and there have already been several times where cars have just pulled out in front of the bus with no warning whatsoever. Since Shannon and I get on near the beginning of the bus route we can usually find a seat. If not, we just spend the next 30 minutes feeling like human tetherballs. Once we get to the Bansong area, I get off several stops earlier than Shannon since her school is farther up in the hills.

After I get off the bus, my school is only 5 minutes away by foot. The walk takes me through a small commercial district leading into a residential type of area. My school is 4 stories tall and u-shaped. Directly in front of the school is a dirt soccer pitch where the students play during lunch or do exercises at various times of the day. The surrounding neighborhood is made up of small crammed-together apartment buildings (usually about 3-4 stories tall) in various states of disrepair (none of them are new or modern) which are divided by small streets that to me resemble back alleys more than they do streets. Scattered throughout the surrounding neighborhood are stationary shops and small Korean takeaways which primarily sell fried food including chicken, fish and squid. The shops are mainly for the kids as they walk to and from their home or bus stop. In my exploring, I've also found a network of streets only a few blocks over decked out with red overhanging curtains that is some sort of vegetable/fish/kitchen goods market.

Once at school, the first thing I do is take off my shoes. Street shoes are not allowed in the school so everyone takes off their shoes at the door and puts on a pair of house shoes. At the moment I don't have my own pair of house shoes so I'm using a random pair that are either from the last teacher or are for general visitors. It wasn't quite clear when they explained it to me and I haven't bothered to ask since I'm still trying to figure out my Korean shoe size. The house shoes are kept in a small cupboard with numbered shelves just inside the school entrance and everyone has one shelf that is specifically assigned to them. Mine is number 37.

After taking off my shoes, I go upstairs to the teachers' lounge on the 2nd floor. The teachers' lounge is a long room filled with cubicle sections on one side of the room. I have my own cubicle and my own computer but I share a printer with 5 other teachers sitting in my section. There are 7 cubicle sections in total and in the middle section sits the Vice Principal who in Korean is called "gwo-gam song-sang-neem". The Korean word for teacher is just "song-sang-neem" and the words for other types of teachers and school officials seem to be variations of that word. Just to let you know, I am the only foreigner in my school. There are 4 other English teachers but I alone am solely responsible for the conversation & vocabulary portion of my students' education.
One more thing to note: in America we count every grade starting after kindergarten. In Korea, they only count the grades at each school. So I teach 1st graders, 2nd graders and 3rd graders in middle school. In America, I think the equivalent would be 7th, 8th and 9th graders.

Okay, so everyday I go to my cubicle first, check my email and then look at my schedule. I usually have 3-4 classes a day (45 minutes each) depending on the week, since I only have certain 1st grade classes every other week. All of my classes are held in the EOZ (English Only Zone) which is a special classroom just for me on the 3rd floor and I get to choose how to decorate it and how to set it up. In every classroom there is a flatscreen HDTV (I'm not kidding) but in the EOZ there is a HUGE flatscreen HDTV (60 inches?) which I haven't used yet.

Since this is my first week, my only priority has been to introduce myself to the students in each class and then set out the rules. In total, I will have 18 classes a week and in each class there are 30-40 students. In order to avoid complete chaos, I've come up with 9 rules to ensure that the students understand that I'm not their friend or just some crazy foreigner - I'm their teacher. The rules that I have so far are :

1. Be on time
2. Speak English
3. Speak loudly (I make them shout this to get the point across)
4. Bring your book
5. Bring your pencil & eraser
6. Pay attention to teacher (I make sure they understand that this means no cellphones, falling asleep or looking out the window)
7. Be nice to each other (i.e. no fighting, wrestling, pushing or hitting)
8. Raise your hand if you have a question (they can shout out answers but if they need help I want them to get my attention)
9. Have fun (I want them to understand that they should enjoy my English class not dread it or be afraid to make mistakes)

At the end of each class I had this week, I actually made the students come up to the board and sign the piece of paper with all the rules on it to show that they promise to follow them. That way when there's a problem, I can simply point to the paper with their signature and remind them that agreed to follow the rules.

I've only had to discipline 1 student so far but I've had a few trouble-makers that I'm sure will need a strong hand in the future. If they break the rules, there are several things I can do. The first thing is to give them a warning, then if they are persistent I'll make them stand up at the front of the classroom (maybe even kneel to make it more humiliating) and if that still doesn't work then I can always have them hold both their hands high in the air until they're ready to co-operate. It might sound a bit barbaric in comparison to the USA but at least it's a lot better than hitting them which is what some of the Korean teachers do in their classrooms.

Lastly, I have to be at work from 830am - 430pm everyday irregardless of my schedule. So even if my last class ends at 1230 like it does on Wednesday, I have to sit at my desk until 430 and keep myself busy. That can mean preparing lesson plans, decorating and/or cleaning the EOZ or more than likely it means surfing the internet, talking to other teachers and waiting to see if someone needs my help. At 430pm, I leave school and walk down to the bus stop where I wait until Shannon calls me to say she got on the bus near her school. Then I catch the same bus as her and we go home.

That's what my days look like at the moment but maybe they'll change once I start really teaching from the books. After all, Korea is dynamic and things change literally from one minute to another.

If you want to know anything more about what I do or where I work, please send me your questions. Once we get our camera fixed and/or I buy my new dream camera (Canon 50D), Shannon and I'll post pics of our schools and the areas where we spend our time (home, shopping, church etc).