My Workplace
Work began January 2, 2012. I was so excited about the having a new job working with children. I arrived at school at 8:30 a.m. and met the staff, my coworkers. There are 5 foreign teachers in addition to myself and 5 Korean teachers in all. Upon arriving I was bombarded with so many names I was on brain overload within an hour! If you know me well, you know I struggle to remember anything, especially names. I learned early on that I would have to do something to aid in memorizing names. Today, I can say I'm better with remembering my students names but it has definitely been a challenge from day one.The staff always begins their week with a 10-15 minute meeting on Monday so I sat and was formally introduced to everyone by Mark and Kay teacher at the start of the meeting. It felt great to see the smiles I immediately felt welcomed. Before ending the meeting Kay teacher encouraged us to make education fun for the children; she usually always ends the meeting by reminding us of the importance of having fun.
The name of the school I work for is called Maple College, formally KDLP Creativitiy school. The school is a Hagwan, a korean term for "private school". My particular Hagwan specializes in teaching children english but in addition, the children are educated in subjects such as Math, Science and art. For every foreign teacher there is a Korean co-teacher who is the direct contact for parents to speak to about curriculum as well as any other education-based concerns. Korean teachers speak both english and korean and are well educated. My co-teachers work extremely hard and work longer hours. They are extremely helpful and I'm blessed to work with such enthusiastic people.
What's a Hagwan?
Hagwan's are a popular form of education here in South Korea and many students attend them in addition to regular, Korean based school. I don't know if you guessed it but, Korean children attend school just about ALL DAY! Usually 9 am to 6 pm at the elementary level and until 10pm for middle school and High School students. This form of education can be pricey and most children who attend come from wealthier families. The one thing I love about working for a Hagwan is that I get to build great relationships with my students. Most of the children don't spend many hours at home with their parents so in essence, teacher's act as parents. Korean children learn a great work ethic at an extremely young age; school is essentially a home away from home. Hugging, rough-housing and humbly talking to children daily has become something I've built into my lesson's. There is a lot of pressure to be academically successful as Koreans grow older so in an effort to ease the pressure I conclude classes with a game, as do the rest of my foreign coworkers.
I began my career here at a time referred to as Winter Intensive. Winter Intensive is during the month of January, a time when children in America are on vacation but here many parents choose to enroll their children in hagwan's so that they are learning new things; in this case, a new language. I think it is also beneficial for parents who work and cannot leave their children at home due to their busy schedules. During winter intensive most of my students were looked after by their grandparent's before and after school because their parents were working. In addition to Winter Intensive classes, most of my students also had Taekwon do practice, piano lessons or some other form of education outside of Maple college.
A Sidenote
I'm learning not to complain about my life through my children. If this is what God sent me here to learn I think it's working.My First Week
The truth about my first week is that I wasn't very nervous. I feel that it was destiny that I was chosen to do this work. I was confused during the first week about protocol because the way of doing things were so different from America. The first day I was so out of the loop but there's something about having a challenge in life that make me a happier person. I felt so successful at the end of the week.
On Monday I attended burger night with Charlotte and William, a foreign teacher from Philadelphia. Charlotte and William have made a tradition of having an American treat once a week. There is a burger restaurant close by so every Monday evening they walk over and enjoy. They invited me to join in so I ended my Monday with a reminder of where I came from. We talked about why we were here and I got a chance to get to know Charlotte and William outside of work. I was in admirable company.
Charlotte taught me so much that first week. There are many deadlines and requirements, just like any other job, but I had to learn quickly that my schedule may change at any given moment. I had to learn how to accept it the first week on board. This job requires that you be a flexible person and as difficult as it is to do that I think it is preparing me to teach anywhere in the future.
On Friday, My new bestie and I had bbq at a local bbq restaruant close to my house and called it a night early to mentally prepare for Saturday work.
The first Saturday I worked, it was for a orientation for new coming students for the 2012 school year. The parents of the children were informed about the school and the children learned and played games with the foreign teachers. I don't work every Saturday, but it is a requirement that I am available one Saturday a week for orientation.
My weekend felt short but it was fun. Charlotte myself and a new friend Charlotte met on the airplane, Eunmi, ended the week eating mexican fusion food at a restaraunt in Itaewon called Vatos. It was so good. The restaruant is fairly new and the owner is a young man from California. The Kimchi fries were to die for and the Margaritas were great!
At the beginning of the Second week Kay teacher reminded me to keep my Friday free for my welcoming party. It is customary for the school to give all new teacher's a party. I was so excited and looked forward to the end of the week. One reason for my excitement was because my week was challenging. I have a class that is tedious for me because the student's level of english is low. The language barrier makes it difficult to prepare lesson plans that are within their ‘zone of proximal development'. In addition, 2 of the 5 children gave me a difficult time. One of the boys started this annoying imitating thing where everything I said, he mimicked. He had the ability to mimic my english wonderfully but he couldn't read the super easy reading book if you paid him. Another problem child ran around the class, interrupting all the other students as they tried to learn. I had to send at least one of them to the principals office just about everyday that week. My energy level after that class was remarkably exhausted everyday; and get this, I still had 2 classes to teach before my day was over.
When Friday arrived I walked into school smiling ear to ear, mainly because I knew I would get a break from my challenging class.
After school all the teacher's and I headed over to Korean BBQ and after words went to a restaraunt with a bar called Wara Wara to talk more freely.
Wara Wara is a franchised restaurant that is likened to Island's in America. The staff's uniform's consist of straw hats, khaki pants and luau shirts but the funny thing is that they sell Korean food, not very island-like at all.
The girls ordered a fish cake soup that I don't think I like much but it was great to try once. Fish cake is much like the famous rice noodles but with fish flavoring. The broth from this soup is very popular especially at street food establishments. The fish cakes come in many shapes, sizes and colors. Some have been fried like chicken and then dipped in the broth to make the breading a little soggy. You must acquire a taste for such a unique dish.
I was intrigued by the cool set up of the restaurant. There were hangers where you could hang your jacket behind your seat. I had take pictures because I thought it was so cool and convenient.
We stayed out until about 2:30 just talking and getting to know one another. I taught them what "Dueces" meant and we all took a picture saying dueces to America in honor of me leaving and being in Korea. I have a feeling I joined a great school with endless opportunity to grow and learn both professionally and personally.
Up next week....a cultural lesson about the Korean Lunar New Year and my beautiful Ski trip!
Until then,
Love and Peace from Seoul
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