We have been teaching for just over a month now. As we have grown accustomed to our new jobs and new schedules we have neglected this blog, so it has been over a month since we posted. Since we teach at different schools and have different experiences, this will be a co-authored post. So here are our thoughts after teaching for six weeks:
Tera: It’s hard to believe that we have been teaching for nearly six weeks. Thus far, my teaching experience here has been fantastic. I’m not going to pretend that I haven’t had difficulty with over-chatty middle schoolers, latecomers, and a couple of well-intentioned lesson plans that flopped. I base the word “fantastic” on the feeling I get when I walk into school: This will be a fun day. And if it’s not, at least I will have some funny stories to tell Michael when I get home.
Without further ado, here are some thoughts, highlights, awkward experiences, etc, while teaching in Korea:
The English Language
* Have you ever realized how difficult the English language is? Adverbs that are second nature to say for native English speakers become tricky for someone trying to learn English with grammatical rules. For instance, in English, nap can be used as both a verb and a noun. If I say in class, “I took a nap,” nap, to my students, now also becomes an inanimate object that I probably stole from someone. Therefore, I have had the unpleasant experience of explaining that diarrhea is something that you “have” or “get,” not something that you “do.”
* Since English is our first language, we are a little lazy with it, and/or use it more loosely. For example, we commonly use the phrase “as well as” as “also”. When my head teacher asked me for help with a question on a test she was making, I didn’t understand why it was necessary the word “French” had to come first in “She can speak French as well as English.” It took a little while to remember that “as well as” literally means “as good as,” not just “also.”
*Although I teach English, I can feel my English level declining. I speak slowly and use the most basic vocabulary in the classroom. Please don’t be offended if, when Skyping, I pause to look for the “nod of understanding”; speak in short, slow sentences that begin with “First,” “Second,” etc; stop to explain big words like “bottom” or “comfortable”; or start acting out every said verb.
School Life
*The public transportation in Korea is easy, convenient, and all-around awesome. I overcame my motion sickness after the first two weeks here, and now I have no complaints about the bus system. It typically takes me 35-40 minutes to get to school in the mornings, but because my stop is the first stop for the bus route, I always get a seat on the bus in the mornings. I have extra time to read, and it is much cheaper than driving a car. I won’t go into how the U.S. needs to adopt a better public transportation system, but it does, period.
*My school blares classical music outside in the mornings until classes start. It’s a nice way to start the day, and until a few weeks ago, I always felt rather privileged. Then I heard about how another expat’s school has classical music cued for each time someone walks into the bathroom – now that’s privileged.
*I definitely got the longer end of the stick when it comes to schools. I teach at one of the higher ranking middle schools in Cheonan, I have my own classroom, and my head teacher (my supervisor at my school) is phenomenal. Not only is her English quite advanced, but she is also sarcastic and makes inside jokes in English. We have become good friends and have recently started teaching each other one new Korean/English word a day. So far, I have taught her “quiche”, “ambidextrous”, “with child”, “glisten”, and “shriveled” – which naturally led to her learning “raisin”. She has taught me the Korean words for “snow”, “nose”, “lips”, “head” (also how to call someone a “stupid-head”), and “eyes”. I intend to be able to name the body from the bust up in Korean by the end of next week. Either that, or just how to better berate someone.
*Lunch became hit or miss two weeks ago. De-boning fish with chopsticks is a lot harder than it looks.
*Elementary schools have grades 1-6. Middle schools have grades 1-3, while high school and college has grades/years 1-4. I teach 2nd and 3rd grades. For 2nd grade I teach Listening and Speaking, and for third grade I teach fun-time/project-time/whatever fun and useful English information/technique I want. My 2nd graders are divided into 3 levels: Advanced, Intermediate and Low. My advanced classes are usually around 30 students, my intermediate around 25, and my low around 15. My 3rd grade is not divided into levels, so I usually have about 35 in each class.
* I have six different Korean co-teachers, although the majority of my class load is divided between two of them. I plan the lesson and facilitate while the Korean teacher translates anything that the students didn’t understand (i.e. game directions, questions I ask) and disciplines while I teach. More on discipline later.
*I also teach two conversation/American culture classes on Tuesday and Wednesdays for 19 first and second graders. These are my favorite classes as their English is more advanced, I see the same students twice a week, and I can do more specialized teaching and more fun projects in the classroom. I will show some of the projects in a later post.
Students
*I see 600 students every week. Almost all have black hair (some dye it) are Asian in appearance (p.c., right?) and they wear mandatory school uniforms. Thus far, I can name with confidence four of my students.
* The students, for the most part are very friendly and funny. The majority of them want to learn, although I do get the occasional “too cool for school” kid. This student is often the class clown and it shows in his English ability.
* Middle school is the time when Koreans adopt their strenuous study habits. Many of my students wake up at 6:30 am, get to school at 8:20am, are in classes until 4:30 pm, have dinner on the way to hagwon (after school English/Math/Science academies), get home from hagwon at 10 pm or later, and stay up studying until midnight or later. Then they wake up the next morning and do it again. Their lives are extremely stressful, and Korea’s suicide rate among teens and college students is evidence of this. I try to remember the pressure that is always on my students and work to keep my class fun and exciting, even if I am teaching new vocabulary.
*When students walk past a teacher, they always bow low. About half of my students bow to me in the halls and the classroom, the other students give an exaggerated (two-handed!) wave and say “hello”, because they have learned this as an American greeting. One student, however, stops when he see me and salutes. Your guess is as good as mine.
* Candy: the ultimate reward when you are a student. A stamp in a textbook that you can accumulate and use to obtain future candy: the second most ultimate reward. I use these as prizes for games, good behavior and sometimes just as a reward for raising their hand and saying anything. I usually give stamps, but occasionally I choose to give a small piece of candy. Five stamps gets a student a larger piece of candy. Side note: Technically the larger piece of candy is just a sucker, relatively the same size as a small piece of candy with a stick attached, but they haven’t figured this out yet.
* Pronunciation Bees are the best. Why? This sentence: “Larry, I really think you should rake the leaves before it rains.” It cuts the students left by at least half every time.
* Many of my students are quite shy. But if they’re not, they tend to be very direct and enjoy giving sincere compliments and fashion advice. Take this one for example: ”Oh teacher, you very beautiful. If you wear the contacts, more beautiful!” Thanks?
Discipline
* Even though it seems to be acceptable for students to come to class a few minutes late, I do not tolerate it. I learned during the first two weeks how frustrating it is to be in the middle of teaching and then have a group of 5 boys come into your classroom yelling, ” He-llllooo Tera teacher!” I now have 1-10 written on the board (they have 10 minutes to get to each class) and when students come in late, I take the time they are late and cross off the numbers. The whole class then has to stay late after the bell rings. Because Koreans tend to be very group/community oriented people, this strategy works well.
* It is not uncommon in Korea for teachers to hit students. Luckily, my co- teachers only pop a kid on the head or the hand if he is talking too much, not paying attention, etc, and it rarely hurts them. It is mainly used to get their attention or embarrass them. The students accept it, sometimes even giggling as they are made to hold out their hand. Although some schools/other departments have teachers that hit very hard, I am grateful that I have never witnessed this form of punishment from my Korean co-teachers. Earlier this week, a co-teacher of mine asked a group of very late latecomers to go to the back of the class and hold the plank position for about 12 minutes. I don’t think they will be late next week.
* If the students are having trouble quieting down in my classroom I try to use yelling as an absolute last resort (the kids are talking so loud they can’t hear anything unless you yell it), which has led to some creative ways in taking back the control. Usually I stop talking and look at the perpetrators. This embarrasses them and they stop. If they are repeat offenders however, after giving them at least two chances I make them switch seats which is probably the ultimate discipline as I have singled them out in class. If it is more than a few students talking, however, I stop talking and look at the floor. Usually a student will see me and yell “Be quiet!” to the other students. I love when this happens, as it makes my job easier. When this doesn’t happen, I start whispering directions to Simon Says: “If you can hear me, touch your nose. If you can hear me, touch your ear, etc.” This usually gets their attention quickly and the class quiets down. I also use clapping as a technique: I will clap a short tune and the students will copy it, thus getting their attention and allotting me the short time between when we finish clapping and when their mouths are still closed to speak. Once or twice I have asked them to put their hands on their head. Surprisingly, this works well at getting them to quiet down – a definite difference between American students and Korean students – remember that I teach middle school children. All in all, although I certainly discipline, I also have the Korean co-teacher who continually disciplines as I teach, which is a wonderful help.
Some of my students and half of my classroom
More of my students
Michael: Without having read Tera’s portion at all (so sorry if I repeat), here are my thoughts:
My first day: Fortunately, my first day did not involve any classes. I had an introductory class prepared, just talking about myself really, but I had not yet stepped foot inside my classroom, so a day to familiarize myself with my room and set things up according to my preferences was necessary. I arrived about 20 minutes early in order to be introduced by my head teacher (who I had met once) to the principal and vice principal. This involved some bowing, smiling, use of my limited Korean (Hello, nice to meet you), and listening to them talk in Korean. The vice principal didn’t have much to say. The principal, after getting the basic information, asked about my long hair and beard (which I picked up from gestures and my head teacher’s nervous laughter), which my head teacher attributed to my being a musician. This seemed to be a satisfactory response, because I never heard anything else about my appearance (we had heard of at least one school that forced its native English teacher to shave in order to be more presentable).
After this, we went to a meeting for all the teachers that lasted about 25 minutes. For 24 of those minutes, I focused on not yawning while I followed a meeting I could not comprehend. At some point, I was introduced by my head teacher and I stood up and said a few words (in English, but slowly) – nice to meet you, happy to be here, etc. After this, we went to an assembly of all the students and teachers. I was placed in the middle of a line of teachers, which then moved to the front of the assembly. Once we were in front of the students, our names were called one by one, and each teacher stepped forward and bowed to the students (to varying degrees of applause, based on their apparent popularity as teachers). I spent the five minutes up front intently listening for my name amidst the rapid Korean, and was very proud that I successfully stepped forward and bowed at the right time.
The rest of the day was spent in my room, known as the English Café. My classroom actually has its own wing of the school – there are no other rooms around mine, which is nice because it means less traffic (and yelling, running, banging on walls, etc.) by my door throughout the day. It also means that I have less interaction with other teachers than those of us who, like Tera, have a desk in a teacher’s office. This is definitely preferable for me. There are only a couple teachers at my school that have English skills at a conversational level, so when I do interact with other teachers, it mostly involves smiling, bowing, and moving on. Even when I have conversations, it takes a lot of effort because of constant active listening, guessing at meaning and pronunciation, and choosing simple vocabulary to form my responses. In addition, my last job (cleaning houses) entailed little to no personal interaction, so I am accustomed to working in silence and solitude. In general, the more silence and solitude in my workday, the better (the one exception in my employment history was when I worked as a server at Rainforest Café – I usually enjoyed the controlled chaos there).
I really like my room. There is plenty of space – my typical class is about 35-36 students, and they fit comfortably. There are large windows along each wall, allowing natural light in, with one side also having shades. I have a big screen TV which is hooked up to my computer, and which is touch screen capable (with a magic pen). I also have a sliding whiteboard and all the supplies I need. The back of the room is half sectioned off for a small “room within a room” and a library of English books. Though only one student so far has actually requested a book, there is a great selection to choose from, including some shorter classic works of literature, classic young adult books (of which I have been catching up on), a variety of young adult series (Goosebumps, Magic Tree House, Arthur, Narnia, etc.), just about everything by Roald Dahl, and a bevy of books with instruction on English grammar, vocabulary, and usage.
The back of my room
The front of my room
I am fortunate to have my own room. The majority of teachers have a desk in one of the teachers’ offices and travel to their classroom by period. This is one of many differences in how schools are run here as opposed to my experience in Pennsylvania and Tennessee. Here is a list, surely not comprehensive, of others:
- If there is a change to the schedule on a particular day, it is common to find out about it when that change actually happens, and if you’re lucky, maybe a day in advance. For whatever reason, there is little priority placed on alerting others of a change of plans (because I know in some cases the plans were made in advance, just not communicated). A common mantra for us American teachers here is Be Flexible. You never know when you might arrive to school expecting to have a period to prepare before your first class, only to discover that you have an English pop song singing contest in your room during that time, and you are helping to judge it (as happened to me this week).
- One of the biggest initial shocks for me was the respect shown to teachers. Teaching is a highly regarded profession in Korea, and well paid to boot (imagine that!). There is an inherent respect built into the culture (down to the structure of the language) for those older than you, and especially teachers. The word for teacher, 선생님 (sunsengnim), can also be added to the end of the name of somebody who is of higher social standing than you, whether or not they are a teacher, in order to show additional respect (it amounts to an admission that you can learn from them). My students are still typical middle schoolers, and act like it, but there is a broad acceptance of teachers as authorities that is often lacking in American schools.
- Another big shock for me was the habitual tardiness that, as one teacher told me, is just how it is. There is a ten minute break between classes. When the bell rings to start a new period, I usually need at least a couple minutes before all the students are there and settled down. This is because they are accustomed to starting class a couple minutes after the bell rings. I know this because I have stepped out to the hallway after the bell has rung, and about 30 seconds afterwards is when the teachers leave their office to walk to their classroom. There is no good reason for it, but class just starts a little late. Try to keep a class for fifteen seconds after the period is over, however, and you will hear cries of lament that the bell has rung.
- Speaking of the bell, it is not a bell tone, but a short 10 second melody. A melody that I will be hearing in my sleep in about two months.
- In Korea it is customary to remove one’s shoes upon entering a home, or certain traditional restaurants, because the floor was, and still is, traditionally used for much more than walking on (see an earlier post about the ondol heating system). For some reason, schools are the same way, despite the fact that the floor is definitely not heated. So everybody wears “slippers” all day, or what we would be more likely to call sandals. You would think that taking shoes off at the door would keep things clean inside, but everybody wears their sandals when walking outside to get to the cafeteria and back, so the floors are just as dirty as if everybody wore their shoes. Practically speaking, there is no reason to wear sandals all day. But we do.
- Up until this past week, I have also worn my coat all day, everyday, because very little of the school is heated. The teachers’ offices have big electric heaters, but the classrooms and hallways are not much warmer than outside, including the classroom in which I spend all day. Once I grew accustomed to the idea, it was not an issue; I just wore my coat all day and started wearing two pairs of socks to keep my feet warm. But I realize this way of doing things is an affront to the typical American sensibility.
- An additional point related to temperature is the fact that buildings in Korea often do not have a central air system, so Koreans are big on letting fresh air inside by leaving windows and doors open, no matter what the temperature is outside. Again, it’s just how they do things; no better or worse, just different. Though the American in me considers it odd to wear a coat all day at work and still be cold, I also understand the value of saving energy by not heating the hallways and breathing fresh air.
- Student discipline in Korea looks much different than in the US. Until very recently, there were little to no rules on what teachers could or could not do for discipline. Physical punishment is still acceptable, though it will likely be phased out in the near future (Seoul just outlawed it last year, and what Seoul does usually trickles down to the rest of the country). I have seen students thwacked with a stick, flicked in the head, and had nails dug into their scalp, but this is by no means common – this was all from just one teacher, and happened mainly to one particular class. Other teachers have less fearful, more creative tactics, such as having students stand in the back of the room, sometimes with their hands raised, for an indefinite time. A lot of teachers still carry a stick, though they may not use it for thwacking students, so they can quiet a noisy class by banging it on a desk.
- For teachers in the USA, this last difference may be the biggest shock of all. Guess who cleans the classrooms, hallways, stairwells, and grounds of the school? Not a janitor. Not the teachers. The students clean. Twice a day. After lunch and again before the last period, small groups of students are assigned to each area of the school to clean for about 10 minutes. In my classroom they vacuum, steam mop, clean glass surfaces, wipe down desks, pick up trash, and mop the hallway. The first time it happened I felt like I was in an episode of the Twilight Zone. I just watched in amazement. It is perhaps my favorite thing about the school system here, because it eliminates the need for a janitor, teaches kids discipline and cleaning skills (in case they are missing those at home), and instills a sense of responsibility in the appearance and upkeep of the school itself.
I could write more about the actual work of teaching (I’ve found the job to naturally be a very self-reflective activity), but since this post is hella long already, I will save some of my thoughts for future posts.
The English teachers of Buk Middle School
