First let me explain about Korean ages again. When a child is born he is one year old. Also, when new year rolls around he is now two years old. Yes, so a Korean child born in December of 2015 is now two years old. So, when I tell you that I am teaching seven year old children, their ages are actually from the ages of 4 (born in Sept. 2011) to 6 years old. So they are pre-school children. We also have classes of six years old, but that is in Korean ages.
Children start school at about the same chronological ages as American children. English is a mandatory subject in School here. Children are really not supposed to be required or allowed to learn English at a pre-school age but education is very competitive and rich parents want their children to have advantages so they put them in English pre-schools like ours. Most of the students at our school have parents who are very wealthy.
Even after the children are in school, their parents send them to our school in the afternoons so that they will get extra help in English. The curricula was designed to have the students speaking, reading and writing English in order to take the necessary tests and to have them prepared if they want to study abroad. Our pre-school classes begin at 9:50 am and run until they are sent home by 2:30 pm. Then at 3:00 pm the after school students begin arriving. I teach until 6:20 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and until 4:10 on Tuesday and Thursday, but classes continue until 8:00 pm every weeknight.
In the mornings, I teach the "7" year old's, then at 3:00 I teach elementary and middle school age students. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I have 4 classes of elementary and middle school aged students and on Tuesday and Thursday I only have 2 classes of them. Each of my classes I have a Korean teacher who teaches the students either before or after I do. The native English teachers (like me) teach phonics, reading and writing. The Korean teachers concentrate on vocabulary, grammar, and spelling. I really don't yet know all of the breakdown between what we teach but that is a snap shot of what is taught.
The morning classes are a real challenge because the students don't understand English, but they also don't understand how to act in school. They have to learn to line up, raise their hand, sit nicely, when to work and when to play, and so many other things. We are having our hands full just to teach them how to do anything. The previous teachers said this will take about a month. I have an easier time than some of the other new teachers because when they start to act up, I can give them a good glare. When they see me become silent and glare they quickly straighten up. One of the new teachers is Ulandi. She and her husband, Laurence, are from South Africa. Ulandi is very young and sweet. She reminds me of Micah Doty. She has trouble getting the children to obey her. She is very frustrated right now, but she has the youngest children in her classes. They are not intentionally bad, they are just too young to be easily containable. She says that she doesn't want to have any children after this. :) I just smile and let it go. People change their minds about so many things.
Laurence and Ulandi are very nice. Laurence has a degree in chemical engineering so HE LIKES MY JOKES!!!! Yes everyone, I actually found someone who gets my jokes!!! He even makes some poor jokes himself. Every time there is trouble with a machine or stapler Laurence will say, "Let me look at it. After all I am an engineer, but if I can't fix it, that's ok. I am after all a chemical engineer!" I am also having fun showing them some things here, after all, I was here a Whole Week before they were! No, seriously, I did much more research before coming here than they did. Also, many of the people who come here like to take advantage of the foreign communities and the drinking culture. I like to meet other native English speakers, but, I still am enjoying interacting with the Koreans and I don't have a drinking culture.
The Korean teachers are very nice especially Judy. She is my partner in the mornings. My first week we did many things together, but this last week when classes started, she has been so overwhelmed I rarely get to talk to her. Also she has a son who is about 10 or 11 (American years) and another child (I think a girl) who is 20 months old. I really appreciate her attitude, but she is a perfectionist and has had to learn (quickly) that not everything can be done perfectly when we have no time to do it.
OK, next post will be about my trying week this past week and how I felt all your prayers!
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| Ulandi and Laurence on our trip to E Mart |
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| Heather Teacher and Judy Teacher |
I look forward to every post you write. I keep the prayers going especially with the news of further unrest between North and South Korea. stay safe and keep the pictures and posts coming. Much Love, Marcia
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