What a day....

Well if there is one thing that will change will I am in Korea for a year. It is that I will leave with a lot more patience than I came with.

I have 5 Korean English co-teachers. The job of a co-teacher is to help you come up with lesson plans and edit them as necessary, translate and control the class. Four out of the Five are awesome. As soon as I finish giving the instructions they are quick to translate! Except for one, as a person she is as sweet as pie, but as a teacher, she is pretty bad and lazy. She actually walks out of the class and the students have no idea what I want them to do. So when this happens, I just talk to the students about what they do in their free time etc.

I met with the 3 co-teachers who teach the 3rd graders English. (3rd graders are seniors in high school) I showed them my plans until the end of the semester. Two of them were so impressed saying that the activities will definitely help their students learn English and learn about America. Ms. XYZ123 (I’m not going to use her name) however, was so confused about each of the plans that I had to run through the entire 10 weeks of lesson plans again. Since the students are applying to college I thought it would be a good idea for them to write a personal statement, like many people have to do when applying to college in the States. Unfortunately, she thought I wanted the students to fill out an application for college. She asked if I would have application sprinted for them etc etc. After 10 LONG PAINFUL minutes of explaining that I wanted them to write an essay she finally got it!!!!

She also feels that I should use simpler English when talking to the class. I use simple English, talk slowly, and use lots of hand gestures! I feel that SHE should translate to the class and stay the duration of the period!

Afterwards she asked me if it was important to use punctuation when writing in English. I was so taken back by this question I almost did not remember what she asked. I diplomatically told her that YES punctuation is VITAL in the English language. It is essential that the students know how to properly use punctuation! So I had to give her a lesson on punctuation! WOW…..*shakes head*

I don’t know how I did not raise my voice during these encounters. I am a “hot head” some would even say a “boiling head”. So for me to maintain my composure is pretty impressive. So to calm down, I went to youtube and started watching music videos. I actually watch music videos pretty often. All the teachers eat lunch together in the cafeteria and to get have some “down time”, I just stay in the office and listen to music! They find it odd that I don’t eat Lunch. Everyday about 4 teachers ask me if I will be eating Lunch. Haha!

Oh, I forgot to mention, I teach at an all BOYS High School. I have a total of 585 students. And now I have 200 plus papers staring me in the face to correct J