Showing posts with label teaching english. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teaching english. Show all posts
22 August, 2012
A theatre adaptation of the award-winning, cautionary children's tale about selfishness and vanity. Sharing brings happiness and acceptance!
Yup, I joined a theatre troupe. And I'm a red fish. And a clam. And an octopus. Dear gosh, what did I get myself into?
If you're in the Ulsan area and want to check out an amateur piece, here's some information:
We're playing every Saturday until September 29th at 2pm and 4pm at the Dongrami Theatre on the second floor of the Dowon Building, smack dab at the Gongeoptap Rotary (search Gongeuptop on the "Ulsan Buses" section of the UlsanOnline website... yes, they spell it wrong). Tip: It's the building on the left of the police traffic box. Reserve in advance at 052-258-1248, and remember to bring 10,000 won (it's not for us)
Summer camp. Some teachers love it. Others hate it. I was in the former camp. But it left me pooped in the end.
Summer or winter camp. As a guest English teacher in Korea, you have to do either. Myself, I was signed up by the Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education to do the first, and may have to do the second (although I think there is a stipulation in our contracts that advises we should only be doing one... will have to check).
What to expect... Well, I've been talking with some of my friends (all of whom had to do summer camp) since the beginning of camp and we all pretty much agree: it's a hell of a lot more enjoyable than regular classes. Now, see, most of us generally only teach in English Centres, that is, after-school programs. The students come into our centres at 3pm through to 5pm, and the second wave from 5pm to 7pm. Often they move on to hagwons, or private academies, after us, which may very well last until well past 9pm.
In short, these elementary school students have insanely long days (and I feel terrible saying this, but I'm glad I was not brought up on the same schooling system).
So, summer camp has been a breeze especially because they're not exhausted from their long days. We taught from 9am to 5pm, again in two waves, and it was so much more enjoyable than regular classes because the kids were fresh, attentive, behaved (more on that below), and much more motivated.
Ah, yes, behaviour. Most of us regularly teach without a co-teacher, a bane in our lives really because while it's an excellent way to teach them authentic spoken English without them relying on a co-teacher's constant translations, which could potentially impede on their learning process (and trust me I learned English this way myself so yes, it does work), again, they usually come into our centres after long days and all they want to do is play games. But now that we taught at regular school hours and had a co-teacher in class with us to keep them in line... life was beautiful. Some of the boys I had trouble with during the regular semester were behaving like little angels, and if there was a bit of chaos it wasn't the type that had me yelling like a lady dragon to keep everyone's attention.
So, what to expect? It really depends on each summer camp. Some will be themed (I wish mine had been), some will have you assigned with topics to cover, and some will just be the same old, same old. But, as always, the very venerable website waygook.org will be able to provide plenty of help and inspiration for your classes :)
It's when you teach at a high school and one of your students asks you to check and correct her diary that you realise you don't really miss high school that much.
And also that there's not much that you can do about it...
Korea is apparently getting lax in providing children with enough physical education. Some schools apparently don't even have Phys. Ed. classes. Now, this is a phenomenon I am not seeing at either of my schools. When I come in to work at Guyeong Elementary on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays there are like two to three Phys. Ed. classes in session on the field outside (in the gym on rainy days) as I walk by. Several of my groups at Anione High have Phys. Ed. before my English class. So, in other words, I ain't seeing it.
May 11th was Sports Day at Guyeong -- several of my friends' Sports Days were the previous week. I generally wake up at 9:15 on the days that I work at Guyeong so I was greeted with what at first sounded to me like a festival on the Taehwa River...
Seeing as I am not a daytime teacher (I start my day at 11am but start teaching at 2pm) I was not invited to participate in the events so I can't really give a play-by-play. However, I can tell you that there is a host the likes of which you would find on Korean variety shows (entertainment, crazy antics, this guy is fun personified, etc.) and that the parents were asked to participate in some of the activities. And there was kpop. Lots and lots of kpop.
The following is not my video, but this is some of what you can expect from a Korean Sports Day. The cheering! The costumes! The crazy! The kpop!
There was much, much, much BIGBANG music, including their latest:
I teach at a high school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Well, today is Tuesday. And... I am not teaching. My students have an exam tomorrow and I was told right before my first class started that I should let them have a free study period today. That means no teaching today. That means the lesson plan I whipped out Sunday night, thinking myself quite brilliant, is put on ice for the time being. And that essentially means deskwarming, but in the presence of my students. I'm wearing my glasses. I appear professional.
And I am blogging. And facebook'ing.
What. I'm passing time. Funny how time passes by us so slowly when we want it to move forward faster, and vice versa.
My students are not cramming on English in my English class. Nope. They're cramming on Math. "Teacher, can you Math?" Er. Logarithms are kind of like 8-9 years ago for me. Sorry. I used to be ace at this but now it just doesn't talk to me anymore.
Let me reiterate this: my students, who in fact are not headed to become great mathematicians as this is a technical high school for students who want to become cartoonists, animators and video game programmers, are freaking out about Math, a subject they, apart from the programmers, will not need down the line (I know, because my degree is in digital design). It blows my mind. Sure, I was ace in Math, but that's largely because I had no idea what I wanted to do in the future, and knew that Math (and Physics, and Chemistry) would open all my academic doors when I settled on a subject I really wanted to pursue. But these guys are all decided. They know where they're going. Surely they should be studying, mmm... English, since it's a language they might very well need in their careers?
Sigh. Double-sigh. Ah well. I'm not here to force English down their throats. Well, yes, but not like this. Heh.
Clean yourself up. After your week of orientation you will meet your co-teacher (or head teacher, in my case) so yes, that means no jeans, sneakers and tee-shirt. Find that suit and tie / dress or nice pants and top.
Know where you live. I made the mistake of not jotting down my address the first night I went out and ended up having to stay at a friend's place feeling like an idiot. Amongst other things (I won't go into details but that night was craptacular after the party). Also know where you work and how to get there.
Get rest. You've been on a plane for like ever (my trip over was about 13 hours) so you need to sleep off the jet lag.
Find your bus routes. You will need them.
Find your local shops. That's a no-brainer. Where can you buy your groceries?!
Yup. I work at two schools. When I was offered the job I was told I'd only be working at a high school but it turns out I work three days (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) at an elementary school next to my place and only two days (Tuesday and Thursday) at a high school far, far away on the other side of town. It takes me about an hour, an hour and a half, to get there.
But I'm not here to complain. Yes, it's a hassle because I need to wake up early on the days that I work at the high school (9-3:30), whereas I work after-school hours at the elementary school (12-7) so I can sleep in a bit, but these things do happen and I used to work rollercoaster days like that back home *shrug*
Anyway. I just wanted to post to show my schools! ^^
My "office" at Guyeong Elementary, as there is no room in the official teachers' office. So I've been assigned a classroom for lesson planning and deskwarming.
The view outside my "office" window. I think my apartment building is just out of the frame next to the last building on the right.
My classroom/office at Anione High. Double-monitor setting and big touchscreen, baby!
I think Korea has an obsession with world clocks. But this is another view of my classroom at Anione.
And the view outside my classroom window at Anione. That building on the left is the students' dormitory.
Cheers! I'm off to a little dinner with friends. Hopefully my stomach has settled after chundering a little while ago... I don't feel as queasy though so I guess I'm good to go. Tourelou!
First official day of teaching my elementary school kids! Yesterday was my first day teaching my high school students. And... I can officially say that... well it's not hard, but it's a lot of work and you, as a teacher, need to be resilient.
I'm teaching some students with absolutely no English under their belts, and realised today that the yearly plan they're having me write is most probably going to be very loosely followed. I just dislike a lot that they're having me write this plan in the first place: how the heck can I know how much these kids are going to have learned by the end of July? I can't promise I can have decently covered the textbook by then! But, this is Korea, and image is everything. And by that I mean, the higher-ups want to see that you've worked your ass off writing this yearly plan so they can feel good about paying you down the road. It sucks, because I can't know how far we'll get through the book and so writing this plan feels like a waste of time, but *shrug* I guess I'll just have to suck it up and pretend like I'm following "The Plan". Which I probably won't.
I also learned today that I'm not teaching three classes a day at the elementary school, but rather five. Which isn't bad, but I would have liked to know before today!
The high school kids were pretty much awesome. I teach them on Tuesdays and Thursdays halfway across the town. That's my biggest complaint about that: from the start I was told I'd be teaching only at a high school and that usually means you live pretty close to your school. But no. I live a two-minute walk away from my elementary school, but something like an hour away from my high school. Logistically, wouldn't it have been better to house me somewhere halfway between both schools? Logically, yes, but I'm not even going to try to understand why I'm where I am. Things in Korea never make sense, which can be frustrating sometimes unless you go the way I'm going and just shrug your shoulders, make unintelligible sounds, and go on your merry way.
But yeah. Back to the high schoolers. They're great. I teach at Anione High School in Seongan, and it's kind of like a professional/technical high school: they have "majors" such as Cartooning, Computer Science, Animation, etc. That means they're super well behaved overall due to their higher focus on their studies. And they're overall pretty good at English. Some of the groups, less so, but generally they were really awesome and my co-teacher was impressed that they were willing to talk that much. They told me before starting that they wanted me to focus on speaking, reading and writing skills because they're "not good" but... to be quite honest I felt great because we made small talk and they were really good. So... woohoo for me!
Still need to work on getting it right with the elementary kids though!
Is your bachelor's degree worth it? In this case, yes. source
Honestly? Just a bachelor's degree, in any discipline.
Okay, so you also need to be a native English speaker from the USA, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa or the UK. My case was a bit different since I pretty much grew up bilingual (be very, very convincing in that case: build your case with proof that you're more than capable because they will side-eye you if you don't, and may very well pass you over).
Also, you need to have a clean record. I'm not sure exactly how clean but if I remember correctly even a minor car accident could weigh against you.
If you're absolutely sure that you have to go to Korea, then I'd advise you to sign up for a TEFL certification. This will prove that you're serious about teaching. In fact, I'm pretty sure that as of December 2011 it is now a requisite. I mean, they won't turn you away if you have your contract in hand and don't pass the test, but 1) it will earn you a few million Won more if you do pass, and 2) you'll be better prepared than if you just flew over without a clue how to plan a course.
Phew! Just got this thing started! Some bumps along the road, and I might switch templates because this one isn't really serving the purpose for which I chose it, but we'll see about that tomorrow. Good night world!
Posts
