A few updates:
Last Friday, I said goodbye to one of my favorite students, Paul. From day one, I noticed his English abilities. He is by far the highest-level student I had this year. He challenges me as a teacher by asking abstract questions far beyond his years; he understands my sarcasm, and that says a lot as an ESL Teacher. He is everyone's friend because he is genuinely a good kid. Paul told me earlier in the week that he was moving to Seoul this weekend so Friday would be his last day. We had an early dismissal because of snow so I never got to see his class. When my CT made the announcement, I ran up to his homeroom class, where I told him what a pleasure it was teaching him and how I wish him all the luck in Seoul. As a foreign teacher here, you don't always get to connect with your students in these ways. It was nice that I was able to congratulate him on a job well-done this year.
I have about 200 students total, 1/3 of whom cannot carry a conversation more than, "Hi. How are you? I'm fine, thank you. And you?" It's the reality of English Education here, especially with such mixed-level classes in an Elementary School. I'll see my fourth graders again next year, but my sixth graders will be on into Middle School, so saying goodbye to some of them will be hard. Despite the students who I have yet to see advance, there are some who have shown tremendous improvement, and a lot of these students happen to be the mis-behaved ones in the beginning of the year. They figured out I meant business and that I was not here to play, but actually cared about their learning. As a teacher, seeing your students succeed is the reason we do what we do. Even the students who still have the same English vocabulary as 10 months ago, now have more confidence speaking the language. They are now comfortable standing up and speaking this global language in front of their peers. And that's enough for me. I didn't let one student slip through my fingers without speaking in my class. Every single one of my students spoke multiple times a week, whether they liked it or not. I've got to say the highlight of my year here, was when I got one of my special needs student to repeat an entire dialogue after me, and the whole class "oohed" and "ahhhed." These special needs kids don't get the chance to show what they can do, which is a shame, and something I've talked about on this blog multiple times. I gave him that chance, and everyone in the room, including my co-teacher was shocked. A quiet "see!" came out of my mouth, just loud enough for me to hear. Setting and instilling high, reasonable expectations- I can't say that enough.
As a Native Guest English Teacher, I, along with many other foreigners, came to Korea thinking we would make this HUGE impact on these kids' lives. Well the reality is, is that this job is tough as hell and such a piece of cake all at the same time. Only my fellow foreign teachers can really understand this. The fact is, and my fellow certified-teachers have agreed with me on this one...I miss the daily challenge of being a teacher back home; the constant need to push yourself. Here, you see some of these students just once a week; lesson-plans were thrown out the door from the beginning because of the strict use of the textbook and classes randomly being cancelled last-minute. Discipline is so inconsistent with these kids, and English is sometimes seen as a joke, therefore, the English classroom is seen as the kids' playground. There is the challenge. I make interactive power points, make up games, find videos, make a fool out of myself in front of the room- anything to get them interested. And because of this effort, I often DO have really great days. Days where everyone is on their game, the students are excited to be there, the content clicks, co-teaching is on par, and overall- everyone is happy and learning. The piece of cake part- I am at my desk half of our day, because there's just nothing to do. I can't give out homework; I don't handle assessments or evaluations; I don't have parent-teacher conferences; I don't have staff development meetings, etc. I don't have any of those things. I'm most likely annoying my friends back home with my constant status updates. But I look at my fellow foreign teachers here.. what are they doing?.. oh yeah they're on facebook too haha. Of course I'm not speaking for everyone. A lot of high school teachers have much more work than the elementary level do here. Hagwon teachers work their asses off. You would think I have it "best" and maybe I'm just a nerd, but I can't wait to get back to the States so that I can feel like my career is worth the years of education and money I spent to get to where I am.
As I write this, I feel a sense of guilt, because as a teacher, it is your job to make these students interested EVERYDAY they step into that classroom. I can honestly say I try my damn hardest to do that here. If you are reading this as a teacher back home, you may not understand this next part, but you won't..until you move your life to a foreign country and teach this global language in a culture that is so very different from your own. It is then when you will realize that on some days, just getting by is the best thing you can ask for. I came here and had to throw out half of my teaching methods and techniques, stop comparing American Education to Korean Education, let go of the fact that I can't discipline these students to my fullest because.. well.. the emotion and words simply do NOT get across. The best I could do was learn what this culture was about, learn what their Education System was like, and figure out how I could take my teaching experience back home, and adapt it to this culture. It has been, by far, one of the biggest obstacles in my short life. I am an educator. I always have been. One thing hasn't changed.. I still hold high, reasonable expectations for these kids. I want to see everyone of them succeed, and I am elated when they do. Here in Korea, I do the best I can with what I have. Sure, I've had to let go of some things, but I like to believe that maybe that's made me a better teacher. When I go home I will have to remember and study-up on some things I have left behind after these two years. I'll have to get back in the groove of American Education and its expectations. It's taken a year... but I've accepted the teacher I've become here.
In other news, I'm off on a plane to Taiwan in 5 days. I will be traveling by myself. I'm nervous, excited, anxious, thrilled, and scared all at the same time. I will be starting in Taipei, spending New Years there. I will be traveling down the east coast, hitting Huaelin (where I will see the infamous Taroko Gorge), Taitung, (where I will hopefully feed and play with some wild monkeys), down to Kenting (a beach town at the southern tip of the country, which I probably won't want to leave), back up the west coast to Tainan, (the former capital city, which remains the most cultural city in the country), then back up to Taipei where I decided I'm treating myself to a nice hotel after 7 days of hostels. *Jacuzzi/hot-tub required.
I'll leave you with some pictures for my non-fb readers of some Christmas cheer here in Korea..
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| Downtown Andong's Christmas Tree |
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| Me and Simon |
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| 12 Pubs of Christmas.. thanks to the Irish and Simon's birthday |
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| Caroling Day |
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| Me, Ariel, and Charles |
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| Early Dismissal = Snowball fights |
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| Tried to make my office feel Christmasy |
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| Lisa brought us back goods from California.. My gift- Flax Snax! haha |
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| Me and Suzanne |
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| My 4th graders came to visit me =) |
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| Caroling |
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| My daily walk home from school |
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| Cutie!! |
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| 2nd Early Dismissal |
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| Open Mic |
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| Fun in the Snow! |
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| 5th graders |
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| Me and Tom, and my beauty of a balloon crown |
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| 1st and 2nd graders |
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| My lovely white board turned card |
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| "Girls only picture" |
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| There are the candles. Bahaha can't make this shit up. |
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