We are approaching the end of our second week of teaching. So far it has been a very tiring, confusing, and frustrating 2 weeks. Dave and I have classes that range in size from 1 student to 10 students. The students know the routine which is helpful (while we are still learning) and sometimes annoying because they do not like to stray from the routine very much. Filling the dead time is another story. We are learning early on that we must come up with a repertoire or activities, games, and ideas to use to fill time after a shorter lesson. The students LOVE HANGMAN, but when you play this every day, even though they like it, it gets really old fast. Luckily there is a folder full of ideas at our school that we will take a look at and Jeff will kindly give us access to his long list of activities and games when he returns.
Another hard cultural difference is the fact that the students will not tell a teacher “no” if they do not want to do something or do not understand. This makes it extremely difficult to know whether or not they are understanding what you’re saying and the materials you are teaching. What we have learned is to read the reaction on students’ faces as to whether they understand, usually this works but it is still very hard sometimes.
Like back in the states when you take a language class you get to choose your name in that language. It is the same over here which means that some students have very interesting names. We have heard of students named Dolphin, Raptor, and Bright (who is in Dave’s class). At our Hogwan we have put a stop to unconventional names, but since some students have had their names for many years they were able to keep them. I thought this was rather funny.
The people we work with are really nice and helpful. Dave, myself and Liz are the only foreigner teachers. There are two Korean teachers (in their 20’s) and our boss J.S. who teaches as well. Our dinners consist of a bowl of rice, Korean side dishes (mmmm kimchi) and soup. It is usually a hit or miss with me.
We haven’t done much sightseeing since we started school but I believe in a month when we are on the same teaching schedule we will be taking advantage of not only our free mornings, but the cooler (mid 70 degree) weather. Last Saturday we were able to go out with a couple of foreigners to a Korean barbecue dinner which was delicious. I tried Soju which is a hard alcoholic drink. It is not your typical drink because it is made just from chemicals. It didn’t taste too terrible, haha. It is so cheap that so many Koreans drink it regularly. A 750 ml bottle is $2 at the local mart . . .eeeek. After dinner we sat out on the deck of a newer “foreigner” bar called “Yellow Monkey.” This restaurant looks out at the bay, but it was hard to see the water because it was not lit up with lights (I think they will be adding some lights/attractions soon to this area). I had a $7 corona which I quickly switched to a $3 Cass beer. We were able to sit and talk to many other foreigners who we have not yet met which was really great. We met people from England, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, and Texas which was really awesome. We were having such a good time that we stayed out until 4 AM which didn’t seem so great the next morning.
On Sunday our boss came over later in the evening to give us a microwave, exchange our washer, and bring over some de-bugging spray. Having a microwave is so awesome!!! We can quickly heat up things! A luxury we took for granted in the states, haha. Dave and I also were able to place our bed on a bed frame lifting it off the ground about 2 feet. This has made all the difference in the world! We no longer feel threatened by bugs when we sleep.
Posts
2 comments:
I was interested in the Soju. Do you mean it is really made with chemicals. That made me chuckle. What an experience you are having. You must take pictures of Dolphin, Raptor and Bright. You have to love the names.
I suppose I should say that I work with Megans mom. This is Laura. I am just using my google account to speak with you.
Post a Comment