Hello
everyone, I haven’t written in a while and I feel obligated to considering that
I only have a few posts. I haven’t gone on any huge ventures lately and in fact
I don’t want to write about them in this post. I would like to invite you to
see what a busy day is like for me. I am writing this on Tuesday March 25th.
Today I have grades 3rd-6th from 1:35- 4:30 each grade
back to back for 40 minutes a pop.
Where it all begins
I
start a bit earlier than that though. Get up at 7:00 exercise, breakfast,
coffee. After getting ready for the day I spend the rest of the time lesson
planning. Today took a bit longer than most days because I had to make some
more Power Points than I typically do. I leave my apartment around 10:15 for
the bus.
The one on the right
I
live on the outskirts of the town near a bunch of construction (it makes
sleeping in nearly impossible). I left my apartment early because today is a
market day. Any day that ends in a 1 or a 6 is market day in Boeun. The street
that I walk down to get to my bus is filled with more buses, bikes, cars, and
the occasional 4-weeler. As I made my
way down towards the busy street I saw this flying overhead.
When
I first came to my town and saw things like this it was to say the least a
little unsettling. Now after the time that I have spent here I react to it in
the same way as the Koreans, and hardly notice it. I live near an airbase and
in a given week I will see a handful of fighter jets.
Anyway,
the street is crazy and a bit difficult to navigate at times, since many of
venders have decided to post up on the sidewalk. Old women, or ajummas as they
are called here, hurry past the venders selling everything from fish, pastries,
clothes, and vegetables, their backs hunched from years out in the fields.
I
hop on the bus at 10:30 to a small village called Wonnam. The bus is filled
with old people going out to their old homes in the countryside. The bus goes
from flying to a near stop depending on the amount of speed bumps on the narrow
roads winding through the rice paddies.
I get into Wonnam around 10:50 and get off the bus and walk to school.
Bustling Wonnam
I
pass rice paddy after rice paddy, once I get near the cattle ranch (if you can
call this small place that) I am nearly there.
Right off the drive way to my school
Today
is a bit of a crazy day at Pan Dong elementary. It is open class day, where
parents come in to see their children in class while the teacher is teaching.
Over the past 2 weeks the teachers here have been frantically trying to get ready
for the big day. I walk in, put on my sandals, and greet my superiors with the
bow and hello, then make my way to my classroom. I’m not really even sure if I
will have classes today. I asked my mentor teacher if I will and he responded
maybe. Now this may be a bit of a tangent, but in Korea the word maybe has
somehow become more ambiguous. I have been told before, “maybe we will have
lunch now” when in reality we are going to have lunch now. The words “are” and
“not” have never made it to Korea and as a result we only have maybe. Well in
this case I did have classes, but my wonderful classroom connected to the
library is being taken from me to be used as a meeting room with parents
and teachers. I am banished to the science lab or as I like to call it
distraction land. I clean up my comfy,
familiar classroom and walk up to the science lab.
Distraction land
I
am dreading this this place not only because it is filled with everything from
dissected chickens in formaldehyde to electric tinker toys, but also because
the computer up there is by far the most janky pieces of technology I have ever
encountered. It also happens that this day I have made most of my lesson plans
revolve around Power Point games (it is the end of the month and review is
standard practice for me). I pray to the
technology gods and some how my prayers are answered, everything works. I am
extremely pleased that I will not be winging it for the entirety of the day and
head down for lunch. At 11:40 the principal, vice principal and some of the
other important people at my school have lunch, and I am included. Needless to
say perfecting the use of chopsticks in front of these people was a harrowing
experience. Today was white rice, (as is everyday) fried fish, radish Kim chi,
some sort of delicious steamed leaf, and seafood soup. Delish. I head back
upstairs to my impromptu classroom and get things ready as well as write this
segment of the blog.
As
I am preparing for the storm of 3rd graders, when the cleaning lady
comes into the science lab. She talks to me in Korean as she normally does (I
don’t understand how she hasn’t figured out yet that I don’t speak Korean) and
judging from her gestures she wants me to leave the science room so that she
can sleep in it. I say ok and wait for my class downstairs in the teachers lounge. I
head back upstairs with 10 minutes to my first class and wake her up. She is
not pleased.
The
3rd graders rush in and are just as crazy as ever. I holler out role
call and start talking about the “candy day” that will happen this week. Now I
should let you know that this is my worst class by far, so I figured that I would
try something new. I explain to them in the simplest way possible that everyone
would get $1 if they were good for the day (in my “fake money” system $1=1
piece of candy). However, if they were bad I would not give them a dollar. I
was hoping that they would respond better to me giving the good ones something
and having the bad ones left out. I
began the lesson, as I do with most of my lessons, with a game. This one was a
classic, the corner game and it worked out well. The kids actually listened to me
talk with the Power Point up and participated when I asked them questions.
Things went wrong when we got to game #2 and I had to split them up into 3
teams. These kids are never satisfied with the teams that you pick out for them and I ended
up playing the game with 6 out of my 10 kids. They got a dollar and went off on
their merry way while some of the bad kids pleaded in vain.
3rd graders
I
had the 4th graders next and I don’t have much to say about them,
except that they were great. They are one of my smaller classes (8 total) and
they get along well for the most part. We played preposition ball and everyone
had a good time.
I
wish that my 5th graders had been as good as my 4th
graders were. As things got later into the day my students became more and more
restless. Normally my 5th graders are awesome, but today the class
ended with Lee Chae Eun throwing an eraser at Song Ju Eun, who caught it with
her face. One of my students who speaks very good English was able to explain
to me what had happened, and I was able to take care of the situation. That is
one of the hard things about being a teacher and not being able to easily
communicate with your students. You really don’t want disciplining to be an
exercise in language comprehension. I feel that most of my classes would run
incredibly smoother if I was able to speak more Korean. But, this is a reality
that I have been dealing with for about 7 months now, and it isn’t as bad as it
seems.
5th graders, a few of them were a bit tired
My
6th graders who are typically my favorite class were exhausted and
extremely apathetic to my existence. We watched a few videos relating to the
space unit that I am doing with them that they enjoyed. However, I could see
that they were tired from the stress of the open class day.
I
finished up my last class and rode off with the 5th grade teacher
around 5. I asked her how her open class went and she said, “ Very good, I feel
like I can fly now.” We drove back into Boeun, past an ancient fortress and to
my apartment complex. I said goodbye and thank you in Korean and see you
tomorrow in English. Before I left I asked her if there was going to be a
volleyball game tomorrow? On most Wednesdays the teachers get together for a
volleyball game. She said, “ Yes maybe.” As I got out of the car and walked
past the construction another fighter jet flew over my small town. I walked
through a crowd of middle school students who test their English out on me on
occasion. I say hi and nice to meet you to the ones who talk to me. On Tuesdays
I have Kim bop for dinner. It is cheap and slightly healthy.
Fortress
The Kim Bop place. It has a T-Rex on it.
Cheap nourishment
That
was my day. Not the most amazing of days, but not the worst by any means. I do
enjoy what I do. Teaching is quite a thing, and I have grown attached to my
students. To see them working and being able to use the bits of language that I
have taught them over the year is something that I take a great amount of pride
in. Thanks for reading.
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