My School is better than Yours :P

So not only was I lucky with my apartment, but it’s blatantly obvious that I’ve been really lucky with the school I have too,

There is a grand total of 200 students, 15 teaching staff and 6 catering staff. So naturally, all the teachers are really close and treat each other like extended family. And I am no exception, from the get go, everyone has been really welcoming, trying to communicate with me as best they can so I don’t feel left out, and have shown as much of an interest in my culture as I have in theirs. There have been plenty of times where I didn’t know how to do things, or I’ve had to ask to check what is or isn’t rude, but not once has anyone made fun of me, or talked down to me. They always reassure me and tell me to keep trying. They’re mostly glad that I am trying in the first place ^^.

See those apartments just beyond the playground...yeah I live there. 

My co-teacher is pretty much the centre of my world right now. She’s such a nice person I couldn’t have asked for a better co-teacher.  She’s not quite fluent in English but she’s the person I go to for anything and everything and she’s incredibly accommodating. We kind of have an older sister younger brother relationship (since I’m the same age as her younger brother), and she insists on taking care of me. When I was sick, she bought me medicine and when classes were over, took me to the beds in the nurses office where I could sleep until my work shift was over. Did I feel like a baby? Yes! But I felt like I was dying so I didn’t care. I just need to wait until payday until I can show her my gratitude.

My vice principal and principal are also lovely. Both speak limited English but want to not only improve their English by talking to me but improve my Korean through me talking to them. So we speak almost every day just about regular stuff. My vice principal after a long conversation actually invited me to her house for food after showing me pictures of her daughter… might have to be careful about that one.

My timetable as well is also really lucky. Of the 21 lessons I do a week, only 3 of them I have to plan for and do alone. All the rest I do with my co-teacher which she does the planning for. And pretty much all my students are cute, giggly and a pleasure to be around. It’s never stressful to teach…yet.

I know that a lot of Epik teachers either don’t have a co-teacher or they have a co-teacher who doesn’t do a great deal, but then in stark contrast I know GETs whose co-teacher won’t let them teach at all because they can’t speak Korean and they’re just used as an expensive tape recorder. I’ve also heard that some teachers are regularly talked town to, and treated as second class citizens because of the language barrier. Again, I feel incredibly lucky where I am!


First week at school....

First day, we had our introduction “ceremony”, I’d just call it an assembly, in which I introduced myself in Korean to the entire school, half of the kids giggled at my accent but I thought it was cute. Though the first two lessons of the day were cancelled due to other ceremonies going on at the time, which left me co-teaching 6th graders who could speak the most English, which was a nice was to be eased into the school environment.

My classroom

My classroom

English corridor

2nd day, I discovered my love of 4th graders. I only have 15 students per 4th grade class and they are such a pleasure to both teach and have fun with. I know I shouldn’t pick favourites but I already have a favourite student who I can have banter with ^^. After school was followed by a welcome dinner for the new staff…new staff being me. At which I got to really talk to all the staff, and I was honestly surprised at how much alcohol people drink in front of their bosses. But perhaps that the dynamic of our school because it’s so small.  This was followed by norebang (karaoke), which I bombed at, and more alcohol and food.

That's right, I have my own office. 

3rd day, Wednesday, I taught my first class alone. I was pretty nervous I will admit. But with this class being first grade, their energy and enthusiasm carried me through and it was a complete pleasure to teach them.. The rest of the day continued as normal until the end of school bell rings and my co-teacher tells me that every Wednesday after school, all the teachers get together in the gym and play volleyball. So considering that I’ve never played volleyball before and I suffer from a fear of getting a ball to the face, naturally I’m rubbish. But our principal is really into it and in keeping with the spirit of our school everyone told me to keep trying, and I will get better. That night me and a fare few staff stayed at the school late to lesson plan and all got take out together in the staff room.

my office

4th day, Thursday, all our lessons were cancelled because all the students had exams…I had to mark them >.>. But again once the day was over, there was another big dinner with school. What this one was for I’m not entirely sure but I enjoyed this one even more than the first. (it was definitely a meal my Grandad would have enjoyed. It was entirely seafood and sushi) There was slightly more alcohol involved but I also used a lot more Korean when talking, and poured a lot more drinks for other people because I was feeling more comfortable using it. Gladly this time it wasn’t followed by norebang.

Again, here I’m pretty sure that I’ve just gotten lucky, because from other Epik teachers, I’ve heard that they were told they had to take everyone out for a meal as a return meal. or worse, they were taken for a big meal and then just expected to pay. Some teachers also have to pay for their school dinners, again I do not, though part of me feels like I should, they’re really good! One thing that is incredibly frustrating about Korea is that no one ever talks about money, or at least no one ever talks about it to me. Perhaps because I’m the youngest, and older people usually pay, but I’ve made it clear to my co-teacher that I don’t understand how money/paying in Korea works, and I’ve asked her to tell me when it’s my turn to pay.

By the time Friday rolled around, I felt completely comfortable teaching my morning class and then going on to co-teach for the rest of the day. And thus concludes my first teaching week in korea. I think it’s pretty safe to say that all is going well.