Pink Shirts, Pink Pants, Pink Shoes...

I finally taught my first week of classes. The Junggye Branch gave me a pretty sweet schedule. I work 4-10pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. The commute from Gangnam in south central Seoul to Junggye in north east Seoul, where my branch is located, is an hour and a half door to door. I am used to the commute in NYC, but this is just insane. The Junggye branch is one of the 7 main branches of CDI in Seoul. Out of all of them, apparently, Junggye is the most chill. My faculty manager is not some uptight guy who scrutinizes everything I do. He actually is very laid back and is very positive about everything. On the phone he sounds like a Cali surfer dude. In actuality, he's a veteran CDI instructor who's probably in his mid-30s and acts like he's in his 20s. The hierarchy goes Branch Manager > Faculty Manager > Head Instructors > Instructors (me). My HIs are really laid back, yet knowledgeable people too. They have given me some great advice on how to make my classes better such as keeping to structure, picking up my pace, and tactics on how to make them answer questions such as putting names to questions. My biggest problem is just trying to make them laugh. I had to use an example such as: If you're principal "declared" (vocabulary word) a new rule that you had to wear pink shirts, pink pants, and pink shoes to school, how would you feel? This is a true example for me to explain to the students about the words "declare,"bitterly," and "opposed." Doesn't it sound like I'm in Dr. Seuss Land? I can't wait to see my CCTV (classroom video monitoring) because I was throwing markers, spitting, and jumping around either because I was nervous or because I was trying desperately to keep my students' attention. My icebreaker really happened to soften the class. I had the students guess which statement was false:

1. I have traveled to 20 countries.

2. I have eaten a spider.

3. I speak Korean.

Surprisingly, most of the students guessed that I really did speak Korean! They really like it if they can relate to you and know that you are a human being. Apparently, "teacher" is the next level down from "emperor." They believe teachers are all-knowing, therefore should be highly respected. I have had my share of troublesome students though. On my second day, I had to discipline a student for speaking Korean by making him move seats. They really hate it if a boy has to sit next to a girl. My class rules are:

1. No Korean--ONLY English

2. Respect Others--Do not speak above others & Do not touch others

3. No Food--ONLY water

4. No Cell Phones

It is unbelievable how attached these kids are to their cell phones! One student asked if she could use her cell phone because it had a dictionary. Nice idea, but cell phones would just distract them in class. Other than breaking those rules, the children are very smart and quite attentive. Korean students are like super academic machines. They have to go to school Monday-Saturday. After school they go to Hagwons or academies. Each day, they go to a different hagwon focused on either English, math, science, sports, or music. When I asked my kids what did they do this weekend such as biking, playing at the park, or going to the beach, most of them replied with, "I stay at home."

The two class I teach are Memory English and Bridge Reading, which are the middle level classes for elementary and middle schoolers. Teaching middle schoolers is the toughest. They are like rocks and the class is like pulling teeth. CDI has their own R&D center that develops their teaching materials. For Memory English, I get the students to analyze stories about burping and sweating or the civil war. For Bridge Reading, the students have to learn about heredity and photosynthesis. I cannot believe that these kids have to learn this! For instance, the students have to take a 10 minute quiz reading a 1 page essay on heredity while marking up (circling transitions, underlining key details, and labeling major and minor details) and then answer 8 questions about the passage. One question asks them to put a random group of sentences in order in which they appear in the story. That alone would take me 10 minutes! The elementary school students are extremely lively. They love to shout answers, speak out of turns, laugh at everything, and want to know everything about you. Week 1 is always overwhelming according to veteran teachers. What I learned at training has no really helped me with actual teaching. Being in front of a Korean class of young children is a whole new experience. It really cannot be taught. I have to go lesson by lesson week by week and hope for the best that they start warming up to me allowing them to be more interactive. Week 2 should be interesting when I see myself on CCTV and hopefully find an apartment!