In any case...today was my first day teaching at 동상 - Dong Sang Elementary School. It actually went very smoothly! It was a very good day.
I taught 5 classes today - two 5th grade classes, two 3rd grade, and then another 5th grade - so I had the first four periods, then lunch, then the last class. It was quite tiring! (Although I haven't been getting enough sleep also - but that should be remedied this weekend). The kids at 동상 aren't as rowdy in general as compared to the kids at 안락동 (Allak Dong) (By the way - someone had asked me a while ago what "동, or Dong, meant - and to clear that up now, it translates as "Village"). I love both schools, but they are definitely different.
My co-teacher at 동상 is fantastic. Her name is 문정 (Moon-Jung), and I have a great time teaching with her. We did some "Head, Shoulders Knees and Toes" today with the 3rd graders - that was SO MUCH FUN. Much of what I do in class reading things off of the computer screen (and then have the kids repeat me), asking questions, and just basically be their source of auditory English. Other than that I aid my co-teachers in any way I can - I try to have the work at least split evenly if not me doing more, because the children only get 40-80minutes of English a week, and I want to maximize their exposure to authentic native speaking (that's what they are paying me to do!) But it was an interesting day. I'm excited about tomorrow as well - I will be teaching three 6th grade classes and one more 3rd grade class. It's almost a weird power-trip feeling to be in control of so many kids - although since I have a co-teacher I relinquish a lot of the power to them, because they have been managing the class since March (in Korea the school year starts in March so I am coming in for the second semester). But I think if I had my own class I could do a pretty good job at getting the kids to behave and to motivate them to learn. Unfortunately I probably won't be able to implement those techniques here, at least not for a while.
I turned on my phone today after class! 문정 (and 수정, my original co-teacher from 안락동, Allak Dong) helped me register it and get it into English (수정 called 문정 's cell and had her help me on the spot... :) ) They are so nice to me here! I also got my TV delivered - although the cable is not hooked up yet, but that's fine with me, no rush here. I should be sleeping anyhow...
I've been studying a bit this evening so I can practice on my teammates tomorrow at practice, but I've been drifting off...and I wanted to make a few CDs for my teammate S and I can't go to bed until that is finished...so I am going to go finish that now. I'm so excited about practice tomorrow though! (I've been eating a ton these past few days and haven't exercised since Sunday so hopefully I will make it through our tempo run with a little bit of dignity left...
I taught 5 classes today - two 5th grade classes, two 3rd grade, and then another 5th grade - so I had the first four periods, then lunch, then the last class. It was quite tiring! (Although I haven't been getting enough sleep also - but that should be remedied this weekend). The kids at 동상 aren't as rowdy in general as compared to the kids at 안락동 (Allak Dong) (By the way - someone had asked me a while ago what "동, or Dong, meant - and to clear that up now, it translates as "Village"). I love both schools, but they are definitely different.
My co-teacher at 동상 is fantastic. Her name is 문정 (Moon-Jung), and I have a great time teaching with her. We did some "Head, Shoulders Knees and Toes" today with the 3rd graders - that was SO MUCH FUN. Much of what I do in class reading things off of the computer screen (and then have the kids repeat me), asking questions, and just basically be their source of auditory English. Other than that I aid my co-teachers in any way I can - I try to have the work at least split evenly if not me doing more, because the children only get 40-80minutes of English a week, and I want to maximize their exposure to authentic native speaking (that's what they are paying me to do!) But it was an interesting day. I'm excited about tomorrow as well - I will be teaching three 6th grade classes and one more 3rd grade class. It's almost a weird power-trip feeling to be in control of so many kids - although since I have a co-teacher I relinquish a lot of the power to them, because they have been managing the class since March (in Korea the school year starts in March so I am coming in for the second semester). But I think if I had my own class I could do a pretty good job at getting the kids to behave and to motivate them to learn. Unfortunately I probably won't be able to implement those techniques here, at least not for a while.
I turned on my phone today after class! 문정 (and 수정, my original co-teacher from 안락동, Allak Dong) helped me register it and get it into English (수정 called 문정 's cell and had her help me on the spot... :) ) They are so nice to me here! I also got my TV delivered - although the cable is not hooked up yet, but that's fine with me, no rush here. I should be sleeping anyhow...
I've been studying a bit this evening so I can practice on my teammates tomorrow at practice, but I've been drifting off...and I wanted to make a few CDs for my teammate S and I can't go to bed until that is finished...so I am going to go finish that now. I'm so excited about practice tomorrow though! (I've been eating a ton these past few days and haven't exercised since Sunday so hopefully I will make it through our tempo run with a little bit of dignity left...
1 comment:
Two things to note: One, at least you don't have to use the three seashells to clean your bottom. Although, I imagine paper towels will ultimately not work out. Trust me, I've shadowed colo-rectal surgeons, and you should really stick to softer stuff.
Secondly, try a fan to ward off mosquitoes. Because their wings are so small, any breeze upwards of 2mph repels them. Bug zappers sometimes have the unhappy side-effect of also killing the bugs that eat mosquitoes.
take care
Alex
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