Repeat

I find myself once again fighting against the, "if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all" that I fought back in October.

But I have finally decided to instead quote my co-teacher, "I'm so busy these days".

Since arriving in Korea I have heard my co-teacher say those words at least once a week and now I say or think those words everyday.

I went from reading a script every class for 20 minutes to solo teaching for 40 minutes. Two of the grades I cannot use the text book and am expected to come up with my own material using the key expressions from the book. The two younger grades I have the same 4 pages that I will teach each lesson.

I am still trying to gain a feeling on how long activities take the students. So far every lesson I have planned is too long and we end up not doing my last activity. Which has helped me plan for that class's next lesson!

Since these are now "my" lessons I am in desperate need to develop my "angry teacher face" but so far the kids either laugh at me or aren't effected by it...

Another new addition to my workload is "Storytelling". I was not at my maximum teaching hours so I had to invent a new class so I would be. My storytelling class was birthed out of frustration and self-preservation (because I didn't want to come in after hours to teach a random class). So instead I will be coming in early so I can read a chapter to every 5th and 6th grade class, in their own classroom, in a three week cycle, for twenty minutes. Confused? Believe me, I still am but it was the only way I could find time in the typical Korean student's already busy life to fit in a class that was fair for all (instead of seeing two classes twice a week and other classes only once a week). I will be reading Bridge to Terabithia and I thankfully found it at a second hand book store (and a few other great finds for myself). It's at their grade reading level according to America so I'm hoping that if I read it slow and with a lot of expressions then half the class will understand parts of the story. Ha. Wish me luck. I begin that class next Tuesday.

The ever dreaded (by most co-teachers and native english teachers) has begun: the Ulsan English Drama Festival. Basically this is a competition between the public schools in Ulsan to see who can put on the best play in English. I am happy to say that my major is finally being used! (Although it would've been nice if North Park had offered a children's writing class then I could've just used an old assignment). I wrote my schools script last week and this week is auditions. From what I was told about the play, last year my co-teacher had to drag kids to participate but this year my new 6th grade co-teacher has magically gotten 26 kids to audition! I think this could be a real neat experience for everyone involved. The only downside is I will have to get to school at 8am for practice and that my co-teacher put a ton of pressure on me by saying, "you will make the school proud if you write the play"... ahhhhhh. At least the writing is done and now it's up to the kids to be expressive in English.

Hopefully by the end of this month I'll have my crazy new schedule down so I will be less tired when I come home. Real teaching is a lot more draining then playing "Vana White" from Wheel of Fortune.

On a positive note the sun has been shinning and the weather has been nice. I bought new running shoes and I have even seen some flowers blooming and little birds singing. Soon my mission of see-as-many-cherry-blossoms-as-possible will begin. I'll be sure to post pictures.

Blessings friends.    

5.

When I woke up this morning I planned on writing my 5 month anniversary blog post while desk warming (which was a "maybe" all day task) but I never got the chance.

Shocking I know. I was at school for over eight hours and I was fairly busy the whole time (I add fairly because some time I just stood/sat while everyone else spoke in Korean and I waited).

I'll back up. I haven't been to school in two weeks because I had teacher training for seven days and then I was on vacation for three of them. The training was good but it would've been more helpful if I had a training when I first got here. I did enjoy learning new activities to do with the students and meeting all of the new teachers. It was also nice to get away from the school for awhile, it was like a breath of fresh air to be around so much English. Vacation on the other hand, was full of me sleeping and eating because I got another nasty cold. I think my body knew I had a few days off and decided to stop fighting.

I came into school today knowing the following: it is a new school year, there is a new principle, I have two new CTs, and that I "maybe" won't have classes. When I walked down my hall I was greeted by the two 2nd graders (now 3rd graders) that came to my winter camp. The rest of the new 3rd graders watched me walk by with big eyes, some were even brave enough to say hello. I noticed the kids seemed to get smaller - then I saw that the classrooms were changed! Last year I walked down the 4th grade hall to get to my room and now I pass some 3rd and 2nd grade classrooms.

When I reached the end of the hall I noticed the English "experience" room (that I have been in once) was open. Inside was one of my new CTs. She is a mom of two of my students and has been teaching English for the last 6 years. Her English is great and she seems very sweet. Since she has been teaching for so long she expects A LOT more out of me, which is going to take some time getting used to. I am a little nervous at the thought of leading a 40 minute class by myself for every 6th grade class but she promises she will help manage the classes.

So how did I spend all of my time? 70% on waygook.com looking up teaching ideas for this week. 10% listening to various meetings in Korean. 10% hearing about my new role. 10% moving the new CT into her room. Good thing I had made my introduction powerpoint on vacation or else I wouldn't be ready for tomorrows classes.

My large silver lining is that the CT I share my classroom with is still my CT and she wants to take coffee breaks with me this year.

Flexibility continues to be key when teaching in Korea. Hopefully I'll have more time to update this week. Bless friends.