June 28th - Sunday

A Day in the Life of a Foreign English Teacher:

8:10am I depart my 14th floor apartment and walk a short distance to the shuttle, where it will take me about 5 blocks from Ganam Elementary School. The shuttle is unloaded with students and teachers and we walk the dusty road to start our day of learning.
Upon my arrival at school I change from my street shoes into my school "slippers" and as I make my up two flights of stairs and down the hallway I'm greeted with numerous "Hello!! Good morning, Jana Lee. Hi Ms. Jana, Hi Teacher Jana..." I wave back, say "Hi" and give high fives.
9:10am First class of the day. Mr. Joe and I teach the 5th or 6th grade English class for 40 minutes. I always open the class with "Good Morning, everyone!! How are you today?" with a wave and a smile. The students respond in unison "I'm fine/good/sleepy, etc. Thank you. And how are you?" After our salutations we spend the next 40 minutes watching a video of English dialog (with a theme in mind), listen and repeat the dialog, repeat dialog with students and student with student dialog (role play), learn new vocabulary and always end the class with a game.
9:50: The class takes a ten minute break and I sit at my desk with a barrage of questions from the students; "How old are you? Are you married/single? When is your birthday?..." It's always a different questions everyday. I entertain them with the little Korean I know and they laugh, clap and encourage me.
One of the things that's very unique with Korean children is they are very hands on with each other. During class I see girls holding other girls hands and boys rubbing other boy's arms or holding hands. And once the break bell sounds they immediately, pounce, jump, hit, slap and even punch each other on the back. I watch and wince as they physically rough play with each other until class resumes. Teachers often leave the classroom during break and the students are left to their own devices. I can see why the teachers leave...!
10:00 - 12:30: I teach 3rd and 4th graders in their homeroom alone but the native teacher usually sits in the back of the classroom keeping a watchful eye on any ill behaved or distracted student. I follow a set curriculum but I create the lesson plan and always end with a game that involves movement and action that gets the students out of their chair. We have a lot of fun!!
12:35: Mr. Joe and I make our way to the faculty room where 12 other administrators, principal and vice principal (I always bow towards the principal when I'm in his presence) dish up food onto our metal trays and eat in virtual silence. I'm always the last person at the table. Mr. Joe has apologized to me a number of times for how fast Koreans eat.
1:00-3:20: I prepare lesson plans for all of my classes for the week; 3rd/4th grade, Advanced English, After School English and Teacher's Club-English.
3:20-4:50: Teaching resumes; Advanced English and/or After School English and/or Teacher's Club-English.
5:00: Mr. Joe and I depart the school and he drives me home.

One of the challenges of teaching (in any classroom-English or not) is to create a lesson plan/curriculum that is creative enough for the "advanced" learners but not too difficult for the beginning learners. All of my classrooms consist of about 30 students and the diversity of learners is broad! I don't want to bore the advanced learners but I don't want to isolate the beginning learners. Every lesson plan I create has to be very thoughtful, creative and yet makes learning English fun! Not only am I a teacher but I'm also a student who is always learning!

My Korean family (Nancy, Kelly and Sally) invited me to join them for an afternoon of swimming. Well, anybody that knows me knows I'm not a big fan of public swimming pools! (it's a germ thing) But I'm here to experience new things in Korea and I reluctantly agreed to go but with a good attitude. I hate saying "no" to them. Little did I know it was a water park and spa! A cool swim on a hot/humid day actually sounded enticing but when we arrived at the Hotel Miranda in Icheon the ticket line was 6 long lines of kids carrying inflated rubber floaties, Mom and Dads toting baskets filled with snacks, water, shampoo and soap. That was my first indication it was going to be a long day! But with an attitude of adventure I clinched my teeth and breathed in deep as splashing and shrieking children can be heard throughout the water park. Oy!
Kelly talked me into standing in line to go down a 3 story high water slide. Once we got to the top of the stairs and waited our turn on the platform I disclosed to Kelly that this was my first time going down a waterslide. She said "Really??!!" and I shamefully nodded. I had her go first...
I kept telling myself as the gushing water was flowing down the large tube, "if I can jump out of a plane at 10,000 feet, I can surely lie down, cross my arms and slide." So, I quickly sat down (before I chickened out) and waited for the water to rush me away...I screamed all the way down!!

More Korean Observations:

--Students sweep, mop and dust their classroom every day before departing for the day.
--Ill behaved students sit in the hallway; kneeling on their feet, hands above their head.
--When pouring a drink or handing an item (ie, money, note etc.) to an elder, use both hands to present out of respect. It does not apply to someone younger than you.
--Cellphone charms are very popular! An English teacher coined the term "Dangle" for those little charms that hang from the cellphone.
--Children hit, punch and horseplay (That would never be acceptable in a school in the states!)
--Driving Etiquette: At night when a car stops at a 4 way signal light, the lead car turns off their headlights until the light turns green.

June 4 - Thursday

My 4th grade classes are learning how to tell time (on the hour) and since I prescribe to kinesthetic pedagogy I had all the students stand up and use their body as a clock. With 25 students and me we put our hands together above our heads and indicated 12:00 and then moved our right hand to 1:00, 2:00, etc....you get the picture. When we arrived at 9:00 one of the students in the back of the classroom broke into Y-M-C-A, music and all. It took everything in me to not start laughing but to finish the exercise. How could I possibly ignore the Village People?! So, after we reached 12:00 again, I went to the young budding Village People impersonator and asked him to stand on his chair so that everybody in the classroom got a good view of his Y-M-C-A rendition. He enthusiastically motioned Y-M-C-A with song and we all followed suit; singing and laughing!

Two things are synonymous with Korea; kimchi and spas (bathhouse). Spas are notorious in Korean culture as a gathering place for friends and family. Many spas charge a mere 8,000 won (equivalent to $8.00) and it buys you a few hours of relaxation in saunas, heated floors to lie on, ice rooms, communal bathing and even having a Korean woman scrub you down with a brillo pad.
An English teacher and I ventured to find this hide-a-way spa, so after taking a bus, subway, another bus, a taxi and another bus, we finally found the bathhouse on the hill. (I kept thinking..."all this to get naked in front of people?") We reached the front desk and were given a key with a number to place our street shoes in. Then, we approached another desk where we were given a different key with a number and a bright orange prison uniform (I mean spa attire) with matching orange hand towels. After placing our backpacks and street clothes in the locker we donned orange shorts with a thick orange t-shirt. We shuffled upstairs to the pebble sauna room; a very hot room filled with heated pebbles that you lie on with your feet resting on a log and your head resting on a block of wood. Once I got my log and block of wood settled I scurried onto the hot pebbles and laid down as fast as I could without exposing more skin on the hot rocks. Because I'm a delicate flower I could only withstand the heat for about 20 mins before wilting into a sweaty puddle of orange mush. We just as fast got up and hurried to the ice room; a wall to wall layer of ice with cold wooden benches. After about 20 mins. of cooling down we departed the igloo and hydrated ourselves before venturing downstairs to the communal bathing area....and that's where the story ends. Ok, so I completely whimped out of the communal bath but while I waited for my friend I got caught up on the latest Korean soap opera.
So, at the end of the day I tried the Korean bathhouse experience (fully clothed) but would mostly likely just stick to trying different kinds of kimchi.