I don't think it will ever get old hearing the excited greetings from students whether in English or Korean. I was a doubting Thomas but....I'm actually getting an orientation week like was promised! I get to sit back and observe each class once before I'll jump into teaching them next week. All day yesterday was 3rd grade. They are tiny, very sweet and giggly, but shy to speak much more than basic greetings in English. My co-teacher translates everything for them. It's my opinion that they could go without the translation in most cases, these children seem severely underestimated. 3rd and 4th grade study only listening and speaking. Therefore, most class time is spent practicing songs or chants. While songs and chants are more entertaining and work to practice correct pronunciation, they are very much useless when it comes to actually speaking. Here's today's chat, "Wow, wow. It's so small. Look at the monkey it's so small. Small, small. It's. So. Small. Wow, wow. It's so big. Look at the bear...." As I sat listening to these chants over and over I wondered to myself how great it would be if we all, did in fact, speak in chants. Conversation would become an art! Usually the people most likely to use profanity are the ones with the lowest vocabulary, but in this case they'd have to be clever about their profanity and probably just give up and sit quietly. Fantastic! Hmmm...this would be a great sociology experiment, who wants to take it on?
The public school system was such a mystery to me last year when I taught in the academy. I often wondered what the students accomplished at school regarding English, what the schedules were like, were there extracurricular activities?... etc. Now I can better piece together the educational life of a Korean student. First of all, classes are big. Big classes mean very little one-on-one interaction with the teacher. It makes me think of UNI's cheesy slogan that I often mocked...."You're more than just a number!" Well, in Korea you are a number...literally. Each student is given a number which is used instead of their names, even in elementary school. "That student 15 was really distracting today in class." What? It's hard for me to refer to students by numbers so I have requested they pick English names. It may mean having to memorize an entire school of names, but I'd prefer it that way. I can now see why academies are so desirable for parents. There their child would be getting attention and be called by their actual names.
Secondly, students do have extra-curricular classes/clubs. They are in the afternoon and students get to choose from things like recorder class (a classic!), English club, movie club, craving class, sports group, etc. I teach 2 English club classes a week. They are a bit smaller and I have total freedom of the lesson, assa! I think I will really enjoy these classes.
Thirdly, the kids really do eat rice and kimchi everyday for lunch! I always thought this was just a cheap, rehearsed answer the lazy kids would give me at academy. Who knew? I've eaten my kimchi everyday so far and am actually starting to enjoy it. Whoa!
I am directly experiencing a lot more cultural differences in the public school as I interact and observe my students and co-teachers than I ever did in the academy system. It's fun and interesting (classic Korean elementary student response for all "why" questions). I will keep you all updated as I continue to learn. :)
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