One week under my belt! Huge strides are being made. For one, I've met almost all of my students. With the exception of some 4th graders whom I will be meeting today. They are shocked to have a friendly, female native teacher since their last teacher was an older, married man who apparently didn't like children. "Oh teacher, big eyes, beautiful, beautiful!" was the most common reaction, along with receiving folded hearts at the end of classes. Secondly, I feel I've conquerred the once intimidating Busan public transportation system. Getting to and from school is quite easy now and takes exactly an hour with walking, subway, and bus time combined. Not bad, especially with my "morning commute" playlist to get my blood pumping for the day of classes. In the evenings I used the subway to get downtown to meet Kate and Chaz and even went all the way to Ulsan by public transit over the weekend. Thirdly, there have been major breakthroughs with my stern (see previous posts) co-teacher. He rode the bus with me all the way home on Tuesday to make sure I knew where to get off at and by the end of the week was introducing me to his classes as a "wonderful, pretty native teacher". He let me solo plan and teach the English club classes on Tuesday. This was the turning point in our tense relationship. I think he saw I was very much capable of teaching the students on my own. I had to prove it to him. Things have been increasingly more comfortable since then as he seems to value having me in the classroom.
After all my co-teachers' talks of disinterested students, bad attitudes, etc I was shocked at the lack of discipline commanded in their classes. They each spoke softly, just above a whisper, when starting the class and giving directions. No one could hear them, I could barely hear them and I was trying to listen. A handful of students in each class "forgot" their books. I watched nothing be done about this, a great excuse for them to tune out and distract others for the whole 40 minutes. No, no, no, no, no. I handed them all blank pieces of paper to write and follow along. I saw students playing games on their cellphones, not even being sneaky about it like they did at academy. No, no, no, no, no. I took the phones away. A few had their heads down in the back, I kindly woke them up and required them to participate. Several groups of rowdy boys or chatty girls sat in a pack constantly causing distractions but were never required to participate, answer questions or called out for their rudeness. No, no, no, no, no. You, "Mr. Rowdy", will sing a solo if you don't want to learn the chant with the rest of the class. Instant obedience. Or why not try splitting them up? I asked my co-teacher what the punishment was for all these offenses after class and he replied bashfully. "Oh, there's no punishments." Duuuh, it's no wonder the students don't respect you or the subject you teach! I gave my two-cents. Both seemed to agree that something had to be done and seemed thankful I would assist them in the process of whipping the students into shape.
The weekend was lovely. Friday night Kate, Chaz, Enah and I met for some tasty Italian. Then we discovered a little jazz club gem called "MONK" in the hip-hopping university district. We sat nursing some beers and listening to the smooth rhythms. Saturday Ji had a sk8ing competition in Busan so we went to cheer him on. It was in a beautiful part of the city I had never seen before, right next to the Lotte Giants baseball stadium, basketball arena, and indoor swimming pool and with an amazing view of the mountains behind it all. It reminded me of Olympic Park in Seoul. Then it was off to Ulsan for my cute, little Jenilee bear's going away party. She has been teaching in Korea for 2 years now and is heading back to the Phillipines. Many of my favorite Ulsan memories include Jenilee so of course it was sad to say goodbye. But I know I will see her again and perhaps soon (winter break in the Phillipines anyone?). I was able to reconnect with many Ulsan people once again and extend the invitation for them to stay in Busan with me whenever they want. The rain on Sunday was perfect as it gave me a good excuse to be lazy and catch up on sleep after a late night with friends on Saturday.
After all my co-teachers' talks of disinterested students, bad attitudes, etc I was shocked at the lack of discipline commanded in their classes. They each spoke softly, just above a whisper, when starting the class and giving directions. No one could hear them, I could barely hear them and I was trying to listen. A handful of students in each class "forgot" their books. I watched nothing be done about this, a great excuse for them to tune out and distract others for the whole 40 minutes. No, no, no, no, no. I handed them all blank pieces of paper to write and follow along. I saw students playing games on their cellphones, not even being sneaky about it like they did at academy. No, no, no, no, no. I took the phones away. A few had their heads down in the back, I kindly woke them up and required them to participate. Several groups of rowdy boys or chatty girls sat in a pack constantly causing distractions but were never required to participate, answer questions or called out for their rudeness. No, no, no, no, no. You, "Mr. Rowdy", will sing a solo if you don't want to learn the chant with the rest of the class. Instant obedience. Or why not try splitting them up? I asked my co-teacher what the punishment was for all these offenses after class and he replied bashfully. "Oh, there's no punishments." Duuuh, it's no wonder the students don't respect you or the subject you teach! I gave my two-cents. Both seemed to agree that something had to be done and seemed thankful I would assist them in the process of whipping the students into shape.
The weekend was lovely. Friday night Kate, Chaz, Enah and I met for some tasty Italian. Then we discovered a little jazz club gem called "MONK" in the hip-hopping university district. We sat nursing some beers and listening to the smooth rhythms. Saturday Ji had a sk8ing competition in Busan so we went to cheer him on. It was in a beautiful part of the city I had never seen before, right next to the Lotte Giants baseball stadium, basketball arena, and indoor swimming pool and with an amazing view of the mountains behind it all. It reminded me of Olympic Park in Seoul. Then it was off to Ulsan for my cute, little Jenilee bear's going away party. She has been teaching in Korea for 2 years now and is heading back to the Phillipines. Many of my favorite Ulsan memories include Jenilee so of course it was sad to say goodbye. But I know I will see her again and perhaps soon (winter break in the Phillipines anyone?). I was able to reconnect with many Ulsan people once again and extend the invitation for them to stay in Busan with me whenever they want. The rain on Sunday was perfect as it gave me a good excuse to be lazy and catch up on sleep after a late night with friends on Saturday.
(Jenilee and Jong Won)
It's Monday morning, the sun is just peeking out from behind the left-over rain clouds and I'm about to start my day of classes, 아자! This week is going to be a good one. Wednesday = Peppero Day. Which means I'll definitely be sick Wednesday night after eating so many peppero sticks from students....I can't wait! Thursday = OTS ARMY BREAK!!!! OTS will have 6 nights of freedom. I'm so excited to see his lil soju face again. And excited to see him with a buzzed haircut....bahahaha.
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