A Dull Heaven and An Exciting Hell

---

"A Korean person today described the difference between living in Korea vs. the West as follows "We live in an exciting HELL as opposed to a DULL Heaven". "

I was slacking away on Facebook, as I often do at my desk, when I read that status update from another teacher, Stephen. How completely ACCURATE. And how utterly spot-on for how my day was going. I had just finished my 2nd grade basic level class and I was extremely upset. So upset that I had my headphones on and I was listening to music while staring at Facebook because I didn't think I could handle my lesson planning at the moment.

The girls in that class are young, but old enough to understand respect and classroom behavior. Yet, the whole class I got rude comments, girls hitting each other, and zero work done. One of my classroom rules is No Toys (cell phones, mp3, mirrors, and combs) and when I saw an mp3 I said hand it over. The girl refused and refused. I said fine then you need to leave my classroom. She refused again until my Korean co-teacher screamed at her for a couple minutes. The other out of control girls made me resort to push-ups, which I thought I would not ever do. But they found it hilarious. Being moved seats was also a riot to them. The whole class was a waste of time, but I don't put all the blame on the bad students. That lesson wasn't my best, in fact I'm re-doing it after I write this because I know it's crap, and secondly I should have been paying more attention to the students who want to learn. I put so much effort into trying to stop the bad students that I left the good students out to dry. Next class on Friday, it's new seats and a new lesson. Fingers crossed.

So I had found myself feeling like Korea was a hell, it was one of those moments where I asked myself, "what am I doing here?!" And then I read Stephen's status and things swung back into perspective. Teaching is stressful, Korea is confusing, and everyday there is something that comes out of nowhere and throws my plans out of whack. Yet that is what is so EXCITING about Korea. I'm learning so much about another culture and about myself. I'm learning to let go of the little things and to work harder. At home in Placerville things were good; heaven one could say. I could do whatever I wanted, I was well provided for by my parents, and I had good friends who I had a lot of fun with. Yet there were no challenges. And even though my friends and I went new places and did creative things, in a small town nothing is ever NEW. You have an idea of what to expect and who you are going to see and with that, comes a bit of dullness.

Trying harder in my classes is already paying off. I had a wonderful day today. My students were engaged, I had fun teaching, and I'm getting them to speak! Little by little, they are saying English words out loud by themselves! My first grade class even offered up things they like and I didn't even prompt them. It was awesome.

Now my after school class is still a challenge, BUT I'm starting to figure out what I need to do. Speak slower, make it interesting, and sadly I need to move seats because there are four girls who never get any work done and they sit by each other. I know that English is hard for them, but after I give them instructions multiple times they still do nothing and I KNOW they can do it. Mr Im came up to me after class and said "I heard how loud your class was. You can get me anytime and I will help you." This was very nice of him, but the thing is, it's a CONVERSATION CLASS. Isn't it supposed to be a bit loud? True, they were too loud, but at least I had them talking in ENGLISH about fashion which was fantastic. They really went off on the school uniforms haha. I even got the four girls to give me ideas of what to do with my hair. This sounds silly, but any English is great from these ladies.

So I carry on in my exciting hell, which is seeming more and more like an exciting heaven everyday.

---

Comments

[Megan Elrod]

I have Subscribed!
Hannah, I signed up to get an alert every time you write a new blog. I didn't even know you were in Korea until I did some facebook stalking of you and ended up here. You are one brave woman Hannah! Kids can be hard to deal with and it sounds like you are getting a taste. Are you teaching all grades? I loved reading the part about the girls talking fashion ( you are something of a fashion icon to me, did you know that?), and I agree with you that any English is good English. So cool to hear about what you are doing. Miss you! We need to catch up someday in the future.

[Mary]

spot-on hannah
I re-read this blog and wasreally impressed by your thoughtfulness and perceptions about teaching!! You Will make a difference and how cool to have the girls talk about something they are interested in. I'm glad you are having good days too!! You are being refined like silver and gold, soon to be sparkling in reward to all your efforts....throw a bit of your drama and song in there....you'll get their attention!! great job!!!