Everyday life as a native english teacher

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Okay so I have been living in Korea and trying to learn the ropes of teaching English as a foreign language for 121 days! So instead of just writing about weekend adventures and the like I thought I’d write about a weekday in my life.

I teach at an all-girls private high school in Daegu which is kind of in the south east of the peninsula and is starting to get hot (its apparently the hottest place in the country and will be the most humid). When I say private school I don’t mean an English academy that students go to in the evening after normal classes. It’s like a public school but parents pay more to send their daughters here. So my English classroom is pretty amazing because of this.

I only teach first grade students, they are 16 in Korea but are actually 14/15 in the UK because everyone is two years older than us here. After the first grade of high school the pressure is on for students to prepare for the life dictating university assessment test they will take at the end of school. This test doesn’t currently include speaking, therefore other areas of English are considered more important for their study so they don’t have conversational classes.

I get to choose the content of all of my lessons and don’t have a textbook or set curriculum. At first I thought this was going to be a nightmare because I had zero teaching experience but it turned out to be blessing I disguise because I get to choose what I teach and can tailor topics to what I think the students will like and respond to. Sometimes I get it right and sometimes I get it very wrong!

A (week)day in my life as a teacher in Korea

7.00 - 7.15am Try to rouse myself from my pit and change from an ogre to a human. Get showered in my wet room - no bath, no separate shower room, the shower head basically sits above my sink I’m used to this from a previous apartment and being lazy I actually enjoy having a wet room because it stays so clean! Eat breakfast usually cereal, or a homemade smoothy.

8.00-8.10am – Leave the house and walk to school. Its only 15 minutes so I usually see some familiar faces if I’ve stayed at mine rather than Ash’s. These may be: One of my neighbours, the guy who runs the convenience store near my house, a really old guy or old woman sitting under an enormous umbrella, the guy with a huge grin and a pushchair with a well cute Buddha baby in it or some kids from the primary school next to my house. If they are older than me I’ll bow and say a formal hello to which they usually respond well to, if children I usually say hi or hello in English.

8.20 – 8.30am – Get to school and change in to my indoor shoes. You’re not allowed to wear your usual outdoor shoes in school you have to wear slippers or sandals which you leave in your own personal cupboard. The idea of indoor shoes baffles me because everyone wears them outside. My co-teacher told me I mustn’t wear them past the school gate as then they are outdoor shoes. Anyway once my shoe situation is sorted I head to the english teachers room and greet the other teachers in Korean with a bow. Its very important to respect your elders especially the males.

8.30 – 11.30am - <span> School classes officially start at 8.30 (although some poor students are in much earlier). My timetable varies across the week but I usually teach 15 student classes and 6 teacher workshops and also hold an interview situation class for the third graders preparing for university interviews. So I usually have around 4ish classes on average a day. My other time is spent freaking out about crap lessons that haven’t worked or planning for the next week.

11.50am – 12.50pm – Lunchtime - When I first came to Korea I was worried that I would find it hard to eat some of the food I would be given at lunch, I seem to have become much less picky so really enjoy this part of my day (obvs – I am well greedy). Lunch costs about £1.50 and comes straight out of my pay so is no hassle. It’s served up buffet style on a prison style metal tray. Usually you get some form of kimchi, some meat or fish in a sauce, vegetables, rice and soup. What we have changes daily and is really varied. Some days are better than others but for so cheap I really can’t moan. After eating I will usually take a walk around the school playing field with some of the other English teachers and chat. I really enjoy this as its helped me get to know them on a personal level and we have some great conversations. I’m now also starting to slip in some Korean I have been learning in a sneaky tactic to practice with them!

Before afternoon classes everyone brushes their teeth! The students will crowd in the toilets or outside by the taps and scrub their gums like there’s no tomorrow. Teachers usually go to the teachers toilets. It’s quite normal to walk around with a toothbrush hanging from your chops and also to continue a conversation whilst brushing. I’ve not really got the knack of that yet and end up frothing at the mouth or dribbling. Fetching as always.

1.10 – 4.00pm Afternoon Classes – As in the morning dependent on my timetable I usually have a couple of classes in the afternoon. It’s common for my classes to finish at 3pm and for me to use my remaining time planning.

4pm Students clean the school – Yes that’s right they all have chores! I think it’s a great idea personally (god im getting old!). I think chores are rotated and jobs range from cleaning the windows or the classrooms, mopping the floor and cleaning the teachers offices to emptying the bins in the toilet (and remember everyone puts their loo roll in the bin <span>- yucky job! ). I like to think that the naughty girls have to do the gross toilet duty haha. Maybe I can use that threat in class sometime.

4.30pm – Schools out! – Put my outdoor shoes on and get outta there.

4.30pm onwards – My weekday evenings can vary but I’ll usually have one day where I skype family or friends, go out to dinner a couple of evenings or stay at Ash’s place and also<span> go to my Korean language class once a week.

So there you go a bit of an insight in to every day life as a foreigner teaching in Korea. 😊

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