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Published: November 20th 2011
So this week was my first proper week of teaching. I am shattered. Talk about being thrown in at the deep end with your arms and legs tied behind your back! OK, so it wasn't that bad, but it was pretty daunting suddenly having to teach 8 lessons a day to a bunch of little kids without ever having done it before! I teach the little kids in the morning - this is kids from the age of 3 to 6. This is generally phonics work and singing books. In general I don't have to do too much extra work, just make a few worksheets here and there to pad out some of the lessons. But I also get to teach them art & craft and science which is pretty fun and the kids love it.
The main problems I have been having is with trying to gauge what level of english each class is at and then pitch the work accordingly. It can be quite frustrating as sometimes the levels of english in each class can vary quite significantly. Some kids will have finished their worksheets really quickly while others will be scribbling over the whole page. Some will
finish and then scribble over the whole page. And then there is the problems of having kids that act in different ways. I was a bit naive coming in thinking all kids would pretty much be the same. But no, you get the silent ones, the ones which have way too much energy, the geniuses, the ones with no attention span, the moody ones, the fighting ones...you get the picture. But you have to treat them all accordingly, which is taking a bit of getting used to.
Which leads me on to their behaviour. I went in on the first day as Mr. Nice Guy - I want these kids to love me. Needless to say, day 2 I couldn't care less what they thought of me. If you're too nice you have no chance, they walk all over you. My favourite tactics are staring them out for about 10 seconds, threatening to take them outside or just threatening to get a Korean teacher. That quickly shuts them up. Let them cry! Although the reward system is pretty effective too, kids will do anything for a sticker! I think the first impression you make with them is important, you
can always get nicer with them once you've established a bit of discipline - I think it's harder to do it the other way around. Having said that, in general the behaviour is really good, it's only really the 5 year olds that give me a bit of trouble.
The hardest class for me though is the 3 year olds (which is also one of my biggest classes - 10 I think in total). I come out of that class sweating. Trying to keep their attention for 40 minutes is almost impossible. After about 25 minutes they start getting really restless - they're pretty much only babies after all! I keep having this problem with them where one will jump up, put one foot on the table (its really low down - they aren't giant toddlers) and start playing the air guitar. What?! Where did they learn that?! As soon as I sit them down, another one will pop up and do it. It's like playing 'Whack a Mole'. Turns out one of the Korean teachers taught it to them when they were learning a song. Maybe I should teach them something so they do it in the Korean
teachers' lesson! Suggestions please. Anyway, so I've now resorted to doing 25 minutes of singing and activities and then 15 minutes of playing, which works out a lot better. It's a steep learning curve for me, hopefully things will get a bit easier as I go along!
The afternoons are a lot easier as I teach the kids that are a bit older, and have a better grasp of English. They range from about 6 to 10 years old. You can chat a bit more with these kids, and it's a bit more relaxed. The numbers are a lot smaller as well, sometimes I only have 2 students in a class which is great. The behaviour is so much better too. We have to do plays with these classes as well, every 2 months, which is fun. I have to get them to learn their lines, maybe re-writing the script a bit, and then make some basic costumes and props for the performance to the rest of the school.
The school does loads of things with the kids, such as gym class, cello lessons and ballet (which thankfully I don't have to teach!). But also plenty of school
trips and every month they have a birthday party for all the children born in that month. We had the birthday party on Thursday which was quite funny. The kids whose birthday it is have to dress up in traditional Korean clothes (called Hanbok), stand at the front while everyone sings to them. The kids all then ask 'What do you want to be....?', to which the reply is normally something like 'a bumblebee', or 'a shark'. I'm not entirely sure if that's the point of the question, but whatever. It's actually quite annoying because in class you get kids asking you constantly 'What do you want to be?'. I always tell them a lion so I can eat badly behaved children. They love giving gifts here as well, every kid in the school gives all the birthday children a present each - they leave the hall with bagfuls of presents! And most days there's normally some kind of baked good left on my desk - I'm definitely going to come back a right fat bloater!
In other news, I continue to receive a lot of attention due to being tall. One guy in a supermarket looked at me
and made the kind of noise you make when watching a fireworks display. Yesterday, me and Chris had a bunch of young girls following us round the supermarket giggling and asking 'how are you?'. I was a bit hungover to say the least and wasn't particularly in the mood for the attention - it's nice sometimes but can also be quite annoying! Especially if you do something stupid - everyone sees you if you do. For example yesterday I spent about 5 minutes trying on loads of slippers before I realised I was in the ladies section - looked round and there's people staring and giggling!
It's surprising how similar Korea is to home. In the city anyway - I haven't ventured out into the countryside yet. The shopping areas are better than home - the department stores are huge and everything is golden. There's even a fountain/light show in one of them. The stores in there are all the big names too - Dolce and Gabana, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, you name it. If only the stuff fitted me. I tried on a jacket yesterday in size xxl and the sleeves were almost at my elbows. Maybe I could
start a new trend of 'jacket t-shirts'?
But you're never too far from home here - I've found a Marks and Spencers, and there is also load of huge Tesco's (although trading under a different name - Home Plus). More proof that they are taking over the world, but as much as I hate them, it is the only place you can get hold of a lot of Western food and so on. The biggest news this week is that I finally managed to get hold of some cheddar cheese. Paid a high price for it, but I need it, I can't stand the processed stuff any longer. For some reason Koreans apparently prefer it? For a country that loves food so much it's a bit surprising! My Korean is coming on very slowly too, I can now pretty much read Hangul, although very slowly. I have also learnt some useful tips, such as to avoid saying the Korean word for 'eighteen', as it also means 'asshole'. So never ask someone if they are 18 here, or you may well end up with a black eye.
So although there are similarities between Korea and home, there are also
a few strange things I've come across since I've been here, so I thought I'd share some of them with you:
1. What are those stairs for? Firstly, possibly the most annoying thing about Korea has to be waiting for lifts. Koreans never take the stairs. They would rather wait 5-10 minutes for a lift (which happens frequently) than take the stairs. God help them if there was ever a fire, I'm not sure they'd know what to do!
2. The need for good quality socks In Korea, you never wear your shoes inside (although it's ok in shops etc.). Even in the gym you're supposed to have a separate pair of trainers that have never been worn outside. It's actually not a bad idea, it keeps everything nice and clean inside. But you soon get sick of taking your shoes on and off constantly. I have quickly regretted not bringing any slippers with me, as bigfoot over here is yet to find slippers in my size. It's also mildly embarassing walking round school with holes in my socks, much to the amusement of the kids.
3. How old are you?
Koreans are born at the age of 1, not 0 like back at home. Which means they are a year younger than it seems (I have used the English ages in this blog). To confuse matters even further, their age doesn't change on their birthday, but rather in the new year. So if you were born on 31 December 2011, by 1 January 2012 you would be 2 years old. So Korean age is English age plus 1 or 2 years. Knowing someones real age here is not easy!
5. Tetraphobia The number 4 here is closely associated with death (due I think to the similarity of the pronunciation to the word for death, 'sa'😉, and Korean people tend to be quite superstitious about it. So much so that many hospitals here do not have a fourth floor. If buildings do have a fourth floor, the lift could well be labelled with an 'F' rather than a '4'. Apparently it is worse in Cantonese, where 4 sounds like 'die', 14 sounds like 'die for sure', and 24 sounds like 'easy to die'. My apartment is on the 4th floor, flat number 404. I
guess the rent is cheaper.
6. What don't you like about Korea? This is my least favourite question to be asked. In my experience so far, Koreans don't take criticism too well. Well I mean who does, but if you say anything remotely critical you will watch their face drop and immediately find yourself backpedaling as fast as you can. This is especially the case when it comes to food. Koreans take a huge amount of pride in their food, so it is always best to say 'Yes it's lovely', when really you are desperate to find somewhere to spit your fermented cabbage out. My roommate Chris accidentally ate a 50 year old egg the other day in a restaurant. I like this about the Koreans though, it's refreshing to find people who are so proud of their country. The flip side of this is that they love to give compliments. You often get told you are very handsome (the same as back home really...), and more often than not it's a man saying it to you. No it's not what you're thinking, in fact it is quite normal to see men walking round holding hands
here - it's a sign of good friendship, not quite what it represents back at home!
I headed out to a place called Haeundae today, it's quite an exclusive area of Busan, and also where the most popular beach is. This beach gets packed in the summer, apparently having 800,000 people visit it every day in the height of summer. In the photos I've seen of it in the summer you can't even see the sand. It obviously wasn't busy at all today (it's freezing right now!), but it really is a stunning place. This is where the ex-pat sailing club is based, and so I went down to have a chat with the guys down there, who are all really sound. It's overlooked by these huge apartment buildings, I mean my apartment is nice but these look like something else all together! Certainly a bit different to sailing in the Mumbles! Busan is a really beautiful city, from the bustling downtown areas to the mountains meeting the sea. I was up early this morning and headed up to the roof of my apartment to watch the sunrise over the mountains, made me realise how lucky I am to
get the opportunity to live in this wonderful country.
Anyway, I think I'll leave it there, I could write tons more but I don't want to bore you too much! I'm having a great time out here, I hope you're all doing well back at home, miss you all!
P.S. I've also added a couple of photos of what is known as 'Konglish'. A lot of signs and descriptions are written in english here, and the translations are often quite funny. Before you ask, I have no idea what's on the pizza for 'nature-loving women'!
Ross x
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Anastasia78
Anastasia78
Nature loving woman...
What's on that pizza? Just kidding. Funny blog. Thanks for the laugh!