Teaching English

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Ahh, I should update more often, but when I'm not teacher, I'm rotting my brain with KPop or KDrama. Too addicting. My bad.

I'm going to try and write two entries in a row tonight, so bear with me 😊 It's time to launch into what it's like teaching English with ChungDahm April.

For this semester, I've had it kind of easy, to be honest. At my branch, the students are broken into classes like this:

• Seedbed: Starter, 1, 2
  
• Seed: 1, 2
  
• Sprout: 1, 2, 3
  
• Sapling: 1, 2
  
• Junior Master
  

Anywho. I only teach Seed 1, Seed 2, Sprout 1, and Sprout 2. So the rest really doesn't apply to me. I usually get the youngest kids earlier in the day, and the older kids at night. Just because they are older does not mean their language level is higher. So my MWR classes look like: Seed 1, Sprout 2, Seed 2, Seed 2, Sprout 1, Sprout 2. And TF classes are chaos, because for two school days, they must cover 3 lessons-- they get a lesson and a half each day. I have Seed 1, Sprout 1, and Sprout 2 on those days, but I teach 4-5 sections of class...

So Tuesdays: I have 45 min of Seed 1 , a 45 min break , 45 min of Seed 1 again . THEN they go home. New kids come in. Then I get 45 min of Sprout 2, 45 min Sprout 1, 45 min Sprout 2 .

Fridays: I have a 45 min break , then 45 min Seed 1 , then a 45 min break . THEN SEED KIDS GO HOME. New kids come in. THEN 45 min Sprout 1, 45 min Sprout 2, and back to 45 min Sprout 1.

My schedule and the Korean instructor's schedule are exact opposites. Because while I only have the kids for 40 or 45 minutes, they go to the other instructor for 40-45 minutes. The entire "lesson" is actually about an hour and a half long. So, on Tuesdays, Chloe gets a break where I am teaching, and on Fridays I get a break where Chloe is teaching. Hmm. Maybe I should make a chart to clarify.

ANYWAY

For the month that I've been teaching, I got to wake up around 11:50, turn the hot water on, sleep another 10 minutes, roll out of bed and shower , dress myself, and get to work by 1. At 1, prep time would begin. I'd print out answer keys for myself, make copies of the topic discussion or thinking projects, grade "essays" and spelling tests , and do things like turn on the projector and change the date on the whiteboard. Tres exciting.

If I am "starting" the day -- we do a few things depending on the age group. 1st-- warm up, if Seed. 2nd - article listening (and listen and repeat if Seed). 3rd - reading a sentence of the article at a time and asking leading questions. 4th - reading the article all together. 5th - comprehension questions. 6th - if Sprout, we also do the summary.

Then we do the "speaking" part - either talk about the theme/topic discussion/thinking project OR memorizing/reciting a news report dialogue. The kids love news report ("ACTING TODAY TEACHER?!"). Like. They are totally rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth CRAZY for it.

If the kids see the Korean teacher first and switch to me second, we do all speaking. So, depending on the level, there's a dialogue practice, where I usually draw faces on the characters and let the kids do crazy voices . There's also "Make a Presentation" where I have to elicit specific sentences from the article to describe the pictures given. After that is "Storytelling" where kids just make up stories about the pictures from "Make a Presentation." My kids call this activity "CRAZY STORY" because in the end, 99.9%!o(MISSING)f stories end in death. And about half of them are about Teacher Olleh KT. Thanks, kids.

Once this is done, like above, we do the talk about the theme/topic discussion/thinking project OR news report.

In all cases, on the "last day" of news report, we record the kids with our computers and post their videos online for their parents to see. Kids go APESHIT over acting. Words cannot describe the hilarity. Unfortunately, the bigger the class, the more chaotic the acting gets. Also, a good chunk of my classes are either all boys or nearly all boys. Someone lend a little pity.

In a good chunk of my classes, I've given my kids nicknames. I've got Dash Bunny and Shawn Puppy in one class , Cold Kol , Hot Shot Eric , "UGH BRIAN" , and then my Sprout 2 class who all came with their own nicknames : Kellifornia, Original Jerry, Sue Teacher, Fake John, and Delicious Andy. <3 <3 <3 that class.


So, yes, I've been living it up with my cushy schedule... BUT EVERYTHING CHANGES FOR JANUARY.

DUN DUN DUN. The part no one in training will tell you about. WINTER INTENSIVES!!!

For us April kids, it doesn't look so terrible. Maybe a little dry, but as long as you have a sense of humor and some great bull-shitting skil--- I mean "imagination" --- things should go well.

What are winter intensives? Oh, well, since kids have plenty o' break from school in the winter time, parents feel that instead of enjoying their vacations, kids should go to more school. So kids come to Winter Intensives to improve on their English. On the upside, none of this work is actually really graded. We try not to give kids homework, etc., or add to their work load. On the downside, why the hell would we tell kids its okay not to do any of the work? Because, let's be for real here, how effective will class be when no one's bother to read the 3 pages of the novel that are needed to answer the questions in the workbook that day? Aishh....

What does that mean for Teacher Katie? It means I have to go in earlier than usual [I think we have to be there around 9? Because it starts around 10? Eesh. I should know this, they start for us on Monday... but I guess I'll find out if I get there too early. I can always hit up Tous Les Jours or Dunkin for coffee first. But according to another teacher, who did Summer Intensives, we also get out a little earlier? Instead of getting out at 9, we get out at like 7/7:05-- when the classes normally end. (Usually, we have to stay until 9 to grade speaking homework, etc.)

But yeah. Winter Intensives are in the morning. Regular classes follow at their normal schedule (2:30-7:00 or 7:05). If we surpass 120 hours/month, we get paid hourly overtime (remember: all April instructors are on a monthly salary, not hourly like the regular branches).

If anyone is looking into teaching with CDI/CDI April and has questions, feel free to ask here!

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Photos

Kim Jong Il
As drawn by Fake John

Keek the Hamster Easy
Lynette tells me all about Hamsters

A few more...
...of my student's papers!

Deer
:)

Monkey
This one might be my absolute fave. Read it.

Dynamic Duo
Guys.... can anyone tell me if this is JASON'S PAPER? Or is it JOHNNY'S. Ugh, those two... haha

MWR Schedule
What my MWR classes look like

TF Schedule
Tuesday on top, Friday on the bottom

Comments

[karin- kate's mom]

Hello Katie, Hope you are enjoying Korea. I'm enjoying your blogs. Kate sounds interested which means that I will have to visit you two. Mama Henschel

[Andrew L.]

Very good!!
I'm moving in February to go teach for EPIK, the public school version of what you're doing (as I'm sure you're aware!). This kind of thing, photos included, is a great preview of what is to come, even if the structure is different. I'm used to teaching ~college-age students, so teaching children is going to be quite a bit different (and probably more fun in the end). Again, thank you for posting! I'm at http://trekkerdrew.blogspot.com/ if you want to tag along for my blog (other travel stuffs in there as well).

[HeartandSeoul]

I'm glad to help out. Just let me know if you have any questions, and I'll try and answer them :)

[Mike]

Working with Chungdam
I have an interview next week with Chungdahm next week and I am trying to get information about the company. I hear horror stories about how companies are run or how people are paid on time. I was wondering what you could tell me about your experience. Thanks.