The last day of our first week

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Well, today it is snowing outside! I have never been in falling snow before and I am loving it!!! :o)

We are teaching a full day today (yes, it is saturday and we are working from 7.30am until 8pm) and then we are heading into Seoul after work. The university here is putting on a bus to take us in tonight and so we should be in there by 9pm-ish...just in time for the all night markets!!

Our typical day (all days are the same as we have quite a strict timetable to follow):

7.00am: A very loud wakeup call goes through the whole dormatory (all 6 floors of it) to wake everyone up
7.30am: Have to be outside to get on the mini-van that takes us to work
7.4/7.45am: Get to the School and have breakfast
8.15am: Finish breakfast and head to the 'Head Office' (staffroom) to plan lessons and mark the children's homework and diary writing from the night before
9.30am: Meeting with Dr Shin of the University
10.00am: First teaching block. This is called speaking and listening. It is entirely made up of teaching from a textbook and we must finish a unit per day (around 10 pages). Now, my class are only 7 & 8 years old and have very limited english so this is quite a push to get all the work finished!
12.00-1.30pm: lunchtime
1.30-6.00pm: afternoon session. This is supposed to run with no break in the middle. As far as I am concerned that is rediculous so I let them have two breaks in this time as well as take them for a game. Seeing as it is freezing outside (and snowing today) most of the time the game is inside (like softball with a paper ball etc). This time is made up of reading class and 'immersion' class. Immersion is supposed to be anything but most of us still haven't finished the work from that morning so we are still doing it during immersion.
6.00-7.00pm: dinner time.
7.00-7.50pm: Last session. This is supposed to be preparation for the concert that our class gives the parents on the last day. However, not in my class. My little poppets are expected to do about 3 hours homework when they ge3t back to the dorm. I think that is the stupidist, most unrealistic thing I have ever heard of so I let my little ones do their homework during class. Then we just muck around if there is time left over.
7.50pm: Hometime!! We head home on the minivan. So far, we have got home, showered and gone to bed cos we are so tired!

Well, I think this is enough of an entry today as I am hogging one of the 5 computers that we have access to in the staffroom. Hope you are all having fun in your holidays (if you are a teacher) or work isn't too bad (if you are unlucky enough to be working).

Aussie people: see you all in 21 sleeps! :o)
Kiwi people: see you in less than two months! :o)

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Comments

[Kaz]

hey
Great to hear you having sooooooo much fun Ange. The markets sound awesome in Seoul. You sound as though you are very busy- expecting to see some great pictures on your return, unless you get a cable prior. Love ya. Kaz