Kids Say the Darndest...

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I've been here in Korea for over a week now and I'm about to start my 3rd full day of teaching.

My job is actually not very time-consuming. In terms of actual hours in front of students, I have about 20 hours (22 classes per week at 45 minutes per class). I do have 20 different classes with about 40 students per class, which is a lot though. But since they study the same lessons, the preparation work I do is spread many classes that the per class prep time is really minimal.

Teachers are okay with physical disciplining here. I am the main teacher while another teacher is supposed to go around helping students who don't understand what I'm saying. However, this teacher usually just ends up being a policeman and hitting kids who misbehave. I even saw one teacher go around with a foot-long stick (she's actually a very sweet lady though).



Finally, a first installment of "Korean Kids Say the Darndest Things!"

-When I introduced myself, I told everyone I was from America. I asked them to guess which state I was from and a student guessed out loud, "Canada!"

-After introducing myself, I asked the classroom if they had any questions about me. One student shouted out "you are very handsome!" That same student later asked me if I had a girlfriend. That student is male.

-Finally, I tried playing the telephone game with my students yesterday. I don't think everyone understood me because the message never reached the end. When I went around to see where the message stopped and asked them if they got the message, one student shouted out, "the message is 'we were sent an email from Kim Jong-Il'!!!" The actual message was, "Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden." Close enough, I suppose.

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