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Published: March 18th 2010
I'm already getting into my 4th day of teaching classes...it's going all right, each day is better than the last. There's a lot to get used to because the style is totally different from what I taught before in Japan. I have a set curriculum to follow and I have pretty much all the control in the classroom since there's no team teaching here. I do have a partner teacher though, she teaches some of the components of the lesson and I teach a different set. I am usually the Speaking and Reading teacher and she covers writing, but for the really little ones we kind of do everything. We're both "native" teachers, there's only one bi-lingual teacher at our school and we're actually expanding. Next term there might be more classrooms and more teachers! Good sign for business!
The youngest kids are around kindergartner age and the older kids are 3rd graders. Some of my classes are a handful and some are really good and pay attention and are quiet when I tell them to be quiet. It's definitely a learning experience as far as having to discipline kids. I think I'm doing all right though. I can balance strict and fun. Yesterday, I had several kids talking out of turn or talking
while their hands were raised and it was hard to control them, but we got through it. I talked to a kid after class briefly cause he was one of those wants to participate all the time types...I told him, you have to let other kids talk too. You can answer all the questions. I hope he gets better about it.
I think it'll take about 2-3 weeks for me to really have a handle on the schedule and what I'm supposed to be teaching. There are also a lot of things to do other than teaching: grading homework, grading participation, attendance, writing reports about new students, recording grades, giving tests, grading tests, extra events like movie day and carnival...I'll get it all down in good time.
I usually get to work around noon, teach from 2:30-7pm, then go home around 9:30pm. I'm pretty wiped out because I use a lot of energy for the kids...so I pass out around midnight and get up at 8am the next day to do it all over again. I'm really looking forward to the weekend so I can go into the downtown area and do more household goods shopping. I still don't have a good, cooking knife! I want to start making meals...I also need a table because right now I'm using an empty suitcase as a bedside table...I also can't keep everything on the floor because when I turn on the heat, all my stuff gets hot! The floors in Korea are heated...I LOVE it, I might sleep on the floor instead of the bed once I get a floor mat.
Back to prepping for today's classes. Tuesdays and Thursdays are slower paced than MWF. There are less students and I'm not teaching so many different levels in one day. I hope the schedule stays like this for awhile....
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Kat
non-member comment
May sensei!
Lol, what do they call you? Obviously it won't be May sensei, that would be weird. It sounds like so much more work than JET. Soooo jelous of the heated floor too! Looking forward to hearing more about it! Miss you!