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Published: July 13th 2010
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Wonderland School
So our school is called Wonderland. But, it’s not actually a school; it’s a Hagwan, better known in Canada as an academy. If anyone has heard of the Sylvan math program then you will understand the concept. A Hagwan is an after elementary school “school”. So children go to school until about 1pm, and then they go to these Hagwans. Ours is an English Hagwan but there are many others too. They range from math, sciences, art and social sciences, to Tae Kwon Do and other sports. Essentially these after-school schools are for rich kids to get a better education in specific topics. Education is very competitive here, and if the parents aren’t satisfied with their child’s learning they will simply switch hagwans. We’re having fun though, our fellow teachers are all very nice and lots of fun. At Wonderland there are (for the moment) 6 foreign teachers, two South Africans, two Americans and us. They’re all awesome people and have helped us out a lot in the past month. Along with the 6 of us are 8 Korean teachers, who are also really awesome. We’ve spent time with most of them, and they’ve also been very helpful
with us settling in and showing us a good time in Cheongju.
As for the children... they are super cute, if at times very annoying. We teach 9 classes a day. In the morning we teach kindergarten, and in the afternoon we teach elementary. The “kindies” as they are known, are very cute and highly entertaining. They range from ages 4 to 7 years old. I teach 6 and 7 year olds and Rachel teaches 5 and 6 year olds. They are much easier at times to teach than the elementary students. (Rachel now) They are always excited to come to school. One day I had a kid who was feeling very sick and actually threw up his lunch and started crying and as I was holding him I asked him where it hurt. He said, “Nothing hurts,” “okay so why are you crying?” “I don’t want to have to leave Wonderland...” My goodness they are sweet sometimes. And then we have special days like cooking day or dress up day and they come in the biggest most extravagant outfits, really it could make you cry how cute they are!
The elementary is a bit more challenging because
I have devil children from hell. One child is always spitting, on people, on tables, on chairs, on doors, everywhere. And another is our boss’ son and he is so incredibly difficult. Wow. All the Korean teachers are impressed that I can deal with him, but I really don’t think I deal with him well. In Korea it is okay to hit the children with a little stick on the palm of the hand (really hard, and multiple times), so I think that they see that Scott and I do not do this and then think we are very patient teachers. I can’t hit even the ones that I really, really dislike.
Now, on to the best thing... the people. The Korean teachers here are so very kind and really friendly. My partner teacher here, Julia is so sweet and the children love her. She helps me with the more difficult kids and I can’t wait to go to a Noraebang with her (hint hint Julia ). The foreign teachers here are also wonderful, you have seen pictures of our South African’s from Noraebang and the American, Ed, will be up shortly!
So that is our school, Wonderland.
Everyone smiles in Wonderland . . .
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joseph
non-member comment
wonderland ... perfect!