The Teaching: Part 2

While the last post was more about the mechanics of my job, here are some of the peculiarities of being a teacher in Korea: 

-Honestly, many of my students pronounce my name better than most Americans. I figured out over the summer how to spell my name in Korean (한야), and it's worked remarkably. 

-Even I've started referring to other teachers by their first name followed by "Teacher" (i.e. Bella Teacher). A student addressing any of his teachers by "Ms./Mr. So-and-so" is unheard of. That's perfectly fine with me; being called "Ms." makes me feel old anyway.

-Rock-paper-scissors (or rock-scissor-paper, as it’s known here) is practically the word of God in the classroom. It’s solved countless disputes about who will go first and who will play a certain role, and the kids generally accept it as the fairest way of deciding. Thank goodness for that.

-I was warned from the beginning never to write the kids’ names in red ink. According to Korean superstition, having your name written in red means you’re going to die soon. O.o

-Apparently it’s an Asian thing to signal a big X with your arms or hands to mean no/negative/false. (O means yes/true.) I’ve grown so used to doing this in class that I’ve carried it into my everyday conversations as well. 

-My students are amazingly good about returning the things I’ve lent them—pencils, erasers, crayons, etc. It’s as if the virtue of giving back what you've borrowed has been drilled into their little minds from birth.

-It's such a satisfying feeling when a new word comes up in a lesson and, through explanation or acting, I help my students understand what it means and they all say a communal “Ahhh.” I’ve also realized that sometimes it’s fun to be goofy and animated in class, for the kids' sake but also for mine. 

-My hagwon's students all have one Korean teacher and one foreign teacher, with the Korean teacher responsible for more of the grammar. In general, the students' grammar is definitely not their strongpoint, so—me being a grammar queen—I've been trying to weave more of it into my lessons. It drives me crazy when the kids shout, "Teacher, me finish-ed!” or “Me is first!” Still, when I think about how nonsensical some (or most) English grammar can be, it makes me glad that English is my first language. This site really highlights how confusing it could be for a non-native speaker.

And now some of the more serious things:

-Apparently at hagwons there's a high turnover rate not only for foreign teachers, but also for Koreans. The longer I spend here, the more I realize that working at a hagwon can be an enormous amount of work and stress, especially for the Korean staff. They're required to be at the school for much longer than us foreigners, they've constantly got their hands full, and they're usually so tired at night that they have no energy to do anything but go straight home.

-Recently I asked some of my older students what happens if they don't do well in school. Quite a few of them said their parents hit them with various objects, and one girl said her parents threatened to erase her birth certificate. (!!!) I asked my Korean coworkers if these stories had any merit, and they told me that some were probably true, but I should still take them with a grain of salt. I hope so...

-Parental involvement in my hagwon, and probably in many others, is insane. The two Korean teachers who man the front desk are constantly making or receiving phone calls to and from kids' parents. If a kid is late to class (they have to scan their ID cards as soon as they get there), their parents get a text. If they get an 80% or less on one of the "voca tests" they take twice a week (in addition to their biweekly “chunk test"), their parents get another text and the students have to stay after class to take the dreaded "retest" over and over until they pass.

-There is a very large focus on memorization. Even I’m intimidated by the number of English words my students have to memorize every week. I've already had one of my better students leave because she said our school was giving her too much stress and homework.

-At the same time, there is immense pressure on the school and its teachers for all the students to do well. In one of my classes, the kids were being mean to each other and made one girl cry. I later saw one of the culprits being scolded in Korean by one of the Korean staff until he was sobbing, and I assumed she was just returning the favor. However, it turns out she was actually telling him off for not doing his homework. His mom had called the school and blamed the Korean teachers for her son's lack of discipline. After all, that's what she was paying the hagwon for, right? To force her kid to learn. Therefore it’s the Korean teachers' responsibility—not the parents’—to shout at the kids if they're not working hard enough on something they should be doing at home. What...??

-At the end of the first month, all the teachers had to write short progress reports on each of their students. (We had to write much longer ones at the end of the term.) I tried to be fair in my reports—point out the good things but also nicely mention the bad. And then the head of the Korean staff told me that when the Korean teachers used our reports when talking to the parents, they would maybe just say the good things...you know, "little white lies." I almost boiled inside. It's like how we're strongly encouraged to only give above a 30 on a 40-point scale, and a 5 out of 10 comes out as a B. The hagwon system is incredibly skewed towards making every kid sound like a star, which is why some kids are moved up through the levels even when they're not ready for it. I'd heard about this sort of thing from several hagwon teachers before, but still, it's frustrating when I have to be a part of it. 

-And finally, Koreans have no concept of vacation. It turns out I will get a small break at the end of December/beginning of January (4 weekdays total). But while our students get a month off in January, that just means our hagwon has to work twice as long to fill the gap left by their normal schools in the morning. Because not having to go to elementary school just means more time for all their other academies! Yayyy...

The Teaching: Part 1

I suppose now that I've been in Korea for more than two months, I should finally write a blog post about the main reason I'm here at all: to teach cute little Korean children how to speak my language. Since teaching takes up a significant amount of my time, I have a lot to say, so I've divided this section into two posts. I’ll begin with some of the technicalities.

First of all, a disclaimer: My experience as a hagwon teacher in Korea shouldn't be generalized. I’ve heard about so many different experiences in terms of school directors, working hours, class structures, students, and work loads, so don't think that my job here is somehow "the norm."

With that said, I quite like my school, though the teacher I replaced was right when she said it would be a lot of work. Here's how it all breaks down:

Hours: Just like most normal jobs, I work 5 days a week, Monday through Friday. Depending on the day, I can start as "early" as 2:30pm and as late as 5pm. I usually stop teaching around 8pm. This doesn't count any time I spend doing lesson prep, administrative things, or grading, which can keep me at the school until 10pm and/or take up my entire morning. Yes, I do come home pretty late every night, but still, having a job that allows me to sleep in is a luxury. 

Happy Halloween!

Salary: About $2100 a month, with my rent already paid for. This amount can generally go much further in Korea than it can in the States. 

Classes: It'll probably change depending on the term (each term lasts 3 months), but I currently teach 8 different 45-minute classes which are all different levels, for a total of about 75 students (though this number is always changing). Students either come on a MWF or TR schedule. Generally the more advanced classes contain older students, but I've had a fourth grader in my most basic class and a third grader in my most advanced. It all depends on how much English they know and when they started learning the language.

I also have a 1-hour "Phone English" class three days a week, in which I call students at their homes and talk to them/have them read and answer questions for 5 minutes. I guess it's to offer the students more individual attention and speaking practice outside of class. 

Students: My students range from 5-12 years old and they all address me by "Teacher." Thankfully they all have English names that they chose when they entered the academy. Although I'd heard that Korean kids had some sort of mad respect for their teachers, honestly I think kids are about the same wherever you go. I've had angel kids who are attentive and motivated, and I've had kids who talk constantly, refuse to stay in their seats, and even attempt cartwheels in the middle of the classroom. It's a mixed bag for sure. 

Discipline: The foreign teachers at my hagwon have a system of "X points," where if kids are misbehaving, they get their name plus a big X next to it on the white board. These Xs can have big consequences and are generally a good threatening tool. Still, I've had to give quite a few out. 

I've been told that the Korean teachers have a much easier time controlling their students because they can scold them in Korean. But even if I were capable of such a feat, there's a strict "No Korean" rule in all the foreign teachers' classrooms. 

My classroom!

Lesson prep: Basically none. Since I work with younger kids whose material isn't particularly complex, I've given up on getting to school early to look over the lesson first. Every lesson for every level and every day is planned out exactly by Chungdahm headquarters, and they all have essentially the same structure. This allows much less flexibility for the teacher but also makes it much easier to teach. 

Grading: THERE'S SO MUCH. For every class, there are daily participation grades and a short daily report. And for every student, there's daily or weekly online speaking homework that I have to listen to and score, as well as around 40 writing notebooks to grade every week for my more advanced classes. I finally understand that teaching in the classroom is only half of a teacher's real work. 

(Some of my coworkers who work with older kids have virtually no grading, but much more lesson prep. I'm not sure which I'd like more.)

Staff: I work with a total of seven other foreign teachers, though only two work on my floor (with the younger kids). I also work closely with six Korean staff members/teachers, who are all AWESOME. They've been so welcoming and helpful to me from the beginning and I feel lucky to have them as my coworkers. 

Perks: Every now and then the Korean staff will randomly come into my classroom to give me free food —> instant friends! :D Aaand all of us teachers got a 10-pound box of grapes from our school manager for Chuseok. Too bad I don't like Korean grapes.

On a side note, the “probation” I mentioned before consisted of me submitting a video of one of my classes to Chungdahm headquarters, and I’ve officially passed—which means I won’t be kicked out of the country after all. Phew! :)