In Korea the school year starts in March, which makes a whole lot more sense than having the school year start in the middle of the year (September). Why not have it start at the beginning of the year instead? So when I got back from Seoul on the 22nd I didn't have classes for the week. It was just planning for lessons and the teachers getting reorganized... which turned out to effect me a whole lot more than I thought it would...
So I guess this is a yearly thing, but the teachers get new positions at the start of the school year. Some teachers who specialize or are older will stay the same, but it seemed to me a lot of the teachers got moved around. For example, two of the PE teachers (who happened to share the office with the English teachers) got switched to being homeroom teachers which basically means they have a classroom and class that is theres rather than teaching a bunch of different classes.
We got new English teachers too, two in fact. Luckily, most of the English teachers stayed the same, but two of the teachers from the previous year left, one was on maternity leave and the other got a job at a different school. It was unclear if she was moved their or she chose a new position, I felt like she was moved there. Also, they changed my co-teacher. Previously she'd be a grade 3 homeroom teacher who was actually an English teacher, but they assigned me an English teacher instead, the 4th grade teacher and only male English teacher. So far he's been really nice and helpful although I haven't really had any problems or anything for him to deal with, outside of work that is. Plus I have a pretty good network of friends now so I mostly go to them when I need things.
The other new teacher is the 3rd grade teacher and until I actually started working with her I wasn't even sure if she spoke English. I now know that she does speak English, just not every much. She seems to understand more than she speaks and she's a really good teacher her control in the classes is impressive I can probably learn a thing or two from her. Unfortunately it's all in Korean.
The principal of the school also left, he got a new job closer to his family, so we had a giant dinner for him and the other teachers who were leaving. It was mostly a retirement dinner for one of the staff but everyone was expected to come. I, of course, didn't know about it until that morning. I felt very underdressed, as usual. We went to a fancy buffet at the convention centre and pretty much stuffed ourselves.
One thing I found strange about the evening was they did all the speeches, gift giving and thank you's at the beginning of the evening rather than the end. My favourite part was when they showed a powerpoint of pictures showing the teachers life, her classes and her hobbies (travelling apparently) and when they sang and played the violin for her. It was definitely a nice affair.
The food was pretty awesome too (you guys know I've gotta talk about the food, just a little). There were different section in the buffet with Japanese, Korean, Indian and Chinese foods, there was also a BBQ area and a lot of italian style appetizers and desserts, also tons of macaroons for some reason. Although everything was really tasty I couldn't help but notice that the western food was not particularly anything special. I don't know if I was just being picky, or it didn't meet my expectations, but I couldn't feeling it was good food, but not great food as the restaurant implied it should be. I definitely still ate a lot though, I mean when am I going to go to a place like that again? Probably never, at least not in Korea.
The next week we had a first day ceremony for the first grade students, it was really cute. The parents all came and watched the kids sing a little and a video clip about the schools cafeteria... yeah, I didn't really understand that one either... there were a bunch of other speeches and stuff, but they were in Korean, so yeah.
The next day was time for classes to start and due to some confusion on my coteachers part I only ended up have two days of class that week and 4 days this past week so this week will be my first full week of classes. So far the new teachers are working out well and my new schedule, although not perfect is pretty good. Also I'm short an hour so I'm going to be doing an English language magazine/newspaper thing with the grade 6 students, or those that volunteer for it. I was really excited about it last week, but my co-teacher once again messed up and had to move the location of the meeting at the last minute. I was in class until two and the meeting was also at two so I rushed over to the room we were meeting in only to find some different teachers there.
I went back to the office all worked and frantic about missing it and realized my co-teacher left his cell phone in the office, so just as I was trying to decide if I should go look for him he turned up in the office and said not to worry about it. I guess the first meeting was over after about 10-15 minutes. I had a whole plan that would take an hour for the meeting so I was surprised he finished so quickly and honestly, it didn't sound like I missed anything. Oh well, this week I'll have it again and this time I told him he needs to start 10 minutes later, no way I'll miss it again!
The last thing I want to talk about here is the parents ceremony, I have no idea what it is called. I think that the school presents the curriculum to the parents or something? I honestly had no idea what was going on, but I was told I didn't have to attend, so I was waiting in the office just working on my own stuff and my co-worker called and said I was needed in the gym, knowing whatever was going on was starting soon I hurried over there and found the other English teachers by the door, the directed me inside where all the parents were sitting and watching a presentation or something. I got placed in a spot against the wall on the side of the gym and as I stood there it dawned on me we weren't just watching we were standing in line.... uh oh.
Backing up a little now, I just want to say I had no idea about this event, nobody told me about it earlier in the week or anything like that. Then I got to school that morning and everyone was dressed up (a sure sign that something was going on) and they told me about the meeting(?), but didn't say I needed to attend. Of course I hadn't dressed up that day either, I was just wearing plain clothes. So when they called me to the gym, not knowing what was going to happen I grabbed my coat too (the gym is usually kind of cold) , my giant, puffy, red coat.
And there I am standing in line when we slowly start to move towards the front, which only confirms what my greatest fear was. We are going to go up and stand in front of all those parents. And there I was in my stupid puffy red jacket, cause you know, I didn't already stick out being the only foreigner in the room, but my jacket also had to be huge and bright red! Well, thank god there was no talking involved because a) I can't speak Korean anyway and b) I wouldn't've been able to get the words out at that point. I felt so self-conscious and embarrassed. If only I'd thrown on the blazer I was thinking of wearing... if only... maybe I can dump the coat somewhere and nobody will notice... expect all the teachers standing behind me and every parent in the row beside me... so I ended up going up there (with a group of other teachers) and giving my bow after they said my name, because apparently that's all I had to do, in my giant, red puffy coat.
After the other teachers apologized for not letting me know about it, the one teacher seemed surprised I would've dressed up, even though I'd previously dressed up for other events which I thought was strange and I'd told her that I liked dressing up before... anyway, it all worked out in the end, but I was a little traumatized, it's definitely an adventure being here some days. Especially because people forget to tell me things pretty much every week, but I've gotten used to it and I try to just be as flexible as possible, no matter the situation. Like, the night they forgot to tell me their was a work dinner and I almost went home... I think my new co-teacher is still figuring out the job so he hasn't got everything down yet, but I'm sure things will get better and it's not really that bad finding out there's a surprise free BBQ dinner... really not that bad at all.
Okay, so there's a rather long update for you. I think that's pretty much everything, for now. I'm sure there's some other things I forgot to talk about, but this is my second blog post tonight and I'm getting tired of typing now. Please excuse the typos here, I know there are some, I took my glasses off half way through writing this so I can only mostly see them. Anyway I have lots more cool things coming up soon that I'll write about after they happen, this weekend I'm going to two different festival which are going to be awesome! So I promise, more from me soon! :)
So I guess this is a yearly thing, but the teachers get new positions at the start of the school year. Some teachers who specialize or are older will stay the same, but it seemed to me a lot of the teachers got moved around. For example, two of the PE teachers (who happened to share the office with the English teachers) got switched to being homeroom teachers which basically means they have a classroom and class that is theres rather than teaching a bunch of different classes.
We got new English teachers too, two in fact. Luckily, most of the English teachers stayed the same, but two of the teachers from the previous year left, one was on maternity leave and the other got a job at a different school. It was unclear if she was moved their or she chose a new position, I felt like she was moved there. Also, they changed my co-teacher. Previously she'd be a grade 3 homeroom teacher who was actually an English teacher, but they assigned me an English teacher instead, the 4th grade teacher and only male English teacher. So far he's been really nice and helpful although I haven't really had any problems or anything for him to deal with, outside of work that is. Plus I have a pretty good network of friends now so I mostly go to them when I need things.
The other new teacher is the 3rd grade teacher and until I actually started working with her I wasn't even sure if she spoke English. I now know that she does speak English, just not every much. She seems to understand more than she speaks and she's a really good teacher her control in the classes is impressive I can probably learn a thing or two from her. Unfortunately it's all in Korean.
The principal of the school also left, he got a new job closer to his family, so we had a giant dinner for him and the other teachers who were leaving. It was mostly a retirement dinner for one of the staff but everyone was expected to come. I, of course, didn't know about it until that morning. I felt very underdressed, as usual. We went to a fancy buffet at the convention centre and pretty much stuffed ourselves.
One thing I found strange about the evening was they did all the speeches, gift giving and thank you's at the beginning of the evening rather than the end. My favourite part was when they showed a powerpoint of pictures showing the teachers life, her classes and her hobbies (travelling apparently) and when they sang and played the violin for her. It was definitely a nice affair.
The food was pretty awesome too (you guys know I've gotta talk about the food, just a little). There were different section in the buffet with Japanese, Korean, Indian and Chinese foods, there was also a BBQ area and a lot of italian style appetizers and desserts, also tons of macaroons for some reason. Although everything was really tasty I couldn't help but notice that the western food was not particularly anything special. I don't know if I was just being picky, or it didn't meet my expectations, but I couldn't feeling it was good food, but not great food as the restaurant implied it should be. I definitely still ate a lot though, I mean when am I going to go to a place like that again? Probably never, at least not in Korea.
The next week we had a first day ceremony for the first grade students, it was really cute. The parents all came and watched the kids sing a little and a video clip about the schools cafeteria... yeah, I didn't really understand that one either... there were a bunch of other speeches and stuff, but they were in Korean, so yeah.
The next day was time for classes to start and due to some confusion on my coteachers part I only ended up have two days of class that week and 4 days this past week so this week will be my first full week of classes. So far the new teachers are working out well and my new schedule, although not perfect is pretty good. Also I'm short an hour so I'm going to be doing an English language magazine/newspaper thing with the grade 6 students, or those that volunteer for it. I was really excited about it last week, but my co-teacher once again messed up and had to move the location of the meeting at the last minute. I was in class until two and the meeting was also at two so I rushed over to the room we were meeting in only to find some different teachers there.
I went back to the office all worked and frantic about missing it and realized my co-teacher left his cell phone in the office, so just as I was trying to decide if I should go look for him he turned up in the office and said not to worry about it. I guess the first meeting was over after about 10-15 minutes. I had a whole plan that would take an hour for the meeting so I was surprised he finished so quickly and honestly, it didn't sound like I missed anything. Oh well, this week I'll have it again and this time I told him he needs to start 10 minutes later, no way I'll miss it again!
The last thing I want to talk about here is the parents ceremony, I have no idea what it is called. I think that the school presents the curriculum to the parents or something? I honestly had no idea what was going on, but I was told I didn't have to attend, so I was waiting in the office just working on my own stuff and my co-worker called and said I was needed in the gym, knowing whatever was going on was starting soon I hurried over there and found the other English teachers by the door, the directed me inside where all the parents were sitting and watching a presentation or something. I got placed in a spot against the wall on the side of the gym and as I stood there it dawned on me we weren't just watching we were standing in line.... uh oh.
Backing up a little now, I just want to say I had no idea about this event, nobody told me about it earlier in the week or anything like that. Then I got to school that morning and everyone was dressed up (a sure sign that something was going on) and they told me about the meeting(?), but didn't say I needed to attend. Of course I hadn't dressed up that day either, I was just wearing plain clothes. So when they called me to the gym, not knowing what was going to happen I grabbed my coat too (the gym is usually kind of cold) , my giant, puffy, red coat.
And there I am standing in line when we slowly start to move towards the front, which only confirms what my greatest fear was. We are going to go up and stand in front of all those parents. And there I was in my stupid puffy red jacket, cause you know, I didn't already stick out being the only foreigner in the room, but my jacket also had to be huge and bright red! Well, thank god there was no talking involved because a) I can't speak Korean anyway and b) I wouldn't've been able to get the words out at that point. I felt so self-conscious and embarrassed. If only I'd thrown on the blazer I was thinking of wearing... if only... maybe I can dump the coat somewhere and nobody will notice... expect all the teachers standing behind me and every parent in the row beside me... so I ended up going up there (with a group of other teachers) and giving my bow after they said my name, because apparently that's all I had to do, in my giant, red puffy coat.
After the other teachers apologized for not letting me know about it, the one teacher seemed surprised I would've dressed up, even though I'd previously dressed up for other events which I thought was strange and I'd told her that I liked dressing up before... anyway, it all worked out in the end, but I was a little traumatized, it's definitely an adventure being here some days. Especially because people forget to tell me things pretty much every week, but I've gotten used to it and I try to just be as flexible as possible, no matter the situation. Like, the night they forgot to tell me their was a work dinner and I almost went home... I think my new co-teacher is still figuring out the job so he hasn't got everything down yet, but I'm sure things will get better and it's not really that bad finding out there's a surprise free BBQ dinner... really not that bad at all.
Okay, so there's a rather long update for you. I think that's pretty much everything, for now. I'm sure there's some other things I forgot to talk about, but this is my second blog post tonight and I'm getting tired of typing now. Please excuse the typos here, I know there are some, I took my glasses off half way through writing this so I can only mostly see them. Anyway I have lots more cool things coming up soon that I'll write about after they happen, this weekend I'm going to two different festival which are going to be awesome! So I promise, more from me soon! :)
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