I have no idea where to begin...Well I suppose I will start shortly after my 1 a.m. arrival on the 25th.
So work was to begin at 9:30 a.m. I made it to work on time with no problem. I met my other co-workers (Tiffany, Ellen, Jumi, and Christine).
I'm already forgetting what I did first. Although we are required to be at the school at 9:30, classes don't really begin until around 10:00 a.m. So I got a tour of the building to start off with. It was confusing at first but it's really pretty easy to get around. During my tour one of the kids gave me a little gift. It was a hard piece of paper with stickers from a local cartoon that seems to be popular. It was a pretty sweet gesture :)
After that I believe I went with Ellen first and observed her class. Most classes (in the morning at least) start off with a "How Are You" kind of song. There are lots of hand movement and the kids sing pretty loud. It was quite cute (perhaps someday I'll get a video of it). The lyrics kind of go like this:
Hello how are you?
Hello how are you?
Hello how are you?
How are you today?
Then it switches to:
I'm fine
Thank you
And you?
Then the teacher has the kids go around the room and say how they feel today. The responses very quite a bit. Some say happy. Other say sleepy, angry, cool etc.
After that the kids sing a song about what the weather is like today.
The rest of the class is devoted to learning letters and reading simple stories that the kids sing out loud. The kids were doing very well with both. Right now they are learning the letter J, K, and L. One of the stories I can remember is about a country mouse who goes to visit a city mouse. As I said everything is in song form so the kids basically sing the book. They are really good at it and seem to have the book memorized. I was told the kids have been on that book and others for awhile so when they go to a new level I will be required to help them learn and memorize the letters, songs and stories.
So as for academics those were the things that were focused on mainly for my first 3 days. I got to sit in classes with the other teachers but the set up is basically the same. It's a very simple routine that keeps the kids busy and hopefully free from boredom.
Other things that happened...Well just about every time I entered a room the children would yell Jacob Teacher!! They seemed to enjoy my arrival. I've been told that such a reaction to new people is common. Eventually it will tone down, which I am kind of glad for haha.
Everyday there is lunch at the school which I have the choice of either eating or not eating. Seems like at least two of the the days I did eat lunch there. It has been pretty tasty stuff. Lunch there is about and hour and a half so I get plenty of time to chat with my other co-workers and practice my use of metal chopsticks (those things are really hard to get used to when all I've used was wood in the past). So if any of you decide to come visit get ready for a challenge with those things.
Some other things I've gotten to do was celebrate a birthday of one of the other teachers which was fun. There was a very tasty chocolate cake. Im really not sure what kind it was. It was quite different from what I am used to but it was scrumptious.
I very much enjoy the eating style in Korea, Most everything comes in large plates or bowls and everyone eats from the same thing. It just gives a great sense of community and unity. It's not all separate like in America where you have your plate and I have my plate and under no circumstance can they ever touch or people eat from each others plates, much more independent and segregated style of eating. But I do miss that sometimes but I like how Koreans do it too. I feel my rather easy-going nature has aided my transition to Korean culture. Some of you would be very much be grossed out by Koreans style of eating so if that bothers you, perhaps somewhere else in the world would be a better fit for you :) (Anyways, enough on that tangent).
Another thing I got to see was a group of students getting to unleash as much energy as they could playing in a swimming pool. It was quite funny and they tried to get me to participate some. I mostly sat at the edge of the water with the other teachers and tossed things back and forth at them. They had squirt guns and would try to shoot me and the other teachers with water. That wasn't the best thing as we were in work clothes and didn't want to get super wet but it was humorous nevertheless. As I sat there though observing how crazy these kids act I wondered what the school will do to help the kids release there energy in the winter when the pool is not an option. I still have not gotten an answer for that.
A few of the classes had been very good over the past few weeks and were given cookie parties so I got to participate in a few of those. Korean cookies are pretty tasty. I'm not sure if I have discussed how kids get cookie parties so I will explain. Cookie parties are determined by the all important STICKER. If a class is good one day then they may get a sticker on there board (each class has a separate sticker board). If they are particularly bad one day they can loose a sticker. If the class gets ten stickers, they get a cookie party. It is amazing to watch how a class will shape up if they are being particularly naughty and the teacher threatens to remove a sticker from the board. And if a sticker is removed then those kids days are ruined. It is quite funny just how important a sticker is to a kid haha. They might as well be as important as life itself.
Well that is some of what I can recollect from my first few days of school. Perhaps I will add more as time goes on. Laters :)
As
The rest of the class is devoted to learning letters and reading simple stories that the kids sing out loud. The kids were doing very well with both. Right now they are learning the letter J, K, and L. One of the stories I can remember is about a country mouse who goes to visit a city mouse. As I said everything is in song form so the kids basically sing the book. They are really good at it and seem to have the book memorized. I was told the kids have been on that book and others for awhile so when they go to a new level I will be required to help them learn and memorize the letters, songs and stories.
So as for academics those were the things that were focused on mainly for my first 3 days. I got to sit in classes with the other teachers but the set up is basically the same. It's a very simple routine that keeps the kids busy and hopefully free from boredom.
Other things that happened...Well just about every time I entered a room the children would yell Jacob Teacher!! They seemed to enjoy my arrival. I've been told that such a reaction to new people is common. Eventually it will tone down, which I am kind of glad for haha.
Everyday there is lunch at the school which I have the choice of either eating or not eating. Seems like at least two of the the days I did eat lunch there. It has been pretty tasty stuff. Lunch there is about and hour and a half so I get plenty of time to chat with my other co-workers and practice my use of metal chopsticks (those things are really hard to get used to when all I've used was wood in the past). So if any of you decide to come visit get ready for a challenge with those things.
Some other things I've gotten to do was celebrate a birthday of one of the other teachers which was fun. There was a very tasty chocolate cake. Im really not sure what kind it was. It was quite different from what I am used to but it was scrumptious.
I very much enjoy the eating style in Korea, Most everything comes in large plates or bowls and everyone eats from the same thing. It just gives a great sense of community and unity. It's not all separate like in America where you have your plate and I have my plate and under no circumstance can they ever touch or people eat from each others plates, much more independent and segregated style of eating. But I do miss that sometimes but I like how Koreans do it too. I feel my rather easy-going nature has aided my transition to Korean culture. Some of you would be very much be grossed out by Koreans style of eating so if that bothers you, perhaps somewhere else in the world would be a better fit for you :) (Anyways, enough on that tangent).
Another thing I got to see was a group of students getting to unleash as much energy as they could playing in a swimming pool. It was quite funny and they tried to get me to participate some. I mostly sat at the edge of the water with the other teachers and tossed things back and forth at them. They had squirt guns and would try to shoot me and the other teachers with water. That wasn't the best thing as we were in work clothes and didn't want to get super wet but it was humorous nevertheless. As I sat there though observing how crazy these kids act I wondered what the school will do to help the kids release there energy in the winter when the pool is not an option. I still have not gotten an answer for that.
A few of the classes had been very good over the past few weeks and were given cookie parties so I got to participate in a few of those. Korean cookies are pretty tasty. I'm not sure if I have discussed how kids get cookie parties so I will explain. Cookie parties are determined by the all important STICKER. If a class is good one day then they may get a sticker on there board (each class has a separate sticker board). If they are particularly bad one day they can loose a sticker. If the class gets ten stickers, they get a cookie party. It is amazing to watch how a class will shape up if they are being particularly naughty and the teacher threatens to remove a sticker from the board. And if a sticker is removed then those kids days are ruined. It is quite funny just how important a sticker is to a kid haha. They might as well be as important as life itself.
Well that is some of what I can recollect from my first few days of school. Perhaps I will add more as time goes on. Laters :)
As
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