Teaching English in Seoul

I started my first day of teaching last Friday (October the 16th) and it was very overwhelming. The kids are constantly yelling out “teacher! teacher!” whenever they have a question. I got over this quickly and ignore most of them and tell them to ask one at a time. The last teacher instituted a dollar system of rewards, and I think I may bring it back and make them pay me every time they don’t raise their hand, and I pay them one when they do. I most likely won’t though, as it’s just one more thing to keep track of.

Yesterday I completed my first full week, and I have to say I enjoyed it immensely. The kids are a lot of fun and (mostly) eager, but they’re not always into the class material. I feel bad for my last class of the day, a group of 3rd grade students at the level of first graders, because by the time they start class at 6 pm they are already dead tired and falling asleep. They are kept up so late doing homework not only for my class, but also for public school. Its unimaginable to me that at this age they could already be worked so hard by school.

My first month seems like it will be pretty easy so far though. The first week I had 4 days of teaching and 2 days of testing and speech contests, so instead of introducing new material I led review each class period. The testing days were very easy and the speeches were hilarious. One girl talked about maintaining the health of your teeth, but it sounded like she was saying tits. We all got a kick out of a sentence like “You don’t want your tits to decay.”

I’m the only guy in the school of 6 teachers, the director, and the 2 secretaries. The girls were all excited that I’m a computer geek and can help them with their problems, and that I can lift heavy things. One teacher jokingly mentioned to me that I must be in heaven having a computer in every classroom and being surrounded by women. I replied “Ya I have my pick of the school!” I enjoy working with these folks a lot, they’re all fun and have been a great help to me so far.