The Adult in the Room

안영! (Anyeong = Hi!)

It was time for a makeover. You likey?

The past few weeks have been super busy for me. Work has been wearing me out now that I’m teaching a conversation class in the morning (8:05-8:50) Mon-Thursday, and also teaching an advanced speaking class on Monday and advanced essay class on Thursdays after school. The students’ behavior has gotten a little worse now that their finally settled into the school year routine, plus midterms are coming up (already) in two weeks. The good news for me is, though, that while the students are preparing for midterms next week, I won’t be teaching them at all. Not even my extra classes. Then of course the following week will be exam week so I won’t be teaching then either. So, I have a 2 week break from teaching. I still have to come into work every day, but this will give me plenty of time to relax and to plan for the rest of the year. I’m also excited to have time to catch up on all my T.V. shows since the internet’s been down in my apartment. Gotta find out if Kasia makes it through next panel on Top Model. Will House and Cuddy (spelling?) get back together? What mystery did Castle and Beckett solve last week? What ridiculousness did the Walkers get themselves into this time? What kind of sick criminal did Stabler, Benson & co catch this time? Such questions have been burning in my brain for the past few weeks.

Moving on to more important matters...

I think my teaching has improved. This week I have my open class, which means that the VP and other English teachers from the school come to my class and evaluate my teaching. I am nervous, but I did a test-run earlier this week and it went well. When I mentioned to my co-teachers that I was nervous, they all assured me that I shouldn’t be because my teaching and lessons are always great. It feels good to know that people who have actually studied to be teachers and have a lot of experience think that I can hold my own. I’m relieved about the timing of my open class also—it will be over with by my 2-week “break” so I won’t be fretting over it for all of that time.

The more situations I encounter here the more I learn about the Korean teaching, student, and school culture. I don’t know why I’m still surprised by my students’ extremely low self-esteem level, but 2 weeks ago I had an interesting experience. After none (out of 40) of my 8th grade students raised their hand to answer a simple question (that I know they all knew the answer to already), Cho Teacher asked me over lunch not to ask students to raise their hands for answers. It is better, she said, to ask the class as a whole and have them shout out answers to me. When I inquired why, she said that the smarter students are very shy to raise their hand and answer correctly because if they do, they will get beat up in the hallway by the other students who are jealous. I mean, that happened when I was in middle school and high school but the teachers didn’t give in to that! Wouldn’t you think that the teachers would want to find a way to prevent the beatings instead of not wanting students to work to their highest potential in class? I was so frustrated and confused when she said that to me.

In comparing the middle and high schools I attended and Korean schools, another big difference here is that there is no hallway monitoring. Teachers do not stand in the hallways to be sure that things like that don’t happen. So, as you can imagine, walking through the hallway is an adventure. Koreans in general do not watch where they are going. This fact is very clear anytime you walk on the street, in the subway station, etc. Getting bumped into or zig-zagging/dodging your way towards to subway or to the crosswalk are daily occurrences. So, as Koreans, Sannam Middle School students do not seem aware of anyone else besides the people they are talking to when they are in the hallway. It is very frustrating. This is terrifying when you’re carrying your laptop, full coffee mug, and papers in the hallway en route to your classroom and are dodging students who are sprinting, chasing each other down the hallway, playfully (or not so playfully) shoving each other, flying out of their classrooms into the hallway, shouting, running up and down the stairs, etc. I never felt so much like an “old” adult until I realized how much energy these “kids” have.

I also never realized how much being the adult in the room (literally) has revealed my ability to be stern, aggressive, and sooo not doubtful of myself. If you doubt yourself often or have self-esteem issues, put yourself in front of 40 foreign teenagers in a classroom and be in charge. Your inner adult will really come through. Today in my class, while playing a game that involves a little bit of running, two 6th grade boys got into a fist fight. While running to their tables to dictate a sentence to teammates, Boy A shoved Boy B, who threw a punch in response. Soon Boy B was punching Boy A in the head and shoulders and Boy A was shoving him back in defense. Before I knew it I was grabbing Boy B by the waist (he was taller than me) and pulling him away from Boy A. He got away so I grabbed him again and shoved him hard towards his chair, yelling angrily and sternly (never heard myself so angry before) SIT DOWN IN YOUR SEAT RIGHT NOW. He paused as if he was going to, then lunged towards Boy A again. This time I grabbed his vest but it slipped out of my hands. I then wrapped both hands firmly around his wrist while (FINALLY) my co-teacher came over and the two of us managed to ‘herd’ the fight to the hallway where they calmed down and my co-t gave them a talking-to. That’s all she did, I would have liked a harsher punishment, especially since they completely ignored me (even when I was physically stopping them) and completely disrupted the class. Huff. Raging hormones. I never thought I’d see the day when I’d be the one to break up a fight of 2 teenage boys. Like I said—the role of “adult in the room” really gets to ya.

Outside of work, life is good. I’m meeting more and more new people with every outing and seeing new things. Last weekend we had beautiful spring weather (close to 70 degrees). Friday night I had dinner and drinks with Nam Teacher and Hyung Kyung (a new teacher at the school who co-teaches with me). Saturday, after Mexican food and Coldstone in Itaewon, I went to Myeongdong in Seoul with Michelle, Blythe, and new friends Gina and Jamie. Myeongdong is a popular shopping area near center Seoul where you can find stores like Forever 21 and H&M. The Forever 21 there was 4 stories. 4 stories of cheap, cute, stylish heaven. 3 hours shopping and less than $150 later, I walked out of there with 8 new work-appropriate spring wardrobe items. We then headed to H&M where I was able to find 2 pairs of jeans. Woooowoo! I hadn’t been shopping since I got here. It was such a fun girls’ afternoon.

I'll stop there. More to come in the next 2 weeks when I'll be bored at work!

Hope you are all doing well. I miss my homies. Don't forget to update me on your lives!

Love,
Melissa

New School Year

Wow, it's been exactly a month since I blogged last. As you might have guessed, my lack of blogging recently is due to school starting up again and my work schedule making me very busy! So I’ll cover all the basics to catch up my loyal blog readers (and random stumblers-upon).

This year is incredibly busy. On average I teach 4 classes a day. This week I started the after-school classes (advanced speaking on Monday and advanced essay writing on Thursday) and starting next week, I will be teaching a conversation class every morning before classes start. Unlike last year, my 6^th grade classes are divided by level. Hallelujah! This makes planning my lessons much more efficient and teaching them even more so. My higher-level students are wonderful and so attentive in class. They willingly participate and they laugh at my jokes. Finally! Just what I imagined teaching would be like. So, those classes are a treat. As for the lower-level classes, they are more like my classes last year- very talkative, un-attentive and frankly, rude. I am often frustrated after those classes, however since I know they are lower level I can adjust my lesson plans to their level. I think I am partially to blame for their un-attentiveness. Perhaps I need some more work on making more interactive, interesting lesson plans. I do what I can. After every class I evaluate how it went and try to modify my lesson plan. Already this week I’ve changed my lesson plan a lot! My 8^th graders in class are somewhere in-between the two. They are more eager to interact with me as they come into class but as soon as class begins they are very shy to participate. Also, the 8^th graders are not divided by level, so teaching those classes are difficult for me. With the regular teaching hours and the extra classes, my days fly by and I’m very tired by the end of it. Overall, I am enjoying this year more than last year. I like that I could establish my own classroom setting instead of stepping into someone else’s and trying to do my own thing. I think this has helped the students feel more comfortable with me. Most days, two 6^th grade girls, Annie and Leah, come see me during lunch. Sometimes they want help with their homework, sometimes they want me to teach them French, other times they just want to chat. Sometimes they bring their friends to come hang in the English room with me. It feels nice to have fans hahaha. They are very sweet girls and I enjoy their visits! Now that I can read Korean, I’m also starting to actually remember students’ names when they tell me hahaha.

Next week I am teaching an April Fool’s Day lesson. I’m giving my students a fake test and telling them it’s super important for their grades. The test is totally bogus—multiple questions with no right answers, ridiculously hard questions, etc. At the bottom of the page it says “this test is a joke!” I’m telling them they must read the whole test before they start taking it, that way they’ll see that it’s a joke before they get too freaked out! The week I’m teaching them text message slang, then the next week I have to teach my open class. An open class is when other native teachers come watch me teach and evaluate me. I’m really nervous and need to start planning for it soon. I think it will be really nerve-wracking, but I chose my best class to be the one I teach for the open class. I’ll be glad when it’s over.

A few weeks ago, I started taking salsa lessons at this salsa studio in Suwon called Turn. After meeting the owner of the studio, Rex, at The Big Chill (foreigner bar in Suwon I frequent) and spontaneously salsa dancing with him, I found out that they offer lessons on Wednesdays for only 7,000 won (7 bucks) a week. Glad to finally find a dance class opportunity in Suwon, I started going to the next week. Tonight will be my 4^th week. The first two weeks I was in the beginner class, but by the 3^rd week Rex told me that I should join his intermediate class, that happens simultaneously. Everyone at Turn is very friendly and most of the people who go there speak English (including Rex and the other teacher Anu Pmark who is from Thailand). I already feel like part of the Turn family even after just a couple of weeks! They also have free dance/practice nights every day. I usually try to go on Sundays.

Weekends have been fun. My birthday was very special- it made me realize how many friends I have here. I had dinner with Val, Blythe, and Michelle, then met some friends at The Big Chill. The next day was the Saint Patrick’s Day Festival (organized by the Irish Association of Korea? Yup, that exists) in Seoul. I went with friends there and just hung out and listened to a U2 cover band and watched my friends day drink. The festival was OK, but I did get to meet some new people and then have a DELICIOUS Mediterranean dinner at Petra, the middle-eastern restaurant in Noksapyeong. Noksapyeong is one subway stop from Itaewon, the foreigner district in Seoul. I ordered the lamb couscous. YUMMY IN MA TUMMY. We went back to Noksaypeong the next weekend for Vietnamese food, which was delicious also. I ordered pho, a noodle, meat, and veggie soup in a deliciously spiced broth.

Yesterday I went to Madeline, a hair salon chain with locations all over the place, to get a major haircut. Even though my Korean is pretty much non-existent, I figured I would be able to communicate to them that I just wanted it cut—no style change or anything. I was wrong. When I got there the woman gave me a book with pictures of women’s hairstyles (all modeled on Korean women, of course) and wanted me to choose one. I tried to tell her charades-style that none of these would work on my hair since it’s naturally curly, but to no avail. So I eventually put my faith in her and let her choose one for me. She cut it uber short and I sort of look like Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men. Ha. Oh well.

Well, that’s all there is to report, really. Thanks for reading!

Cheers,
Melissa Teach-a