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