Second Week of teaching

So this was my second week of teaching...my first full week with my new classes. I feel like I got a really good schedule for the most part. It is a little stressful that my morning classes are very young (about 3 and 4 years old in America, 5 years in Korea), and they do not know any English. However, my classes are very well behaved except for one class. Two of the kids are very disruptive. One is more so than the other. I believe he is probably the youngest in the class. I have had to take him to the Assistant Director twice (I could have taken him more but I don't want the Assistant Director to think I can't handle my class). He is always walking around and talking while I'm talking. It is very distracting to me and the other students. When I ask him to sit down and be quiet, he walks up and hits me. I talked to the Assistant Director about this, but she told me to tell my Korean partner. However, my Korean partner does not seem as concerned about this problem as I am. She said that she called his mother but his mother is very young and not mature enough to handle the situation. This frustrates me to no end because he is such a horrible influence on the rest of the class. The other day he was teaching the sweetest little girl how to give someone the finger! I took scotch tape and taped his middle finger to his ring finger so he couldn't flip anyone off anymore. I think he got the hint because he didn't do it the rest of the day, but he has done it since. I really wish that he would behave or that the school will drop him because the students are having a very difficult time concentrating on the lessons. What makes it worse is that he doesn't know his English name so he doesn't realize that I am getting on to him. I am not allowed to use his Korean name so no one has told me what it is.

Other than that, everything is going very well! The three other teachers and I went to Sponge Bar last night, and we met a bunch of other English speaking people! It was nice! We were talking about going to a bar called Santa Claus for a St. Patrick's Day celebration this evening, but I think everyone is kind of tired from the week.

Today, I walked a few blocks over to a middle school and played basketball in their courtyard. It was my first time ever playing on a dirt court with a wooden board. It took me a minute to adjust to it, but it was interesting. There were a few students hanging around after school, and they came up and talked to me. They were taking English class in school. They asked me where I was from, what my job was, where I was teaching, and how old I was. They showed off a bit using the basketball terms that they knew and showed me their basketball skills. It was sweet that they were so curious and wanted to impress me.

When I got home, one of the other teachers, Mellissa, came over, and we watched a movie. It was a very relaxing evening.

I am hoping that this week will be better than last. I hope that my classes are good for me!

Case of the Mondays

My schedule varies from day to day. So far, my schedule has not been too terribly bad...until today :/ I have a feeling I am going to hate MONDAYS!!! Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are my longer days. I don't mind that they are longer because I really enjoy my last two classes. I really enjoy all of my classes...except one. The one smack dab in the middle. Out of 8 kids there are only three that behave. Seriously? It is not possible to get anything done in that class. They are way too immature to be in school. Yes, I understand that kids are going to misbehave. I expect them to; I would probably be disappointed if they did not misbehave at one point or another. But children are supposed to be able to obey simple instructions; there is no excuse for them not to. I honestly let the five that were misbehaving run around the classroom while I focused on the three that were willing to learn for about 15 minutes. I had to take some sort of break from the insanity of telling the kids to sit down and be quiet. Its not like they didn't understand what I meant because I acted it out myself. I even set them in their chairs, and put my hand over my mouth to tell them to keep theirs shut. What more can I do? I have thought that people were crazy for disliking children, but after this class I could see how it would be possible. I am not saying that I dislike these kids, but I could definitely see how someone could. Oh, did I mention that I had this class for 30 minutes for lunch, 70 minutes for English class, and 40 minutes for cooking. So 2.5 hours of torture!!!! Thankfully, I only have them the extra 40 minutes for cooking on Mondays. Other than that, I seriously love my schedule, I love my apartment (it is the perfect size), I love the city, and I absolutely love my coworkers! I am really happy with my decision to come to Daejeon. I cannot wait for my first paycheck so I have the money to experience Daejeon more.

On a different note, all of the teachers have arrived. Mellissa arrived on Saturday. On Sunday, Janet, Mellissa and I went out to eat for Korean barbeque. It was delicious once again, and it was reasonably priced. The staff was extremely friendly! They understood that we didn't speak Korean, although at first for some reason they thought that I did...hahaha. When we first walked in, we took off our shoes as is custom in most Korean restaurants. I think the hostess was pointing us to our table. However, we thought she was pointing to several pairs of sandals that Koreans wear when they are inside. So we started putting on these sandals, and she gave us this horrified look and told us that wasn't what she meant. Hahaha...we had started putting on other customers' shoes. It was hilarious! The hostess spoke a little bit of English and helped our server with our order which was pretty sweet. One of the cooks saw me using the chopsticks and came out of the kitchen to give me a lesson on proper chopstick usage...hahaha. He finally gave up and grabbed a fork for me. I still used the chopsticks as much as I could which probably wasn't the best idea because I ended up slinging salad all over myself when the chopsticks slipped. It was hilarious because the cook had chosen that moment to watch me eat. Hahaha. I think the three of us entertained the staff for the evening. We certainly entertained each other! I think that we are going to get along GREAT!!! I am definitely excited about getting to know my coworkers better. I cannot wait to see what the rest of this year will hold. I am extremely thankful that I made the decision to teach in Korea.