Me and 600 Middle School Girls

It's already been more than a month of teaching here at Seogwi Jungang Girls Middle School (SGJA GMS). The gym is the blue rectangle in the smaller field north of the crazy six-arm rotary (click here). Five weeks of 16 classes a week and I'm still learning how to be a teacher, especially how to be the English foreign teacher.... here's what happens in a day, start to finish.

교무실=kyo-moo-shil=teachers' office

I arrive everyday at about 8:00am in the 교무실. After greeting everyone ("an-nyong-ha-seh-yo" with a bow), I can sit down at my desk and use the 8-9am hour to check the news, check facebook, finish the lesson plan, drink coffee, etc. Every class (example, 2nd grade class 4) has its own classroom, so the teachers go to the students instead of the students go to the taechers' classroom. All teachers have a desk in the 교무실, and this is mine! My waterbottle, my notebook (for daily new Korean words), and Fondren.

교실=kyo-shil=classroom

Unlike most of the other teachers, I have my own classroom, equipped with an overhead projector, computers, a sound system, and a remote-controlled cooling/heating system. I pretty happy that I don't have to switch rooms. Look right to see my desk (trusty water bottle and blog on computer screen) and the empty classroom. Outside my window is Hallasan, the volcano. I have 35-40 students every class, which makes teaching all the more difficult. They're also very chatty.

식당=shik-dang=restaurant (cafeteria)

I now eat lunch with a group of students at the 'English Lunch Table' each week. A group of students escort me from my classroom to the cafeteria, where we can cut to the front of the line (teacher perks!). The tray and chopsticks, like in Chuncheon, are tin. I'm not sure if the food is better because it's actually better or because I don't have to eat it three times a day. What scares me most in the cafeteria is the potential for stains. Most meals have some sort of red sauce, and, remember, there's a swarm of middle school girls walking around. No cloth casualties yet, but all the same, I'm en garde. Not much talking, even English, happens during lunch. Koreans don't tend to speak during meals and the cafeteria is loud. Last thing: I picked up very quickly that Wednesday (tomorrow!) is special lunch day!

학원=hag-won=Korean after-school academy
The hagwon system frustrates me to no end as a teacher; there may be enough for a whole other post, but here's the short version. The majority of my students attend hagwon(s) after school. There's science hagwons, math hagwons, English hagwon, etc. My homestay sister attends 3 different hagwons: math hagwon and English hagwon meet Mon thru Friday each for 2 hours, and science hagwon for 3 hours on the weekend. What this means for me is that all the students are at different levels of English speaking ability. Some are fantastic, I barely slow my pace at all, and others can't say a word. All the girls that do taekwondo, only do taekwondo and not hagwon, and consequently speak very little English.

교복=kyo-bok=school uniform

It seems all Korean students wear uniforms. The warm weather uniform is a turquoise skirt and short sleeve white shirt; the cold weather uniform is a maroon skirt and vest with a long sleeve skirt. Look at the anime I pulled from the school website. Currently, as the weather is transitioning, the girls can pick which uniform to wear. Some have told me they prefer the vests because it makes them look skinnier. Some students prefer to wear their P.E. clothes (tshirt and shorts or pants), but can only do that when they have P.E. class that day. I have seen a couple students wear pants, but I don't know why the exception. The great thing about the uniforms combined with the fact that I teach all the students in the school is that when I know who are mine students when I see them around town. Some say hello, some say howdy, some try to ignore me. I often use this as a chance to practice Korean, which surprises them. They're even more surprised when I'm in my exercise clothes. "Tee-cha!"

영어 선생님=yung-aw sun-saeg-nim=English teacher
Korea has quite an foreign English teacher culture. Besides the 70 Fulbright ETAs in Korea, the Korean government imports more than 600 native English speakers (from America, England, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia--the 6 approved English speaking nations) every year. And some schools and English hagwons hire foreign teachers on their own terms. I stand out because I'm white, but everyone (correctly) assumes I'm an English teacher. There's only 5 Fulbright ETAs in Seogwipo, but I've seen many foreigners (usually caucasians and African-Americans) around Seogwipo. I'm not alone...