Guess you could say I'm settling into the job. We started the new session last Thursday, which was my first day of teaching at GNUCR. Greg set me up with a very easy schedule to get me into the flow of things. I teach four classes a day, but I teach the same subjects twice. So I've got grammar level 400 twice (two different sets of students) and something called IOF2 grammar twice (IOF stands for Improving Oral Fluency). So when I lesson plan for the following days, I have to plan for only two classes and then just repeat them when the second groups of students come in. I teach four hours starting at 9 and ending at 2 (lunch is from 12-1). Then from 2 to 3 I am the designated substitute, meaning if a teacher is sick and has a class during that hour, I will fill in for him/her. I've already done this twice and it was kinda fun to go in and meet a new group of students and then just implement the lesson plan that was given to me. If no one is out, I can use that hour to lesson plan, grade papers, or do anything else I need to do.
I usually arrive at school about 8:30 and then leave sometime around 4-4:30. And as it takes me a half hour to walk to school, I am usually gone from about 7:50 to 5 or so. It's a full day, I guess, but it goes by quickly as there's a nice balance between teaching and sitting at my desk getting other work done. This is something I didn't have in my previous job as it was all classroom time and no prep/grading time at all. I always enjoyed the teaching, but the lack of time to prep for classes started to gnaw at me quite a bit, so I am happy to have time to do this at this place. I think teachers everywhere must feel more respected when they get paid to prep for classes as that's a huge part of the job.
I think I might have mentioned this before, but the teachers at this place seem good and happy. But what really impresses me is the way they work together to help one another and discuss students and lessons. And it's funny when I think about it, but I think there are two rather large yet simple factors that lead to this impetus to help each other. One is that we, as mentioned above, are given time to lesson plan and grade and this leads to the teachers also having time to help instead of just teaching classes and then getting out of the place. The other is that instead of each of us having just our own classrooms to do our work, there is a teachers' room where we all have our own desks that we sit at to do the outside-class work and this inevitably leads to a more social feel amongst the teachers. Such simple factors but I am convinced that they lead to the, for lack of a better way to put it, "team" feel of the place. And it sure helps the new guy.
My classes are all right around 15 students. The biggest change for me is that all the students, and I do mean all, are Korean. In California, I was teaching Koreans, Japanese, Taiwanese, and Chinese students most of the time with a German, Brazilian, Mexican, Italian, Colombian, or Thai student thrown in for fun sometimes. I realize that many of you might think that Asians are roughly all the same, but I would argue against that. They each have their own idiosyncrasies that vary from country to country and, obviously, individual to individual. But here, it's 100% Korean. This has its advantages in that the students tend to relax and not worry about dealing with "others" so much--or at least I think I am perceiving this--which means that they can focus on the language and not so much on Chinese or Brazilian culture. But, of course, this also has its drawbacks in that they, and I, are not learning about the big world out there. In California, we'd often just sit and compare cultural practices like gestures, etiquette, holidays, etc. and we'd all come out of class understanding a little more about one another and where we all came from. Here, though, there is none of that. But like I said, this means that English can be the focus in a way that isn't always possible in a mixed class.
So far the students and I seem to get along--something I wasn't at all worried about. The first day was a little rough as they sized me up the way that all students always size up new teachers on the first day of class. But by just the second day, I could already tell that if I just kept being my crazy self, it was all going to go well. Today was just day four and I feel that most of them and I are getting along quite well and they are starting to trust me. I was even invited out yesterday for a small gathering today after school. To be fair, the group of students invited many (or all, I don't know) of the teachers, but it's good to be included in such things methinks. One of the students who just finished the school is going to go to Canada soon so they had a small good-bye event. We just went out for pizza, Korean style pizza, and talked and got to know each other. Was good.
So, the job is good and I think my teaching is taking the next step in its progression as I learn a new system, technology, and ways of doing things and running classes.
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