Hagwon 411

So what am I doing here in Korea? I'm working at an independent hagwon (private school) in Bundang we lovingly call HR. Is it the best school? No. Is it a good school? I think so! The kids are really awesome and most of them are really smart. I'm teaching elementary and middle school age children which I am SO happy about. I wouldn't do well with preschoolers, no matter how cute they can look in pictures...or from afar. I can handle them in small doses, not year-long-sentences.

I have 12 classes during the week: 6 on MWF, 5 on TR. I have a LOT of prep work and a LOT of marking but I really do enjoy it. Sure in 6 months I won't think grading journals will be the greatest thing ever but it makes me laugh and gives me something to do in the evenings.

I have settled into school and am no longer the newest teacher! Another teacher was hired 2 weeks after I was and I am feeling pretty solid. The Korean teachers like me, my boss likes me (so they say), and the ESL teachers I work with are awesome. I'm the youngest ESL teacher not only at my school, but of anyone I have met here and have affectionately been nicknamed Aegi (Egi, Eggy, is how it is said), which is "baby" in Korean. The Korean teachers named me and many more have adopted it. I really, really lucked out with such a good staff.

I'm a little spoiled right now because my middle school classes are canceled for this and next week due to finals (I only have 4 classes +subbing 1= 5 MWF, 3 TR). It's really intense for them! I also have two long weekends coming up because of Christmas and New Years at the end of the month! January is when intensives start---a wholeeeee lot of work and not much extra pay to say for it. I'll stay happy and positive like always, though!

I'll explain the Intensives season to those of you that don't quite understand my meaning. Students have 2 full months off from school during the year--one in summer and one in winter; appropriately labeled their summer and winter vacations. Now, in America when kids are out of school they go on vacation with parents, lounge around watching way too much TV/ playing video games, or my personal favorite, head out to summer camp! In Korea that's not the case. Parents view this vacation from school as a prime time to milk their children of every ounce of strength, sending them to all sorts of hagwons (private schools like the one I work at, subjects vary) from morning 'til night. They work until their fingers fall off or their brains explode: whichever comes first.

This in turn is when ESL teachers (like me) at English hagwons (like my school) have their schedules changed drastically, working morning until night as well. Seeing as my school is considered a very hard school we will *hopefully* get slammed with a ton of students. On an average day I have quite a bit of prep work and marking to do for my classes. During intensives it quadruples in size which seems quite overwhelming. It is easy to get burnt out during this process, the weather is cold and gross, you work 10+ hours a day AND have several hours of marking to do each night after you're done teaching....and it goes on for a month.

In a training session I had about winter intensives, I was told to "make their papers bleed red" meaning mark them up--cover them in red ink! It's what the parents want so it's what we will provide! Veteran teachers have told me the winter intensives are worse than the ones in August. I hope to be a positive, smiley force to be reckoned with!

I will take pictures of some of the kids in my classes soon--I keep forgetting to bring my camera with me. I have one class with only 4 boys (only 2 showed up today...wow!) and other classes that range to up to 15 students (which can be a bit of a handful)! I am lucky to have had prior experience working with kids. It has come into play and I feel confident doing my job which is important.

I teach a variety of subjects, too! This is exciting for me because it changes things up, I'm not doing the same lesson over and over. I'm teaching science in one class, world history in another, have 3 novel studies classes, a few iBT classes (middle schoolers preparing for the iBT test), speaking, and reading classes. To my (and my mom's) excitement I started teaching Mr. Popper's Penguins to one of my favorite classes this week. It was one of my favorite books when I was young. This should be a fun month. :)

And now for some fun photo ops I had while grading!

An answer on a test. I shouldn't laugh but it was before I knew the students. The students have improved (I think so, at least) since I took over the class.

A drawing a student did of me in her workbook! LOVE!

I wish my best friend looked like a "cutey rabbit"! :)

Randoms galore

Hello world!

I will try to start theme-entry writing so that organization (and for your viewing pleasure) will be a bit better.

BUT for now, I have a conglomeration of pictures without much theme so I'm going to just give you a mixture of the past few weeks in Korea...some random shots I've taken.

A few silly flowers forgot it was fall...now all the flowers are gone but that's okay, it's winter time!

I wanted to get a picture of the little dog in his clothes and booties--he had been wandering around in circles bored. I whistled at him and he perked up, saw I was a waiguk (foreigner) and trotted right over to me. Such personality! He had no interest in my Korean friend I was with, too funny.

I had duk buki (duck-buck-ee) for the first time this past weekend! Yum. It's a rice patty boiled in this sweet and spicy red sauce. Monica my Korean coworker and I shared a dish. I found a star! There was a heart later on that she ate, too. :)

My "Miguk Chusok" (American Thanksgiving) as I described to the Hof owner, held with fellow ESL teachers. LeAnn and I made hand-turkey cutouts and colored them as namecards for the event. It was fun to celebrate...but I ended up not eating anything there through a miscommunication...and ended up going home and making a grilled soycheese sammich. It was really fun though and the hand-turkeys were a hit!

Patrick says my door looks like something out of a 1980's Bond flick. I agree. ^.^

First snow in Korea (taken safely from inside my apartment)!

The comforter suits my personality SO WELL, don't you think? Haha. The other side is worse--it's covered in huge pink 8-year-old-ballerina-stage flowers.

Look Mom, good eats! I'm staying healthy! I still need to buy sesame seeds, though.

Mmm, tasty.

The thermostat I luckily don't have to use much! I only turn it on to heat up my bathroom/water for a shower. My apartment is always warm because it's an old building and when other people turn on their heat, it heats my apartment, too! The heating is done by flowing hot water through pipes under the floor.