Comments on: Video: My First Day at a Korean Elementary School

By: Rhiannon

Rhiannon — Fri, 11 Dec 2015 18:07:08 +0000

hi Christine!

i was wondering if you found it difficult to find veg-friendly food while eating with your coworkers? were they understanding of you not eating meat? i’m just a bit worried bc I don’t eat meat either and I’m going to teach with EPIK in feb so any pointers you have would be so helpful!

thank you 🙂

rhiannon

By: Christine Ka'aloa

Christine Ka'aloa — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 22:58:17 +0000

In reply to Kelsey.

I could believe that. There’s a lot of last minute changes to things and my CTs are all new to having an NT teaching with them. BUT… it was exam time. apparently I did a voiceover for one of the exams… a whole script! They didn’t tell me what it was for but I eventually found out. 😉

By: Kelsey

Kelsey — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:32:12 +0000

Oh, it’s not exam time, they’re just not prepared. Unlike the US/Canada/most of the rest of the world, Korean schools do no preparation over holidays, so when school starts they have to start from scratch with figuring out schedules, who will be teaching what, etc. It’s disorganized, but it’s just the way they do it. They haven’t put you in classes yet because they likely don’t even know when you’ll be teaching classes.

By: Christine Ka'aloa

Christine Ka'aloa — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:10:06 +0000

In reply to Kelsey.

Ha ha… Good to know. Yes, “sitting” is the hardest part right now. I’d like to either see my students or just play online (because there’s not much to do) but I also feel a bit guilty. This is our second week and it must be exam time for the students. Some of us haven’t made it into the classrooms yet & some are already teaching lesson plans. The NT experience for Korean teachers is fairly new for a lot of the teachers here in Daegu (what I’m gathering from others), due to the fact the Korean government has only recently been injecting money into this program- many CTs aren’t sure how to implement us yet.

It’s all about the “flexibility is key” approach- you have to be prepared for the spectrum & for the NTs here in my program, the situations are all varied. But, on the other turn, the school is also planning another sched for me. I will storytell for low income students, do a Mon morn video broadcast in English & teach parents conversational English… this is all subject to change or modify. This may be a fun challenge for me. Flexibility. I’m silently waiting things out– I get a bit how my CT’s load of responsibilities go in order to feel understanding of her situation. She’s doing her best w/ what’s being thrown at her too. 😉

By: Kelsey

Kelsey — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:41:57 +0000

Be prepared for a lot of desk-warming, as most NT (native teachers) call it. Most Korean public schools are not really aware of how to use a foreigner in the classroom, and you will mostly be used for games and for reading dialogues. I taught at 7 different schools and only two of them ever let me do my own lessons, despite the fact that I am a trained and certified teacher.

Especially when your students are near exam/midterm/finals times, you will likely be told to simply sit at your desk and do nothing, sometimes for weeks at a time. I highly suggest watching movies on your laptop. Some folks who don’t have ESL certification use that time to get certified online, and some folks earn an entire online master’s degree in the amount of time they spend desk warming.

I don’t mean to sound discouraging – merely to prepare you for a very real possibility.