I spent the morning in my room just hanging out watching American TV and trying to catch-up from the long trip I made yesterday. I was being picked up at 1:30pm by the director, June (Korean name) and his wife Chris (English name). As I waited I continued to practice my Korean. We arrived at the school where I was given a schedule to follow and observe classes (I would begin teaching tomorrow).
The School: MBC-OSS
The school is an English Academy for students as additional practice of English. Students range in age from 5-14 and are grouped according to their level of English. Students come for an hour and see two different teachers a day; a Korean teacher (instructs in English and Korean: 5 days a week) and the Foreign Teacher (me: 3 days a week) or their storybook teacher (instructs in Korean and English: 2 days a week).
My observation was very interesting because I got to see a sample of all the different teachers including one Korean teacher who had started only the day before. The students are at the end of their 3 month semester, so I only was able to observe a review for the tests they would be having. I met many of the students and got a fairly good idea of what I would be doing. The only difficult part is that I will be giving them their final exam, which is strange considering I don't know what they are expected to know at this point.
Throughout the day I was very tired and by the last class that I observed I was feeling very fatigued and ready to go back to the motel. I was instructed to prepare for the next day after the last class I observed which ended at 7:15, but this was hard to do because the head teacher, Rebekah, was in a meeting for an hour after. The only other person in the office with me was the new Korean teacher who couldn't really help me. I waited for Rebekah and she explained a little bit more to me. I told her that I didn't even know my hours that I would be working, so she found out that I would be working 2-10pm daily (which is different than I thought according to what Pushkin told me, but it is what it is). I asked what I was supposed to do for the 3 hours after the students left and I had no other classes to teach and Rebekah didn't really have answer for me at this point. I told her that I was very tired and that I could not do much more tonight because I was so tired (I even began to tear up--I was finally realizing that I wasn't in Kansas anymore...I was in Korea and everything would be different from this piont on). She asked if I could go home early because I just couldn't be there until 10pm. I left at about 8:30.
I still needed to get a few groceries and after asking a teenage Korean boy where the groceries were at Home Plus I bought some nectarines, bagels, cream cheese, and a cup of soup (things I could use in my room). I finally walked home and went to bed by 10pm.
So proud of my Sister. Love you.
ReplyDeleteRobert