So, I have spent two days back at school because of the random way that the Korean school system is set up. They have a winter break starting in late December, the come back for ONE WEEK in February to wrap things up and to have the graduation ceremony. Question to my host mom: What do they do during this week of school? Host mom: Play. Ok...
I got to spend time with the first grade teachers which was really nice! I am really lucky to have had such a great group of teachers supporting me throughout the first semester! Plus, I feel so incredibly comfortable with them and consider them friends (as much as you can consider an elder person in Korea a "friend).
I also caught up with my co-teacher a bit as she is leaving the school in less than a week.
I'm afraid this might turn into a bit of a rant, but I have had a lot of frustrating experiences with the Korean school system in the last few days.
I might have mentioned this earlier, but in Korea, teachers have to rotate from suburban to rural schools every 4 years in Wonju. This concept is not only in Wonju, but the amount of time ranges from school district to school district. So, I knew from a while back that I was going to lose my co-teacher for this next semester. I slowly learned that there are two first grade teachers moving, the kindergarten teacher is moving, and Hae Yeon, the English teacher who shares my room, is moving. There are a lot more teachers included in the move, but these are the ones that I know well. I also slowly learned that these teachers who are moving find out where they will be placed a whole two weeks before the next school year starts.
Yesterday, I was randomly talking to the first grade teacher, 1-5 teacher, I am the closest to, the one that I went to the basketball games and the sharing house with. She asked me if I had heard that I might be changing grades. Whaaaat....?! Apparently, my co-teacher mentioned yesterday that the principal wass thinking about having me teach sixth grade this semester. Uh...school starts in two weeks...this is something that I would like to know as soon as possible. So, I call my co-teacher, and she comes to talk to me in the first grade office with all of the other first grade teachers in there. She confirms that the principal has in fact been thinking about this for TWO MONTHS! Ok...this is the point where I started to get a little irked. I teach first and second grade...hmmm....sixth grade! There's not much of an enormous difference there! *Let me explain something really quick: The program that I'm specifically working on (not talking about Fulbright) for this school is whether English teaching should be incorporated into the first and second grade curriculum. I'm a part of test piloting this program.* So, my co-teacher explained that because the first and second grade program would be done in August '08, and we won't be sure whether or not the program will have been a success or a failure at that exact point, the principal wants me to teach sixth grade, "Where I can be more effective." Also, it has to do with money. The first and second grade students have to apparently pay for me. (No, I did not realize this until yesterday.) So, march is the beginning of their school year. Because Fulbright is whacky and brings us in for a year instead of a school year, I will have the first and second grade students this semester and if I don't return for next year, a different Fulbrighter would have them for next semester. BUT...if there is a different Fulbrighter next year, the school wants him/her to teach sixth grade. So, basically that would mean that the first and second graders would only get one semester of English and the sixth graders would only get one semester of English. Also, once again because Fulbright is whacky, students already go through the second semester with a different English teacher than the first semester. I have absolutely no way to explain this; it does not make sense to me. I can somewhat understand for high school students getting the chance to experience the teaching styles of two different native English speakers, but that reason doesn't fly with little ones. Younger students thrive on stability and routine. So, I'm not sure if I lost you in that explanation, but this is what I was dealing with yesterday.
In addition, I also discovered that the teachers of my school (and probably most school systems in Korea) find out a matter of days before they start teaching the new school year exactly what grade they are going to teach. How in the HELL does that leave any time for planning and preparation? I was in shock! I am also saddened to hear that I may have an entirely new group of cohorts next school year. So not only do teachers who are MOVING schools find out two weeks before they are to move to an entirely new school, but the teachers remaining in the school receive a week at most to prepare to possibly teach a different grade than last school year. The only thing that calmed me in the slightest is to know that these teachers at least expect this sort of result due to previously experiencing it. I, however, am not used to it and was not pleased to find out that they were going to change the grade I am to be teaching possibly a week before I start teaching. If 1-5 teacher hadn't said anything to me, who knows when I could have found out about this.
Today, I heard from my co-teacher who promised to talk to the principal in order to determine whether I was indeed changing grades or not. Apparently the principal is going to allow me to remain with the first and second grade students. However, this I fear is partially based on the fact that I casually mentioned that I was thinking about extending my Fulbright grant for a second year. Thinking about is very far from a definite decision.
I talked to my host mom about it before the decision was made; she was very excited at the prospect of me teaching sixth grade this school year because my host brother will be in sixth grade. I explained that I wasn't very excited about the change. She told me after the decision that if she were the principal, she would have put me with the sixth grade. Many Koreans think it is more effective to teach the upper grades than it is to teach the lower grades. It is scientifically proven that the best time to learn a language is as early as possible. The best time to begin learning a second language is at the same time as learning the first. After that, it is best to begin learning before the age of 12 (this age varies a bit depending on the researcher). After the age of 12, it is difficult to master the native accent. In general, the earlier the better. I do feel like I can be an effective teacher within the first and second grade. I do wish, however, that I could teach in a manner that I feel is more appropriate in learning a second language. Some Fulbrighters see their students as often as 5 times a week, while I see mine only once a week for 40 minutes. I also manage 40 students at the same time which makes small group work quite difficult. I am hoping to think of some new and more effective ways this semester of breaking down the large class into smaller groups to further work with pronunciation.
Anyway...that was my day yesterday. Throughout it, I tried to remain calm and flexible. For the most part I maintained the calm, but I did find myself incredibly frustrated with these certain aspects of the school system.
At night, I went to my Wonju English meeting, which to my surprise lacked many of the recognizable faces. We discussed hobbies; what are our hobbies, what do we do when we are stressed, what hobbies we would like to take up, etc. After the meeting, we went to our usual Makkoli hangout. Julie met up with us just before we went. I talked with Julie quite a bit because it was the first time I had seen her since I got back from Japan. I also talked to Brian (it sounds strange...but he is a guy who asked me to give him an English name...I chose Brian). His English is very little as is my Korean quite little....so we communicated the best we could. He's a really nice guy. I talked to Chan who I absolutely adore!! He is the founder of the English club. As I was talking to Chally about politics in Myanmar, I realized that Julie was no longer incredibly sober. Actually she was quite the opposite. I decided that it was time to take her home around 1:00AM. Chally also was suggesting that I take her home. Brian lives in the apartment complex across the street from me, so he and I take a taxi home together. Julie lives just down the road in another complex, so Brian helped me take her home. We literally almost had to carry her upstairs. I'm glad Brian was there. Julie was acting really strange and saying really random things. Sidenote: It's not an incredibly acceptable concept for women to be drunk in public in Korea. Anyway, Brian got out of the taxi at my apartment complex and walked home. I think he figured we had put the poor taxi drive through enough with having to wait for us while we hauled Julie upstairs to her apt.
All in all...pretty up and down day.
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