The school that I am working at is called LCI Academy. It is part of the LCI chain of private English schools (hagwons) and this particular branch has been open for three years. Any Koreans that I’ve talked to have told me it must be a big school because we have seven foreign teachers in total. The school staff consists of us seven foreigners, three Korean teachers, the Director, and his wife. We are the main teachers and the Korean staff only teach a couple classes while also serving as secretaries, book keepers, translators, and support for us. They make sure we have the books we need, are on schedule to complete books on time and are the best place to go with questions about school, life, or if you’re not sure what you ate the night before. Their English is a bit limited but they provide an invaluable service to the school and to our lives here in Korea. If you need to see a doctor you go to them, tell them what’s wrong, and they’ll write it for you in Korean. One of the first weeks I was eyeing some street food and had them write down the name so I would know what to ask for. Anything needing translation, they are the first people to go to. They are also the middle ground between us and the Director and his wife. Messages get passed through them from both sides and it’s a hard job because “don’t shoot the messanger” does not always apply.
My first day at LCI they had me shadow the teacher I would be replacing. They gave me her (my) schedules and a packet she had written about how to teach each section of class. I sat on the side of the classroom watching her teach and writing notes all day. There are a lot of different periods and separate books that go with a lot of them. Many subjects are taught multiple times a week. In one week for Kindergarten I teach: a Theme book, Phonics, Math, Kids Excel, Social/Science Book, Cooking, Storybook, ORDA, Writing Diary, Show & Tell, a Song, a Poem, Arts & Crafts, and Science. I will explain things in more detail later but for now, for understanding’s sake, Kids Excel = Reader Rabbit on the computer, and ORDA are these sheets that deal with spacial skills: patterns, shapes fitting together etc. things like that.
I had two days to learn how to teach all of that. Missing my flight and loosing the third day of training meant I didn’t even get to see how some of the periods were taught. It was a lot to digest. All of the subjects are pretty easy to teach the key is just learning how they want you to teach it, and staying on schedule. The hardest part is keeping track of all of the books. There is a Theme book, a book for math, two books for phonics, a book for Storybook. . . you get the idea. The second day of training (Friday) they bounced me around between different people’s classes. I thought it was to give me different perspectives but really it was because they were having a big going away party in my soon-to-be class. I was disappointed at first because I wanted to get to know the kids but it turned out to be really nice seeing how other people teach. Everyone has a different style, some are more strict, some are more organized, and it was nice looking in on and getting suggestions from the different teachers.
After kindergarten I followed the teacher I was replacing to the afternoon classes. Five days a week I have kindergarten from 9:50am to 2:20pm. On Monday, Wednesday, Friday I have a class called PK1 from 2:40-5:00 and a class called EC2 from 5:10-6:55. So first was PK1 which is one of the top classes in the school. These kids are in their first year of Korean school and come to LCI after they finish the regular school day. These kids are really smart. They are also really competitive but I think that goes with the territory. For that class there are another four books although they are not all taught every time I see them. The last class EC2 are three nine-year-old boys who have not studied English for very long. That class only has three books :).
By the end of training on Friday I felt like my head was going to explode with everything I had to remember. I knew the Korean teachers and the Director’s wife would be in my classroom for the first couple days observing me and giving me feedback. The amount of books I felt like I had to juggle was ridiculous. I didn’t have time to prepare lessons, in part because I was kind of lost, so I knew I would be going into Monday only half prepared.
That weekend I also moved into the apartment I will be in for next year (pictures to come). My first three nights the school put me up in a hotel because the teacher I replaced didn’t leave until Saturday afternoon. My room was really nice. When you walked into the room there was a small foyer to take off your shoes (you never wear them into a house) and you put the key in a slot which made all of the lights turn on. The only light switches on the wall were for the bathroom lights so to turn the rest on or off there was a giant remote. I don’t know what half of the buttons were for but between six of them I was able to control the lights and the t.v. There was a separate remote for the air conditioning. The bathroom had a huge tub with a shower head but no curtain. The ‘no curtain’ is pretty standard here but one of the teachers told me the hotel is a “Love Motel”. That made some puzzle pieces fall into place like why there were two robes and my welcome packet included toothbrushes, razors, and condoms. (I later found, when another new teacher came, that some of the floors had vending machines selling sex toys , luckily I wasn’t on one of those floors.) It really was nice though and I guess such places are very common in Korea. I think it has something to do with most people living with their parents until they’re married, but I digress….
My first day at LCI they had me shadow the teacher I would be replacing. They gave me her (my) schedules and a packet she had written about how to teach each section of class. I sat on the side of the classroom watching her teach and writing notes all day. There are a lot of different periods and separate books that go with a lot of them. Many subjects are taught multiple times a week. In one week for Kindergarten I teach: a Theme book, Phonics, Math, Kids Excel, Social/Science Book, Cooking, Storybook, ORDA, Writing Diary, Show & Tell, a Song, a Poem, Arts & Crafts, and Science. I will explain things in more detail later but for now, for understanding’s sake, Kids Excel = Reader Rabbit on the computer, and ORDA are these sheets that deal with spacial skills: patterns, shapes fitting together etc. things like that.
I had two days to learn how to teach all of that. Missing my flight and loosing the third day of training meant I didn’t even get to see how some of the periods were taught. It was a lot to digest. All of the subjects are pretty easy to teach the key is just learning how they want you to teach it, and staying on schedule. The hardest part is keeping track of all of the books. There is a Theme book, a book for math, two books for phonics, a book for Storybook. . . you get the idea. The second day of training (Friday) they bounced me around between different people’s classes. I thought it was to give me different perspectives but really it was because they were having a big going away party in my soon-to-be class. I was disappointed at first because I wanted to get to know the kids but it turned out to be really nice seeing how other people teach. Everyone has a different style, some are more strict, some are more organized, and it was nice looking in on and getting suggestions from the different teachers.
After kindergarten I followed the teacher I was replacing to the afternoon classes. Five days a week I have kindergarten from 9:50am to 2:20pm. On Monday, Wednesday, Friday I have a class called PK1 from 2:40-5:00 and a class called EC2 from 5:10-6:55. So first was PK1 which is one of the top classes in the school. These kids are in their first year of Korean school and come to LCI after they finish the regular school day. These kids are really smart. They are also really competitive but I think that goes with the territory. For that class there are another four books although they are not all taught every time I see them. The last class EC2 are three nine-year-old boys who have not studied English for very long. That class only has three books :).
By the end of training on Friday I felt like my head was going to explode with everything I had to remember. I knew the Korean teachers and the Director’s wife would be in my classroom for the first couple days observing me and giving me feedback. The amount of books I felt like I had to juggle was ridiculous. I didn’t have time to prepare lessons, in part because I was kind of lost, so I knew I would be going into Monday only half prepared.
That weekend I also moved into the apartment I will be in for next year (pictures to come). My first three nights the school put me up in a hotel because the teacher I replaced didn’t leave until Saturday afternoon. My room was really nice. When you walked into the room there was a small foyer to take off your shoes (you never wear them into a house) and you put the key in a slot which made all of the lights turn on. The only light switches on the wall were for the bathroom lights so to turn the rest on or off there was a giant remote. I don’t know what half of the buttons were for but between six of them I was able to control the lights and the t.v. There was a separate remote for the air conditioning. The bathroom had a huge tub with a shower head but no curtain. The ‘no curtain’ is pretty standard here but one of the teachers told me the hotel is a “Love Motel”. That made some puzzle pieces fall into place like why there were two robes and my welcome packet included toothbrushes, razors, and condoms. (I later found, when another new teacher came, that some of the floors had vending machines selling sex toys , luckily I wasn’t on one of those floors.) It really was nice though and I guess such places are very common in Korea. I think it has something to do with most people living with their parents until they’re married, but I digress….
Hotel Room
On Saturday check-out was at 12:30 and I couldn’t move into the apartment until 3:00. Luckily someone told me if you ask they will hold your bags at the front desk so I left my suitcases there, minus my backpack, and went wandering for a few hours. It took me two trips to get my things over to the apartment but finally I was finished. I had a lazy weekend, unpacked, and got ready for my first week teaching alone.
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