Back to School!

Ahh, new school year. Students have new hairdos and school supplies and the brand new first graders are so tiny and cute! The first day of school is always really fun, but I got to enjoy it in a whole different way. I don't have any classes. Since the first day is all administrative, no English classes.

But one really interesting thing that I learned about Korea is that on the first day of school all of the teachers are introduced to the students and parents (since teachers move schools and grades so frequently here, there are often new teachers) and students also don't know what teachers are assigned to their classes when they first show up. The students know what class they are in but it isn't until this ceremony that they actually know who is going to be their teacher. One grade at a time in called onto the stage and the teachers are introduced one by one and the students are told what class they are teaching. It was really funny to watch the students at this point. I also had to go up to the stage and bow, but everyone knows who I teach. Now this ceremony was only for the 2-6th grades. There was another ceremony an hour later where the first graders were brought in with their parents and introduced to the entire staff.

I also had a new schedule this semester. I am still teaching 4th and 5th grades, but since we only have on Korean English Co-teacher that the other Fulbrighter and I have to share, we had to come up with a new solution to how to teach all of the classes. So this year, I will teach 4th grade with my co-teacher and Nya will teach 6th grade with her. We will both be teaching our other grade, 5th and 3rd respectively, with the homeroom teachers for each class. I was genuinely worried about this. This would mean that I would have to take on a much larger role in the classroom than I was previously. I was even more worried after meeting with the 5th grade teachers. Each of them wanted a different role in the classroom. One was there just for translation and discipline purposes, one did that along with also wanting to teach the into and closure of the lesson, and the third wanted to teach half the class.

But I have had some time to get into this new dynamic and I absolutely love it. It is so much fun and I get to do so much with them. I introduced a new reward system and they are so into it.

I also have a new after school class this semester. Because of the lack of interest in the 5th and 6th grades for an English after school, I now teach 4th grade after school twice a week. They are dramatically different from my 5th grade boys from last semester. First of all, there are more of them that come consistently, and secondly they just want to do such different things. The girls want to draw and color while the boys want to play games and not really learn English. The balance between the two groups will be my biggest struggle this semester but I think I am up to the task.