"Teaching"

In case anyone forgot "to teach" means to impart knowledge or skill; give instruction. Being in Korea I think I often forget what it means to teach. Yes, I am theoretically an English teacher and I spend a sizable chunk of my work week "teaching", but I often wonder if what I do is actually teaching. First let me break down what a typical (although there isn't really such thing as a typical week here since my schedule seems to change without notice every two seconds) week entails. 


Monday: Work from 8:40-4:40. Co-teach four classes of 6th grade in the morning (all the same lesson).


Tuesday: Co-teach four classes of 6th grade in the morning (same lesson as Monday). Teach one after school class of 1st and 2nd graders with minimal English knowledge. 


Wednesday: Co-teach two classes of 6th grade (SAME lesson as Monday and Tuesday--this is where I contemplate suicide), and two of 5th grade (this is where we start to question the word "teach). Teach teachers' English (well the two teachers who show up) for approximately two hours (although this has changed every week so far). 


Thursday: Co-teach three (but sometimes four or five, the schedule seems to change every single week) classes of 5th grade (same lesson as Wednesday). Teach after school 1st and 2nd grade. 


Friday: Co-teach four (sometimes more sometimes less) classes of 5th grade (SAME lesson as Wednesday and Thursday--again contemplate suicide). In Konglish: pinishee (finished!). Bring on the weekend!


Now let me do a little math for you:


-There are approximately 30 students in each of my regular 5th and 6th grade classes.
30x10 classes= 300 individual 6th graders
30x9 classes= 270 individual 5th graders
20 1st and 2nd graders. 
Total students= approx 600 individual students!!


-I teach the same lesson every week to my 5th and 6th graders
1x 10 classes= 10 times of pure torture (besides the first and second lessons where it's semi fun to see students reactions)
1x9 classes= 9 times of pure torture (and there is virtually no enjoyment when it comes to 5th grade)
2x 2 classes= 2 times of fun with adorable Korean children who I can do whatever I want with


Conclusion: My job can be pretty boring. There is no possible way to get to know my students because I see so many of them. 5th and 6th graders study English three times per week, they see me one time per week. Am I helping them much? Probably not. 


So this all sounds a bit negative. It's not all bad, really. There are a lot of things I enjoy about teaching but the problem is what I do 80% of the time is not what I would call teaching. In a perfect world where the contract that I signed and what I learned at orientation is followed, my lessons would go something like this: My co-teachers and I would share equally the teaching and lesson planning load. My job is to be a pronunciation guide for the students and something of a novelty since I am from a different country and look different from every other person in my school. My co-teacher is supposed to be the disciplinarian, the one who teaches grammar concepts (because las a native speaker you really don't know grammar all that well), and a translator when I explain something in English. In my 6th grade classes my co-teacher and I achieve these goals relatively well. It doesn't mean that I'm still not bored out of my mind by class number ten of teaching the same lesson but I think we both still manage to have some fun in the midst of the monotony and I think most of the students enjoy themselves and don't leave the classroom hating English. 

This is about the enthusiasm most of my 5th graders
have for English after I'm finished with them. 

5th grade on the other hand is a different story. When teaching in Korea, you never quite know what you're going to get when it comes to co-teachers, schools, apartments, and location. I was lucky in my location, my apartment, and my main 6th grade co-teacher but of course there are things I would love to change. I am at least outwardly a patient and positive person, but "teaching" 5th grade tries even my outward patience. What are my primary duties? "Teaching" spelling (in quotations because I am NOT qualified to teach spelling therefore I don't think I'm actually imparting any knowledge to my students since I didn't have any spelling knowledge to begin with), playing games that bore me out of my mind (and I think bore my students as well), and assigning endless homework assignments that amount to essentially handwriting practice for the students. Some of the 5th graders are little devils (they know more English profanity than other vocabulary combined) yet there is little discipline in the classroom. I am the last thing from an expert teacher, but I have discovered that part of effective teaching is good classroom management and being aware of what is going on in all corners of the classroom. When a student is crying, likely because of another devil student aggravating her, in my mind something should be done.  


But this is not the place for me to rant on my teaching woes. In my little dream world I am a good teacher that my students will remember for a long time, and I am actually helping my students learn some English while enjoying the learning process. This can be a difficult to impossible task in Korea. Because of private English academies that middle to upper class families send their children to, the English abilities of students in my classes can vary from kids who could carry on a pretty good conversation with me, to kids who can't read English. Managing this huge discrepancy in levels, while trying to make the required textbook material interesting and fun is only possible with a co-teacher who can effectively manage the classroom, has a fun personality and perhaps remembers what it was like to be a student. I've accepted the fact that this goal will never be accomplished with 5th grade, instead my new more achievable goals are to amuse at least one or two students in class by my ridiculous behavior (also serves the purpose of keeping me amused), and have fun with and teach (the full definition of the word) my 1st and 2nd graders. 


While I may not always give instruction or impart knowledge, I can brag that I have a job where I get paid to be overly dramatic, sing, dance, sometimes shout, play, and draw. And at least I haven't quite stooped to the level of an English robot (but perhaps pretty close at times). Soon robots will replace Native Teachers in Korea so until that day I continue trying to amuse my students with my clown-like antics. See video below.   

  

Positive thoughts on Korea/saving some of the e-mails I sent out

Mass e-mail sent out to friends and family a while ago (unedited). I'm trying to preserve some of these e-mails before they all get deleted. 


As I feel I may have come across as too negative in my last e-mail I want send some positive things about Korea your way. First, I don't retract any of my statements in the last e-mail. My frustrations and observations are not uncommon among foreigners and Koreans alike. And I don't believe any of my informations and observations are faulty. In fact I recall having coffee with my well traveled 6th grade co-teacher after being in Korea for two months and she told me flat out that Koreans are racist. I was shocked and horrified at the time until a month or so later when I began to notice this. She mentioned the lack of creativity and critical thinking in Korean education and her frustration with it. Unfortunately much of this pressure to do well on tests can be traced back and connected to the No Child Left Behind act in the states. The States is much like a role model in many ways for how things are done in Korea (to my displeasure). So a few years ago the Korean president decided to create a smiliar law in Korea that based school funding on the performance of students. Just like in the States this law zapped any flexibility for teachers to let students be creative and explore their interests. Teachers suddenly felt extreme pressure to have their students perform well on the tests (that are conducted at the SAME time in all of Korea for each grade level). Their students' performance determined funding for the school and also job security for the teachers. All so sad! While I was critical of Korea's lack of creativity in school the same thing is beginning to happen in the States. I know many schools in California (and I believe elsewhere) are cutting art programs and things that are considered to be nonessential. I've come to the conclusion that every education system is faulty in some way so I think we should take advantage of globalization and begin to learn from each country's strengths and weaknesses. 

Education is what got Korea where it is today. 60 years ago Korea's GDP was the same as Pakistans and yet today Korea's GDP is in the top twenty in the world. What is the biggest difference between these two countries? Korea recognized that they lacked natural resources so instead chose to invest in their people. Some recent statistics on Pakistan: Male (15-24) literacy rate: 80%, Female (15-24) literacy rate: 60% (taken from UNICEF), overall rate (all ages): 54%. Korea's literacy rate: 99%!!! One of my favorite quotes is from Nelson Mandela: Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

This quote sums up why I enjoy teaching and what I ultimately think will start to bring about change in the world. I encourage everyone to read Three Cups of Tea (about a man who began starting schools in rural Pakistan). In the book it brings up some interesting conclusions about terrorism and education and how with proper education (not the oil lord funded madrassa schools that teach radical Muslim ideas and that are widespread in much of the middle east). This is a bit off the original topic but I think that education is what brought Korea to where it is today and improved education is what will change Korea. Recently on CNN there was a story about a man (a mixed race Korean) who started a "rainbow" school, a school where children of mixed races could learn and feel comfortable, because unfortunately in normal Korean schools they are often made fun of since Korea is incredibly racially homogeneous. Google the article. It was an excellent and inspirng story. 

As for the obsession with appearance--I think this is a problem worldwide but Korea takes a different approach. Here is an interesting article on this topic:  http://thegrandnarrative.com/2009/05/08/korean-women-are-not-alphabets/

I use the word blessed a lot but it's the best word in the English language to describe how I feel about this experience and the opportunities I've had so far. While I'm not exactly overjoyed to be living in this cold weather right now and there are many things I find frustrating, Koreans are definitely the hardest working people I've ever met, most generous, and by far the most honest (probably why this country has virtually no crime). I'll leave you with some quotes from my students today while we learned about Europe (they made my day):

"Goodbye Teacher! Ahhhh! I don't want to go home! I want to study more!" He was so excited about what we learned today :) 

After teaching my 6th graders about wind turbines in Denmark: "Teacher! You so smart! Engineer!!!!" haha! Sometimes the amount of reverence I get is a little scary. 

"Teacher you are world traveler!!" (I want to be!)

My 6th graders are brimming with enthusiasm about traveling and the world. It's so exciting to share some of my passion about traveling with them. If all Korean students can catch the travel bug and bring this back to their home country I think everything will change!

Hope this e-mail corrected any negative thoughts anyone was having about Korea. Every place in the world comes with its good and bad. If we were all the same, the world would be an extremely boring place. Traveling teaches you to more closely examine your own country for its strengths and weaknesses and tests your ability to adapt to and understand a different way of life.