Toddlers and Tantrums, oh yeah, Teaching

Ah, the post you've all be waiting for. Teaching!!!

You've probably wondered why its taken me so long to write about my teaching experience. Well, I'd be lying if I said it was solely because I wanted to get a few pictures of the kids to go with the blog. Yes, that is part of the reason. But the other part is that I've wanted to run away from this school screaming "I can't do this!!!" for two weeks straight. In fact, that is most of the reason I haven't blogged about my teaching experience. Up until now, I was seriously considering trying to find a new teaching job or just come home.

I found out very quickly, I am not equipped to teach kindergarten. Eh-hem, let me rephrase that, I'm not equipped to teach preschoolers. You see, Koreans calculate birthdays differently than Americans (or any other country I've encountered so far... I want to check China cause I think they are doing the same funny math -- remember those "14" year old Chinese gymnasts!). Well, a child is considered 1 years old on the day he/she's born. On Jan 1st, everyone turns a year older. So, technically, a child born Dec 31 is two years old on Jan 1st in Korea. In America he's a day old. Get it? So, they say I'm teaching kindy... but really, these kids are preschool.

So, back to the part about me being ill prepared. Per my contract, I was to receive two or three days of orientation. Well, yes, I did go to school for two days before I started teaching but since it was graduation time, there were no kindy classes. I observed a total of four elementary school classes and received no instruction on how to teach kindy, what resources were available to me or even what was expected of me.

I'm sure right now you are thinking, what an awful school. Of course you should leave. Well, in fact, this is pretty standard for all private schools in Korea. Its just the culture. Very fly by the seat of your pants, info is on a need to know basis, and everything is rushed and last minute. You just have to roll with it because you can't change it.

So, I receive my schedule and found out I'm teaching 6 classes of kindy in the morning and 2 classes of elementry school in the afternoon. Three of the kindy classes are with a group called Dallas (all the classes have English speaking city names, London, Boston, New York, etc). Well the Dallas kids consist of 7 year olds (that's 5/6 year olds in America) and they are 1st year English students. I only have two students: Troy and Sophia.

The second group is called Atlanta. Atlanta kids are 5 years old (3/4 - yeah... toddlers!) and also 1st year English students. Their names: Sally, Jinny, and Henry (Henry is the boy who knows the word "Burberry" but doesn't know that he's a "boy")

So, I've got the newbies. Hmmmm... let's get this straight, someone thought sticking the new teacher with the new kids was the best plan. Really???? Really???? I have no experience teaching and these kids have no experience learning. Does anyone else smell disaster?

Needless to say, I've been struggling.

I can roll with the Dallas class (the older ones). They pick things up quicker, they understand English a little bit already, they can do worksheets and play games to pass the time. Tic Tac Toe is the latest game of choice.

But Atlanta, I'm clueless. And unfortunately, since they don't know a word of English (I mean NOT ONE WORD), and I don't know a word of Korean... it's like the blind leading the blind. Or the illiterate teaching the illiterate. It's been two weeks and only two of my three kids know the difference between the words boy and girl. I do have a book but trying to get them to stay on one page long enough to have them look at a picture and repeat the English word is nearly impossible. And trying to come up with a lesson plan... seriously. This is my dilemma: fill 3 35min classes with learning, games, activities. So, I think...

• Easy games like I Spy... can't do it. They won't understand me and don't know the English words for things in the room.
• Flash cards... marginally successful. But they are shy, bored, scared, not sure what I'm saying... you name the reason but repeating is like pulling teeth
• Songs... well, they can only handle songs that are slower and have physical motions.
• Coloring... YES! Coloring they can do!
• Read a book... ha! They don't understand me. Oh, and reading only takes up like 5minutes... 30 more to go!
• Cut and paste projects... yeah, 3 year olds can't cut. And Jinny tried to eat the glue yesterday. Ugh.

Oh, and I have to have like four activities planned per 35minutes because they have attention spans of a chipmonk. And they are in school all day - 9:30am - 2:20pm. It's a long day. They are tired. Cranky. Bored... Blah Blah Blah. But none of this is their fault. There is just a lot being asked for these little ones and I totally understand when they just shut down in the middle of the day.

So, yeah, I've had a rough first few weeks. I've talked with my director and head teacher about switching classes. No can do! They insist that in a month, these kids will be my favorite. Sure, the are cute. But I'm not now, nor will I ever enjoy being a performing monkey!

After all that ranting, I will concede that this week has been a bit better. I did insist that the head teacher spend time helping me develop lesson plans (that is her job actually!). She gave me some good ideas. Also, let me know that it is okay for the kids and I to just play together. So, in the afternoon, half of our class is play time. I speak English to them and try to make it semi-educational but really, I need a break too! I got some CDs with songs so I don't have to sing as much anymore! And the kids are warming up to me. I get hugs (and sometimes kisses... which is apparently cool here) before the kids leave.

So, let me officially introduce you to my little ones...

Dallas Class:

First we have Sophia. Each morning I say "Hello, Sophia. How are you today?" She always replies "Hello, Emily Teacher. I am angry today." And it's quite true. She comes to school very pissed off. She's a moody little girl but for the most part, very well behaved. So, I can dig it. And if I tickle her, she will laugh.

Next is Troy. Troy started off school screaming "NOOOOOO" at the top of his lungs. He's got a bit of a temper and can get into funky moods where he just refuses to do anything. But he's gotten used to school now and when he gets into his funk, I just pull his book and any sharp object away from him, let him cool off for a minute, and then he's usually ready to join class again.

Atlanta class:

On the left is Sally. Sally is very very very shy. She will do whatever her neighbor is doing except if her neighbor is being naughty. So, she's a follower but at least when the other kids jump off the bridge, she probably won't.

Next is Jinny. Jinny can be very loving and then very very naughty. She'll take something she isn't suppose to, then hide it behind her back, and look at me with these eyes that say "I know what I did, I know it was wrong, and I'm not going to give it back without a fight." She's probably my least favorite child. But then she has these moments where she runs up and is so happy to see me so I can't stay angry with her for long.

On the right is Henry. Ah, Henry. Mr. Burberry pants. Henry is clearly the youngest. But very very bright. He is extremely cute and can get away with murder (and he knows it!). I wish I got a picture of Henry smiling because he usually is. In this picture it looks like he's thinking, "ah, another F-ing worksheet. I want to kill myself with this pencil" ... Me too Henry, Me too!

So, as of now, I'm just taking one day at a time. Hopefully I'll get into a groove and things will get easier. I seriously doubt I'll ever say "I like teaching babies". It's just not my cup of tea. But I do like teaching so hopefully someday this will feel more like teaching and less like babysitting!

BaBye. Em