Katy's School: Surviving the World of High School Boys

Last time Danny told you a little bit about his school and now it is my turn. Even though Danny and I initially moved to Korea just to get the experience of living in a foreign country and traveling, teaching has become a big part of our lives here. Since neither of us had previous teaching experience, we weren't really sure what we were getting ourselves into and even though there have been some tough times, overall it has been a great experience. It has been interesting to see how differently they do things but I am starting to forget how different it is... "Wait, student's don't brush their teeth multiple times a day in America? Weird." Above is a picture of me teaching my "open class" which you have to do twice a year. The class is opened so other teachers or parents can come watch your class and evaluate you. It sounds scary but it's really not that bad.

Here is basically what happens in a normal class of mine: I first do a phrase of the day where I teach a slang word like "pound it, awesome, eat it, pick up line" and many others. It's fun to teach the students and then later here them using it when they speak. Then we teach the lesson about whatever the topic is that day: travel, habits, etc. (The boring stuff) THEN, I usually do a game. The students have so many other lecture classes a day, so I try to at least make my classes fun, and I've learned like many other teachers, that if you offer candy, the students will basically do anything for you! I like to use whiteboards for games and usually the most entertaining thing is when they get to choose their own team names. I've heard names such as "Penguins", "The Team of Father", the very creative "Team 5", or "Oops, Having a Baby (It may be Intended)". Obviously, I laugh everytime they make team names : )

Here are some pictures of my students. Above is my absolute FAVORITE class! They are really great guys who have a lot of fun but actually listen to me in class. (I will miss them) Actually, unlike Danny's school, most of my guys are really great. I only have 2 classes out of 12 that are really difficult so I feel very lucky. Like I said before, my school is the top high school in the area, so I think that's way the majority of my students are so good. Below are some other really nice students, who are also the trouble-makers, but you can't help but like them. From left to right there is Jagiya (which means honey in Korean), Obama, and Sponge Bob. They obviously got to choose their own names ; )

These are some of the guys from my favorite 1st grade class. Again, I think people have the idea that Asian students are perfect students, but that is far from the truth. Boys are boys so they like to do the same things as American students. I think it is funny that at the beginning of the year I thought they all looked the same: black hair, glasses, uniform, but now I can really see the difference is looks and personality in all of them. One kid, Kyle, has been a really fun student to get to know. He is one of those guys who wants to be one of the cool kids, but just isn't, and who has such a sweet personality. He wrote me a note for teachers day that I had to share:

I feel lucky to have formed a bond with some students so I will be really sad to say goodbye. These two guys are 3rd graders, and even though I don't teach them, they enjoyed coming to visit me every once in a while. The guy on the right I call "Stevie" because he likes to practice Stevie Wonder songs with me so I can help him with his pronounciation. When you teach, everyday is entertaining in some way.

Almost everything about the Korean school system is different than what I know in America, and that even includes lunch. It is almost "mandatory" to eat the lunch that the school provides in Korea. It would kind of be seen as rude if you don't want to eat their food so you have to get used to it quickly. Actually the healthiness and the quality of food is much better than an American cafeteria's so it's not that bad, but don't be expecting burgers and fries as an option.

You always get in the line and grab yourself a silver tray, chopsticks, and a spoon. The food that is always found on the menu is rice, kimchi, and some sort of soup. Other than that you will usually get various other dishes such as tofu, steamed seaweed, green onion pancake, spicy chicken, fruit salad, shrimp and fish salad, pork cutlet, and so much more.

Here is my tray after I filled it with a Korean lunch. From top right going clockwise you can see spicy pork in sauce, some sort of soup, rice with various greens to mix in, fried tofu with red pepper sauce, kimchi, and steamed sesame spinach. They also occasionally give you a little treat, and today it was a tiny bottled drink that I still don't know what the technical flavor is. Koreans think it is unhealthy to drink while you eat so if you get any liquid at all, it will be about the size of a shot glass.

I've actually started to enjoy lunch, and the fact that you get all of that food for about $2 a day is a pretty good deal if you ask me! Here's a view of the walk up to the school "restuarant" as my Coteacher likes to call it, and the dormitory... the horse kind of reminds me of my high school days at Lewis-Palmer... GO RANGERS... Woop, WOOP!

Here is a lovely view of my office. I think this will be the biggest office I will EVER have, and let's just say that those couches have given me a wonderful place to nap on the occasion. I am actually the only teacher who has their own office, and it's not because I am lucky, but actually because they didn't have room for me anywhere else. I am in an entirely different building than everyone else so it can get lonely, but for the most part I enjoy it.

Here is a picture of me and one of the English teachers in my school who I taught English to about twice a week in a teacher's class. His name is Chu and he is a character. At first I think he didn't really like me, but eventually I won him over by doing what I do best... teasing him. Who knew that these serious and sometimes intimidating Korean men melt as soon as you make them laugh? This picture was take then day I made tacos for some of the teachers. Tragically, Mexican food is not common in Korea so this was the first time that they had tried a taco! How did they survive without tacos?!

I think the most suprising blessing of this whole experience has definitely been the relationship I have built with my Coteacher, Mrs. Byeon. As a foreign teacher, you are automatically assigned a Korean teacher to help you with anything you need. These teachers can either been extremely helpful, which mine is, or not so involved which can make simple things like getting a cell phone or figuring out your school schedule quite difficult. Mrs. Byeon has honestly become like my Korean aunt. She is a believer, which gives us a great connection, and is always willing to help. She brings me vegetables from her garden all the time, she has taught me how to make Dakalbi, and she has taken Danny and I on family trips. I honestly think that Danny and I would have had a very different and not-as-great experience without her. Here I am with another teacher who I teach in my teacher's class, Mrs. Lee (on the left), Mrs. Byeon (in the middle), and me.

Well, that was a way-to-long post about my school, so I won't blame you aren't reading this part at the end. Overall, I have learned a lot through this experience, and I know that it has made me appreciate past teachers a lot more.

I guess in the end, the secret I have learned to being a good teacher is this: bribe people with candy and anybody will like you : ) Good luck to all of you who are forming the minds of the future!

Danielle's "Ruvery" School

Today is the day I finally tell you about teaching in Korea. It's funny that I haven't really mentioned much about our teaching experiences even though that is the reason we are here. I guess there were just too many other things to talk about like apples and trains and food but now is the time and it's going to be glorious! Today will be about Danny's school and then maybe in a few weeks we'll talk about my school.

Before I get into the specifics at Danny's school, let me explain why school in Korea is really different. I'll try to give you a short list of why:

1. They rank high schools like they rank universities at home so Danny's is not so great (#4 out of 5) and mine is the best one in the province. (I know I am very lucky.)

2. Most high schools are seperated girls and boys

3. There are only 3 grades in high school: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. They call them that but basically they are the same at sophomores, juniors, and seniors... we only teach 1st and 2nd graders though.

4. They go to school 6 days a week, Monday through Saturday. Yuck. Thankfully we only have to teach M-F but regular teachers are in school for long hours

5. They also go to school from about 8 am to 11 pm at night. WHHHHAAAAA????!!! I know before you fall off your chair, let me break it down, even though it doesn't make it any better... The students get to school and usually have "supplementary" class before real class starts at 9. Then they have class till about 6 pm. Then they have "optional" study time from about 7-11pm which isn't really optional time at all. On Saturdays the schedule is a little easier because they only have to be in school from 8-2pm so that makes it ok...NOT.

Some of the following pictures are from my (Danny) school's Sports day. Most Schools have one or two sports days a year. We've mentioned before that Koreans don't do anything half heartedly and sports day is another example of that. Each homeroom class had banners and T-shirts professionally made.

Here is a picture of my adopted group...for the day.

In the Morning one of the third graders in this class said he wanted to trade shirts with me, so of course I did, but being that he has the typical body shape of most Koreans and I of most westerners my shirt was snug for sure.

Here is one of my coteachers with some of his third grade homeroom class. Since Koreans are crazy about brand name thing, most of the teams were named for a famous fashion brand in Korea. This was team Kappa.

At the end of the days games was the awards ceremony, which I found to be particularly interesting because winning teams were not given metals or ribons, or even cash prizes. The winning teams were given huge packs of toilet paper.

?????????

Since the bathrooms at the school don't have toilet paper, it can be a precious commodity and I have suspicions that the students even use it as some sort of currency, like cigarettes in prison.

Here I am with my main coteacher and the reson why this post is called Danielle's ruvery school. Here are the resons:

1. On the day that I was picked up by my coteacher for the first time in February he called me Danielle, (Korean pronunciation of Daniel). I explained to him that Daniel is my legal name but that everyone calls me Danny. Something was lost in translation, or he decided that I didn't know what I was talking about, so from that day on I have been referred to in my school as Danielle.

2. Benny is my coteacher's name and he refers to all of his students as his "ruvery students." Koreans struggle to pronounce the letter "L."

One day a few months ago Katy came by my school to visit since she had never been. Being that I teach in an all-boys high school, they don't see females too often...Plus Katy is HOT!!! That's right I said it. My wife is hot. So as you can see there are heads poking out of a majority of the windows all with the intention of sneaking a peak at the celebrity female that Danielle teacher is married to.

Every day the students clean the school from 3:00-3:20. That sounds like a great idea right?...well in theory, yes.

But try to picture 500 high school boys cleaning anything well...Yeah. The school is not filthy, but I wouldn't call it clean either.

These are the brooms/mops that I often see my students dragging down the hallways with them. As you can probably imagine those bristly plastic sticks at the end of the broom really do a dynamite job of cleaning in the hands of a 16 year old boy.

Here I am in a stairway at my school that where I have had to get used to ducking as I pass by multiple times a day. Contrary to the stereotype, Koreans are not all that short, but apparently a very tiny person constructed the stairways at my school.

My school has an English Only wing that I teach a few classes in each week. Most schools have some sort of classroom like this. The Korean school system does not spare any expense on these rooms. Mine has a big flat screen tv. An interactive computer screen and surround sound.

And here I am teaching one of my first grade classes. They all look so attentive in this picture, but don't be fooled by the innocent look. This year I've learned that it doesn't matter if they're from the U.S. or Korea. Teenagers are teenagers and these students can be trouble makers for sure.

Another one bites the dust...

This week, Danny and I had to say goodbye to another beloved Korean family member: Chubs. Chubs was a wonderful fish full of life and food, but sadly he passed away earlier this week. Unfortunately we don't know the cause of his death, again, but we are going to try to deal with our stages of greif apropriately before we go pointing fingers. We feel that we really didn't get to experience as much as we wanted to with Chubs, and now that he is no longer with us there is only one thing to do...wallow. Danny is taking the loss of two fish in one month pretty hard, so sympathy cards and flowers are appropriate. I only hope that he can look back on his time with our two Korean friends with joy and fond memories. We are thinking about getting another pet to help us move on with the life we still have to live, but for right now the wound is still too fresh. I know I will always remember how Chubs loved to eat and therefore he had sort of a waddle to his swim (if fish could waddle). Chubs was so heart warming and even in the breif time I knew him, he made a difference in my life.

Your memory lives on. Rest in Peace Chubs.

Now we are teachers...but I don't feel any smarter : )

The view of the courtyard of my school, Andong High School. The brick building is where I have my English classroom. Oh yeah.

Danny standing in front of his school, Jung Ahng High School. Danny's Co Teacher asked him to "practice" walking to school before the first day so he wouldn't get lost. Needless to say we were successful.

Danny and I have officially be teaching for almost a week. Last week we were in school, but we were just planning for teaching this week so I am glad to finally get in the classroom. As I said before, Danny and I are both teaching at boys high schools so that has been interesting. We have had interesting experiences so far, and I hope that the kids will continue to be as entertaining. So far this is what we have seen in our schools:

Danny's school: The first day everyone was really excited that they had a native English speaker for the first time. The students told him that they loved him as he was walking down the hall and it's funny to think that would NEVER happen in the states. Teachers are a bit different in Korea because at Danny's school they all carry large sticks (drum sticks, bamboo sticks, etc.) or go around smacking kids upside the head with their hands if they have been bad. They never hurt the kids, it is almost like a joke between teachers and students to see how long they can go without getting knocked upside the head. Danny has often seen the students kneeling on their knees in a line, while a stern teacher talks to them about their bad behavior. In Korea, kids start school around 8 am and end classes around 10 or 11 pm! It is crazy that they have to stay as long as they do, and you would think that is enough but they also make them come in every other Saturday. Danny and I were both thinking you would have a riot if they tried to do something like that in America. We only have to work till 5 pm everyday, but other teachers stay literally all day long. CRAZY!

My school: I work at what is supposed to be the "best" boys high school in Andong. This is where the smartest kids come for school. I have been told I am beautiful and that students love me many times already, but don't worry little Korean boys are no contest to my man. I met my principal my first day and I have decided that he looks like a Korean Regis Philbin. I have since learned that he likes to drink Soju (Korean Saki) and sing no rae bong (karaoke), but so far I just see him as a serious guy. I work in a office all by myself which can get lonely, but I can get lots of work done so that is nice. My school is farther away then Danny's (his is about a 10 minute walk) so I have been getting a ride so far, but I tried to walk it this week and found out it takes 1 hr. and 10 min. to go to school...much farther than I thought. I hope to buy a bike this weekend to make the trip easier. All teachers eat lunch at the cafeteria (I was told it is very important for me to eat there so they don't take offense) and the food is pretty good. I of course have kimchi, and sometimes there is strange stuff (squid stir fry) and sometimes it's more normal. Every class is very high tech and has a projector and a ton of computer and sound system equipment which I found surprising. I know there is more, but I will leave that till another day...so that is my school. Good times.

Everyday I learn something new at school and we both are trying to make friends with our fellow teachers, but that takes lots of time. I hope that our jobs will continue to be interesting and maybe we'll even learn to be good teachers. The word for the day is appropriately teacher: sun sang neem.

Now I will share with you the bathroom situation that I have to use at my school. Not exactly my favorite, but I'm getting used to it.