Teaching English in a Korean Elementary School

Now that I have been teaching for two months, I find lesson planning and getting through a class to be almost easy.  Being a physics-secondary education major, I didn't have a whole lot of experience in ESL or elementary education, so I found the task to be slightly challenging at first. Luckily, Eastern Michigan University supplied me with a well enough foundation so that I didn't stumble too much (free advertisement. You're welcome EMU).

My first and second graders knew very very very little. They start earlier here, so they're basically kindergartners and first graders.  They can barely speak their own language, so how was I supposed to teach them a non-native language? Luckily I still have an immature side, and I can easily get on their level.  We start off every class and end every class by singing a song.  I find that when the students sing, they lose their accent. This is fantastic, because as you may know, the asian accent is pretty thick. It's also great for memorization purposes.  When the students can relate the english phrases to certain tones and beats, they remember them much more easily.
Besides singing, I work with them on phonics.  After two months they are already starting to read.  This alone has made me feel very accomplished.  Teaching phonics to the younger students is much easier than teaching it to older students.  They make great imitators! So they have the ability to make sounds that is nearly lost with the older students.  I'm sure every adult knows what I mean when I say they make great imitators. They repeat everything I say and do, and while this can be annoying in other situations, it's exactly what you want in a language class.
And my favorite thing to do with the students... GAME TIME.

Here are my first grade students. We learned about colors in this class period.  I typed up four different colors and put them in four different corners of the room.  One the tv in the front of the class, I had a PowerPoint up and when I clicked, one of the four colors would show up on the screen (the actual color, not the printed word).  If the students happened to be in the corner of the room as the same color on the screen, then there would be an explosion at their corner and they would momentarily die. They love this game. I call it Four Corners.

Class is fairly similar for the older students. Their level of English is a little more advanced, so I can get a little more creative with the games.  I taught the students directions this week.  So we played a game where one student would hide my phone (they love touching my iPhone even though they have better phones), and then another student would have to find the phone in a given amount of time, I think it was 40 seconds.  The student who was looking for the phone would find it by listening to his teammates' directions. English only and no pointing.

I really love the technology in the classrooms as well. In a few classes, we have smart tv's.  They're hooked up to the computer, and the tv is a touch screen.  So anything that you bring up on the computer monitor will be on the tv, and you can control the pointer by touching tv screen.  I find online games, such as memory, so the students can use this piece of technology.  They enjoy this version much more than playing with physical cards.

Anddd occasionally I'll let them watch a movie on the smart tv :)  (with Korean subtitles of course)

This is pretty much how every class period goes. I try to have fun with the students.  A typical Korean students schedule goes something like this:  from 8:30am to 4:30pm they are in school. From 4:30pm to ?? they go to some type of hagwon, which is an afterschool school (usually piano or more english).  And then they come home and study until 11pm or midnight. Then they go to bed and wake up to do the same thing. On the weekends they either help their parents work on the farm, or help their parents work in their restaurant or shop.  This is why I choose to have more fun with the kids.  They have multiple English classes throughout the day. I try to let them have fun in mine since they aren't having much fun anywhere else.

You can always tell which kids go to the English hagwons, because their level is wayyyy above everyone else.  This makes lesson planning a little more difficult.  As any teacher knows, differentiation is the hardest part in lesson planning.  This student clearly goes to a piano hagwon...

One day I rode the school bus home and I saw where the majority of my students live.  I didn't take any pictures because I thought it'd be really rude, but it was definitely an eye opener.  Most of them lived in houses smaller than my garage, with mother, father, brothers, sisters, and grandparents.  A few of them had larger houses with a lot of farm land.  What's interesting is that they all dress the same and come to school with the newest cell phones.  I later found out that the parents put a large majority of their income towards their kids.  Mostly towards education, but towards fashion and phones as well.  They're still poor so they can only do so much, but just seeing the students at school, you would never guess the actual conditions that they live in.

Bupjusa & Mt. Sognisan

Bupju Temple is in Sognisan, which is only a $1.90, 15 minute bus ride from Boeun. I'll be visiting Sognisan a lot as the weather continues to improve. 

It's one of 5 Buddhist Temples in South Korea. 

This 5 story, wooden pagoda is the largest of it's kind in South Korea. 

I didn't step inside, but here is what the inside looks like from the entrance.

The pagoda is very cool, but it's not exactly the attention grabber of Bupjusa. 

This statue is nearly twice the size of the 5 story pagoda. It's quite a sight.

I'm not really sure what this represents, but it was inside one of the buildings. Just another large statue, but this one was stomping on some smaller statues. 

This was carved into a rock. Pretty good for a rock carving.

This is an ancient bath for monks.

Bupjusa is a very cool place, but it's just a warm up place to go before climbing a mountain. I would like to say that Mountain climbing is ridiculously exhausting. Your legs will be sore afterward, and you will sweat a lot. Just hop on a stair climber machine for 4 hours to get an idea. Okay..so here was my climb up Sognisan Mountain.

 

 

The homestretch! This was so exciting to see.

 On the highest peak.

 So worth it.

Heading back down. Watch your step..

We found a really cool place to relax on our way down.

Tanbu Elementary School

Let me tell you about my school. This is where the bus drops me off every morning around 10:55am.

 I then have to walk down this absurdly long driveway. After about 5 more minutes of walking, I will have arrived at my school.

This is the front of my school and the playground. (It's rare to have any grass on the playground. Only the rich schools have it.)

I enter through here. It's in the back of the school. I have to duck when I walk in this entrance. I'm not sure why it's so small, because Koreans really aren't that short.

Ahhh the mighty principal's office. I've only been in here once. He actually has a really fancy message chair.

My wild first and second graders!!

A couple of fifth graders, third graders, and my Korean Co-teacher on the far right.

More third and fifth graders.

I finish teaching at 4:10 everyday. My bus comes at 4:15, so I get to run down this driveway everyday after school with a bunch of little Korean kids who have to catch the same bus.

STORY: One day after school, one of my third grade girls was swinging on the swing set. She had tied her backpack to it at lunch when she was swinging on it then. It was raining a little at lunch. Every time she went up on the swing, the knot got a little tighter.  Well it stopped raining. So all afternoon the knot was drying. It became very tight.
It was about 4:05pm (I got off a little early). I was walking by and all of these little children kept yelling "Tommy Teacher!! Help!!" So I walked over. It was clear that they were trying to untie this backpack. So I started to try to untie it. I could not. At 4:10 I began panicking, because the bus was coming soon, and there were 5 Korean kids yelling at me to hurry up.  At 4:14 we could see the bus coming. I finally got it loose and gave the girl her backpack. We all started sprinting for it down the long driveway. One of the first graders was too slow because his legs were only about 2 inches long. So I picked him up. I was running down this driveway with a small Korean child in one arm and a few other screaming Korean kids around me. I was most definitely laughing the whole time.

Living

Relative to some of the other cities in SK, Boeun is a pretty small town, but it has everything that I need. It takes about 20 minutes to walk across town.

And of course...

 This is only one of three (that I'm aware of) 7 Elevens in downtown Boeun. There are also a many other stores just like this with other names. Pretty much every intersection has one.


This is central downtown and where I wait for my bus every morning.

 Now for the apartment.
Then entranceee. Shoes off. Slippers on.

My kitchen is the size of some people's apartments.

The bathrooooooom. I have a bathtub. I can't fit in the bathtub...but I still have a bathtub. Also not a common thing in South Korea. I love it because it keeps the floor from getting super wet, which becomes a problem when you put socks on and then need to get something out of the bathroom after showering..

 

 Sunrise view from the balcony.

 Sunset view from the balcony.

Most apartments in SK are not this big. I was very very very very lucky :) I am on the eighth floor, and to the right is just a picture of my building.