My first day as a teacher was Thursday, June 18th. After months of applying, documentation, and nerve-wracking preparation, and a week further of waiting in suspense lapsing into torpid boredom, I had been pressing urgently forward through every day until this point. The morning started out promptly and I wore my best black pants and white silk shirt. Then I tried to straighten my hair and one of my favorite possessions in the world broke: my Chi hair iron. I had forgotten about the voltage difference here. The years of smooth, beautiful hair met their end in the pop, snapple, craaack of the ceramic iron pads smoldering and then bursting from their sockets. Ah death of vanity, it has unhinged my modest grasp of appearing normal.
So all things considered, as nervous as I should have been for the beginning of this great purpose in my life, I was not. I felt a little depressed, actually. For though I felt that I had been meant for that day, my iron was not. I don't know if that's symbolic or not, but that tragedy combined with the long wait made me feel disenchanted with the day.
First thing was a meeting with the faculty of 50 or so teachers, special instructors, and administrative personnel. I had prepared some Korean sentences that I knew how to say fluently, but nothing beyond that. The principal introduced me, and then I stepped up to make my "speech" (which no one had told me to prepare >.<). I wanted to apologize for my lack of Korean, and started with the sentences "Hello, good morning" and "Please excuse me, I don't speak much English" in Korean. Their faces broke out into expressions of surprised delight and they began wildly applauding. I almost laughed, I was so pleased. Success!! I made a short introduction, which was followed by "That's it??... talk about your family" from my handler. Awkward. But all in all, interesting. (Btw, my handler is what they call the Korean guide who is assigned to me. Her name is Jeeyoung Yoon, I think. That's how it's spelled, but I distinctly hear her say "Siyoung" to everyone.) I was then introduced to my coteachers, Ms. Hyo Shin Lee and Mr. Myung Lee (not related to each other). He emphasized that we are now a team, and I couldn't help but add, "Yes, go Lee Team!" Points for enthusiasm? I was taken around the school to the special instructors' office, which included the music and gym teachers as well as the "Lee Team". Then I immediately went to my first class with Mr. Lee. The first hoarde of children came rampaging through the door and into the English room, stopping in their seats to stare slyly at me with curious glances and shy smiles amidst their boisterous comments to each other. I smiled back, and they greeted me with excited "Hello!"s and waving. Though they were new students in a foreign land, I felt that familiar warmth and curiosity that all young students exude. Even their stinky shoes made my nose twitch with recognition. I was overwhelmed with such a whole-hearted exuberance that it made me stand on my tippy toes and beam with happiness. I really felt like I was in the right place, finally doing what I want to do.
A group of students asked for my signature,
and one gave me this tiny paper crane.
=) so touched....
SO. Here's what I do: I teach 3rd-6th grade. Each grade has 6 classes. I have each class once a week. If you do the math, that is 720 students. :D Each class is only 40 minutes though, so I only end up having class for 23 hours a week. The rest is spending time at my desk doing my supposed "teacher planning", but since there are many lulls with nothing to do and Ms. Lee actually naps with a pillow on her desk, I sometimes use the time to catch up on emails and this blog.
The first couple of days was mostly testing for 4th and 5th grades. 3rd and 6th grades learned through mini clips of English speakers or cartoons of situations containing key phrases. Mr. Lee teaches 4th and 5th grades. Ms. Lee teaches 3rd and 6th grades. They are both brand-new teachers: Mr. Lee just graduated with his master's last February, and Ms. Lee just started her professional teaching 3 months ago.
As it turns out, I do not do much with Mr. Lee. It was apparent from the first day that I would have problems with him. My frustration with him meets on so many borders that it's a wonder that I still like him as a person. It's everything that has to do with the actual teaching that irks me. He insists on leading the class with me in the backseat. Normally, I would comply with this arrangement out of deference to his professional schooling and his familiarity with the students. However, he boldly asserts his "Engrish" foreigner accent on the poor unsuspecting students, by confusing the R's with L's, F's with P's, Th's with S's, and V's with B's and P's and F's all at once. He adds extra syllables to words. Here are some examples that make me cringe:
1. page becomes "pay-jee"
2. "Let's have lunch" becomes "Let'sa have-a lunchee"
3. pencil is "pang-sool"
4. four is "por" and forty is "porty"
5. Thursday is "Sursday"
6. "late" is "rate" and "Her hair is long" becomes "Her hair is wrong"
6. My name is apparently Too-Ee-Ree, even now in the third week
And the worst of it is that he doesn't ask me for anything except to pronounce 5 sentences or words a class. Oh, wait he did ask me to fetch some papers once. Aside from the pronunciation problems, he is incredibly disorganized, which I find is characteristic of people who try to do too much by themselves (I am one of those ppl). He does not discipline the kids almost at all (the screaming and noise during tests is unbelievable). It gives me little credibility with the students when I need to say something to them. He pretends to understand me when we speak about lesson plans, but in subsequent conversations and situations it is clear that he didn't understand, but decided to ignore me anyway.
He is pedantic and obnoxious... When I told him the first day that I had learned the Korean alphabet and demonstrated by reading a sentence, he pronounced my Korean very good and then proceeded to teach me the alphabet all over again. He only stopped when I read the whole alphabet for him while he was writing the second line of letters to teach me. He told me the second day that I should smile and show happiness, as well as not curse. WHAT? I am nothing but professional, and with my Viet background I know all about what Asian adults expect and want. Jee feels that he's passive-aggressive, since when I was late one day, he did not speak to me about it but instead asked me to assist in class only when it came time to answer the questions, "What time do you get up?" "What time do you come to school?" and "What time do you go to bed?" He never asks my opinion about anything, nor even tells me what we are going to do most days. Nowadays, I've started zoning out during his classes because I literally stand there the whole time and do nothing. Maybe sometimes I repeat 2 sentences, but I think he started doing that to make me pay attention in class. I can't believe that he'd rather do that to keep me awake than actually let me, I dun know, teach?
With Ms. Lee, it's the opposite. I do lesson planning and assist with teaching in class. She is aware that her English is not perfect, and checks me often for pronunciation and vocab. It's so ironic that she has way better English than Mr. Lee, but appreciates correction so much more. She yells at students when they act up and straight up screams when they are rude. It gives us more of a good-cop, bad-cop routine, which is very handy since without any Korean language skills, I am incapable of being anything but good cop. She gets me very involved and has pushed me to teach my own classes independently a couple of times. She's very supportive with translating for me when the kids don't understand, rather than just taking over my lesson. What's even better is that beyond being a good coteacher (in the true meaning of the word), she's also friendly and pleasant to be around. We have nice conversations that extend beyond "How was your weekend?" "Oh, that's good." It's nice to have someone to balance out Mr. Lee, bc if it were just him, I'd wonder what the hell I came here for.
I was rather angry with both of them at one point, however, when everyone was nagging me about my shoes. Yes, my shoes. I have had so little money in comparison to what I need these first few weeks. I am at the moment still waiting for my Alien Registration Card, which allows me to start a bank account and cell phone. What's more, clothes here are seriously expensive. So clearly, I cannot afford to buy new shoes. But they kept mentioning what was wrong with my footwear every day. First, when I wore professional heels, they said that quiet shoes were necessary. So I wore flip-flops next. They complained that it was rude to show my toes, despite one teacher who I noticed wore her slippers without socks and another who told me that my shoes were fine (one teacher also kept emphasizing, "This is Japanese fashion." um, huh??). So I gave in and wandered all over town to find acceptable, affordable, not-ugly shoes that covered my toes. I found flat, close-toed shoes using half of my remaining funds ($10). But they complained that my shoes were still too clicky. In the same day, Ms. Lee pulled me aside and told me that my blue top (which I get so many compliments on in America) is too low-cut (tho there is no cleavage) and shows my boobs when I lean over (but only if you were peering in to begin with). I didn't take it personally from Ms. Lee, since she at least emphasized that she liked to wear my style of clothing, but it is not what the school accepts. The ladies at the school range from dowdy throw-on clothes to really beautiful blouse-and-skirt ensembles. However, Susan warned me that I should not wear any shirts that open lower than the collarbone (SERIOUSLY??!! my boobs are already farther from my collarbone than most women :-/). But with my money situation, I really lost my cool. I was so indignant that I did not restrain myself from showing how irritated I was the rest of the day. I really think that if they care so damn much about my wardrobe, they should give me extra money to buy work clothes. If I get any more comments, I really will insist on wearing my own.
I don't hate my coworkers yet, tho haha. Actually, my guide Jeeyoung has been very helpful to me. She's a 3rd grade teacher here, so she is accesible and understanding about school policies. She's also pleasant to talk to and makes an effort to anticipate my needs. I was pleasantly surprised and touched when I asked why she looked so stressed, and she told me that she had been arguing with the vice principal over my school accomodations. She said that I should have a nicer room bc there is no bathroom and no other classrooms even on the same floor with the English room. I thought that that was sweet, but the English room has been demarcated clearly with English posters everywhere. The bathroom situation is tricky, but since in most rooms in the school I will be far away from the only Western-style bathroom (read: sitting toilet vs. squatting toilet), it doesn't matter where I go. And honestly, I could not ask for nicer accomodations. The room is huge and nicely decorated and I get my own desk, like a regular teacher does =).
One view of the room.
For a full view around the room,
check out the links on the bottom of this post.
The other teachers are painfully shy about their English, so they do the polite bowing and "annyong haseyo" that we all do to each other but don't really speak to me. A few have talked to me alone, and I see that their concern about saving face resembles Vietnamese pride quite strikingly. So many customs and attitudes here remind me of my father. They have been nice enough to me, however, to offer me rides several times when I was walking to and from school. Perhaps I am happier that I don't understand anything else that they say.
Food
I eat in the teacher's lounge with the specials teachers, admin personnel, and the principal and vp. I was apprehensive about eating too much in front of them, as I am very aware of table manners and the appearance of being a piggy. But they eat quite a lot, and urge me to get up for seconds (altho I notice that almost no one does take seconds, ahem). Lunch with my coworkers tastes pretty good most days (I'll take it over a burger and fries, definitely). We eat traditional Korean foods, mostly, such as various kinds of kimchi, rice, seaweed soups, and some form of protein. But the day that we had spaghetti and crab cakes, I was in HEAVEN *shudder*. The kimbab was the best I ever had, too.Of course the language barrier makes it awkward for me to be there and I'm not able to communicate with them. I thought at first that that's why ppl were so quiet during lunch. Ashley's friend Susan mentioned, however, that there's a bad teacher that everyone badmouths, and his presence is irksome. I'm pretty sure that it's the prickly gym teacher. Though I don't understand what is said, I do notice from ppl's reactions that he must be saying some inappropriate things (like interrupting a teacher who was crying and very upset about her sick brother). But I think I can appreciate the goodwill of the principal and vice principal most, since they manage to say at least one thing in English every day to me. Last Friday, it was "TGIF" and this Monday, it was "Long time no see". Makes me happy :-)
I have really started to grasp how isolated these people are. They know next to nothing about any kind of foreigners, even Asian ones. For such a densely populated and commercialized city, located right next to Seoul, they are quite ignorant of outsiders. I suppose that many Georgia whiteys are the same, but at the same time the city-dwellers are exposed to a gold mine of other cultures compared to here. They asked me where I learned to use chopsticks, despite their knowledge that I am Vietnamese. They are also surprised that I know about clams, mussels, and squid. They assumed that even tho I like Korean food, I must be accustomed to eating burgers, spaghetti, cheese, and ice cream. Walking about my town, I have only seen 4 or 5 non-Koreans out of the thousands upon thousands I've encountered. But I will update on my impression of Korean culture later. In the meantime, enjoy these pictures! More are available on facebook.
Hey there! :D im loving your blog posts... you are such a great writer with quite a sense of humor ;) i feel like i can feel all the emotions you're going through, and that i can see all of what you're seeing (although the pictures and videos are helping too ;)).
ReplyDeletegood luck with everything, i know it must be such a big change, but it seems like you are taking it well, one step at a time. :)
im so happy for you!! take care!!
and i miss you!!!!