The First Day

The first day of school is here. In the States more than any of the senses, I always associated the first day of school with a particular smell. Mostly the smell of morning dew and the fresh air as I walked to school in elementary and middle school. But on this first day, I don't notice the smells surrounding me. For one, my nose has not been able to sense smell since entering Korea. Secondly, it's not my first day as a student, but my first day ever as a pre-school and elementary teacher. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Meghan, Kelly, and I leave our apartment complex to get to the school earlier than our designated 9:10 start time. I want plenty of time to prep and hopefully calm my nerves.
9:40 approaches...quickly. Oh crap, here we go!

Liz is there to assist me. I had observed her the previous week to see how she managed her 6 year-old classroom. She is about to embark on a journey throughout southeast asia, but lucky for me, she has not yet left Korea and is there to help me with the first day.

Attendance. I look at the list for Mango class. All of the names are Korean names...duh! Of course they wouldn't have their English name listed yet. Liz saves the day and helps me call names. No one is crying in my class yet but you can hear other kids in the hallway shed tears of anxiety and pure fear. I say a quick one that there aren't any criers today. Next it's time to line up for a brief assembly in the Rainbow Room (aka multi-purpose room). So how do you tell 11 six year-olds who don't speak any English to line up? Hmm...answer: just say it and see what happens. I head towards the door. One girl knows what to do. Hooray! Despite the fact that it took 10 minutes to get everyone lined up, we still manage and I start to relax a bit.

We make our way down the hallway, fairly quietly might I add, and attend the assembly. When we get back to class, the real fun begins. Let's see what they know. They can say their abc's! The can count to 10! We sing a song. I dance around like a gumba - oh if my friends back home could see me now. The kids are into it. Mango class is over. Not too bad! On to Orange class!

Let me give you an idea of how the school is set up. Pre-school starts at 9:40 and dismisses at 2:20pm. In the morning, students have a Korean teacher and a Foreign teacher. So, I have two, first year, six year-old classes that last 80 minutes each. I start with Mango class, get a 10 minute break and change to Orange class teaching the same material to both. After lunchtime, the kids have one Korean teacher session and then an extra class - Cooking, Science, Phonics, Project Writing, or Art. In the afternoons, I get to teach art to first year students (mostly six year-olds). But on this first day (which is a Wednesday), I don't have afternoon pre-school.

As for my Korean teaching partner, I am very lucky to have Kelly. She is fabulous! It's nice to have a partnership where each person is there to help the other out and share "war" stories at the end of the day.

So I get to Orange class, go through the same motions of trying to assess their knowledge and do OK. Thanks again to Liz for helping me move things along and get the kids lined up for bathroom break. Orange class is a bit more difficult today as they like to speak Korean much more than the other class. All you can do in that situation is throw you hands up and say my Dad's favorite statement (not) - I don't know.

I still have 3 classes to teach after pre-school so I use my down time (from not having the afternoon pre-school classes) to plan. Two of my classes are first year students. And my final class is a 3rd year class. My desk turns into a preverbial dump. Oh I need to get organized. The teaching program for the afternoon classes have a Teacher's Resource Book, the Teacher's Book with lesson plans, and then a Student Book, Workbook, Homework Book (only for the Korean teacher), Phonics Book (1st year only) and Vocabulary Book. That's a lot of books.

Planning time flies by again and I head to my first afternoon class. These students have just had a full day at school and are now heading to English class. Some of them may have more classes such as taekwondo or piano lessons to attend after the time they spend at our school. Korean children sometimes stay up until one in the morning in order to finish their homework; then get up and do it all over again.

The head teacher helps me with attendance in my first class and then comes my favorite part. I get to give some of my students their English name! Hooray! I give them three options. Some of them can't decide so they are given a temporary name for the day. (One student later in the week selects Jerry - my dad's name.) The first class goes fairly well. The students know some English, but getting them to select the correct book is a bit difficult - the books are all gray so students keep grabbing the wrong one.

Now it's time for the second class (same level and material as the previous group). Oh dear. Lots of boys - they are around 7 or 8 years old. I again get to name a few students - and their behavior has certainly made them a perfect fit for their name. We start with "Hello! My name is ___________." No, your name is not Marybeth Teacha (Teacher). Then I get to Tom. MY NAME IS TOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!! OK. We're 15 minutes into class and Tom is starting to say "GOOD-BYE TEACHAAAAAA!!!" Not yet Tom. He stops for a few minutes and then starts up again. The boys are getting antsy. It's getting close to the end of class. "GOOD-BYE TEACHAAAAAA!!!!" Wait 20 seconds. "GOOD-BYE TEACHAAAA!!!!" The bell rings. I dismiss the class. "GOOD-BYE TEACHAAAAA!!!!" All the way down the hallway. Good-bye Tom! Despite the constant good-byes, he's such a smart kid and I can't help but laugh to myself everytime he says "GOOD-BYE TEACHAAAA!!!" And trust me, it's been two and a half weeks and he still does it - just not as frequently.

One more class to go...3rd year.
They speak English! We talk food. I'm so hungry! The kids are hungry too. We get through the lesson for the day and play a spelling game. The kids listen, raise their hands, are polite (for the most part), and most importantly are engaged in the lesson! These kids are my only students who are not in their first year of learning English. It's a great way to end the day every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

At the end of day one, I am excited to be teaching in Korea. I look forward to watching my students grow in their English speaking capabilities and hope that I will become a great teacher. But for now, what's for dinner? I'm hungry!