So I have been teaching for a week now, and although it is very challenging at times, I am loving it. I teach at two schools- Gumjung Elementary Monday-Wednesday and Gumsung Elementary on Thursday and Friday. The first school is very big and right in the city, so the students are very smart, but also pretty crazy. I teach mostly sixth grade with my co-teacher whose name is Basa. She is such a great person and a wonderful teacher, so it is nice to teach with her for the first three days of the week to prepare myself for teaching alone. The second school is up in the mountains, so to get there I have to take the subway and then hop on a bus, which takes me up a steep, winding road to the top of the mountain into a rural farming town. The school is small with just 10 teachers and 100 students and I am the first English teacher they have ever had. So, its nice that I am able to co-teach at the first school before I go to the other school to do the lessons on my own.
I am finding it very challenging to make lesson plans that properly suit each grade level. I find the higher grade levels are the easiest because they follow a curriculum and the students can all read and write in English at least at a basic level. First, third and fourth grade on the other hand are difficult! Last week, I prepared my first lesson for 3rd grade on the family, only to find out that they already knew all of the vocabulary about family, but the games I had planned to play were too difficult! Now I think I am going to structure classes around one topic such as food and one questions, such as "What's your favorite?"and then make sure to have plenty of extra games and songs up my sleeve in case anything goes wrong.
Other than some minor lesson planning struggles, I really do enjoy teaching. Not only is it fun, but it is so rewarding when you see the light turn on in a students head. They all like me very much and seem genuinely excited to attend my class (I hope I can keep the interest up!). For now, I am definitely a celebrity. This week, I signed my signature for many students, had my picture taken with camera phones by all of the 5th grade girls, and even had a little girl ask me if she could have some of my hair! What do I say to that?? Sure? She ended up finding some stuck to the back of my shirt, so she was very happy.
When I'm not teaching, I have been thoroughly enjoying the city of Busan. I moved into my apartment last Thursday and I love it! It's so nice and has plenty of space (which not all of the EPIK teachers can say). I have a door seperating my bedroom and kitchen, which is a pretty big deal, and I have two tiny little porches. I think my favorite part though are the rice paper window shades, they're so asian! Last weekend, we went out to a few different bars and hung out at gwangalli beach one night, just drinking, chatting and getting bit by misquitos. On Sunday, I went to Haeundae Beach which is the most popular of the 5 beaches in Busan. It was definitely better than I expected. The water was clear blue and warm...hopefully we'll be on the beach and swimming well into October!
Well, I still don't have internet in my apartment, but as soon as I do, I'll post more pictures of school, Busan and my apartment. It's Chuseok this weekend which is the Korean Thanksgiving, so teachers have 5 days off. So far my plans include a day trip to a beautiful water fall with Daryl and some of his football lads, a day trip to the Kings tombs in Gwangju, a rooftop beerbq, and beaching it as much as possible...life is so hard!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment