So folks, I'm a bonified educator. For the rest of the year, you can refer to me as Danielle Teacher. Yea, I know - how crazy does that sound?! From the moment I received my Fulbright acceptance letter, I felt confident about certain things. I knew I'd have no trouble adjusting culturally, I'd learn to overcome the language barrier, and I'd embark upon my own small projects and research with relative ease. But the actual teaching component was what that I feared the most. Sure, I had taught dance classes to preteens, tutored middle school students, and mentored adult ESL learners in the past. But being an English teacher is, by far, the greatest responsibility that I have ever taken on.
My school is located in the middle of Dunsan-dong, frequently referred to as the New Downtown. It's about a 20 minute walk, 10 minute bus ride, or 5 minute drive from my homestay apartment. In the morning, my host mother drives me and 수진 to school. In the afternoon, I usually walk home by myself. Along the way, I pass the luxury department store TimeWorld Galleria, City Hall, and rows of cute shops, restaurants, and cafes. For the entirety of the walk home, I stay on a main street that intersects the city of Daejeon. Point "A" is my homestay apartment and Point "B" is my school. Really, I can't reiterate how convenient and ideal my placement is.
As its name suggests, Dunsan Girls' High School a single-sex institution, which are incredibly common in Korea. On the first day of class, I told my students that I attended Smith College, the largest all-girls (*all-women's, for you Smithies out there) college in America. Therefore, I am very happy to teach at an all-girls high school in Korea. One student summed it up best: "Oh Dahneeul Teechaaa, very cool! Cuz girls are smarter than boys!" Great job student, couldn't have said it better myself ;)
According to the school website, Daejeon Dunsan Girls' High School is ranked as one of the top three high schools in all of Daejeon. It is a huge school by Korean standards. There are about 650 students in each grade. Korean high schools consist of three grades, so that amounts to nearly 2000 students in total. The school is a sprawling four-story building with a courtyard in the middle and two additional academic wings on either side. The track field and gymnasium are particularly impressive. Most of the facilities seem newly renovated and all the classrooms are equipped with a LCD TV or SmartBoard. Here's some photos of the school's exterior and athletic fields.
This is my third week of teaching and it's been absolutely insane thus far. I teach 19 classes a week, with approximately 35 students in each class, AND run a weekly workshop for other English teachers. If you do the math, I am teaching over 600 students every week! I have always considered myself a "Name Person," capable of remembering every stranger and acquaintances' name with ease. But this is too much for me, especially when the names are all so similar. In an ideal world, I'd be able to call on every student by name. But logistically, this seems impossible. I will do my best. If all else fails, I can sneakily peek at the namecards that I require students to display on their desks.
The classes are leveled A-D according to English proficiency levels. The A-level students are quite advanced and can converse with near fluency. Of course there is an occasional grammar mistake, but I can speak to them at nearly full speed and they will still understand me. In contrast, many of my D-level students struggle to form sentences, so I am relegated to speaking at paaiiiinfully slow rate using extremely basic vocabulary. Don't get me wrong - I do appreciate the fact that the classes are split according to ability level. But it makes lesson planning incredibly time-consuming, as I must come up with four different versions of each lesson.
Things are also complicated by the fact that some classes are a lesson or two behind the others. My first day of teaching was a Tuesday, so that means that all the Monday classes are behind one lesson. In addition, the Thursday classes are two lessons behind (I haven't even met them yet!) because they had exams two Thursdays in a row. As a result, I am teaching 3 different lessons this week. Most of the classes are on Lesson 3, but Monday classes are still on Lesson 2 and I will be teaching Lesson 1 this Thursday. It's really difficult to keep track of it all. If there's anything I've learned in Korea, it's that things are always changing last minute. It seems that the only way to succeed in this country is to be overprepared and able to adapt at a moment's notice. Regardless, I am loving my job. Speaking of teaching, here's a photo of one of my classrooms!
My students are great. Fresh out of middle school (I only teach 1st graders in H.S.), they are curious and eager to learn. Most of the time they are one of two extremes: hyperactive/chatty or comatose/shy. But they are the absolute sweetest and seem to like me. They always try to make conversation between classes and ask me questions about my personal life. Like most teenage girls, they immediately perk up when I mention Justin Bieber or some other American heart-throb. During the year, I hope to form meaningful relationships with some of them: one that surpasses the conventionally distant student/teacher relationship.
One of my favorite aspects about my school is the English Cafe, which serves as an effective reward system and an additional opportunity to practice English. The English Cafe is run by ambitious first-graders (with my supervision), who happily serve as baristas and conversationalists. The students receive cafe dollars in their classes for exceptional participation. Then, they can redeem their dollars to buy drinks and snacks during lunchtime. The students can also rent out English books, magazines, and games. The rules are simple: 1) Only speak English, 2) Be polite when ordering, and 3) Clean up after yourself.
During the year, the English Cafe holds events, like Game Night and Movie Night, and organizes a book drive for a local orphanage. I definitely intend on continuing these awesome programs and coming up with new ones. Every day, I spend half of my lunch hour in the Cafe, monitoring the transactions and mingling with "customers." While I could be at my desk surfing the web, this really feels like a worthwhile way to spend my time. Here are some pictures of the English Cafe.
I arrived at Daejeon Dunsan Girls' High School three weeks ago and I can't decide if it feels longer or shorter than that. On one hand, it gets quite monotonous when I have to teach about the same topic 19 times in a row. Now that my teaching schedule is finalized, I finally have a routine going and in some ways, I feel like I've been doing the same thing for months. On the other hand, there is still so much I have to learn about how my school is run (e.g., who to contact when my printer breaks, where is the supply closet, how do I find out what's for lunch, etc).
Every day at my school is as unpredictable as the last. No matter how much I prepare for the school day, something unexpected will happen, leaving me as clueless as I was on my first day. I suppose that's the beauty of it. Teaching is both challenging and stressful. But I couldn't imagine a more rewarding profession. One day, I hope to fully understand everything that's going on at my school. Until then, I will sip my third cup of coffee, awkwardly smile, and ponder how best to perform my duties as an English teacher and Fulbright grantee.
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