Sorry for the hiatus but things have been pretty crazy around here. The past few weeks have literally flown by. In fact, today marks the second to last Monday at my school. Isn't that insane?! Where has the time gone? One year ago from today, I stepped down in Korea with my heart full of joy and anticipation, unsure of what to expect. Today, I feel torn over the prospect of leaving this place. My students are starting to say their heartfelt goodbyes, and I'm doing my best not to burst out crying. That being said, I have two weeks left at my school and I plan to make them count.
For now, let me fill you in on the last couple weeks. Following the Korean Students Speak lesson, I administered speaking tests to every first grade student. On prior speaking tests, students were asked to choose one sentence from a group of 30 and translate it on the spot. Since students were given these sentences in advance, this assessment merely tested their rote memorization skills. This semester, my school wanted to try something new and actually test the students' ability to respond to questions - a valiant cause but one that undoubtedly put a lot of pressure on the school's only native English speaker.
I had to come up with 15 test questions, sit through 650 interviews, and single-handedly score students on a scale of 1-10. All the questions were derived from their textbook and categorized into three difficulty levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. For the actual test, students had two minutes to answer three questions, one chosen from each group. I was glad to have the ability to hold students accountable, but felt quite worried, knowing that the students' ever-important grades were at stake. Being that there are nearly 45 students in every class and each class period is 50 minutes long, we planned to finish the test over a span of two weeks.
However, there were so many holidays and random days off during the spring semester. Monday, May 28th was Buddha's birthday; Wednesday, May 30th was a school trip; Wednesday, June 6th was Memorial Day; Thursday, June 7th was a practice college entrance exam; and Tuesday, June 12th was the school's anniversary. Due to this crazy schedule, the speaking test actually ended up spilling into an entire third week. It was physically and mentally draining to sit through all of those interviews. After a while, all their answers began to sound the same. Teaching regular lessons is definitely preferable to this torturous monotony... (>_<) I did, however, enjoy the frequent respite from school life. I used the extra time to study for the LSAT/GRE, lesson plan, and travel around the peninsula.
My time in Korea is winding down but there's still a lot to prepare for. Next week, a group of 10-12 new Fulbright teachers will be coming to my school for a site visit to tour the facilities and observe two of my classes. For most of the new Fulbrights, this will be their first experience in a Korean school, so I'm determined to make the best impression that I can. I might have mentioned it before. But after I finish teaching at my school, I'll be heading back to Jungwon Unversity, the place where it all started. If you can remember back to my earliest posts, all incoming Fulbright teachers had the opportunity to practice teaching three classes at Camp Fulbright, an intensive English language immersion camp, and receive feedback from veteran teachers. This time, the roles will be reversed. I have been hired to serve as a full-time instructor for camp and assist the incoming Fulbrights with their lessons.
While I am used to teaching a 50 minute lesson every week, planning for Camp Fulbright has been an entirely different experience. During camp, I will be teaching 2 hour lessons in the morning, evaluating two new teachers in the early afternoon, coordinating speaking and visual final presentations with my class, leading an extracurricular dance club in the late afternoon, supervising homework time, and assisting with nightly activities for two weeks straight. I know that it's going to be an incredibly fulfilling experience. But right now, it feels like I'm drowning in lesson plans and administrative work. Needless to say, I spent most of my days off, planning and prepping for camp.
In addition, I will be heading to Orientation to lead a large group workshop on teaching club classes, and participate in Panel Day, where the new Fulbrights will have a chance to ask questions and learn about our diverse experiences in Korea. It's a little overwhelming to think about all the stuff I have to get done before I leave. But I'm thrilled that I'll be able to meet the new class of Fulbrights and have a tangible impact on their grant year.
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