Teaching so far

Over the past three months I can say I've fell into the role of "Shawn Teacher" very nicely. I am now "over the mountain" as it was described to me by my Korean Director. The first little while was tough adjusting to not only the teaching but life in general over here. So many things were thrown my way that I felt a little overwhelmed at times. Now that the dust has settled, I find
everyday that much more enjoyable.

My school is a Hogwan (private school) called "Wonderland", founded in 1993, it is one of the most successful English education companies in Korea. With 89 franchises and approximately 32,000 students, it has quite a high reputation in Korea. Though it is highly reputable in Korea, it is on the other end of the spectrum amongst Foreigners. Through the many conversations I've had, saying I work at a Wonderland sometimes gets a chuckle. It is known for some pretty bad management, but being such a large company, the many different schools have mixed reviews. With the poorer economy these days, there is more pressure to perform for each school as competition continues to grow. This pressure is generally put on the teachers. More hours, more work, more students.

I've found my school to have its ups and downs. My weeks go by super fast which is great but I do quite a bit of work during this time. Most of the operations at the school are based around one major thing; pleasing the parents. Korea is a very "if it looks good, its good" kind of society. A lot of work goes into making things look pleasant from the outside. First impressions and appearances are held highly.

From weekly student comments to daily lesson plans there sure is a lot of work to be done. I have about 60 or so students I teach each week. All my classes range from 3 to 10 students and are between 7-14 (Kindergartens to lower elementary students). It is considerably harder teaching the younger students who don't have much english experience. When you can't help them understand by using their native language, it can be very confusing for them. The Korean teachers have the advantage of telling them in Korean what certain meanings are and this helps a lot. I feel that with no prior teaching experience, I have come a long way already in my abilities to get through to these kids and really make a difference. Being able to deal with the devils who can't sit still (can't blame them when some go to school for 7 or 8 hours a day) and still teach a class was certainly a challenge. All in all though I've really began to enjoy my classes. The students are all great in their own way and so far it's been an experience I won't soon forget.