Middle school in South Korea consists of Grade 1, 2, and 3, so the students range in ages from 12-16 years. The grade 3s started their first classes this week on April 9th and the other grades have a staggered start on April 16th.
In the week or so we had to prepare for online teaching, there were various training sessions and new equipment was delivered to the school, such as wireless keyboards, mice, microphones, and digital pens. As one teacher explained, there is no such thing as a free lunch. With all this fancy, new equipment, we have a lot of work to do.
The idea is that we will pre-record the lessons and upload them for the students to view in their homes. Strangely, even though the lessons are pre-recorded, the students are meant to watch the lesson during the normal class period. The Korean teacher is logged in at that time to check for attendance and provide additional instruction and support through the online chatbox. Thankfully, I am not required to manage the online classes in real-time. I appreciate this because the online system is in Korean and I am having some trouble with it.
In normal times, I would plan four lessons per week and teach the lesson five times each for a total of 20 classroom lessons. Each class is 45 minutes long in middle school. Instead, during this period of online teaching, I plan, record, and upload my four lessons without having to repeat them to each class.
In some ways, the first week is the easiest because I simply prepared a single lesson for all 20 classes. It is my Introduction lesson where I tell the students all about me and my life in Canada. I showed pictures of my home in February, so I hope they will be fascinated by all the snow. After the students have viewed the introduction lesson, I will need to make specific lessons for each grade level, so this will take much more work. While I did spend a lot of time planning lessons during my downtime in March, I will have to revise much of it because the lessons were designed with activities for the classroom. I have to rethink my approach for the online lessons.
I was told last-minute that there needs to be some sort of homework assignment with each lesson. Not so much to assess the students' ability, but to ensure they have actually attended the lesson and are actively participating. For the introduction lesson, I asked students to write two simple questions that they may have about me as their teacher. Also, I asked them to write at least seven English words that describe their life, interests, personality, etc.
Most of the students wrote a variation of the same few questions asking about my favourite foods, hobbies, what I know about Korea, and if I enjoy playing video games, which I then answered in the online system. The best question was from a student, who I am sure will be one of my favourites, who asked, "How do I become handsome just like you?"
I find recording the lessons to be quite challenging, so far. I take my computer to an empty classroom and record my audio and video along with a PowerPoint presentation of the lesson. A few times I was interrupted by the school bell or a passing truck with a loudspeaker. For my first lesson, I didn't realize that the webcam was recording, so when I went back to review the lesson, my face appeared in the corner of the screen. I think it's good for the students to see my face during the lesson, I just wish I was looking at the camera the whole time. At least I looked somewhat professional during the lesson so I decided to keep it and not re-record. Now I know how to add and remove the webcam video so the lessons are looking more professional.
One nice thing about online teaching is that I don't have to travel to my "visit" school twice per week. I would need to leave earlier in the morning and take a subway or bus to that school. Instead, I can just email my lessons to the school and another teacher will upload the file for the students. I am looking forward to teaching at the visit school for some variety, but for now, I am thankful that I don't need to make the unnecessary commute.
I've been in South Korea for eight weeks and haven't met a single student or taught a classroom lesson. At least with online teaching, I am doing something that resembles teaching. There is more and more good news in Korea concerning the coronavirus, so I expect that students will return to in-person classes by mid-May or June at that latest.
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