This week in Korea

Monday:

Two seconds after I arrived at the boys' school in the morning, a cellphone is placed in my hands. It's a call from the first-grade teacher with whom I have five classes today. She took the covid-19 vaccine and her entire body is in pain. She won't be able to come to school today, and is it alright if I teach the classes alone? Five classes of middle school boys? Alone? Sure, why not? But I wouldn't be alone because this school, unlike my school last year, takes seriously the policy that foreign teachers must have a Korean co-teacher in the classroom. So, throughout the day, various English teachers and one non-English teacher give up their free period to join my class on Jack and the Beanstalk for the first graders. Having the Korean teacher in the classroom helps keep the students' behaviour in check, so while exhausted, I didn't have too much trouble teaching today. Several boys refused to read during the assigned reading time, but that is nothing new.

Tuesday:

I had received a month-long schedule from the boys' school indicating which classes were to be online and which were to be in-person. I was fully expecting my third-grade classes today to be online. When I was leaving school yesterday, I chatted with a student who casually said that he would see me tomorrow. I thought our class would be online tomorrow. 'No', he said, 'all students were to come to school from now on.' So, none of my teacher colleagues had bothered to tell me about the change. If I hadn't heard about it from the student, I would've shown up with an online lesson. Online classes and in-person classes are very different. For one, I need to have more material and more activities for in-person classes. If I hadn't spent my evening revising my lesson, I would've been short during my classes. It goes without saying that it is completely unacceptable not to tell me about this change in advance, but this is Korea, and this is how it goes.

The staff washroom is next to the faculty office. The men's room has two stalls and six urinals. When exiting the washroom, one must open the door, then visit the common sinks/mirrors in the hallway that are shared with the women's washroom. Just after the first period, as I was opening the door to the men's room, a student came out. He was carrying two hefty, overflowing handfuls of used toilet paper. He walked past me and deposited his waste in the garbage bin in the hallway beside the sinks. He did this, but not before he accidentally dropped some soiled toilet paper on the floor. He walked away without noticing the shitty wad of toilet paper he left in the hallway. I don't know what the hell was going on with that student. We can flush toilet paper down the toilet here. I was disgusted and taken aback, but at least he washed his hands in the sink, which is more than I can say for some of the teachers at the school.

Wednesday:

Today, I taught in-person classes at my main school for the first time since mid-July. I had a first-period class with grade three students. They were tired, sleepy, and sluggish. I was in front of the class, not getting a reaction. Students stared at me in silence. I felt my body get hot and sweaty. When there is no cooperation from the students, things are very awkward in the classroom. When I asked students directly to answer a question, they knew the answer, for the most part. But they chose to avoid participating unless I pressed them. Second-period was slightly better as the students started to wake up from their sleep-deprived stupor.

Well, maybe it wasn't a time-of-day thing. My sixth-period class of second-graders was not engaged in the lesson at all, either. The Korean co-teacher interrupted my lesson to chew out the class and try to get them to participate. I poured my energy into the class, and without getting anything in return, I am left depleted and sore. My day is finished.

Thursday:

Thursday was pretty uneventful, thankfully. I did have four classes spread evenly throughout the day, so I didn't get much work done for next week's lessons. Teaching is so exhausting that I just like to relax after a class, but unless I have a few free periods, I don't get much work done. Friday is usually a shorter day, so I should be able to finish up my lesson prep before the weekend. 

Thursday evening, I had a Zoom online call with friends from Japan. There were four of us on the call this week. We usually chat every Thursday and it's a nice opportunity to catch up, and for the Japanese folks to speak English. It works out well because we are in the same time zone, they in Japan and I in Korea.

Friday:

I taught three classes today. Again, the first-period class was challenging because the students were barely awake. The Korean co-teacher stopped the class to give a pep talk. The students weren't responding to my simple yes-no questions, like "Are you ready?" After the talk, they pepped up a little, but it was still awkward. My other classes were pretty good. My third-grade class on Friday has one student, a smallish boy who is very fluent in English and his good attitude is infectious. He actively participates and encourages the others to try as well. It's amazing the effect one student can have on the class. 

One of the teachers had a death in the family. When this happens to someone, they often provide a small edible gift for the teachers as thanks for the support they've received. I received this box of traditional Korean desserts on Friday, which were delicious and filling like a meal.