Term One in Review

I am officially halfway through my first year of teaching. In all honestly it isn’t the first term I imagined I’d have. I always imagined I would somehow find work in the Northwest and spend my first year teaching literary classics, various grammar points, and the occasional modern novel or two. Instead, I moved to Korea where I teach English conversation, the occasional pop song, and I run vocabulary building exercises. It may not be the Language Arts position I was initially hoping for, but some of the things I have learned here, at Dae-Sung Girls Middle School, are things that I would never have learned in Oregon:

1. Being the minority. Being the only native English speaker at my school (accompanied by a total of 5 Korean teachers who can converse with me in English) I have learned first-hand what it means to be a minority. This statistic often means I can be overlooked, not included in plans, and ostracized. I rely on the good will of my English speaking co-workers to relay information to me. Being the only Native English speaker in my school means everyone notices everything I do, so I work my butt off to do things right the first time.
2. The importance of speech. When I walk into a classroom here, I cannot simply just talk and have my students learn. I have to perform: talking slowly and clearly, using simple diction with dramatic intonation. I must perform every lesson. This is the only way my students will understand my lesson. They need to experience it with their eyes and their ears. I may look like I am leading some strange dance class, but it keeps my students engaged and confident.
3. School Politics. Similar to American schools, there is a level of command which must be accepted and followed. Here the hierarchy is as follows: Principal, Vice Principle, Department Heads, teachers (in order of years of experience), and me. I am the newbie, thus I am asked (when I say asked, I mean I don’t always have a choice) to take on the extra class, hold a summer camp, etc. I should just smile and nod. Everyone has to pay their dues, when the next newbie comes along (unlikely in my situation), the tasks will no longer fall on me.
4. Myself. This experience has taken both Eric and I to the edge and back. During the last six months here we have experienced nervousness, joy, sadness, frustration, elation, triumph, isolation, and success many times over. Moving to Korea proved to be the most difficult and inspiring decision I have ever made. Living here on my own, removed from everything familiar has shown me that when push comes to shove, I have what it takes to make it work…even if that means dropping everything I know for a new life.

Lastly, I am most excited about the progress my students have made over the course of our first semester together. They have gone from repeating the phrase “I am fine thank you, and you?” after I ask them how they are, to coming up with new adjectives which fit their mood for that day. This may seem small to you, but it was hard work trying to undo the 4-7 years of conditioning they had for that particular phrase. I am also most proud of my shy students. While they still don’t always volunteer to participate, they will speak in front of their classmates if asked politely. I know this is especially hard for them, but I am proud and grateful they are willing to try. Who knows, maybe by year’s end they will become my leading volunteers; there’s no telling what next semester has in store.