School Festival

Korean schools work their students hard. Over the course of one week, my students will have studied twelve different subjects, participated in eight after school classes, and some will put in up to eighteen hours of extra study through a private night time academy. Then after all of this, my students are still expected to complete their homework for all of the classes mentioned above. However, for two days of the year students can leave their uniforms and textbooks at home. Last week, one of these days came around and the entire staff and student body of Dae-Sung Middle School joined together for the school’s festival.





School festivals are commonplace and a big deal in Korean schools. While each school may have a different agenda, the jist of the festival is generally the same. My school festival was comprised of class performances, art shows, a yard sale, a quiz show, and club activities. The day started off with an opening ceremony and class performances. The first half of my day was comprised of twenty one performances in which each class put together an assortment of dances, cheers, and/or acting bits. I happily watched on as my students proudly performed bits from High School Musical, Grease, and the latest pop dances. After the top five performances were selected, we broke for lunch. During that time students, teachers, and parents were able to wander the art displays and shop for nick-nacks at the yard sale. Even though there was an impressive display of books and accessories, I found the headbands, bracelets, and magazines a little too young and small for me; I left empty handed.



After a filling lunch, which was provided by the students’ parents (woohoo!), I returned once more to gym. This time it was my turn to be on stage. I wrote and emceed the English portion of the quiz show. As a surprise to my girls I borrowed a hanbok, a traditional Korean dress, and wore it during my portion. The students and teachers went wild when I walked out on stage and I gave them the best traditional bow and greeting I could muster, which I’m fairly certain was horrendous. After the quiz show, the various clubs of the school were able to perform any performances they had put together. I watched as the anime club put on a anime fashion show, the sign language club sign a song, music club put on a flute and violin performances, and the dance class put on ballet and jazz performances. By day’s end the top five from the morning session performed their routines one last time and a winner was ultimately announced. The winning class received new notebooks, for classroom use I’m sure. So while we all distracted ourselves with good food and fun dance routines, we left for the day knowing Monday would bring us back to our routine of books, notes, and after school classes.