I've been teaching here for over six months, and strangely enough, I haven't written anything here about my job. Is it because my job at Avalon is terrible? Well, sometimes. But for the most part, it's not that bad. Without further ado, here's a glimpse into my mundane day-today.
When considering an ESL job in Korea, you essentially have two choices: hagwons or public schools. Hagwons are ubiquitous private academies (most commonly for English and Math) where parents send their kids after they're finished with public school. A typical Korean kid is in school -- in one form or another -- from 7:30 AM to 10:00 PM, and sometimes on Saturdays. If nothing else, teaching here has made me appreciate the freedom that American students have. Just the ability to go home and play every day after school isn't something that should be taken for granted.
I ended up taking a hagwon job, mostly because the money is slightly better at the entry level. In private academies, you make slightly more, the class sizes are smaller, and the teaching hours are often much less than in a public school. There are, of course, many disadvantages as well. There are only 10 vacation days in a hagwon contract, compared to the weeks and weeks of vacation that public school teachers have. I've only had time for one extended trip, whereas public school teachers I know have been to Japan, Cambodia, China, and Vietnam all in the last 6 months. First world problems, right? The hours are brutal, too. I knew from my experience at EMS that I do not thrive on the night shift, yet here I am punishing myself again, every day from 2:30 to 10:30. My co-worker Matty has a relevant joke here: "What does a hagwon teacher get on his pizza? Nothing, because all the pizza places are closed when he gets off work. Frown."
All the lousy parts aside, the ESL gig in Korea is relatively easy. Any ESL teacher here who says their job is hard has either never had a real job or doesn't know what actual work is. My actual time spent in front of a classroom amounts to 14 hours a week. The rest of my time is spent lesson planning, "lesson planning" (a.k.a. aimlessly surfing the web), practicing my Korean, finding excuses to walk down the block and get some fresh air, and listening to NPR. I haven't once had to take my lesson planning home with me. I get it all done at work, and I still have free time to kill. I don't think I've ever met a teacher in the States who can say that.
The classes themselves can be good or bad. Avalon divides its middle school students into four levels based on ability: H (for Horizon), M (for Mountain), T (for TOEFL), and 녹지원 (Nokjiwon, the Honors kids). They change every teacher's schedule with each semester (of which there are four, one for each season...no rest for the weary), so the levels I teach are often all over the place. This semester I have mostly M1s, with some M3s and T2s. I am also lucky enough to have the highest Nokjiwon class, which -- with the exception of one or two kids -- is a blast to teach.
On Mondays and Tuesdays, I teach Writing in 40 minute periods. Avalon has a pretty strict curriculum which we are to adhere to, and unfortunately, this curriculum is dreadfully boring. As soon as they enter Avalon, they are being trained to succeed on the TOEFL test, the exam on which a good grade can get them into a prestigious high school or college. That's right, they aren't even considered by college admissions departments unless they can demonstrate fluency in another language. The West has it easy! Occasionally, I get to give them a fun assignment, but for the most part, we are teaching from the book and teaching to the test. Blech.
On Thursdays and Fridays the kids have Speaking class, also for 40 minutes. Speaking can be really fun or terrible, depending on the class. Some classes are very conversational and active, and in some you can hear a pin drop. The good classes will blow through the book work in 20 minutes, so we often get to spend time just chatting or doing fun activities. At the higher levels, though, the adherence to the TOEFL format becomes stricter, so the students often unfortunately lose the sparkle in their eyes by that point.
Wednesday is Speaking Academy. These are optional free classes for students who want extra practice, designed and taught by the foreign staff. This semester I'm doing Role Playing (meh) and Model United Nations with the higher levels (which I'm really excited about; hopefully I won't be disappointed).
That's the basic run-down of what my weeks look like. Expect more detailed descriptions of the classes that I like. I'm hoping for a good semester.
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