It's funny how much
moving from country to country, apartment to apartment, school to school is
generally more the same than different.
And yet, differences do pop up everywhere.
Take my current school, for example. A lot of the structure of teaching is the same as before, with kindergarten for the same amount of time in the morning, followed by two different primary classes in the afternoon, split by only a short five minute break.
However, the two schools really couldn't be more different. Where my first school had administration that was hands off and stayed out of your way unless parents were calling in to complain excessively, this school takes every parent complaint to heart and I hear almost every single one of them. The administration, from teaching partners (mine and other teachers') to the school director to the secretaries frequently watch all the classes through the glass walls, hoping to see how things are going, but realistically just making the students freeze up. Discipline is taken ENTIRELY out of my hands and put into the hands of Korean staff, which, though nice (no one really likes being the bad guy), also strips me of any and all authority. There is 17 million times more paperwork (progress reports, online reports, daily attendance sheets with more boxes to check than an American presidential ballot, computer input of said attendance sheets, plus monthly phone calls to approx. 1/3 of my primary students), most of which is the adult equivalent of fourth-grade busy work.
The change isn't all bad, though. Classes are broken up with breaks and mandatory bathroom times, which is a nice way to bookend each section of the class, and cuts down on individual students missing important parts of a lesson because they need to use the bathroom. Afternoon primary classes have 5-minute breaks every 40 minutes, which is perfect if you've forgotten something or if, as more frequently happens, your class is driving you up a wall and you just need to take a few breaths and calm down. Lesson planning is entirely not my responsibility, except for the need to add some color commentary. Classes that behave well and do their work generally finish early and most of my kids have a high enough level of English that games are not only a possibility, but they're actually fun. One of my students is high level enough that usually when she finishes her work we just sit and tell stories and laugh. The class size being capped at ten is nothing short of miraculous after a year of twenty-five three-year olds.
The main similarity between my life now and my life then, however, is in the cities. Suwon is larger than Yongin, which was primarily built to house commuters to Seoul and Suwon. The neighborhood where I worked in both cities was large, lively, and full of good restaurants, bars, and shopping (though admittedly I did not live in a neighborhood at all like that in Suwon, just worked there). The other good area nearby in both cities was the local subway station, where there were countless more good restaurants, bars, and cafes. It's reasonably easy to travel between the two cities (sure, the bus takes almost an hour to go thirty miles, but at least I don't have to change buses multiple times) and to get to Seoul from both cities as well. City-wise, it's been (literally and figuratively) a lateral move.
And so, the more things change, the more they stay the same (though admittedly they also get a little different). I know this has been fairly dry and not as wildly entertaining as previous blogs, but who cares. I'm a teacher, not an entertainer. Also, I've discovered that as I get older, wiser, and a lot less tolerant of useless idiotic bullshit, the drama tends to die down and life tends to become something more akin to comfortable than lively. I've got to say, as far as that goes, I'm not hating it. Although, knowing me, drama is waiting just around the corner with a hand full of Pop-Its and a can full of worms.
And yet, differences do pop up everywhere.
Take my current school, for example. A lot of the structure of teaching is the same as before, with kindergarten for the same amount of time in the morning, followed by two different primary classes in the afternoon, split by only a short five minute break.
However, the two schools really couldn't be more different. Where my first school had administration that was hands off and stayed out of your way unless parents were calling in to complain excessively, this school takes every parent complaint to heart and I hear almost every single one of them. The administration, from teaching partners (mine and other teachers') to the school director to the secretaries frequently watch all the classes through the glass walls, hoping to see how things are going, but realistically just making the students freeze up. Discipline is taken ENTIRELY out of my hands and put into the hands of Korean staff, which, though nice (no one really likes being the bad guy), also strips me of any and all authority. There is 17 million times more paperwork (progress reports, online reports, daily attendance sheets with more boxes to check than an American presidential ballot, computer input of said attendance sheets, plus monthly phone calls to approx. 1/3 of my primary students), most of which is the adult equivalent of fourth-grade busy work.
The change isn't all bad, though. Classes are broken up with breaks and mandatory bathroom times, which is a nice way to bookend each section of the class, and cuts down on individual students missing important parts of a lesson because they need to use the bathroom. Afternoon primary classes have 5-minute breaks every 40 minutes, which is perfect if you've forgotten something or if, as more frequently happens, your class is driving you up a wall and you just need to take a few breaths and calm down. Lesson planning is entirely not my responsibility, except for the need to add some color commentary. Classes that behave well and do their work generally finish early and most of my kids have a high enough level of English that games are not only a possibility, but they're actually fun. One of my students is high level enough that usually when she finishes her work we just sit and tell stories and laugh. The class size being capped at ten is nothing short of miraculous after a year of twenty-five three-year olds.
The main similarity between my life now and my life then, however, is in the cities. Suwon is larger than Yongin, which was primarily built to house commuters to Seoul and Suwon. The neighborhood where I worked in both cities was large, lively, and full of good restaurants, bars, and shopping (though admittedly I did not live in a neighborhood at all like that in Suwon, just worked there). The other good area nearby in both cities was the local subway station, where there were countless more good restaurants, bars, and cafes. It's reasonably easy to travel between the two cities (sure, the bus takes almost an hour to go thirty miles, but at least I don't have to change buses multiple times) and to get to Seoul from both cities as well. City-wise, it's been (literally and figuratively) a lateral move.
And so, the more things change, the more they stay the same (though admittedly they also get a little different). I know this has been fairly dry and not as wildly entertaining as previous blogs, but who cares. I'm a teacher, not an entertainer. Also, I've discovered that as I get older, wiser, and a lot less tolerant of useless idiotic bullshit, the drama tends to die down and life tends to become something more akin to comfortable than lively. I've got to say, as far as that goes, I'm not hating it. Although, knowing me, drama is waiting just around the corner with a hand full of Pop-Its and a can full of worms.
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