Teaching is very hard - Claire's first big 'flop'

A great weekend adventure!

On Saturday last week we made it down to Yeongdeok, the next biggest town from us. We drove town with David, his wife, and one other friend. We met with another Epik teacher who lives there and we had a traditional Korean dining experience. Shoes off at the door, cushions on the floor sitting crisscrossed, everybody eats and shares food together. I am a terrible tourist and am not sure what the place was called or the traditional name for the experience but it was fun! They brought out side after side after side. Some fresh greens with purple sauce, some boiled greens that tasted like essential oils, pickled sides, etc. We also had Sundubu-Jjigae (Brandon & I's favorite Korean food from Myung Ga where we would eat at often in SLC), fried green beans, onions, and meat pieces. 

After absolutely stuffing ourselves to the brim and leaving some food behind (it goes against everything I was taught growing up and honestly pained me a bit); somebody decided we should hit up the Baskin Robins for an ice-cream treat. I had Mango Tango and Bora Bora (the BTS flavor, naturally). Brandon also tried the Bora Bora and some other strawberry mix something or other. BTS is a very popular korean pop band for those who don't know, it is definitely worth a quick music video search if you are interested, very big money around here. 

We've added another Korean restaurant in town to our repertoire. The sell corn dogs & donuts. Deep-fried food, are you surprised? The corn dogs are delicious and Brandon has developed a deep fondness for them. The breading is very soft on the inside but I think they roll it in something that makes the exterior extra crunchy before they finish it off with some sprinkled sugar. Very greasy and very delicious. We also decided to try a mystery donut looking thing and were pleased to find a delicious red-bean filled treat. 

I received my newest favorite purchase on gmarket - a vacuum! I was starting to worry I would have permanent dirtycrumbsonmyfeetconstantly for the rest of the year when I found a real gem - a hand held vacuum that came with a handle and foot attachment that turns it into a suitable vacuuming machine. It was about $19 dollars and that baby can suck. I don't know why I expected a vacuum would be a commodity I couldn't afford while living here but my floors have never been cleaner and I am never letting it go! 

Our second typhoon

This week a second and even bigger typhoon was supposed to come through so Brandon and I were both told to stay home from school on Monday. It turns out it must have changed courses quite a bit though as we didn't notice anything too crazy where we live. While we were at home, supposed to be enjoying our free day off I was informed I had prepared all of my lessons off of the wrong chapters in my books for the week. There was a miscommunication and I made an assumption based off of outdated information and that was a very challenging roadblock for me. Both of my English co-teachers were very nice about it and told me that the students need a lot of review so it wasn't too big of a deal in the long run. It did however put a bit of a damper on the day and made me feel pretty upset. Those who know me will understand that I don't like to feel lost or under-prepared so it was challenging to feel like I had failed after the hours and hours of planning and trying to finish those lessons in the evening and on the weekend. 

My first in - person classes

On Tuesday I had my first in person classes. I was extremely nervous but it went pretty well as it was just a basic introduction class sharing pictures and experiences from back home. Because I had already completed the lessons for 7th/8th graders the weekend before for online classes it mean I do not have too many in person classes each day. I have been trying very hard to utilize my time in the classroom to complete lesson plans but can also find myself very nervous as the classes get closer. This Wednesday I rode the bus to Byeonggok for my first classes (more of the introduction I had already prepared). Brandon walked me to the bus stop in the morning and I only cried half of the way there as I had no idea where the bus was going to drop me off at and I was worried it would take me in the wrong direction and I didn't know it. I was able to pull myself together though and I am proud to report I made it in one piece! This was a good and manageable day as I already knew about how long my PowerPoint would take and how long I needed to spend on my ice-breaker activities to keep the kids busy for the full class period. 

Chuksan & a small silver lining

Thursday I was able to visit my country school in Chuksan for the first time as the previous week we were home due to the typhoon. Chuksan has the earliest bus there and a very late bus coming home so I was very excited to hear my co-teacher lives right next to us in Yeonghae and will be driving me to/from school as often as she is able and it works in her schedule. The school has only 11 students so I have very small class sizes but things went pretty smoothly. Both country schools in Chuksan & Byeonggok use the same textbooks which means I will only need to prepare 1 lesson for each grade and can use the same materials for those days outside of Yeonghae. 

My first real -flop-

Today I had my first in person class teaching an actual lesson prepared from the textbook. I had already completed the PowerPoint last week in preparation and was hoping it would go smoothly as I already had one intro class with this group and was hoping my activities would be well received. I woke up this morning very worried that I didn't have enough material to keep the class busy for the whole time. When I got into work I printed off a crossword puzzle that somebody had shared on an ESL teachers website as an emergency time-filler if needed. As we clicked through my slides the kids were not very engaged and the same 2-3 kids were always answering my questions and there was an overwhelming sense of boredom. My teacher did his best to keep them on task though and I decided to abandon my practice slides and move into an activity. The kids had a 'symptom' and they were meant to walk around and find 2 classmates with the same symptom by practicing the dialogue. I noticed some kids who were not participating so I walked up to them and initiated the conversation to get them involved. I was surprised by a few kids who just stared at me and refused to participate even though I was feeding the answers to them. I feel extremely challenged in the middle school setting as some students have excellent English and the activities are too easy, some have a good basis but refuse to participate or to speak in class at all, and some are completely lost and are not willing to try. I was meant to finish recording my online classes for next week that need to be finished this weekend so they can be uploaded but instead I have spent the majority of my day doing some light weeping and doubting. 

Unfortunately, I don't have much of a happy note to end on as this is my most recent feelings this week. I am staring at my weekend which will now be full of lesson planning and recording so it does feel a bit daunting. The biggest adjustment with all of the quirky differences aside is that I feel as though if I am not at work I am at home stressing about or working on more things for work. Again I do have hopes that this will improve with time but if you need anything from me you can probably expect that is what I will be up to. 

P.S.

I almost forgot! While attaching my photos I did find one happy note to end on today, you lucky ducks. At my country school in Byeonggok I made a new friend! I about had a heart attack when I first saw him while I was using the restroom but once I was all covered up and able to leap away if necessary we formed an understanding and appreciation for one another. I'm not sure where he came from or how long he stayed but I can confirm it was at least one full day. I'm calling him/her, Bob.