Life as an English Teacher - Day 1.5

I have a prep period from 2:10-4:00 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the month of September. Since I haven't quite been clued in on all my responsibilities yet, I figure this is probably a pretty good time to catch you up on life as an English teacher in Korea.

My school is about a mile, or 20 minute walk, from my apartment. I walked with Dustin, another teacher, yesterday just to make sure I knew where I was going. But, today, I made it all by myself! Hooray! haha. Here are some pictures of my school:

The outside of my classroom, the inside, and the teachers' room.

My day beings at 9:00 am when we are required to be at work. The kinders show up at 9:30 am, so I have about a half an hour to get my stuff together and organized before the kids show up. Kindergarten lasts from 9:30am - 2:10pm, with a 50 minute lunch that I get to myself. My class consists of three little girls whose English names are Grace, Jasmine, and Sue. Aren't they precious?
Grace, Jasmine, and Sue, respectively. (They are so fancy.)


We have 5 - 40 minute classes a day, with a 10 minute break in between each one. Every day begins with "sharing time" when we talk about the date, the weather, the night before, etc. The rest of the classes include phonics, reading, math, music, art, and writing. Jasmine and Grace are pretty easy to teach, but Sue's a little behind so I think I'm going to struggle to keep them all on the same page.

After, I have an elementary class from 2:30-4:00, and a class from 4:00-5:30. On M-W-F, my 2:30-4:00 class is pretty low level Engligh with only 3 kids in it, as well. My next class, though, (and my T-Th 4:00-5:30) is more advanced and I think I'm going to have a lot of fun with them. There are 5 students in that class on M-W-F, and only 2 on T-Th.

Our lunch is cooked by Susan everyday. This mean I get traditional Korean cuisine for lunch everyday! Today was bul go gi, which is beef grilled with peppers, spinach, and onions. It was delicious. There was kim chi, rice, and a crab salad for the sides.

Last night, Irene, my direct supervisor, took Dustin, Liz and I out for sam dak san (spelling?) in Jukjeon (the next neighborhood over). Sam dak san is pork with garlic, kim chi, and sprouts, cooked on a platter in front of you much like the dak galbi I told you about earlier. Side dishes included cold kim chi, a shredded caggage salad, and many sauces to season the meat with. Irene also ordered spicy cold noodles which were delicious, but by the time they came I was stuffed!

Like I told you, by the time I got home, I was exhausted! I'll keep you posted of any funny things that happen at school this week or any more tasty meals!