Teaching: Week 6—Scheduling Nightmare!!!

Because of Chuseok this week, I only had two effective teaching days at the High School, Thursday and Friday. Even these turned out to be a bit of a surprise, however.

On Wednesday night, as I was attempting my blog update for September 26th (given their length, they are feats worthy of the word attempt), I received a call from Chongtae. I only risk mentioning his name regardless of the wrath I may incur from the Powers that Be as I so stupidly did not recognize it as the name of one of the English teachers. This was embarrassing when he called and introduced himself, and I owed him a great apology.

(In general, circumstances have not allowed me to get to know this English teacher. His office is in a different teacher’s lounge than mine, and he is one of the few co-teachers that will allow me to have completely full reign of the classroom, probably because his kids are so advanced. It is unfortunate because we share many common interests, our love for movies and animation for instance, and he is the only teacher who has showed interest in my academic research during my undergraduate years. If you remember the “Hello, Kitty” car post, it was his car that brought me so much levity.)

At any rate, Chongtae invited me to teachers’ Chuseok barbeque out by the teachers’ apartment. One of the other English teachers had graciously opened up his ample supply of meat products, and a few teachers were enjoying these as they cooked and charred over an open fire. This is a rarity in Korea, as most meat products are cooked either in soups or in a pan, so that open fire cooking is seen as “Western” style in some way. The teacher who supplied the meat informed me that he preferred meat cooked over charcoal rather than meat cooked in a pan without the extra smoky flavor. (I cannot believe that smoky is spelled correctly, but Word assures me it is. Heaven help us…)

It was at this barbeque that I casually dropped mention of the fact that there were no classes on Thursday morning (the next day) because of examinations. The other teachers who could understand me looked at me with surprise. “Really?” they asked. “Where did you hear that?” At this point, I begin to worry. My co-teacher had told me that on Thursday morning there would be no classes, I explained. We called her, and she said that she had meant that the next Thursday morning there would be no classes. In fact, I eventually discovered that the next week Monday-Thursday morning I would have no classes to teach at all! Mid-terms would be held Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday morning, and Wednesday was Founding Day, a national holiday in remembrance of Tangun (http://www.lifeinkorea.com/information/tangun.cfm), the mythical ancestor of the Korean people.

At this point, I begin to panic. I had not prepared any class plan for Thursday morning, intending to create that week’s lesson during that time so that it would be ready for the afternoon and Friday. After a quick phone call to a fellow ATE, Glypie G., I was a bit calmer. I asked her if she thought a brief Chuseok dialogue might go over well, and she told me that she thought that’d be ok. Well, if she says it’d be ok, it must be, right? Regardless, it did comfort me. The next morning, I hurriedly typed up a brief English dialogue between a foreigner and Korean explaining what Chuseok is. I then gave this lesson to my 1-1 Class in the afternoon.

The other reason I was worried was because the schedule change meant I would have to announce to my Beginning Adult class that class, which I canceled for this Thursday because of the exams, would also have to be cancelled for next week’s Thursday because I didn’t understand the schedule. I relayed this to them on Friday, at which point they graciously forgave me and offered to take me out to lunch that Thursday instead, to which I agreed without hesitation, though I think I should be taking them out to lunch to be honest.

The new schedule also meant I was faced with the embarrassing situation of telling my Advanced Adult class that there would be no class the next week for them as well despite the fact that we’d already not seen each other for a week and half. Now we’d be at over a full half-month without meeting. If they are paying for these classes, I hope the school will refund a portion of their money. At least their Plato assignment should be well-rehearsed for the week after next…

As for the lessons themselves, they were a bit chaotic. The breakdown was as follows:

Thursday 2-2 and 1-1 both practiced the Chuseok dialogue I had prepared. For a warm-up activity, I had them translate 화장실 어디에 있어요? (Where is the bathroom?) to English. Then, I followed the general lesson format of Jacob, two ATE’s back, who often did dialogues with his students, having them memorize each one by the end of class. (I was able to scrounge up his lessons and advice on the school computer’s hard drive thanks to the file path left by Dana. Thanks, Dana!)

On Friday, I explained to the Beginning Adult class the dilemma I was faced with scheduling, and afterwards we began our lesson from English through Teamwork, the text I’ve decided to work through to make sure everyone is on the same page with their speaking abilities. The first topic was predictably easy with them, but I was able to do some role play to make it fun for them. We practiced name introductions, and I even let one brave soul be the teacher for a while. For the second hour of class, we did the Chuseok dialogue I had prepared for my high school students. This constituted survival English for the day, which I think is appropriate. Being able to describe one’s own culture to inquiring souls is something I wish I could do on a daily basis living with my Korean family.

Friday afternoon I was supposed to have two high school classes, 1-4 and 2-3. I decided to forgo the Chuseok dialogue with 1-4 in favor of playing “Go Fish!” with them, an American card game usually taught to small children. They enjoyed this, and I enjoyed teaching it with my co-teacher as it allowed us to reinforce the “Do you have any ____?” expression. By the end of class, I was able to stop the game, and I had each student come up and ask me (acting as a store clerk) if I had different items. Usually, they asked for simple things like paper and pencil, but a few brave souls asked for things like knives and guns, with which they proceeded to rob me (creative little devils). One even asked for a knife, which I gave him, thanked me, gave me my money, and then stabbed me without taking his money back. Laughter ensued. Another more advanced student asked if I had any cigars and liquor. When I said he was too young, he said, “Oh, I left my I.D. in my car!” Fantastic English, and surprising! I showed everyone in class my driver’s license so they’d understand “I.D.” and told the student, “No I.D., no cigars and liquor.”

But why forgo the Chuseok dialogue? I need to keep lessons with 1-4 fairly active somehow. There is a mentally handicapped student in the class who can become bored and disruptive very easily if he isn’t occupied. For past ATEs, he was removed from the classroom, but I want to avoid this if possible. He has approached me on walks home to practice English and will always say, “Hello” to me, so I know he is anxious to learn. Still, I do not want the rest of the class to suffer from having “dumbed down” lessons. My challenge is to find a way to interest and challenge all with the same lesson at different levels. If I do have to remove him at some point (I hope I will not), I hope that I can still give him some sort of private instruction.

My final class, 2-3, would have done the Chuseok dialogue, however, if it were not for the usual teacher for that class. He requested to take the class from me because of the finals coming up next week. As soon as he requested it, I said to him, “It’s yours,” which got a laugh out of him. It was nice to leave school a little early as I had a bus to catch to Seoul for the weekend.

Now, I just need to figure out something to do for next week… Only two days of classes again. That M.A.S.H. lesson that’s floating around the ATE forums is looking mighty tempting…