The first week of school is officially complete! After three weeks of being in Korea, I finally did what I came here to do: teach! This year I will be teaching at two middle schools in Gwangju. As a Middle School Education major, I was very happy to see I had been placed in middle schools because I am most familiar with working with students of that age group. But, middle school is set up a bit differently in Korea than in the U.S. Korean middle schools typically consist of three grades with kids from ages 12-16. However, in Korean age, the students enter middle school at 14 and leave at 17. The Korean age system is a very interesting, yet sometimes confusing part of Korean culture so if you want to learn more about it you can look here.
As I teach at two middle schools, I have to divide my time between each of them during the week. On Monday and Tuesday I teach at my visiting school, and on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I teach at my main school. I was so nervous on my first day, because I had no idea what to expect. I had made an introduction PowerPoint and had a game planned, but even then I was worried that my students wouldn’t understand what I was saying or what their English levels were. Of course I definitely overthought things and it all turned out much better than expected. One of my co-teachers picked me up for school and
then showed me where the bus stop was so I could take the bus to school for the rest of the year. It was very nice of him because I know my apartment is a bit out of his way to school. We got to school a bit early and he showed me around, introducing me to my co-workers as well as the principal and vice-principal. All were very nice and welcoming. During the tour and all the introductions I had such a culture shock that I should’ve expected, but for some reason did not see coming: the bowing. There is so much bowing in Korean culture. Everyone we passed, we bowed to, even the students. Most of the time it wasn’t a deep bow if it wasn’t the principal or vice principal, but it was at least a slight bowing of the head. I don’t think I’ve learned how to bow properly yet, but luckily, I have a year to perfect it. It’s funny because I can already tell that when I get back to the States, bowing is going to be a habit I’ll have to break.
The introductions at my main school proceeded in a similar manner although I also had to introduce myself in front of the entire staff during a meeting. The funny thing was there were two newcomers on my first day at my main school; me and the new principal… so I had
to follow up the new principal’s introduction speech with one of my own. To say I felt a little out of place is an understatement. However, the staff made me feel very welcome and gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers to welcome me to the school.
That first week at school made me laugh a lot because the students were all
so excited to see a foreigner in their school. At times, I felt like a celebrity; I don’t know how else to describe it. Students would run up to me in the hallway to say “Hello!” and then run away giggling. There were also students who when they saw me audibly gasped. I’m sure the excitement will die down as the year continues, but it was a funny first week in that aspect.
My students were also really funny in the questions they asked to get to know more about me. In my lesson I did an introduction PowerPoint with pictures of where I’m from, my family, and what I liked to do. That was followed up with a Q&A section and wow, there were some good questions. Here’s a list of some questions I got, “How tall are you? What’s your favorite movie? Do you like kimchi? Do you have a boyfriend? What do you think of how the Korean government handled COVID? (I was impressed with that one) and “Tell me about your first love story.” I don’t know how they came up with some of those, but they made me laugh. Middle schoolers are definitely the same everywhere.
Although I’ve only been teaching for a week there are some differences that I’ve noticed about Korean middle schools, or at least the ones I’m at.
Students stay in one class and teachers come to them. The students stay in the same class all day and it’s the teachers who move from class to class which is the complete opposite of how it is in the States. This also means that the teachers don’t have a “classroom.” Instead the teachers have teacher rooms where multiple teachers have
desks to work at during their plan times.
School Lunches So far I’ve eaten lunch at my school cafeteria with the other teachers and it’s been delicious. It’s far better than school lunches at the schools I attended and they give you a lot more food. Usually, there’s around three side dishes in addition to a soup of some sort and an entrée. Each day is a struggle to finish my food because they give you a lot. One thing I have noticed is that there is a lack of beverages at lunch. I’ve taught for five days and I’ve only gotten a beverage two times. This may prove to be a bit of an issue if there’s spicy food on the menu in the future, but I’ll figure that out when it gets to me.
Uniforms I’m teaching at two public schools and I’m confused about the uniform policy. One school requires students to wear uniforms while the other has no uniform policy. I’m not sure how the uniform policy works so I guess it’s just up to each school to decide if their students have to wear them or not. The uniforms that I have seen my students wear look very comfy though. They’re essentially nice sweatpants and a polo shirt, but made out of a dry-fit type material. I would gladly wear that to school.
Right away, these are the major differences I’ve seen so far, but I’m sure the more time I spend teaching, the more differences I’ll see. Or possibly the more similarities I see. All in all, my first week was pretty exciting and I know I’ll have a good rest of the school year!
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