My second and third lessons were for a Low-Beginner Elementary class, so it was outside both my experience and my placement, but it was a good learning experience. The class had only four students! Camp Fulbright separates students into classes by testing them at the beginning and leveling them out. These were the four students who turned in completely blank tests... But they were really sweet. Three of the students had pretty good English, but one had very minimal English. Because he knew he was lower than the others, he was very sullen, and it was hard to get him to participate. Their instructor, who observed us and gave us feedback, was really great. I was very impressed by his teaching style and manner with the kids, especially because this was his first time teaching elementary as well. He was an ETA this past year, teaching at an all-boys high school.
But, overall I think my lessons went well. Definitely some room for improvement. My biggest problem was speaking too quickly. Even though I felt awkwardly, painfully slow, it was not slow enough. Teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) requires a conscious effort in slowing down your speech and using simple words and sentences. If nothing else, Camp Fulbright has taught me that teaching English in a foreign country is much different than teaching English in America.
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| Anskar, my team-teacher, and I. |
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| Teaching about the UN. |
But, as my title suggests, the last two weeks have also been crazy. This past Thursday, all of our afternoon activities were canceled, as we were surprised with the placement ceremony! We weren't expecting to hear about our final placements until next week, so we are all so excited to hear as early as Thursday. We had a really nice ceremony for the announcements. I am placed in Andong, in the Gyeongsangbuk-do Province. It is a small, historic, and very traditional town right in the middle of South Korea. It is known for its famous mask festival every fall, and because it was the center of Confucianism during one of the dynasties. I am very excited, because I requested a small town, and I got a very interesting one it seems! Here is the Wikipedia page of my town. It has some really neat pictures and information about the town, the festival, and the fact that Queen Elizabeth II spent her 73rd birthday there ^^.
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| I am in the peach-ish province on the right, the red dot that is kind of by itself! |
I was very lucky because the ETA who is in my school now was at the ceremony! We spent a long time talking and getting to know each other. She gave me a lot of info on my school. It's called Poongsan High School, and it's a small, private co-ed school. I will have a few all-girl classes, a few all-boy classes, and three co-ed classes. All of my students but two classes are very high-level English. It sounds really awesome, and I am beyond excited!
That night, we went out to celebrate! Almost all of the ETAs went out to our favorite bar, and we were joined by our Coordinator Team and even our Korean language teachers!! This was so exciting because our 선생님(teachers) are really amazing. Everyone loves them. In Korea, it's okay to hang out with or drink with your teachers. As long as the head teacher goes, the other teachers are allowed to go, so we got to hang out! It was really fun and we got to practice our Korean ;).
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| These are both of my Korean language teachers! They are teachers at Korea University, one of the top schools in the nation. |
And so, that's about it for now. I'm exhausted, but still having a good time. Two and a half more weeks of orientation, and then I will be leaving for Andong!
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