Thoughts on the C Word.

I was thinking about communication, I have no idea why you are so shocked!

I went to work yesterday in a positive frame of mind. Admittedly, I was still slightly gutted at losing most of my classes, but a fresh timetable and new challenges awaited me and I was prepared to meet them head on. I wasn’t even flustered by the unmentioned arrival of yet another new student in my Grade One Elementary class, despite the fact it seemed he’d never even heard the English language let alone learnt any prior to that very moment. (As an amend to my last blog entry, I got to give one of the other new students an English name-we settled on Harry and he’s not as bad at English as I initially thought.)

On Friday, it turned out that the Elementary Manager and the Middle/High School Manager had no idea that my evening classes had stopped. It appears Christina hadn’t told them either, so they had no contingency plan for me and apparently still don’t. It seems incredible to me that in such a small department no one talks to each other. So almost as a punishment for a decision made outside of my control, after my Grade Five class yesterday I was told to join Fely in her classes and watch her teach, occasionally getting called upon to read from books and help out the weaker students. I am basically a glorified tape recording substitute monkey, perhaps to save electricity. Yet it would be more constructive if I filmed myself banging my head against a wall while saying the alphabet and random phrases such as “Are you bored?” “Jo Teacher is bored.”

It also transpires that as of today I will share my Grade One/Two class with Fely-she will teach Grade Two and I will continue to teach Grade One-in the smallest classroom in the world. I am hoping that they will see sense and put her in another classroom with the new students because our teaching styles are very different and surely it will be just be distracting for them all. I am not holding my breath though.

Ok, so I am doing a lot less work for the same wage and it’s not as though I am being made to work for 12 hours a day teaching unresponsive students and large classes. But as I have mentioned before I am partly doing TEFL to see if I like teaching and if this continues I will learn more about teaching watching late night Korean television. This involves a double act of a Korean and an American serving up the cheesiest helping of English mac and cheese imaginable, or as an alternative learning English through the study of Celine Dion or Westlife lyrics. Still who knows what today will bring.

Besides, my inability to communicate in Korean often leads to hilarious results. Last Thursday I was teaching my troublesome Grade Five class, when we were invaded by a bird, a sparrow to be precise. I haven’t figured out how it got in yet as the window was shut but the class grew rather frenzied as Ivy screamed and the boys tried to batter it to death with their books despite my stern protests. I opened the window, hoping it would use its instincts and flee to safety, but it continued to fly around the class in a blind panic. In desperation I gingerly opened the door, closed it behind me and went to the teachers section to seek help. “There’s a bird in the classroom” was met with blank stares-even from the Korean English teachers! So I resorted to miming a bird and pointing dramatically at my classroom. Finally, the Manager understood and followed me back to the classroom. I was just hoping the boys hadn’t succeeded in killing the poor thing. I slowly opened the door slightly and the bird flew out, nearly hitting me in the face, I screamed, looked back at the Manager, shrugged and continued my lesson. All in a days work apparently.

I know it could be worse, I just hope the situation improves quickly because the whole mess is putting a dampener on my time here. Still I count myself lucky I don’t work for the Hagwon called “Toss English,” I will get photographic evidence next time I see the school bus! I was too busy laughing last time I saw it.