What's What is What

Whoa. . . .now that was exhausting! Nate was kind enough to bring over breakfast yesterday morning, I think mostly because he could not stand sitting around his little apartment anymore after waking up ridiculously early. But anyways we started the day off with breakfast sandwiches of egg, cheese, corn and maybe some sort of meat. Not bad all in all, most likely will go get another one to start today off in a few minutes here.

Got ready for my first day of work by showering in my little bathroom, and by in the bathroom I mean just that. There is no separate shower door or stall and only a hand held shower head stuck to the wall just to the side of my sink. This would be a lot stranger if Stef and I didn't have to put up with the same thing just a few months ago in Thailand! It's really a pretty funny concept but can actually save some time as I can shave right in front of the mirror while showering and don't have to splash water all over to rinse my face!

The most difficult part is drying off which I do with the single 8x8in washcloth I brought from home. As for a towel I just simply did not have space in my suitcase for one and have not really had an opportunity to buy one yet as they are not available at the local 7/11. Might just end up doing this for the week and figuring it out once we move in to our more 'permanent' housing.

Not long before we planned on headed out, Yumi sent us an e-mail asking if we could stop by the DYB headquarters so she could copy our passports. Rather than just suggest to her that they could have infinite copies if I just sent a digital picture of it to her we figured we would make the stop as she could help us hail a taxi up to Nowon-gu where our branch is.

At headquarters we were privileged enough to meet the head boss, Mr. Song, in the hallway! While our interaction was extremely brief and uneventful Yumi was simply fascinated/anxious/awe-struck that we had already met the Big Guy. Funny thing these Asian hierarchies are. . .funny thing.

We got our passports copied, again, and filled out some brief paper work that looked like a release of our academic information. Who knows how or why but I'm sure they have some pretty interesting ways to double verify the information we provided them as Yumi asked for our student numbers and entered them into some computer program that I'm sure helped her verify, if not retrieve, our academic history. . .interesting.

On the way in we also ran into Anna, one of the most intimidating teachers at our Nowon branch. While she seems to be kind, the way she phrases everything and her body language is just terrible frightening, no other way to describe it! She offered us a ride up to school however which saved us from having to hire a cab.

Only slightly worth mention is how long it took the poor woman to get out of the extremely tight parking space she had been wedged in to. Nate and I both almost wanted to help as when she hit the curb and the car wouldn't roll backwards she was so confused she had to exit the car and inspect the issue personally rather than just pull out! With a decent deal of effort we made it out and onto the open road, after picking up Julie, another teacher who is mockingly called Princess; which I believe comes from the fact that as far as I can tell she is the only one that wears make up. . . but this is clearly not my area of expertise! The giant white and red sticker on Ana's window was too prominent for me to avoid not mentioning and, as I had imagined, was a warning for parking in the wrong place! Some things really are cross cultural!!

At school we settled in to the Native (speaker, not resident as I at first believed) Office to wait for our 2:00pm 'meetings' with the teachers we are to be working with. Our lessons were explained to us to some degree and we were given sparse instruction as how to carry them out. This is where everything starts to get stressful. We really received very little instruction but were looked at as though everything in the world had been explained to us in great detail and to misunderstand would be idiotic at best! This made for a very anxious period between our 'meetings' and the start of our first class at 4:30pm.

As for our schedules, we have three classes on Mon, Wed, and Fri, each for 2 hours with a five minute break between and in the middle of classes. For each day we are with the same teacher the whole time and, at least from yesterday, each class receives the same material. So, yesterday I thought the same two hour lesson, three different times.

Still rather jet-lagged and struggling to stay up past dark, you could imagine the different level of instruction that the 4:30 class receives versus the 8:30 class! Sorry! I'll try, honestly, but it's going to be tough for at least the first week!

After my first class, Teacher Young, (I'm not really sure how they address teachers or how we should address teachers and my inquiring in to the topic yielded nothing, so for now, it's Teacher _____) commended me on my 'enthusiasm,' which was nice. I still felt ridiculous as I was trying to drag out a simple book lesson to last two hours. To break it down I spent 15-20 minutes on introducing myself and meeting the students (I am told that addressing them by name is not necessary nor relevant really).

The first part of the real lesson then was speaking, as greater focus is given to communicative English. I was told to make copies of a Dear Abbey article before class and to 'do Abbey' to start. This was made easier by the fact that we watched Chris, an outgoing and supposedly 'best foreign teacher,' do Abbey the other day for a class. I introduced the title of the article 'chaos' and then we jumped right in, reading together around the room. We would stop after each paragraph to discuss the problem that is developing, the solutions that Abbey proposes, the benefits of each and key vocabulary words that might be unfamiliar or new to non-native speakers. Abbey concludes when it seems that everyone has a good grasp of what is going on, which, yes, demands an absurd amount of repetition.

We then go on to the day's lesson in the pink Speaking book. First we define the six vocabulary words at the chapter's start. I feel it to be pathetic and wholly unproductive to simply read the words on the paper and the brief definitions that follow so of course I ramble on for five minutes about each word trying to make sure each kid understands. Who knows if this is seen as tenacious or just a waste of time but at least I feel like I'm doing something other than regurgitating text.

The students then listened to a recorded passage and answer six multiple choice questions about the conversation. We go over the answers, of which the focus is primarily problem, solution and benefit oriented so that everybody understands. The conversation is played again as the children are looking at a print out of it with eight or so phrases left blank that they are to fill in. This too is gone over with the whole class.

Finally, we discuss the conversation as a whole and create an 'outline' for the speeches that they are expected to give. The outline consists of a Problem, two Solutions, a Benefit for each and then the students' Preferred Solution and benefit.

While they are completing these 'outlines' I get to take a five minute break, during which my only option is to walk down the hall to the Native Room, turn on the wall mounted a/c and stare out the window at the bustling street set against a beautiful mountain! There's a chance Nate will be on break at the same time but as of now, this is unlikely.

Returning to class we began 'speeches,' for which a student is chosen at random by drawing a cassette tape with their name on it. I then place a hand held recorded in front of them and prompt them to address the issue we have been discussing by asking about the P, S and B. This grows extremely dull in a class of six or more as the kids begin to just copy one another and have time to write out and actual 'script' so there is little thinking, only regurgitating (my least favorite of all academic methods) involved.

At this point there was usually about 30 minutes left in the class for Writing, the lessons for which are conducted out of the blue book. This section consisted only of group brainstorming on the topic at hand for the week. Yesterday's question was something about what qualities would you look for in a good Souvenir to buy while traveling. I felt like the students actually did very well in this as they came up with such things as cheap, small, durable, relevant, symbolic, and safe all on their own.

Young would then tell me to conclude class and leave, to which my only retreat is the Native Room once again. From the first class I realized that the exit is rather awkward, in that I just said goodbye to the class and told them it was nice to meet them (I would say 'see you next _____ but I have no idea with what frequency these classes are conducted). I was not aware of how awkward it was until the end of the day with Teacher Young told me that I had embarrassed the students by simply leaving and not assigning homework for next week! While I was unaware that I was ever supposed to do so, or even what assigning homework means, Young seemed to imply that it was okay, just don't do it again or they'll start to lose respect for me. . . .very comforting on my first day.

So. . . .sorry for the long winded documentary but I feel like all I can do right now is be objective about the situation and see how in unfolds as I (hopefully) settle in to a groove. If you really want to know anything else more opinion or less factually based, please feel free to leave a comment and I'll fill ya in, but for now, what's what is what. . . what?

Oh, and today, we only have two classes, each three hours long. . . .and I'll be covering the same material! Can't wait!