The calm before the storm

Right now the kids are on vacation again, and the new school year starts March 2nd. The Korean Independence Day is March 1st so I'll be off work! I've been using the past week to get a head start on lesson planning for first semester, and it's exhausting, but I think I'm making progress. I really want to start the new school year off right and have things in place right off the bat - last semester when I began teaching here there were so many things I didn't know, so I always felt a few steps behind. Of course, there's still tons of things I don't know or could do better, but I feel like I have a better handle on what's expected of me. I also know more what to expect from my students in terms of how long they've been studying English and what they might or might not know. Teaching the second grade during camp was very helpful too because they're now my third grade, so I know that this is the first year that their curriculum includes English, which means they won't really know any. I also want to include more fun, cultural things, especially holidays, so I've gone through the calendar and put in holidays such as St. Patrick's Day, Mothers' and Fathers' Days, the Fourth of July, and even Easter. I was hesitant about Easter because it's a religious holiday, and if I was teaching in America I would avoid religious holidays, but I decided Easter was okay because there's actually an entire chapter in the third grade textbook called, "Merry Christmas!" so religious holidays must not be too big of a deal. I'll run it by my coteacher first though to get her opinion.

I know Christmas is a much more secular holiday (as far as commercial appeal goes), but I thought that an Easter egg hunt could be a very fun activity for the kids, and it's unlikely that they've done something like that before. They'll learn new, basic, reusable words (egg, rabbit, bunny, hide, find, present etc.) as well as how to wish someone a happy holiday (i.e. Happy Easter! Happy ______!).

Anyway, this is the best part about teaching after-school classes. The kids learn proper English grammar, writing, expressions, etc. in their curriculum classes (the ones that my coteacher teaches and I assist), so I have a lot of freedom in designing my after-school classes because there's no textbook. Those classes are more for conversational English, and I think that learning about Western (okay, mostly American because I am American) culture can be really helpful when it comes to applying and contextualizing conversational English.

Yesterday we had a farewell dinner for the teachers who are leaving my school. After dinner we went to the 노래방 (noraebang), karaoke. The principal insisted I sing a song, so I made my Seokyang noraebang debut with the classic Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love." It was a good time.

While all this extra time at school is good for me as far as getting ahead on work, it's pretty dull. Although I find teaching to be tiring, I do prefer the busier schedule of kids coming in and out. It really makes the time go by faster.