15. Long Overdue
Yes, I realize it has been a while. I've just found myself a little overwhelmed with work of late. But I thought I should post a blog before the weekend. "Why?" you say? Well, I'm so glad you asked. I'm going the Philippines next week with Suzanne and Anita (for our one week vacation), and I imagine I'll have plenty of photos and video and stories to tell from that trip so I thought I'd better update before I left.
I actually don't have a great deal of news. I did make a video a long time ago that I never actually got around to posting here... during the world cup, some of the Korean staff took us out to the World Cup stadium to watch a match on the big screens. It was a great night, so here you go... a video I made summing it up.
More recently, all of us had to do what is called an "Open Class". This is when the parents come in and watch you for one class period. It wouldn't be all that stressful if they actually wanted to watch a normal class, but they don't. They want what amounts to a 40 minute presentation/assembly/performance/etc by their children -- and the expectation (at least from what I have gleaned) is that their children are to be perfect -- for example, a complaint I had after my first Open Class several months ago was that one of my students (Helen) didn't sit up straight enough throughout the class. Anyway, it's quite stressful, and requires a lot of practice, which is frustrating because the practicing sort of takes over any real teaching time you have. That's one of the main frustrations I have with working in a private Hagwon system here, it's much more about keeping the parents happy than it is about actually educating the children. You'd think those two things would actually work together, but most of the time they don't.
Anyway, here's a rather long video I made of the process of practicing for Open Class.
And here is another song! I think I'm going to have to take my class out on tour when this year is done... I just love teaching them songs!
Oh, and I thought I'd answer a question I've gotten several times and I just keep forgetting to answer. The question? Why do they give the classes funny cartoon names? The answer? I don't know. I guess it's because all of the classes are technically kindergarten classes, and if we were to call them by what they actually are it would be something like "First Year English Experience, 5 Year Olds", which is kind of a mouthful, so they decided to go with something cuter, like Cooke Monster, or Elmo (which, by the way, would be "Second Year English Experience, Lower Level" I think).
Anyway, that's it. I'll try and post fairly quickly after my vacation... but no promises!
I actually don't have a great deal of news. I did make a video a long time ago that I never actually got around to posting here... during the world cup, some of the Korean staff took us out to the World Cup stadium to watch a match on the big screens. It was a great night, so here you go... a video I made summing it up.
More recently, all of us had to do what is called an "Open Class". This is when the parents come in and watch you for one class period. It wouldn't be all that stressful if they actually wanted to watch a normal class, but they don't. They want what amounts to a 40 minute presentation/assembly/performance/etc by their children -- and the expectation (at least from what I have gleaned) is that their children are to be perfect -- for example, a complaint I had after my first Open Class several months ago was that one of my students (Helen) didn't sit up straight enough throughout the class. Anyway, it's quite stressful, and requires a lot of practice, which is frustrating because the practicing sort of takes over any real teaching time you have. That's one of the main frustrations I have with working in a private Hagwon system here, it's much more about keeping the parents happy than it is about actually educating the children. You'd think those two things would actually work together, but most of the time they don't.
Anyway, here's a rather long video I made of the process of practicing for Open Class.
And here is another song! I think I'm going to have to take my class out on tour when this year is done... I just love teaching them songs!
Oh, and I thought I'd answer a question I've gotten several times and I just keep forgetting to answer. The question? Why do they give the classes funny cartoon names? The answer? I don't know. I guess it's because all of the classes are technically kindergarten classes, and if we were to call them by what they actually are it would be something like "First Year English Experience, 5 Year Olds", which is kind of a mouthful, so they decided to go with something cuter, like Cooke Monster, or Elmo (which, by the way, would be "Second Year English Experience, Lower Level" I think).
Anyway, that's it. I'll try and post fairly quickly after my vacation... but no promises!
posted by JJ at 9:43 AM
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