Category Archives: Teaching English in Korea

Off to Seoul!… or not.

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Sunday, September 25

I went to Costco with some friends. It was my first time to shop at Costco since being in Korea. I was in search of a big bag of frozen chicken breasts. I ended up spending about 45,000 won on 6lbs of frozen chicken tenderloins, a loaf of whole wheat bread and L’Oreal Go 360 Deep Clean Facial Cleanser. I see the ads for that face wash every time I watch anything on Hulu and I have been wanting it so I thought, “Why not?”

Monday, September 26

EPIK hires new people each semester and the new people arrived about a month ago. It turns out that 4 new EPIK people moved into my neighborhood (3 girls, 1 guy). Two of the girls had birthdays this week so we went out to dinner to celebrate.

Tuesday, September 27

My co-teacher told me that it isn’t official, but she’s going on maternity leave in mid November and she won’t be coming back until next September. That means that my school will hire a substitute teacher to fill in until the end of the semester. I hope s/he is good!

I went to dinner with JuHye on Tuesday night. We ate at a Mexican food restaurant near Pusan National University (PNU) called Taco’s Family. We had chips and salsa as a starter and JuHye had enchiladas and I had a beef chimichanga. The food wasn’t amazing, but he weather was perfect. I love eating dinner on a patio with a cool breeze blowing through.

  

I heard a Korean guy at the table next to us answer his phone, “Bueno” and it made me happy. Then, he explained to all of his friends at his table (in Korean) that that’s how they answer their phones in Mexico.

Wednesday, September 28

My busiest day!

8:20-8:40 – “Morning English”
Everyday I greet the students as they enter the school and make them read a short dialogue off of a poster.

8:40-8:50 – English Broadcast
I do a live broadcast to the school every other Wednesday and every Friday. On Wednesdays I read a low level children’s book (twice). Today, the principal watched and said it was so interesting that she would listen every day. I hope that’s not her way of telling me she’s considering increasing my air time.

9:00-12:10 – Regular classes
Today I taught 4 classes of 5th graders. It was an easy day… they just studied, took a writing test and played a word game. It’s kind of like scrabble, but they don’t use tiles. They just fill in any word they know.

12:15-1:00 – Lunch
Today we had tuna fried rice, kimchi, a cucumber and onion salad, some kind of fried patty with ketchup on the side and a soup of some sort (I rarely eat the soup). Overall, not bad.

1:00-1:40 Free Period
This is my down time. Today, I bought tickets to the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). Many of my friends and I will be attending an outdoor screening of a Japanese movie called Star Watching Dog.
I usually use the extra time to plan lessons, but today I almost forgot that I had class.

1:50-2:30 – After school class
On Wednesdays I have 6 6th graders that are signed up for my afternoon class. They are all low level. It didn’t matter that I almost forgot I had an after school class today because none of them showed up. I thought last week’s 2 out of 6 was bad!

4:20 – Quitting time! ^_^

4:30-4:45 – Check-up at the doctor’s office
I am 2 weeks post op. My ear seems to be doing much better. The doctor said it’s mostly white (not red and swollen like last week) and mentioned that my veins seem to be taking to the graft. Or something along those lines. He gave me some good news and some bad news. Good news… my ear is 70% healed. Bad news… I can’t go to Seoul this weekend.

You see, on Monday I told him I wanted to go to Seoul this weekend and he told me that he’d let me know on Friday. I just decided that I couldn’t wait until Friday and I was just going to go because I’d been cooped up inside for the past 2 weeks and walking around wouldn’t hurt me. Well, on Wednesday he explained that the reason why I couldn’t go to Seoul is because the fast train would put strain on my eardrum because of the pressure. I didn’t even think about that. That’s something he probably should have mentioned on Monday.

5:00 – Cancel KTX reservations
Yesterday my friend and I booked our KTX tickets for a Saturday departure. Fortunately, it’s free to cancel your tickets online if you do it at least two days in advance, but the fee is still less than 50 cents (400 won) if you cancel it from 1 day – 1 hour in advance.

6:30 – Dinner with friends
I met up with Megan, Sonal and Grace for dinner at the place we just call “the cheap alley place.” The guy there loves us and always gives us something free (“servicee”) every time we go. This time it was free Cider (soda that tastes just like Sprite). I’m sure they don’t get many foreigners coming in because it’s down a small alley, but we were taken by a Korean friend that had been taken by one of her Korean friends. It’s amazing and sooo cheap. A giant meal will cost you 4,000 won (under $4) or less.

Thursday, September 29

My after school class (5th graders) went well. They are all very low level. We played some reading games. There’s only 5 of them and most know basic phonics, but one of the girls doesn’t. It’s quite difficult to figure out how to cater to all of them. My main goal is to just help these kids learn how to read.

I came out of my after school class to find the print shop guy and one of the custodians painting the hallway. Every few years the elementary schools in Busan are reviewed and my school’s review is coming up on October 5th. The school has been in full gear trying to get this place ready. The custodians are cleaning just a little bit harder, there are new flower arrangements in the front entry way, and over the summer the exterior of our school was painted some bright new colors.

Friday, September 30

I teach 6th graders on Fridays. This semester my co-teacher wants me to e the lead teacher and she is the assistant. I am responsible for planning the class and finding material that is suitable for the lesson. It is really good for the students because they are exposed to a lot more English. It’s still a little difficult for me because the students aren’t used to being taught in an English only environment. Friday was pretty exhausting for me. I actually ended up napping in the office for about 30-45 minutes at the end of the day.

After work I went to the doctor then got a pizza from Domino’s and went home. I ate really fast because I was starving. Lunch at school was quite awful and I didn’t have breakfast. Afterwards, I caught up on season 5 of Dexter… just in time for the Sunday night premiere of season 6.

Saturday, October 1

I was supposed to be on a KTX to Seoul, but the doctor shot that down because the speed of the fast train causes strain on the eardrums. Instead, I hung out with my friend, Jamie. We went to Beomeosa Temple. I had been there before, but it’s really beautiful so it was worth going back.

  

I hope you were able to make it all the way through my week. If you read about my week, you should tell me about yours. I miss everyone back home and I want to hear from all of you. Leave a comment or send me a email or Facebook message. OR you could even send me a card or letter in the mail. I would like that. If you don’t have my address, just ask.

Back to School

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I’m going to attempt to do a few feature on my blog… weekly wrap ups. I guess most people would just call it updating on a regular basis.  I will be giving a weekly update of what goes on in my life. That way people at home can get a sense of what my day to day life is like, rather than just hearing about things I randomly throw up here.

Sunday, September 18

I was finally feeling a little better over the weekend (after having my ear surgery on Wednesday) so I did some much needed cleaning in my apartment and watched shows and movies online.

Monday, September 19

Monday was my first day back at school after being off for just over a week (for Chuseok and ear surgery).

6th grade student: Meagan Teacher! How are you feeling?
Meagan Teacher: I’m okay now.
6th grade student: I love you! [giant hug]

I saw the same girl again on her way to art class and she told me that it’s okay that I’m bad at art because I’m beautiful and art would be a drawing of my face.

Tuesday, September 20

On the back of a 3rd grade boy’s jacket: Bride Girl
It’s the small things in life that make me smile inside.

Every time I walk down the hall, almost every student I see says hi or hello to me. I heard that this was common before I came to Korea, but that the new would wear off and the kids wouldn’t care as much as time went on. That hasn’t happened at my school. The kids are as excited as ever to see me. In fact, on Tuesday as I was walking down the hall I was mobbed by 1st-3rd graders. I mean, literally surrounded by tens of tiny little people saying, “Meagan!” “Hiiii!” “Hello!” It was a bit overwhelming.

Wednesday, September 21

I have 4 classes of 5th graders that I teach every Wednesday and Thursday. I know you’re not supposed to have favorite classes, but I think every teacher does. For me, it’s 5th grade class 4. They are my last class of the day and they just make me feel like the Heavens have opened up just to shine down upon them. They are fun and they love English. They all participate and they answer questions with joy! Their level is overall fairly high so they understand more than other classes. On Wednesday they had a spelling test and they wanted to try to buy as much time as possible so they decided to ask me questions. It started with the typical “How are you?” Then, they asked me if I like tests.

Students: Do you like tests?
Meagan Teacher: Yes, I LOVE tests!
Students: [gasp] Teacher! Why?
Meagan Teacher: Why do I love tests? Because I am sooo SMART!
Students: [gasp and laugh] ……….Do you Korean knowing?
Meagan Teacher: No, I don’t speak Korean.
Students: If you so smart, why you don’t know Korean?

Touché, little ones. Touché.

Thursday, September 22

One of the hardest things about my job is when I see kids crying in the halls and the language barrier prevents me from providing any help or comfort to them. This happened to me on Thursday. I was walking to my English classroom when I passed by some 6th grade boys that were surrounding a girl that was crying. The boys stopped me by saying, “Teacher! She is cry.”

They tried to explain what happened. I think one of them was running and knocked her down on accident. I was proud of them for staying with her and actually caring that they hurt her. I didn’t know what to do so I just asked if she was okay. She didn’t respond so I just rubbed her back and said it was okay. She was still crying to I opted to hold her books and then after a few minutes I helped her up and she stopped crying. I asked her again if she was okay and she said yes and went on her way.

Friday, September 23

When asking a 6th grade class, “How are you?” one boy said “Not so good!” When I asked why, he started saying 똥 (poop) and ran out of the classroom.

My 6th grade students have started writing letters and postcards to 6th grade students in the United States. They are sooo excited to make new friends in America. The letters are adorable. I am worried that the class I was hoping to exchange letters with may flake on me, but I do have a backup plan though.

TGI Payday!!! I was down to 1,315 won (just over $1) in my bank account. I was in desperate need of that paycheck.

Saturday, September 24

On Friday afternoon when I went to the doctor he said “So you don’t have any plans for the weekend, right??” So I took that as his way of telling me that I need to take it easy. The only thing I did all day was buy some groceries, do laundry and clean.

Only in Korea…

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Things I’d never say back home:

“Wow, that little boy looks different without a perm!”

This has been a fun week so far. The first day of the new semester was last Thursday, but I didn’t get to teach until this Monday. All I’m teaching this week is “My Summer Vacation.” I ask them about theirs and then I tell them about mine. Afterwards, they draw a picture of what they did and write a story. The end. I’m doing that for grades 3-6.

I have Friday – Wednesday off for Korean Thanksgiving, known as Chuseok. I have plans to go to Fukuoka, Japan on Friday and come home Monday. The flight is about an hour and cost me $225. There is also a ferry you can take from Busan, but it takes 3 hours. My friends booked that about a month ago, but I opted out because I get motion sickness and it was a bit expensive. They actually paid $100 more than I did for my flight so it worked out well for me. I am going alone, but I plan to meet up with other friends that will be in Fukuoka during the weekend.

I had some interesting conversations with students today. During one of my 3rd grade classes, a student decided to stop listening to what my co-teacher was saying so he could tell me, “Hello… you’re pretty!” He is now my new favorite 3rd grader. Also, after leaving lunch I ran into one of the 6th graders. His level is higher than most and he tends to get bored in class and only perks up when he can get into some kind of mischief. Here was our exchange:

6th grader: Hello.
Me: Hi. How are you?
6th Grader: Bad.
Me: How was your summer vacation?
6th Grader: Bad.
Me: Why?
6th Grader: I don’t know.
Me: Yes, you do.
6th Grader: I don’t want to tell you.
Me:  Why was it bad?
6th Grader: I don’t have a reason.

The whole time he had a sneaky little smirk on his face. He is funny so I enjoy pestering him. I also ran into him and some other 6th grade boys on my walk home one day. After a short chat with them I said bye and he responded with, “Bye! See you never!” Is it bad that I loved it?

Advice for an EPIK applicant

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**Please note that contract details and application requirements have drastically changed since I applied (and are constantly being changed), but let me know if you have any questions and I will do my best to help.**

I was recently asked by Emma of Emma’s New Groove if I have any advice for someone applying for EPIK (English Program in Korea). I definitely do!

reflections

My first bit of advice is get your documents together…. NOW! Recommendation letters, background check, passport photos, etc. I applied through a recruiter (Korvia) because the process intimidated me and I wanted someone to hold my hand along the way. As I was in the process of applying, I wished I had gone through EPIK directly (http://www.epik.go.kr/).
Busan burial mound Bokcheon
Decide which level you want to teach. Every level has its ups and downs. The up side to elementary is that you will more than likely have an active co-teacher, meaning you will literally be CO-teaching. The down side is that some of the co-teachers are crotchedy and stuck in their ways, but it’s just the luck of the draw and every level has good and bad co-teachers. In middle and high school you will more than likely be teaching alone. If your co-teacher is in the class, he or she will probably only be there to play the role of disciplinarian. You may or may not be teaching out of the book. Some people like the freedom of not having to work out of a book, but you have to come up with all new ideas every week. The good news is that there’s a large community of English teachers in Korea that are more than happy to share ideas.
Teach English in Korea EPIK
Decide where in Korea you want to work. Do you want to go urban or rural? Do some research. If you can swing it, try rural. You get paid more and a lot of times the rural cities aren’t as small as you’re afraid they will be. Korea’s a small place so it’s fairly easy to get around on the weekends. I chose urban and ended up in Busan. I love Busan. I think it’s great and would highly recommend it to anyone. It’s not as hot in the summer here, but it is very humid. I’ve been told it doesn’t really snow here in the winter, but it is quite windy so the cold is a bit bitter. I’ve heard that Busan is quite popular so if you’re interested in working here, APPLY EARLY. **On your application you’ll be asked to pick one preferred office of education to work for. The next question asks if you are willing to work in other provinces or if you’d like to withdraw your application if the office of education to selected is unavailable.**
Capture the Colour 2013 Green

Boseong Green Tea Plantation

Be patient. This application process is one of the most painful things you can go through. It will stress you out like no other. The best way to experience the least amount of stress is to apply early. It’s still going to take you forever to find out if you got a job, but your odds are better. If you apply early, pass your interview and send your documents in right away, you are probably going to get a position. You probably will not know if you have gotten a position until a month before it’s time to go to Korea. For the fall intake, I think some didn’t find out until a week or two before.
Take a picture of 2 family mart employees making a heart with their arms- 50

Scavenger Hunt – Take a photo of convenience store employees making a heart with their arms

Get doubles of documents. Ask for 2 (or more) copies of the same recommendation letter, get at least two background checks, apostilled copies of your diploma and transcripts. If EPIK falls through and you’re still serious about going to Korea, you’ll need backup documents because EPIK won’t be returning what you’ve already submitted. You don’t want to scramble at the last minute. Also, if you’re in Korea and want to change jobs for the second year, you’ll already have extra documents and it will make the application process much easier.
day 67
Look online for a Facebook group so you can share your experiences with other people that are going through what you are. Other places like Daves ESL Cafe and Waygook.org can be helpful, but once you apply it’s nice to be able to cut out all of the crap and just talk about what you want. It can also be a good way to network and make friends before you go. Most of you will be going alone so it doesn’t hurt to make all of the friends you can.
Making a toast

Thanksgiving pot luck

EPIK has now started making “official” facebook groups for applicants that are monitored by them. It’s nice that they see the need for it, but I think it’s much nicer to be able to form a community with your peers rather than being in a group formed by EPIK. If you agree, don’t be afraid to make your own group for your intake. EPIK does have an official facebook page with a lot of great information so be sure to check it out.
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I hope this is helpful to any people thinking about applying to EPIK. Korea is amazing and I think it’s well worth the journey. It will be a year of your life that you’ll never forget. If you have any more questions, please post a comment below and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Jusanji Korea at sunrise

Summer Camp, the Conclusion

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During the 2nd week of camp, I taught 3rd & 4th graders. I had a lot of fun. The 3rd and 4th graders are the highest level for their age and it’s a lot easier to plan activities for them. Here are some pics…

  

  

My absolute favorite!

  

During week 2 the students “graduated” camp with certificates from the vice principal. On the last day of camp, the vice principal also invited the 3rd and 4th graders to come back to camp the following week along with the 5th graders. For me, this meant I had to make all new lesson plans at the last minute. In the end, everything went well and I had a great time at camp. But I am glad that I don’t have to do that again until the winter!

Week 3 Pictures…

We played a “Trash Ball Game.” The students answered questions for a chance to throw wadded up paper into a box.

  

These boys said the book was easy so I made them read it to the class.

During week 3, the principal handed out the certificates.

We also gave certificates to the parents.

Summer Camp – Week 1

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I am thrilled to say this…

It’s over!!! One week down, two to go.

Most elementary English teachers in Korea have to teach 3 weeks of summer camp after the regular semester ends. As I previously mentioned, during the first week I taught 1st & 2nd graders. In my school, the students don’t begin learning English until the 3rd grade so this was my first time to teach the little ones. It was a challenge! They are soooo full of energy and their attention span is so short. They were all really excited about camp though. They were always in a good mood and very enthusiastic.

They tried to try to talk to me in Korean quite a bit and I had no clue what the heck they were saying. They probably felt the same way when I was talking to them. I did have a pretty high level student in one of my classes that always listened very closely when I would talk and then he would say, “Ok, ok, ok!” and translate what I said to the rest of the class (even if they didn’t need it). It was pretty funny.

We learned about many different things this week:

Monday – Body parts, “Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes” song
Tuesday – Animals & colors, “Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?” book/song
Wednesday – Bugs, “Itsy Bitsy Spider” song
Thursday – How are you?
Friday – Review & Veggies

I don’t have camp next week so I will be sitting at my desk all day Monday and Tuesday. I’ll probably prepare for lessons… or watch movies. I have Wed – Fri off so I’ll probably go to the beach if the weather is nice. I am also thinking about doing a temple stay (at a Buddhist temple about 2 hours away) with one of my friends.

Camp starts back up again on August 8th. I’ll be teaching 3rd & 4th graders. Wish me luck!

You can view the pictures below. Click on any photo to see a larger image.

Parents Class

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I am pretty sure that I mentioned before that I am teaching a parents class during summer camp. I change elementary students every week, but the parents class is the same parents all 3 weeks. They are really nice ladies and I am happy that the two women that I thought might drop out of the class are still coming.

There are 2 teachers for the parents class, JuHye and myself. JuHye’s class is supposed to run from 2:00 – 2:40 and my class is from 2:50 – 3:30. The vice principal was worried that the parents wouldn’t feel comfortable in a classroom with just me (because of the language barrier) so she suggested that JuHye and I teach together. We did that for the first few days, but if we do it consistently then it will put me over my teaching hours so it won’t really work out. Plus, JuHye and I would rather teach separately.

Today was the first day that I taught completely solo and it went extremely well. The first few days they kept saying “English stress!” at the end of class and today one of the women said, “No stress. Enjoy.” That made me feel good.

Babies!

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So my co-teacher is pregnant. Yesterday she asked me if it’s common for people in America to find out the sex of the baby.  When I said yes, she said, “Really??” and then explained that in Korea it’s illegal for the doctor to say the sex of the baby. To get around this he will say things like, “I think your baby will like dolls.” or “I think your baby will like sports.”

My co-teacher went for her sonogram yesterday and was hopeful to find out the sex of her baby. She said that her mother-in-law was going to come along with her and she was nervous because her mother-in-law was hoping for the baby to be a boy.

This morning I found out the results. Seems like the baby will “resemble its mother.”

Summer Camp

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7 posts in 7 days. Can you believe it?? What’s gotten into me?

Today was the first day of summer camp and I think it went pretty well. I am teaching 1st and 2nd graders this week. I was originally told that I would be teaching alone, but as it turns out, my co-teacher is sitting in on my lessons (or supposed to be) to give me a hand if I need it.

I am also teaching a parents class during all 3 weeks of summer camp. I had no clue what to expect. There were 8 moms signed up for the class, but only 5 showed up today. I was surprised that 3 of the moms had a fairly high English level… two of them even had English names (Cindy and Julia). I suspect that 1-2 of the moms might stop showing up after discovering that the other moms are much better at English than they are. Time will tell.

Last week I had a conversation with some 5th graders about summer camp:

Meagan Teacher: Are you coming to my English summer camp?
Student: No. I don’t have time.
Meagan Teacher: What are you doing this summer?
Student: I go to academy.
Meagan Teacher: What do you study?
Students: English, math, science, Korean
Meagan Teacher: Oh. my. god.
Student: Yes.

Korean students are very hardworking and study quite a lot. Many of them spend so much time studying that they don’t have time for much else. Even though it’s summer, many students will be coming to school for various camps or studying at an academy. I sometimes wonder when they have time to have fun and be kids.

Instant message from my co-teacher

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Things like this make everything worth it…

“i’m lucky teacher because i met you!”