Disclaimer: This may very well be the longest entry yet, and for that, I apologize in advance!
I've officially been here for three months now (coincidentally, the same amount of time I spent teaching in Spain) and I thought it was high time for you all to see where I work. The name of the school is Gyeseong Elementary (pronounced kay-song). It's also in the Gangnam area where I live. It's about a 35 minute walk from my apartment, and 6 minutes if I get a taxi driver who knows how to use his GPS. The school was founded in 1882, but this building was built only about three or four years ago. It is a private Catholic school that is partially funded by the government. I've heard that families have to pay upwards of $15,000 per year to go there. It is considered to be one of the top schools in all of Seoul. It is mind-blowing to see the types of enrichment these students are exposed to. They take the most amazing field trips. In fact, there are a bunch of 5th and 6th grade students in New York right now at Odyssey of the Mind.
The English program here is unique from almost all the other schools in the city. I've heard from fellow foreign teachers that they have their students once a week for forty minutes, with a total of about 400-700 students. Some have to cart their supplies around from room to room as there is no classroom for them. Most classes are thirty students or more. Most foreign teachers have to co-teach with a Korean teacher...who usually doesn't speak English all that well. And no offense to the city of Seoul, but the English curriculum developed by the city that the English teachers are required to teach is really pitiful! But here at Gyeseong, the students are seen by their English teachers three to four times per week (depending on grade level) for forty minutes each period. The students are taught using standard grade-level American anthologies (Treasures, to be specific). We are required to give them homework every night and a journal assignment once a week. The student classes are capped out at thirty, but we further divide those thirty into three levels (approach, on, beyond) and the English teachers work in teams of three so that the students can be divided up into groups of ten according to ability. I have a total of eighty students, and I think I finally have all their names down!
Listen to me rambling on! Let's get to the pictures. You know that's what you all want to see anyway!
Here's a couple shots of the beautiful building, at least from the place where I enter. I suggest clicking on the second picture to make it larger so you can get a better idea of what it looks like.
This is a piece of sculpture sitting in the courtyard/soccer area. It looks like it belongs in an art gallery, and I don't get what it's doing at an elementary school, but I like it!
This is Gyeseong's version of the “yellow bus.” Most kids in other schools have to find their own way since it's not at all common for the students to come to school on a school bus. But here at Gyeseong, they take a coach.
This is how the parents express their appreciation for their child being chosen to attend this school. Yes, I said “chosen.” There is a lottery drawing to make it into the school. There are four classes per grade level and thirty students per class, which is a total of 720 students. When there is a vacancy, names are drawn to see who gets in. It happens one day a year, and I hear it's quite the hullabaloo. If I had to guess, though, I'm sure there would be a way to get your child's name to the top of the pile...
I've been doing a speaking test this week, and one of the topics was “tell me about your parents.” This was mainly for my interest. But I found what I had suspected all along. Here's just a brief list of the jobs these parents have, and, thus, the reason their children can attend this school: doctor (the most common answer), prosecutor, business owner, music producer, announcer (“My mom is very well known!”), dentist, ophthalmologist, engineer, computer specialist, etc.
There was a science day a few weeks ago. Making robots was just one of the many projects. Yes, they work.
Matt and Julie, here's the school gym. This is the teacher's team playing volleyball against the other schools. We beat all the schools in Gangnam, but didn't quite make it as Seoul champs. The back wall has a set of bleachers with padded seats, and the other side that you can't see is the stage. Below the gym is the cafeteria, which I didn't take a picture of because there was never a really good time. I try not to look like too much of a tourist in my workplace!
Wondering what the grade-level classrooms look like? This is it. It's a third grade classroom. If you look closely at the second picture, you'll see a large screen in the middle. It's a Smartboard, Scott. Seriously! You'd love it. Every single classroom has one. The English classrooms had them as well until some teacher in the past ruined it for us and let the kids play games all the time, so they were removed. The writing boards are actually white boards that are green and are on sliding panels. There's a third one that covers the Smartboard. The teacher you see in the corner is Brendon. He is seriously one of the smartest people I've met here in Korea. I co-teach an advanced English class for teachers on Tuesdays, and he's my only student. We cover a wide arc of topics; anything from Oprah to Iraq. I never have to write a lesson plan because we just talk and every once in a while, I'll help him find the word he's searching for. He'll never admit that his English is any good, though. I'm very grateful to teach this class because Brendon has become a good friend in the process.
This room is a workout facility for teachers. The Korean teachers can use it any time of the day, whether it's lunch time or when their students are with us. We English teachers have to wait until we clock out at the end of the day. One of the many double-standards that we've come to live with here in Korea. There is also a teacher's lounge that I wasn't able to take a picture of. It's nothing like the teacher's lounge in the States. It has massage chairs, quiet music, and dim lighting. Yes, a room for taking a nap! (But we English teacher's can't use it.)
Katie, Here's the library. In the top picture you can see the check-out counter with Sister Mag in the special corner where she keeps a fantastic stockpile of American DVD's (for grown-ups and kids). And in the lower picture are all the books. On the left is the isle where the English books are kept. Both sides are full, as well as a reference section and a non-fiction section near the door. But I'm sure that's not the first thing that interests you as you view the photo. What's that kid doing in the blue suit, you ask? Each grade spends an entire week taking ice skating lessons! Some students just go in their uniforms, but some parents like to deck their kids out in the latest speed-skating fashions. Only in Korea!
Hey, Bill, here's the orchestra room. A few times a week, I can hear the students practicing near my office. They are absolutely amazing! The only drawback is on Tuesdays when the taepyeongso group gets together. There isn't a wall strong enough to block it's noise. Think about a duck that is slowly being murdered and refuses to die. I am convinced that there is only one song that this instrument is able to play. You can look it up on YouTube if you want to...or not.
And Jill, I thought you might want to see the computer lab. There are two of them in the school. I'm not quite sure the extent of what they are learning, but it's a pretty cool looking room.
I can't remember who was into science the most, but this is the science lab (sorry, I couldn't use my flash, so it's kind of hard to see), and a dance studio on the 4th floor. There are also some rooms that didn't make it onto my camera. There's a large auditorium, an amazing staff meeting room, several religion classrooms, and the principals office is pretty spectacular. I'm not sure you'd be a fan, Dana, since it's full of pretty flowers and jade pottery. The leather couches are pretty sweet, though!
And for my ELL gang, here's the English office for the nine of us teachers and our director. My cube is the one with the bright screen. Our office computers are all networked with the classroom computers so we can make all our projects here and then send them to the server to pull up in our rooms.
Most schools here in Seoul are trying to set up English Zones. This is the one that we have in our school. There are the six classes here plus three more around the corner. Mine is the first one with the purple door.
And, finally, here's my classroom! The top picture is the view from the door looking in. My fellow MG-ers, you'll be happy to know that the Word Wall has been carried to Korea. I service second and fifth grade, and I have a separate Word Wall for each of them. I was actually told by the VP that he liked the idea but didn't think there was enough room for all the words he expected them to learn. I've also carried over the idea of the card system, which works like a dream and is praised my the VP, though he thinks my punishments should be much harsher. Below is the view from the windows. I feel like I have the largest computer monitor known to mankind. It has a swivel neck and everything! I love this room! Oh, and I hope y'all don't mind, but I also borrowed the MG pledge, except they say, “In Ms. Kataja's class...” I have them say it to start every class. They really like it, and boy, do they let me know if I forget!
This is the view out my window of the lovely soccer field, the courtyard, and though you can't see it for the trees, there's also quite a monumental monument for St. Mary, complete with a fountain and fish pond.
And this, my friends, is what I have to wear every day. Outdoor shoes are not allowed, but tacky slippers are completely permissible.
The school serves lunch for all students and teachers (at about $3 a meal). No student in Korea ever bags a lunch. The food is surprisingly good! It just so happened that the day I decided to take a picture, it wasn't all that aesthetically pleasing. Mind you, it was still really good, just not pretty. And yes, there is kimchi and rice at EVERY meal.
Here are two of the music practice sessions. This is one of the many violin rooms, but there are also clarinets, flutes, piano, cello, viola, and whatever else you can think of. Even two amazing drum rooms where the students learn to play the bak, the traditional drum of Korea. I am really impressed by what the school offers as far as teaching tradition. There's the drumming, the annoying horn, folk dancing, and even Korean etiquette classes to learn interaction, ceremonies, and traditional Korean dress.
Here's a picture of some of my students doing an activity where they had to write down their daily schedule and then relay that information across the room to someone who had to write it down correctly. It was a really fun activity that incorporated reading, writing, listening, and speaking. But I was the one who learned the most, I think. I was astounded to learn what these kids have to do in a week. Most go straight from school to some sort of academy every night, whether it's English, math, science, or sports. They usually don't go to bed until midnight or even later. They have academies on Saturday and Sunday, and they even wrote things like, “Saturday, 8:00-10:00, free time, read a book.” They have to schedule free time!
As much as I miss my students back home (Scott, Sharon, Mike, Katherine...say hello to them for me, please!) I love the kids here just as much. They are really amazing and have wonderful personalities. We talk about the strangest things, and I almost never have a behavior issue that isn't handled in about five seconds (Heaven forbid I give them a “very good” instead of “excellent” in their evaluation card! It's quite a handy threat.) Any they are always saying things like, “I put a corporation mark for the words of Clark say.” And then in the next sentence, they use a word like pandemonium!
I've also started learning Hangul, the written language here (click on the word if you want to see what it looks like). I really think that it has made me a better teacher in that I can understand where their mistakes are coming from and I can even spell things out phonetically in Hangul when they don't understand.
This is the English team that I work with. In the top picture, the two on the left, nearest the front, are the other two members of Team B (my team) and we work with 2nd and 5th. We get along great and work really well together (just like back home!). At the head of the table is Sister Rosa, the principal of the school. In the bottom picture is the whole team again. This was on Children's Day, a day where all schools and work places are closed so parents can take their children out for a day of fun. But where was I? School. Why was I there? The school decided to celebrate Father's Day...on Children's Day! Gotta love Korean scheduling! So we decided to make the best of it and wear our funny Korean visors and blinding staff vests.
This doesn't have much to do with the inner workings of the school, but I think it's so funny how Mickey Mouse has permeated the society here, so much so that he is used in decorations to spruce the place up. Though we would find it cheesy, in Korea “Mickey makes it better.” Here we have Mickey as a book return, then Mickey surrounding the school as pewter plant holders, and finally the large version of the Mickey plant holder. And who is that inside the shape of Mickey's head? Oh, it's Jesus. What!?
So, MG, there you have it. This is the place that you so graciously allowed me to sail off to. If you would like to see more, you can go to the school's web site. It's www.gyeseong1882.es.kr. While you're there, you can click on the icon of the TV and watch a video of the school in English. I just watched it for the first time a couple days ago, and it's pretty good. Also, at the bottom of this blog you'll see two videos. The first is one of my students, Claire, playing a Mozart piece that she's currently memorizing (she was VERY nervous). Next to that is a group of students practicing the bak; six of the students are mine. And Bill, do you see the thing on the left that looks like an enormous drum? Well, it's an enormous drum! I've been dying to play that thing!
One final note: I know it's different than an American school, but if you are at all tempted to be jealous of life as a teacher in Gyeseong, remember one thing; Friday may be your last day of school, but I'll be teaching through the summer! ...And while you're on that wonderful summer break, don't forget about me! I'll still be blogging and I'd still love to hear from all of you!
