today my director explained to me that the highest grades on our recent tests should only be 95% (where memorization = success)
I had a few students actually write/speak word for word- perfectly.
But because "grandparents would see 100% as meaning their student knew english perfectly"
I had to change all the grades to be 5% lower than what they actually scored...
my response: "ok."
I mean really, who am I to argue.
I'm sure she understands the way old korean's think better than I ever will...
but it still -felt- wrong.
Other interesting things about my school- I had one particular student do essentially nothing but disrupt my largest class for a few weeks, so naturally, I communicated my dismay and annoyance with the director several times... she promptly spoke to some students who apparently affirmed what I had said--
and *POOF* the kid's out of my class for 3 weeks, and then on thin ice to see if he can behave after that! .... EVERY TEACHER'S DREAM JUST BECAME MY REALITY.
On a few other occasions, I've been asked to communicate when i have difficulty getting respect or have any straggling other students, I always give an honest account if i have consistent repeat offenders, and again *POOF*
but this time, the next time I have that student/class... EVERYONE IS CHANGED....
i mean, literally, it's magical.
I don't know what the heck the korean teacher threatens to do to the kids, but they IMMEDIATELY are like entirely different (angelic) children.... It's actually kinda creepy/insane.
BUT I LOVE IT, OBVIOUSLY.
-----------------------------------------------------:-)---------------
As mentioned before-- upon hearing I had the opportunity to vacation on jeju island with my friends, they CLOSED THE SCHOOL for a day, specifically for me.
--- private schools so far are a dream come true --- *~*~*~*~*~*~*-.-.-.-
On any given day I find treats ranging from krispy kreme donuts to a bowl of cherry tomatoes on my desk every week... little surprise "snacks" from incredibly thoughtful my director.
For the past 3 months or so, I've been eating *free* *homemade* korean meals with my director and/or just jeff every night... It's been an awesome way to try new foods, as well as save money and time cooking at home.
--more often than not-- usually at least once a week, Onion gives Jeff and I the school's credit card and sends us off to eat out where ever jeff's little heart desires... so far we've dined from Mc Donald's to an expensive Italian Restaurant (where we were a bit of an odd couple out)...
--------------------yum!---------------everybodylovesfreefood------------
sorry for all the writing... it's been a while.
So the semester is wrapping up next week, and the next semester promptly begins
(because Korea doesn't have a real summer vacation)
Which I'm actually very okay with...
My weeks fly by, my students are great (generally), my director is unbelievably nice/generous, jeff is manageable and occasionally quite lovable, and my co-workers co-exist with me without any issue (that i know of).
As you can probably tell, I have very little to complain about.
I have books to use as guidelines for my curriculum, but if I decide i want to toss the books and do a project with the kids, I can go for it.
If i decide I want to get super creative with my lessons, awesome!
...if I'm feeling lazy, we stick to the basics, and do more speaking practice that day...
The only thing I wish I had more of was collaboration with other teachers who could get excited with me about ideas for projects and to motivate me to differentiate ect...
The freedom that comes with being the "lone foreign teacher" at a private school, is that it is just that... academia isn't meant to be a lonely place.
I have the perfect balance of busy days and slow days with classes.
With the new schedule approaching, I will have an additional class 3x's a week, but other than that, exactly the same (give or take a few students).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My boss non-chalantly offered me a position for next year ... with a raise... and I have to admit I've been seriously considering it for a combination of all of the above reasons + my living situation is beyond ideal... AND my best friend here is signing another one-year contract in November.
I have until September to decide, but it's looking like a pretty obvious decision as of now.
----either way, I'd be home around christmas... just might not have as much time to visit with folks as I thought.... so keep your calendars open if you hope to see me! ;-)
-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`--`--`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-
I feel a twinge of guilt that while I'm living in this awesome dream world, so far from home, I'm surely missing so many things happening in the lives of you American's I love...
I'm truly sorry I'm not there with you,
but I'm also really glad I'm here.
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