My Regular Week

It would appear that I have dropped the blogging ball, and that may in fact be the case, but I am picking it back up and running with it now!

I had a realization that I might not have actually explained to everyone how my weekday life looks, so I will tell you a bit about that now. My weeks, Monday thru Friday, all pretty much look the same. Having said that, each week we get at least two new groups of kids coming through the school, so things are also always different! But, as a general statement it can be said that I go to work Monday through Friday from 8:30 in the morning (or half past 8 as my students would say) and I am home by 5 or 5:30 every afternoon. Usually we have a three day program Monday through Wednesday for the elementary students, then Thursday and Friday bring the joy of middle schoolers to our English village. For the entire month each teacher is assigned a "preference" class that they teach to each team. Depending on schedules, time off, and the number of students enrolled for the program, I may teach another class in addition to my preference class as well so that all students are in a class for every period of the day (of which there are 6, give or take). Usually a teach has different preference classes for elementary and middle school (so as to not go completely mad talking about the same thing over and over every day, all week, all month long!) and this month (and next too) my elementary preference class is auditorium and my middle school preference since I got here has been Drama (and will be for next month as well).

Doin the Box Step

3rd position in ballet

Auditorium is a pretty cushy class--it's always a lot of fun, and very easy. This month Auditorium class is Dance Class, so for the better part of my day I talk about dance, show videos of some dances, teach them the box step, and then have them dance along with a few ballet dance videos and before you know it the period is over and it's on to the next class. When the kids get into it, and they usually do, Dance Class is LOADS of fun! For Drama, I talk about things you can see at the theater, the parts of a theater, and etiquette, then we play a miming game which is usually a really good time.

During one of the "game" classes--they are watching a movie

We have an hour for lunch and ten minute breaks between each period. We also have a class dedicated to playing games for the last period of the first or second day the kids are at GEV (depending on the length of their time with us). Then we also offer special after school classes that run from 4-5:30pm M,W,F for beginner, intermediate, and advanced level students and Adult Speaking classes from 6:20-7:10pm M&W. These duties are rotated through the 9 teachers that currently work at GEV, so usually you get about two weeks off before you are rotated back into one of the classes for after school.

make yourselves comfortable, boys!

So that's pretty much my work week, although there are many fluctuations and rarely does the week actually look like that! If I have learned one thing so far in Korea it is that nothing is certain or guaranteed--everything is subject to change, so be flexible, go with the flow, and expect change! It keeps what could otherwise become a bit monotonous from being anything but that! So if I rarely comment on things done during the week it is because they are relatively set. There are trips to town for groceries and perhaps a dinner at a western style restaurant from time to time, but nothing to blog about usually. So now you know, kinda, how I spend the majority of my time here in Korea. The free time after work is usually spent with coworkers or just enjoying the fact that I finally have my own space to do with what I want, when I want, how I want.