My First Week Of Teaching In Korea

Friday, February 7, 2003
This post is about my first week of teaching in Korea. Well, week one is over and it actually went pretty well. I am surprised and pleased! I met some great people. I took some pictures of my favorite students, as well as, some of the Korean teachers I work with. I have been teaching only at TV and at LG Learning Center.

LG Learning Center is so posh! It is set up like a dorm for the students to live in for six weeks while they take English Immersion. There is a cafeteria there and a small convenience store. There is a gym and lots of lounges. There are even free computers that aren't password protected that I can use. My student Bill even showed me a place I can re-charge my cell phone battery for free. [My school finally gave me a cell phone to use. They own it but I pay the bill for the airtime usage. I guess they got tired of never being able to get a hold of me]. I love working here. It is so clean and modern and comfortable. There are coffee machines but they are free. You just push what you want. It's a whole other world from the school. I love it - it's amazing!

So far teaching in Korea as been a lot easier than I expected. The English level of the students is much higher than I expected or hoped. I had thought that I might be doing a whole lot of drawing pictures on the blackboard or using a lot of motions and body language to get my point across and I hadn't had to do much of that. I realize that maybe teaching Executives for a company like LG means that I am teaching students who are a higher caliber or who have had more English lessons. But whatever the reason I am just thankful.

I was impressed with my Level 2 - Intermediate students today cause when I went into the classroom there was a whole pile of candy on my desk. But then they admitted that they just took it from one of the free candy dishes in the lounge. Oh, well it's the thought that counts - I guess.

This is my student Bill. He chose his nickname because he says he "loves money". He is so funny he always makes me laugh. It is he who finally helps me choose a Korean nickname. Everyday he comes to class he says to me, "Ann Teacher. In Korea man is sky and woman is ground." And, I always reply to him, "Bill Student. In Korea teacher is honored so teacher is sky and student is ground." Finally one day he tells me he has the "perfect Korean nickname" for me - Sky. [Ha-nul]. He tells me I am his "Sky". I then go out and buy a stamp with my Korean nickname on it. And, to this day I am Ha-nul [Sky].

This is my Ha-nul [Sky] Stamp. I love it.

This is my student Sam. He is in Level 1. He is a character. He always keeps us laughing.

This is Sunny Teacher. She is in charge of all of us Teachers at LG Learning Center. She is very organized and dedicated. She keeps us on track.

This is a picture of Jin Teacher. She and I are becoming good friends since we teach at the same LG factory and travel together from there to LG Learning Center everyday. We weren't supposed to. She has a car and drives herself but she saw me waiting outside day after day at factory waiting for Mr. Kim to come pick me up and then he would never show up or show up late so I'd get in trouble with Sunny for being late arriving at LG Learning Center. So Jin volunteered to drive me. She is just so thoughtful that way.


This is a photo of me with some of my Level 1 and Level 2 students also included are Sunny Teacher and Jin Teacher.


This is me and my favorite class. My Level 2 class. I know I am not "supposed" to have favorites but I think it is only natural for every teacher to have a favorite student or class and since I haven't taught them in more than 2 years I think it's safe to admit my biases now.

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The only sad part of my week is that "Nora" and "Amber" who are the other two Native Speakers teaching at LG Learning Center have moved into the building and away from their apartment for the next 6 weeks. This is because they have no other classes and the students are wanting someone to help them with homework in the evenings. I can't say as I blame them the facilities are lovely and they get free food and an on-site gym and computers to use, etc. But it means that I am back to being alone in my Korean neighborhood with only my Chinese roommate and using my Korean/English Dictionary to try and converse.