Bloggin' It

In my last post, I mentioned a bit about priorities and how classes and teaching often takes a back seat to paperwork and volleyball. Well, the other day gave me a perfect example to further demonstrate my point.

Each week, I teach 3 after-school English classes. I'm supposed to teach for 2 hours each class. However, since an hour of class is only 40 minutes here, I should be teaching for 80 minutes every class. The principal however was just fine with the kids getting out 10 minutes early, so that puts me at about 70 minutes. I then let the kids go 10 minutes early cause they really don't want to stay much longer than that. I also give them a 5-10 minute break in the middle of class, depending on how squirrelly they are. So, every week I teach three 50 minute classes, which adds up to 6 hours.

Every month, I need to have 20 hours of class-time completed to get paid. This past month, I was 6 hours short, as there was a week the kids were gone, and a number of other classes were canceled. This was quite a problem for my coworkers, and they told me, "you must teach 20 hours every month." Yep, okay, 20 hours a month. They looked at the schedule some more, said things to each other, then "Every month, 20 hours." They mulled over the schedule a moment longer, then it was off to the principal's office to sort out this dilemma.

After a few more "you must teach 20 hours a month" comments, a solution was reached. I would simply write that I had taught these missing classes in the schedule. So, we tore out the old attendance sheet, and wrote up a new one, making up days when the kids were there and I had taught them. Even the kids who couldn't be there because they weren't at school had to be accounted for, so I had to write notes on the schedule about further classes I'd taught to ensure every kid had a chance for 20 classes that month. Anyway, they told me again, "every month, 20 hours", and the problem seemed to sort of just go away.

The next day our school had volleyball practice. My after-school class? Canceled so I could train.

Training and preparation are quite important here, though the methods for preparing are, to me, a little questionable. Sports day is this Friday, and while my school isn't too bad, some schools have their children marching in circles for weeks to get ready. The principal will get on the loud speaker and bark orders to the children who will move about as he directs for a few hours. Sports day comes, and it has little to do with marching in circles, but maybe it's just the order and preparedness that matters.

Volleyball is another tricky thing when it comes to training. Some schools do well at training, some not so well. For example, many schools have a men's and women's team. They train together, which isn't too bad, but the men won't let the women play anywhere but the back row, and even then they hardly get to touch the ball. One of the female teachers in our school is quite a strong volleyball player, but every game she's put in a spot that does nothing to take advantage of her strengths or help her game.

I may seem a little harsh this week on Korean culture, and I apologize if I am. There has been a few incidents that have put me a little off this week, the largest being a visit to the pet store. Here's a photo of the cute little dog we've taken in for the time being. His name is Miso, and while he has a few issues with abandonment and bathroom habits (he's a little afraid to pee at all), he's quite a cute and affectionate puppy. Anyway, the other day while picking him up a few goodies, Shannon and I noticed one of the saddest, most frightened dogs I've ever seen in the back of the store. I've never seen a dog shake so badly or have such a sad, terrified look on his face, and after seeing him we all but ran out of the store, and Shannon even started to cry. I don't know what was wrong with this poor animal, or what had been done to him, but just glancing at him was enough to put me in a dejected mood and keep me there three days later. Honestly, it was like watching a person slowly drowning right in front of you, and then just turning around the other way.

There have, fortunately, been lots of good things going on lately as well, which I'll slather all over the blog next week. A dozen of us just got back from Jeju, "The Hawaii of Korea", this week, and I'll be sure to have some photos to go with the stories then. Till next time, try not to think about poor, sad puppies. If you do need to help one out though, we've got one here in Korea that will be coming to Canada in August.