Problems in Paradise

No, this is not a post about marital problems. Ha!

For the most part, I love living in Korea!  It truly is an easy life.  Yes, there is the language barrier that can be frustrating at times, but it's not always an issue.  I don't have much work to do even while I'm at work.  My housing is paid for.  I get to save a lot of money.  I get to travel to other countries (soon!).  However, there is one specific thing about Korean life that I cannot stand.  It's the education system.  When I was working in middle school, my eyes weren't open to the way the system works.  I never saw my co-teachers in action.  I taught the whole class by myself.  I tried my best at all times to teach them as much English as possible.  It's way different in elementary school - at least in my school.

Here's how a typical class runs (3rd-6th grade):
1.  I greet the class and ask them how they are, what is the date, and how is the weather.
2.  My co-teacher "teaches" for 20-25 minutes.
3.  I "teach" for 15 minutes.

The way my co-teacher teaches is he has everyone get out their dialogue sheets.  These sheets have English, Korean cheats for the English words (phonetics of the word written in Korean), and the Korean meaning.  He says a word or phrase and the students repeat after him.  Why is that not my job?  The kids are repeating bad English when they repeat after him.  He then has them self-study the words and phrases.  Then, he says the Korean word/phrase and they say the English equivalent.  If they get it wrong, he bops them over the head with a toy hammer that makes a squeak sound.  That's all he does for 20-25 minutes.

Then it's my turn.  My job is to play the CD that goes along with the book.  We spend about five classes on one lesson.  If I am able to finish the book before those five classes, I am able to create my own material and games to do in the class.  I think this is fairly typical in most classes with a bit of variation depending on the teacher.

Corporal punishment is technically not allowed in the classrooms anymore, but my co-teacher definitely still uses it.  He hits kids on the head with a small stick, hits them with the toy hammer, etc.  He also has them stand in the back of class with their arms straight out in front of them.  The kids that get this type of punishment are usually the ones who don't do their homework.  However, not all kids have homework.  If a student answers a question in class, they are exempt from homework.  The kids that don't answer questions are usually the ones who are struggling in the class or have learning disabilities, etc.  So, the kids who struggle are required to do homework that they don't understand.  When they don't do it, they have to stand in the back of class and suffer while class continues.  While they are in the back of class, they don't have their books in front of them, they can't answer or ask questions, etc.  It's such a vicious circle!

I've even been told to ignore students.  The students that I'm supposed to ignore are the ones with learning disabilities or the students who act out or don't try.  I definitely do some ignoring - ignoring my co-teacher, that is.  Instead of ignoring students, I think we need to give them attention.  I agree that I shouldn't focus all of my time and energy on one or two students, but I am definitely not going to ignore them!  I had an "I told you so moment" with my co-teacher this week.  One of the students he told me to ignore, I definitely didn't.  I helped him find the right page to be on and even gave him a pencil when he couldn't find his.  The next time I had him in class, he volunteered to answer two questions and when I pointed at him to answer, he got them correct!  I am just finishing my 6th week here and not once has he raised his hand to answer before.  I just wanted to stick out my tongue to my co-teacher and say I TOLD YOU SO!

I know that not all schools and/or co-teachers are the same as mine, but there are some basic similarities.  I know there's not much I can do about it except be the best teacher I can be for 15 minutes every class.  I just feel sorry for the students who are lagging behind because they are probably not going to have a chance to ever catch up.  It just makes me sad how we are failing these students.

Other than these issues at school, all is well!