Night Shift

I'm working on the late shift again this month; in fact, since me and Emma like nights so much, we've asked if we can be permentantly on this shift, and Kane and Eva (who prefer days) will have our early mornings. Whether or not we're allowed to do this kinda depends on if everyone else kicks up a stink, but we did ask first! Late shift means we don't have a class until 1:30pm at the earliest - today I had nothing until 3:30pm! - so I can and usually so waste the morning in bed! We have a few classes after lunch, then tea, an hour and a half break, then it's time for the evening activity. This week I'm on fashion show, the nature of which, if not self-evident, I'll explain in more detail later when I've taken a few pictures. I'll try to remember to take my camera tomorrow. Some of the kids make a real effort; others look like they've just crawled out of a dustbin lorry. Often it's an exercise in humiliation: just how ridiculous will these kids make their own teamates look? Answer: very. Wait for the pictures. Another bonus of night shift is not having to work weekends, so can actually go out on Saturday nights and not worry about work the next morning. On the early shift pattern, you're lucky if you get two consecutive days off in any given month. The only disadvantage of evening shift is that I have absolutely no incentive to drag myself away from the internet, so could very easily stay here surfing, oblivious to the time, until 2am or more. Hence wasting most mornings in bed...

Graduation

We weren't working last night, but it was the graduation of the kids from the last two-week summer programme so we wanted to go say goodbye; also we'd heard that it was quite emotional last time, and we didn't want to miss out again. It was great fun. We got there just as the YMCA was starting up. The kids (and the teachers) lapped it up. After a few more numbers (lead by Kyle), it was time to say goodbye. They put a bunch of slow songs on while the kids/teachers wander around saying goodbye to each other. It's also a final chance for the kids to get any teacher's signatures/emails that they've missed. These kids look happy enough, right? And this one looks like he's having a grand old time. Yet to see a lot of the others carrying on, you'd think you'd arrived at the aftermath of some kind of natural disaster or high school massacre. The girls - hell, even a lot of the boys - were sobbing onto each other's shoulders. Even a few of the teachers were getting upset. Of course me having a heart of stone, I just whipped out my camera to capture the moment... To be fair, I wasn't deliberately taking pictures of the crying kids per se, but there were so many of them they were hard to miss. In this last one, they're actually just going for high-fives with Siamack, but doesn't it kinda look like they're all raising their hands to ask god for salvation? Maybe that's just me...

My View. Need to get out and about more...

At least it's tidy this time

Playing around in Photoshop - first attempt at Hockney-style panograph. Needs mucho work. Expect more.

Silent Treatment

I was forced to work all day on Sunday, and while in principle I don't mind working weekends, it generally means we're teaching day kids. Unlike the week kids who quickly become comfortable with each other as they're eating and sleeping together, the day kids never have this chance to get to know each other properly, and hence are often very shy about speaking up and risking humiliation in front of each other. The 'police station' class I had after lunch yesterday was the worst example of this I have had yet. It was as though they'd made a pact before entering the class that they would not speak to me under any circumstances. For the first 20 minutes of the lesson I faced a wall of impeneterable silence. They were like SAS commandos under interrogation. I tried making them laugh, I tried begging: nothing worked. I was trying to teach them the word 'steal' (which I knew they knew) but nobody would even venture a guess. I decided to resort to hangman, but even that was torturous. I gave them S _ _ _ _ to start, but still nobody would even say a letter. I went round the class asking each in turn just to say one letter of the alphabet. "A! B! C! D! E! Just pick one!" Finally one of them cracked and gave me an N, and thank god a few others followed along in his wake. They still didn't get the word though. I was about ready to hang myself by the end of the lesson. Torture.

Almost like being famous

The first batch of kids on the two-week program finished today. It's been quite nice, as they don't usually stick around long enough for us to get to know them at all, whereas I've taught some of these kids three or four times. It's kind of a shame that we don't get the chance to develop any deeper relationships with the kids as we would at a normal school; on the other hand, as a novice teacher, I like the fact that I can't get stuck with any bad first impressions here - the kids aren't around to hold my rookie mistakes against me! I wasn't working tonight, but apparently at the 'Graduation' they played some slushy music - maybe something by Sinatra - and all the kids were reduced to tears - boys as well as girls - at having to say goodbye to all their new friends. Me, Emma and Christa happened to be walking across campus as the children came out of school. It must've taken 2o minutes to battle through the barrage of bodies grabbing at us, and swarming around asking for our signatures and emails. They never email though. I think it's just another competition for them - to see who can collect the most names, shed the most tears, etc. Signing autograph after autograph does do your self esteem the world of good though. And though we pretend like they're being a nuisance when we have to do this, it's so much worse when they walk on by and don't ask you...

Divided

There are maybe 30 foreign teachers here as Seoul English Village, from America, Canada, Oz, New Zealand, and then there's us two Brits. In addition to us there are maybe 6 to 8 Korean teachers to whom English is a second language. They teach mostly the same classes as us, but are paid less. They are all women.

Yesterday, it emerged that one of them, let’s call her N - not that there's enough people reading my site for anything to get back to anyone it shouldn't, but can never be too careful - N was told by one of The Directors that she is forbidden to socialise with us foreigners after she was witnessed on CCTV entering the accommodation of more than one of the American guys (another reason we’re not impressed as we had naturally assumed they were for our security rather than to monitor our activities). For the record, it was entirely innocent, but I don't think it matters either way. She was told that as a Korean woman, she should be acting more responsible, which can only suggest that we ourselves are seen as somehow morally irresponsible in comparison, even though they are employing us to teach their children. Anyway, our N, a lovely girl, will no longer be scheduled classes in the art centre, as it is too close to the accommodation blocks, presumably because they're concerned that she will slip over for a quickie between classes.

Now all of this information is third or fourth hand, but here are a few of the other ugly snippets I’ve heard over the past couple of days:

• we are not supposed to talk to the Korean assistants who shepherd the kids around site between classes – no reason given

• The Korean teachers are no longer allowed three meals a day like us; they will now just get lunch, where I imagine, we'll soon have to eat at separate tables – no reason given

• Since the incident with N, apparently a few of the other Korean teachers have since been yelled at for talking to us too much.

Of course, this isn't going to have any effect on how we act around them, but it will be a shame if they do feel unable to socialise with us anymore, and it is not leaving us well disposed towards the administration this week.

Police Station

One of my classes this week is Police Station. As part of the class, I ask the kids to shout out the words for any crimes they know. My first two classes of the day weren't very forthcoming, they gave me 'murder', 'stealing', 'hit and run', maybe a couple of the others. My final class of the day got off with a slow start - they initially offered up 'killing' and 'stealing', but I was having none of this, and pushed them for more with the offer of excellent stamps if they gave me more suggestions. "Sell baby!" one boy came out with. Fair enough - I was surprised as I didn't realise this was issue in Korea, but, relieved to finally be getting some feedback, I wrote it on the board anyway. "Touching!", cried one of the girls. I really wanted to ask who was touching who in this scenario, but decided to pretend not to hear instead. The first boy then mimed injecting something into his forearm. Whether he was being poisoning or he was shooting up I wasn't able to clarify as the suggestions were coming thick and fast now. "Sell human!" "For what purpose!?" Maybe I shouldn't have asked but I didn't get much of an explanation anway. "Buy woman!" "Um...y'know what, shall we play a game now?"

The Emotional Trauma that is Domino

I'm on the afternoon shift this week, which means doing a two-hour evening activity with the kids before they go to bed. It's three or four teachers versus five or six groups of kids, and this week I've been on 'Domino Games' with Rebecca and Zak (both American). The gist of the game is that we give them a shape and the teams have to race to build it. We start off simple, with line, circle, heart etc, then have a freestyle round at the end where the best design wins. I just never considered how emotionally draining this was gonna be. Monday was just chaotic as we hadn't properly sorted out how we were gonna play the game. Most of the kids were just bored, and so were we. Tuesday was better. The rules were sharpened up, everybody knew what they were doing, and it was very almost fun. I usually try to help each team in turn at some point in the night, especially the underdogs who've had to start from scratch halfway through. I was helping one such team when one of the girls inadvertantly started the thing falling; trying to stop the tumble before it got too far, I stuck out my foot to kick a few dominos out of the way. Unfortunately I was unsuccessful in this, but worse, all that most of the team ever saw was my foot in the middle of their toppled dominos. I tried to explain, but they were having none of it. I barely escaped without a lynching, and I wasn't allowed back in their corner all night, and still every time I come across that class in the school they stop and growl what I'm sure are Korean expletives at me. Wednesday. On Wednesday we ran the whole gamut of human emotions. We had tears, and jubilation, and laughter, and frustration. I must stop myself from getting so involved though - there's always one dozy kid who starts the whole thing toppling before it's finished, and it's all I can to stop myself screaming out along with them. In fact, I'm torn between sympathising and doubling over in hysterics as they all throw themselves on top of their designs in an attempt to cut off the tumble, which invariably only makes matters worse. And tonight. If yesterday we had the tears, tonight we very nearly had the bloodshed. I was stuck the whole night patrolling a DMZ I was forced to construct on the border between teams eight and nine. A boy from team nine (accidentally or otherwise) knocked down team eight's first attempt at a straight line in round one, and though he apologised, I have never seen such a bunch of sore losers in my life. I spent the rest of the session simply as a buffer between the two teams - every time I left for a second a fight would break out, or one team would start lobbing domino missiles at the other team's constructions. I issued more red signs to these kids than I have in the previous three weeks. I had taken my camera with me, planning to take a few snaps of the kids playing, but they were such a bunch of swines I didn't feel like taking any pictures in the end. I'm hoping tomorrow will be better.

Frequently Asked Questions

Or, not so frequently asked questions but a load of stuff that my mum wanted to know that other peope might want to know too. What are you teaching and do you enjoy it? So far I’ve done ‘Homestay’, ‘Physician's Office’, ‘Storytelling’ and ’Bank’. Most classes feature some element of roleplay featuring vocabulary that you are supposedly gonna have taught the kids. For example in the bank I have to teach them ’withdrawal’, ’deposit’, ’teller’, ’cheque’, and so on, then we act out a little scenario where they deposit some money into there account, or whatever. If they’re a higher level class we’ll talk about different currencies and exchange rates etc, but every class is different so I never know what I’m gonna be able to teach a particular group until I’m in there and doing it. You generally teach one class for one or two weeks then move on to another class. Usually you teach on your own, but sometimes there’s a second teacher acting as an assistant. Yesterday for example I was assisting with ‘Medical Centre’ for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Also, rule number one for the kids is 'No Korean!' so it doesn't really matter most of the time that we can't speak their language. What are the kids like? The majority of the kids we’ll be teaching will be between nine and twelve years old, and will come from private schools, though the government also subsidises children from underprivileged areas occasionally. These kids stay on campus for one week. We also run special day-long programmes, and these kids that com to these can I think be any age. On Saturday for example we had some six year-old kindergarteners in. I had three classes of these in the physician’s office. For the first two classes I had Korean assistants in with me, so didn‘t have too many problems. For my final class of the day though - when the kids were getting grouchy anyway from tiredness and hunger - I was on my own, and the only word I can think of to describe that 45 minutes is havoc. Wait, no, that’s not the only word - I could also say anarchic, chaotic, overwhelming, exhausting, and draining. I shouted myself hoarse just to get them to sit down, and was very glad to have it over. I need to get me some better methods of crowd control pronto. Suggestions on an postcard please. Do you have to prepare lessons? There are lesson plans, some of which are better that others depending on the class. If you have a problem with an existing plan though it can be changed as long as you check with admin first. I'm just following mine as I don't know anything about teaching, but for example Doug who teaches music (and who did a masters in music) has pretty much rewritten his. They have to be flexible as you can teach a bunch of 13-year-olds followed straight on by a kindergarten class. Do you have to wear a uniform of sorts for work? Well today I wore jeans and a t-shirt, so no, not really. A few of the classes require uniforms which are provided by the school, though even those are pretty relaxed. The police station class has a just a black shirt with badge on, for example. The magic class has a cloak and top hat, and airplane class has an air hostess uniform, but even then you can wear your own stuff underneath. But we're not allowed to wear flip-flops. What hours do you teach during the day and what time do you have to get up? Classes are 45 minutes long with 15 minutes in-between classes. There are at most 3 classes in the morning and 4 in the afternoon, but it varies from day to day. I've never had the full 7 yet. You generally teach one main class for two weeks and then the schedules are reshuffled. We get two days off a week, not necessarily at the weekend, and not necessarily together. We’ll also occasionally be on ‘afternoon’ shifts, which means starting at 1 o’clock, doing (at most) the four afternoon classes, then a two hour evening activity til 9. This week I’m on dominos. What are your colleagues/supervisory teachers like? Nice. Still getting to know them of course, and there's some I’ve barely had a chance to speak to at all yet. The supervisory teachers Margaret and Braden are nice and approachable (though Margaret leaves in a week) They actually teach too so know what we actually do, unlike the higher admin folk who don't have a clue and don't even speak english themselves. And instructions coming down from on high end up being filtered through 3 or 4 people before we actually hear anything, so you have to wonder how much has been lost in translation sometimes. Who is Emma? I went to school with Emma. She claims we've known each other since we were nine. My memory ain't that good, but I have no reason to doubt her. Anyway, I've been unable to shake her since, and I've been living with her and three others in Doncaster since just before Xmas. Where exactly are you living? Well first off all I’d best remind you that it is South Korea. Even in the week before I left I had people confused as to where it was we were going. So no, it’s not Vietnam, not China, Hong Kong or North Korea (the ones doing the missile tests). It’s South Korea. One of the outer suburbs of Seoul, the capital. In fact, just in case you want to sent me presents, here’s my address: Ryan Jones 102 Antarctic Building Seoul English Village 82-San, Suyu-6dong, Gangbuk-gu Seoul Korea What's the weather like? The seasons here are much like in the UK. Summer reaches about 30 degrees (though I guess that’s nothing compared to what you guys are getting at the moment) and is very humid, with rain often. In fact since we arrived I think I’ve seen the sun twice, and it’s rained almost every day. From what I’ve heard winter tends to be around -5 degrees, with little snow but bitter winds hitting hard. I've heard one report of it getting down to -30, which will certainly be an experience if true. In between times, spring and autumn are said to be just lovely. What kind of food are you eating? We are provided with three meals a day. We eat in the canteen along with the kids, so it's all Korean food. This invariably means rice, a soup (usually fishy, rarely eaten), kimchi (a very spicy pickled vegetable dish, usually cabbage or radish based, and definitely an acquired taste) and two or three other small dishes. Today's was quite nice - a tuna salad, beansprouts, and some little hot doggy things. Some of more exotic dishes we've had include kiwi 'coleslaw', various shapes of compressed tofu and rice cakes, and there's this strange yellow thing they serve, could be a fruit, maybe it's pickled, I don't know. I'll have to start taking my camera in as sometimes we have no idea what we're eating. You honestly can't tell if it's meat, fish, octopus or vegetable. Sometimes it's better not to ask. On the plus side, when I return I shall be a chopstick expert.