I have survived my first full week of teaching at Bandi. “Survived” may be an overstatement. “Stayed awake” is probably a more accurate description. The amount of energy and attentiveness necessary to be a teacher is amazing and I have immense appreciation for kindergarten and elementary teachers worldwide. To be a foreign English teacher requires a special amount of attentiveness, however. After a whole week of broken English and very strong Korean accents, I realize how important it is for me to be alert to the children’s chatter and questions and interjections because it is work to figure out what they are saying sometimes.
My mornings consist of 4 classes – storytelling (and finding various ways to tell the same story over and over – one story is read for a whole month) and arts & crafts on Fridays (except for my 4 year olds – in American age – who I do arts & crafts with twice a week). Then there is lunch – which, by the way, is provided by the school for all teachers. (Again, I think I lucked out with this position!)
Lunch consists of rice. There is always, always rice – sometimes plain and sometimes with red beans mixed in. There is also always soup – often bits of fish are mixed in, sometimes with bean sprouts or cabbage. Then there is some type of protein. One day we had an omelette type of “entree.” Another day we had fish cooked in some red spice that wasn’t very spicy (everything is pretty bland since it’s for children). There is also some type of side dish. Side dishes, called “banchan” are standard in Korean cuisine. And finally, there is always, always kimchi. Kimchi is a side dish consisting of cabbage fermented in garlic, scallions, ginger, spicy red peppers, and sometimes other ingredients like tiny fish for flavor. You either love or hate kimchi.
After lunch, I teach 2-4 more classes depending on the day. They are considered kindergarten classes even though one of my classes consists of one girl, aged 10 I think. The children in these classes have been learning English for a short period of time so they are learning the basics such as names of places (the library, zoo, park, and museum) and practicing writing in English.
For the most part, the kids are eager to speak (or yell) in English. So far I have found which objects they love by the amount of enthusiasm and they use to repeat words to me and how loudly they say them. When I ask them what the weather is like outside, it is always “sunny” and “windy.” It takes more encouragement for them to say “cold.” (Which, by the way, it is freezing in Korea!! This week has been a steady -4 degrees Celsius which is like 25 degrees Fahrenheit and it is even colder at night.)
Somewhere in between the afternoon classes, all the teachers partake in the afternoon snack, also provided to us by the school. The snacks are chewy rice things that I love because of their super starchiness and pineapple chunks, or dumpling cakes with some sort of vegetable and meat substance in them, or some other Korean snack food.
Watching the children’s behavior has been interesting for me because I can pick up some Korean habits through them. For example, every child finishes all of their lunch without complaint. It doesn’t matter if they don’t like something, they are expected to finish everything they are served that day. It was amazing for me to see them eat every grain of rice from their stainless steel food trays (the foreign teachers eat with one of the classes and then rotate every week or month, I don’t remember which). When I say every grain of rice, I mean every single grain. Their treat when they are finished is a small cup of milk.
One of the few memories I have of being at the orphanage was looking forward to having milk. I remember being given a small carton of milk and relishing its creamy deliciousness. The funny thing is that now that I’m back in Korea, I still find the milk here to be very delicious. I haven’t found too many variations of milk here – not like the skim, 1%, and 2% or ultra-pasteurized, etc. – that you can select from in the U.S. Also, I can’t read what’s on the milk cartons here so whose to know what type of milk it is. Anyway, the milk is delicious. I don’t know if it’s pasteurized differently or if it is customary for Koreans to drink whole milk (that’s what it tastes like because it’s extra creamy and yummy), but yes it is that delicious. So delicious in fact that I have just dedicated a whole paragraph to Korean milk. :o)
I have never realized how much I love the sound of spoken English, be it broken English or semi-broken English or even single-word English. It can be frustrating to be denied milk in coffee simply because someone can’t understand me and nerve-wracking when a cab driver drives around in circles trying to find the address of the school (which I have written in Korean to make it easier for me to point to rather than try to wrestle with giving instructions to someone who doesn’t know English) and all I can do is sit silently hoping I will make it there and that the driver who is now earnestly talking in Korean isn’t, in fact, cursing me out.
minikristen
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December 20, 2009 at 11:08 am
U.D.
Enjoyed your observations about your forst week. I bet the children are adorable. How do they break down Boy/girl? Do they call you “Miss” or just Kristen. Do they think it’s funny that ypou don’t speak Korean?
Interesting your relishing milk so much. I don’t remember your liking milk that much when you were here. But when you’re surrounded by something you don’t really appreciate it until it is denied or unavailable. I sent the kindle today using the U.S.Post Office. They knew exactly how to handle it, unlike Fedex. She put a zillion stickers and bar codes on it . So it is on its way.
They are predicting a big snowstorm starting tonight. D.C. is already buried. So we should have a white Christmas. Talk to you soon. Love, Uncle David
December 20, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Kristen
The children do understand the concept of boy and girl. It is more difficult for them to differentiate him/her and he/she. In the Korean language, there is no differentiation between he/she, so you often hear people mixing them up. This brings back being on vacation (where were we?) and the street vendor asked you and Aunt Joanne “He your son?” and I was so upset because at age 13 or 14, it bruised my ego haha.
And about the milk, yes you’re right. Having to drink milk every night with dinner made it less special, I guess. It’s funny how big of a treat it is to the children and how, as a child, I didn’t want to drink it just because I had it every day.
The children call all the teachers by their first name (American name) followed by “teacher.” So they call me “Kristen Teacher.” Even the teachers call each other “Teacher.” It is customary for Koreans to call each other by their position; it shows respect.
I’m not sure if the kids find it funny that I don’t speak Korean. I think they understand that I cannot speak it. I tell them all the time to please speak in English when they’re chattering in Korean (I’m supposed to. The school wants the children to only speak in English so they can practice more.) When I say “no hangul” (Hangul means Korean), the kids giggle because I have said a Korean word. They also laugh when I repeat Korean words to them when I say “blah blah, what does that mean? Tell me in English.” They laugh because whatever I say sounds utterly non-Korean.