A much needed update

(Written 9-18-08)

I have a lot of excuses for why I haven't done a good job of updating this, (no internet at home, no time at school, etc.) but it really comes down to the fact that so much has happened in the past 25 days that rather than try to capture it all in a blog posting, I've just been avoiding it.

I have no excuses today, however. Yesterday (they are very last-minute here) I found out that my students have a pre-SAT test all day so I'm not teaching. Instead I'm sitting in a room full of kids diligently filling out bubble sheets. If I had to sum up the Korean Education system in one word, it would be that: testing. At least at the high school level, everything (curriculum, instruction, scheduling) is geared toward preparing students for university entrance exams, a.k.a. the Korean SAT. In Korea, everything seems to depend on your score on this exam. Without a good score, you can't get into one of the top universities, which means you won't get a good job and will have a miserable life. Ok, I'm exaggerating, but that's what you would think because of how much emphasis they put on this test.

My students take placement tests, or mid-terms, twice a semester and spend their days and nights studying for these tests, which are supposed to prepare them for THE test, which they take senior year.

As a result, the teachers have to cover a certain amount of textbook material before each placement test and drill this material with the students. Instruction consists of a lot of rote memorization and repetition; there is no room for creativity or student-centered learning.

That's where I come in. At orientation, S.M.O.E. representatives told us that our primary goal here is to get students excited about speaking English. They study English beginning in 1st grade at the public schools, and as a whole, are very good at reading and writing it. Speaking English is another story. Since there is no oral portion of the entrance exam, it hasn't been the focus until recently, when the government decided to fill the schools with us Native English Speaking Teachers. (NEST's) As a NEST, I am supposed to plan fun, engaging lessons that will get my students speaking English and enjoying it, but at the same time, review the textbook material so they can prepare for the test.

Easier said than done. Even though the 10th graders are divided into three levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced, (they’re called streaming classes) there is still a wide range of ability in each class. There are always those 2 or 3 rockstars that sit in the front and answer every question, often because they’ve lived abroad with their parents. Then there are the kids towards the back, who are either sleeping, texting or chatting with their neighbor, who either don’t understand what I’m saying, or are just completely uninterested in speaking English; I’m not sure which.

Such is the reality of teaching. Even back home I had the rockstars who loved to read and write and had me edit their essays multiple times before they handed them in, and then there were the kids who would rather stick pencils in their eyes than write a 5 paragraph essay. One of the hardest parts of my job was trying to figure out how to meet the needs of all my students; regardless of ability level, and it’s the same thing here.

There are exceptions though. My favorite classes hands down are the all-girl, intermediate level classes. They participate and do what I ask and seem to truly enjoy learning English. My last class of the week, 6th period on Friday, is one of these classes and it’s nice ending the week on a happy note. Especially when there are classes like the all-boy, beginner and intermediate level who are definitely the most challenging groups. I have one class that is an intermediate, all-boys class that makes me wonder what I am doing here. It takes them about 20 minutes to settle down and do the activity, and even then, less than half of them are actually following along. I call them the “steak boy” class, because there is one kid who skips up and down shouting, “I love steak, I love pizza, I love chicken!” Every question I ask in class he somehow manages to insert something about steak into his response. It was hysterical the first time, but now that it’s a regular occurrence, it’s not so funny. And unless I want to start carrying around a stick and threatening whacking them (which sadly occurs in schools here) I have no consequences and therefore no authority. I do have one means of getting them to do what I ask, and that is games. They love competition, and I think I will just tell them if they behave like that, they won’t get to play the game at the end of the period.

Overall, things are going really well. It’s just that I’m fighting the battle of a lack of motivation with a lot of these kids. Unless they put a speaking component on the university entrance exam, only the students who have lived abroad or want to be diplomats actually want to practice speaking. I also don’t assign any grades, which was my students’ main motivation back in the U.S. If they didn’t pay attention and do the assignment, they didn’t get credit for my class. I don’t have that here. But similar to teaching back home, I am trying to focus on the things I have control over and just doing the best that I can.