Into My Second Week of EPIK Work

I’ve completed my first week.  Here’s how things are shaping up.

Middle School
New schedule, I’m officially at the school 4 days per week.  The schools are going to share me on Mondays and Thursdays. I’ve also got a new partner, enthusiastic and involved.  He has a masters in teaching English and some experience in the school system as well.  It’s a big relief.  We’ll be sharing the lesson making this year 50-50.  Great news since it frees up a lot of my time vs last year.

Elementary Schools
Early on I have to say I am disappointed.   I received my teaching schedule 90 minutes before the first bell, and the schedule at the second elementary school hasn’t yet been finalized.  According to the first draft I was shown, I’ll be teaching the second school four times and two times on Tuesdays/Wednesdays respectively.  I’ll also be teaching grade 3 at one school while not at the other.  Hopefully that’ll change before Wednesday when I start.

With schedule in hand, I started my prep for the day.  Once the first class started, I was surprised to see all my students with brand new textbooks.  My partner arrived late for the class with the new books and a new teacher’s cd that neither of us really knew how to use.  It was an interesting 40 minutes to say the least.  The other classes were similar.  I’m going to try and get a letter written up in Korean explaining my take on the KT/NT classroom relationship, as it seems that my partners and I expect different things of each other.  As things currently stand, I’m planning & teaching the entire lessons without input or any real assistance.  This has got to change, I’m doing my best, but the students could get so much more from a co-operative classroom.