First Day of Teaching…kinda

Today was Orientation at my school!  It was a way of easing the students (and myself) into school life.  Parents, mostly well to do stay at home moms, brought their children to school this morning.  I stood at the door, smiling and trying to look as friendly as possible.  Every once in a while I'd through in a "Good Morning!" "Welcome!" or bow, just for good measure.  Koreans are very big on first impressions!  Outward appearance is extremely important.  In America you might expect a Kindergarten Teacher to wear a stylish denim jumper with apples sown on it, but teachers at my school were wearing sequins dresses.  All the moms looked like they just walked off the runway.  Look for the next Bravo hit, "Real Housewives of Bundang". 

 Things were a bit hectic, with children running around everywhere.  Everyone seemed to act like this was completely normal though, so I just kept smiling:)  The 6 and 7 year olds were divided into two groups, one of which I lead with a Korean teacher.  There were 10 students in our class and as I’m sure you can imagine, insanely cute. 

Today’s theme was family, so we talked about different members of a family and sang a song.  All the students in my class today spoke some English, which I was grateful for!  When I asked them who was in a family, they were able to tell me Mommy, Daddy, Brother, Sister, Grandmother, Grandfather.  Needless to say, I was impressed and relieved! 

I then read the students a book called, “Bee-Bim Bop.”  Bee-bim bop is a traditional Korean dish and the book was about a little girl helping her mother prepare dinner for their family.  After the story, we made bee-bim bop out of clay.  Then had a snack – milk and a roll.  There was one glass of spilled milk, but no tears, so I felt like the day was a success.  I was only with the kids for an hour and half in the class and we were very busy the whole time, so it went by quickly. 

To wrap up the orientation, all the teachers were introduced to the parents.  By the way, there a total of 5 Korean teachers at my school, along with an Assistant Director and Director.  The Director and 2 of the Korean teachers speak very good English.  As for the others, there is a bit of a language barrier.  I had to give a brief introduction of myself to the parents, which I don’t think they understood at all, but they did clap! 

For lunch, all the staff went out to a restaurant.  Looking back, I wish I would have taken advantage of some of those yoga classes at the gym, because sitting crossed-legged through a whole meal is a bit challenging.  The food was delicious though, so all is good!  Milestone of the day was trying kimchi and actually liking it!  I had radish and cabbage kimchi; apparently there are hundreds of different flavors. 

The teacher bonding continued and we went for coffee after lunch.  Finally we headed back to the school where the Directory reviewed expectations, roles, duties, ect with me and the other foreign teacher.  Some questions answered, but still feeling very confused!

Other good news of the day is my luggage arrived!  Thanks to my mom’s mad packing skills I probably could have lasted a few more days with my carry on essentials, but it is nice to have all my belongings necessary for the next year.