First Week of School

All smiles at the end of the day Thursday (we both have no classes Friday)

So I just finished my first week back at school and it was a fabulous week. I always forget how exciting the first week of a new school year is. All the students seemed to be happier than normal and were definitely caught up in the thrill of being a year older and having a new teacher and class. This semester I am teaching 3rd and 5th grade instead of 5th and 6th grade. I was really nervous about teaching 3rd grade since this is the first time they are studying English but my third grade classes this week went extremely well. My co-teacher and I want to really focus on increasing the rigor of the third grade curriculum because we believe it will help minimize the ability gap. The ability gap is currently very large because some students have studied English at home and in hagwons whereas others have never studied it before. Therefore, some students do not know the alphabet and basic phrases like hello, goodbye, my name is _____ whereas others can have simple conversations. Previously the third grade class was simply oral for the first semester but my co-teacher and I had the students writing and informally learning the alphabet the first day. Despite the former teacher’s hesitations about our changes the lesson went extremely well. On the first day we had all of the third grade students learn how to write their name in English by having them make nametags. I think the task helped students begin to learn the letters of the alphabet and connect the letters with the sounds they make which is an important first step in learning to read. My co-teacher and I also decided to give the students chapter study sheets with key vocabulary words and phrases. We also leave space for them to rewrite the words and sentences to practice more with the alphabet. I hope these changes help our lower students catch up to their peers.

My fifth grade classes also went well but were much more similar to my classes last semester. I think it’s also helpful that I’ve already taught the second half of their curriculum because I have a much better understanding of where they need to be by the end of the school year. Hopefully the great first week turns into a great first semester!

Also just an interesting difference between American and Korean schools. In Korean schools the teachers switch grades and classrooms every year. They even switch where the classrooms for the various grades are. These changes also involve specials teachers. For example, the music and PE teacher from last year are now both classroom teachers. I believe the schools do this to try to mix up the grade dynamics but I can’t help but believe that teachers would be more effective if they taught the same grade multiple years in a row. I just think you’d have a much better understanding of where the students are developmentally and you’d be able to reuse and improve upon lessons from the year before. Who knows though- maybe I just think this because I’m used to the American model.

This weekend I’m getting back into my old routine. This Saturday is the first weekend of the tutoring program for North Korean Defectors. I’m excited for this semester because we are supposed to have significantly more students. Then again, that is what we were told last semester so I guess we will see what happens. It is hard because the program is optional for the students and is on a Saturday so they often have conflicts. I guess only time will tell what our class ends up being like.