Road bumps

I had heard from people who have worked here in Korea for more than one year that halfway through a year contract you better watch out. If the directors of the hagwan you work for don't get the impression that you want to stay for another year, then they will start to treat you like crap. Last week was hell week for me. So many issues coming from different directions.

I have known for a while that the older Kindergarten class graduates in February. We still have some younger students, but we are going to need about 20 more to enroll to get the numbers back up. We are also losing a lot of our older students, and are in desperate need to enroll more students to get the school out of financial trouble. I have outright asked the head teacher if the directors are going to be able to keep 4 of the American teachers for the rest of the year. She confidently said, "yes...I think so". I think since there are 4 Korean teachers leaving at the end of their contract in Feb., the directors may only hire a couple more Korean teachers, and this may level out the money situation.

Also, two Fridays ago, myself and a Korean teacher were pulled into a meeting about a conversation class that we were both struggling with. It is a one month winter intensive class and I was given a simplistic grammar/vocab book to use. I had been trying to use the book, but one student complained that it was too easy. Complaints from students are like bombs exploding because of the enrollment scare. So the director and head teacher told me and the Korean teacher that we were teaching wrong, and that we should just use the book as a springboard and teach conversation. It was a long meeting, spoken 85% in Korean, with a little English sprinkled in, but each time just repeating the same thing over and over: "if the students are not happy, then it is just probably the teacher's fault". I tried to eat humble pie for dinner that night, and figure out what I could do differently, even though that had not been explained.

This past Monday I had the class again. The page we were on displayed a big outdoor bbq with foods all over the page, and the words of the foods next to each food. I tried asking the two students to describe in English what it is they see on the page. Silence. I prompted them with words from the page, still more silence. It was painful, and the director was there observing, and it looked like she was going to boil. So after the class I got a talk again, and I asked so many questions so that I could get some clear cut answers about how to teach this class. The head teacher said to have the students close their books and repeat sentences that I come up with. So less of a conversation class, and more of a speaking English verbally, without comprehension. That's just how I see it. She also told me to do a better job with lesson plans, which I did need to hear, but I needed both the instruction and the criticism together, because I didn't know how to make a better lesson plan without knowing how to lead the class. So Tuesday night I made some lesson plans. I was feeling more confident when I went to school Wednesday, but before my class had even happened I got another talk that I better just start doing better or else. Or else? Or else what? I asked what was meant by that, and more talking in circles, but I got the message. In my defense I said that this was all happening very fast, and that I would like the chance to show my improvement.

The rest of the week I was still confronted with other things, my teaching in every class was being scrutinized. I have been here almost 5 months without any feedback. Things seemed to be going smoothly until last week. No 90 day review here, seems its a 5 month review. Next was even better. I was given a brand new class last week. This is the irony to me. It's a Korean woman, who speaks very little English, that I am supposed to teach her how to teach Kindergarten. I found it odd that they were using me to teach her, since my teaching methods had come under such scrutiny. I was given a book to use that is mostly in Korean with about 10 vocab. words in it, and asked to teach her.

I did the best lesson plan that I could. Much of the first twenty minutes was spent explaining words that I was using to her. Then I had her come to the board and role play being a teacher. I was given a review of the first class afterwards, and told that I need to let her speak more. This is getting to be such a joke. I'm really having to save face at work, and try to meet their absurd expectations, while after work letting it roll off, and remembering that I am in a different culture with a major language barrier.

I am friends with the Korean coworkers, and a couple of them have told me that the director gets stressed and goes on a witchhunt, in so many words. They have experienced the same kind of scrutiny, and I was advised to just nod my head and take some deep breaths. I was really appreciative of their confiding that to me. It made me feel much better. It was so strange after 5 months of working here to be put on the chopping block like that. Soon after my troubles, the other American teachers were being confronted, just not as severely as me. But there was definitely "something in the water" last week.

I did confront the director about it, and asked her if she was planning on firing me. She said no, but that they just wanted to give me a little shock. The winter intensive class was only one month, and she needed results faster than I could give them to her. I understood, but didn't understand why she didn't tell the American teachers about the expectations for the winter intensive classes. None of us have a teaching background, and giving us books that don't match the class make it quite difficult to know how to teach a class. It was a frustrating week to say the least. I did start using new methods in my classes, and am feeling more confident that my teaching is matching the director's expectations.

I'd like to see what March has in store for the school, so that we can know just how much better or worse things might get. I think my contract is safe for the rest of the year. I hope so. I like this school for the most part. The directors have cared for me sufficiently, and we have compromized at times, even though it was difficult for us to understand eachother culturally. I have quit smoking and am taking a yoga class twice a week. These are some truly positive things that have come into my life starting this new year, and I am grateful for all that I have.