My first day (at work)

So today I was up at 4:45am (1:45 pm Sunday CST). My first class started at 6:30 and I needed to be really early because its the first day of a new session. Its also about a 25 minute walk to the school from my house. Anyway, I made it in plenty of time and only had to deal with one class change. Things are really hectic the first few days because students don't like to sign up early for classes.

Foreign teachers, ie Me, typically teach what is called a Speaking I class. It is usually a 1 hour class, M-F but can also be 2 hours on alternating days. There are 6 proficiency levels, 1 being the lowest and 6 being the highest. Even at level 1 students have a pretty strong grasp on the language. Most Koreans grow up learning English and usually have a strong book knowledge of it. Our job is to help them go from book smart to fluent speakers.

So, first thing in the morning I have a lvl 1 class. The rest of my classes are spilt between lvl 3 and lvl 4. If things don't change again I currently have 4 classes in the morning, along with a 1 on 1 class once a week right before lunch. At night I only have one 2 hour class on Tuesdays, Thursdays and alternating Fridays. This means as it stands I always have Mondays and Wednesdays off!! I have also volunteered to teach at the other YBM school in Daegu on Saturdays this month. This is the school Christina will be working at and I'm hoping working there will give me a chance to meet some of the teachers and let Christina know what its like over there.

Anyway, all my classes went well today and after lunch with a couple of the teachers here, I went and scavenged furniture from a teacher's apartment who just finished his contract and left this weekend. I managed to acquire a refrigerator, a bookshelf, some drawers, an iron w/board, a coat rack and a few other things. I also almost got a TV, but Tom (one of the office managers) was careless when opening his trunk and it fell out and smashed on the pavement. But, it was all free so it wasn't really a loss.

I got back to the school just before 5 and have been working on lesson plans. I'm now all set for tomorrow and am thinking its time for some dinner. I also need to get home and try to clean and dust all the furniture I got and organize it too. Unfortunately I don't think Mewster did any of that since it arrived. -

I would suggest that you 'follow' this blog, because I'm pretty sure that will let you know when I update it. I won't be emailing everyone every time I put something new up. I don't think you have to have a gmail account to do that, but if so, let me know. Oh, and by the way, a session here is a month long so every month I will get a new schedule.