My co-teacher Sue was appointed a full time position at another school yesterday. I knew that she would be leaving sometime in the next two weeks, but this quick departure came as a surprise. I was a bit nervous about teaching the grade fives without someone to translate, as Sue translated everything for them (there was more Korean spoken in that class than English!) Sue is a great teacher, she has the students admiration and respect and is able to manage her classroom quite well (especially considering she just graduated from teachers college!) I'm really going to miss Sue. She has been SO helpful with everything here and has made my transition into life in Korea much easier. Jeff and I plan on having her over for dinner sometime soon.
I planned for my solo lesson, and was a bit nervous, but figured that I could handle it. The homeroom teachers of two of my grade 5 classes stayed in the class with me (you can't be alone in a classroom in Korea unless you have a teaching certificate FROM a Korean university....) but none of them assisted me (they don't speak English). I was pleasantly surprised to find that my classes went really well. The students understood what I was saying (and the class finished WAY earlier than expected because we didn't have major translations....) and we had a good time. After teaching these three classes today (the last one was attended by the computer teacher who asked if she could assist me... she didn't do anything thing, but she did repeat after me with the kids - I think she just wanted to practice her English!) I realised how happy I would be in a class on my own. I had complete an utter control over what happened in the classroom, and how it happened in the classroom. We ended up randomly singing a few English songs - which the kids ADORE! I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's classes.
That being said, I am getting a new co-teacher at the beginning of next week. I have no idea what her (I'm assuming she's female, most teachers here are...) qualifications are (or if she can speak English). It will interesting to see how things go.
~Jen
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