John’s Diary – Part 2 Working
Welcome to our Winter Camp teaching experiences. Feel free to leave a comment by clicking on http://gcasey.edublogs.org/2007/01/09/johns-diary/#comments
Today we are on “holidays”. Our three week work stint (with only one day off and days on-site lasting 11 hours minimum) is over. We were paid yesterday (Saturday) after kids had departed and we had removed all bedding from their 200 beds – not teaching of course, but, hey, we were available and the work had to be done, and the hand that holds the cash has all the power. And it was “cash” – for all 3 weeks of work. For each of us, it was almost Aus$2500. For 130 hours (each, officially, face-to-face hours with preparation etc outside of this) of work this sounds poor but when considering that all meals and all accommodation were included, it isn’t too bad. We can now afford time off (perhaps 4 weeks) and will get the cash into the bank immediately.
Last Sunday 28 Jan we had an easy day which included an excursion to “Everland” – a Disneyland style park. Big, flash and colourful but not a great deal to interest a traveller/tourist. There were mainly rides and souvenirs and other similar cash suckers.
On Thursday 1 Feb we had another excursion – this time to a “Traditional Korean Village” – this was very interesting and provided some insight as well as entertainment. (I am yet to be convinced that “rap” is a traditional Korean dance form, however.)
We had to prepare a “production” for our kids to perform on the final day. Just 10 minutes maximum – I had no idea but my KT (Korean Teacher), David, who worked with my 14 students whenever I was not on-site or was on a brief break, was fantastic. He organised it all and I was the assistant. He is very talented but as a 25 year old Uni student has no intention of teaching but will enter the business world after one more year. He is little old to still be at Uni, you might say, but all men at 20 have to undertake 2 years of military training – girls may choose this but there is no compulsion.
Apart from these variations, days were long with ETs (English teachers) having full responsibilities for classroom activities and sports and games (different to sports). Kids were generally good but ADD or ADHD is not exclusive to western society – and kids are still kids, testing boundaries, etc. Overall they are easier to manage than in Australia. Their general knowledge (not their English) is very high and their maths ability and progress is exceptional compared to those at home.
As kids departed we (me too) were hugged (by both boys and girls – all are 13 or 14 by our age measurement) and many tears flowed (mainly theirs). My KT had some more tears as we departed later in the day.
On Tuesday 6 Feb we go back to Seoul (only some 30 minutes by the exceptional subway system) for 5 nights and then down south again where we will check out the coastal area before going to the resort island of Jeju for, maybe, a week.
Today is our day off. We started work at a camp in Incheon (near Korea’s International airport) on the 14th of Jan and have had no time off until now even though we are at a different camp this week. The days have been long, much of the work has been stressful but somehow we are coping and, for most of the time, we feel positive. All of our food and accommodation and most of our transport has been provided in addition to our contracted payment; so all is not bad and some parts are quite good.
In Incheon we worked 14th to 19th Jan at the Sky 72 Golf Club camp with the golf club being closed during this time. There were 7 English speaking teachers and 10 Korean’s to manage 100 students from 8:45am to 6:15pm daily. The English teachers (known as ET’s) provided all of the curriculum (which we had to individually devise) and student supervision. The kids were aged 11 to 13 Korean age (which is about 9 to 11 years of age or grade 5/6 primary class in Aus). After the first couple of days the work seemed manageable but prior to that time our stress levels were very high. Fortunately the kids were mostly nice and we actually became very attached to our own groups in just those few short days.
In Incheon we stayed at 2 more accommodation venues (I think that makes 12 up to then). These hotels were very comfortable, however. Every morning the bus would take us to the 72 hole golf course at 7:50 am for our 8:45 start. This golf club is by far the largest in Korea and a round may cost as much as $350 US and for this you would have to book a year in advance. Korea has little space for luxuries such as golf courses. In a country were everything is fresh, new, modern and efficient, the community close to the airport is particularly modern. The Incheon airport community and airport itself is built partly on land reclaimed from the sea and some former farm land.
The Incheon camp finished at 6:30pm on Friday and at 6:45 we were on the bus heading for our new camp site (almost 3 hours away) in Seongnam which is reputedly Korea’s wealthiest area. Whilst it is continuous city-scape from Seoul, Seongnam has its own population of 2 million. Apparently all Koreans hope to one-day become wealthy enough to live here. In Seongnam the camp has 14 ETs (English teachers) and 20 KTs for 200 students who this time accommodate 24 hours per day. Once again our stress levels were high at the start but our accommodation (this is our second one here making 14, I think, since leaving Aus) does give some sense of normality as it is pleasant even by Australian standards.
We are working with people from Canada, NZ, US and one other from Australia. On Friday 2nd Feb we expect to be paid for our 3 weeks work all in cash in an envelope – it couldn’t happen in Australia (about Aus$5500 between us). We actually finish work on Sat 3rd. Of course there is a week’s work to be done between now and then. Each day we are with kids from 9:30am to 8:30pm.
As I said at the start this has been our one day off in the 3 week 2-camp-program and we have spent it shopping, wandering and resting. We have really needed to recharge our batteries.
Gail and I both really enjoy our own groups of students but we also have to work with 6 other groups and find the ones that are not ours to be less responsive and less cooperative. As well as our self-prepared classes we have to provide what are described as English sports (with little equipment) and English games (likewise little suitable equipment) and of course in our own time we must eat with our students and we must also prepare cartoons, an English letter and a “production” of some sort for the last day. Gail has 13 students and I have 14 students in my class, so class size is not an issue. Students must show improvement particularly in their oral English skills and we had to provide detailed lesson plans for this fortnight even before seeing any kids or knowing their age level or current abilities. Also, we have been advised by those westerners who have been in Korea for months or even years that much is apparently disorganised in the Korean educational system. We have been asked to be flexible as “today’s program may be subject to change without notice”. Korean kids are still given corporal punishment and other physical punishments such as holding their arms in the air for 5 minutes or doing push-ups or nose-against-the-wall or bending up and down as they repeat a chant about their indiscretions. These students are older than those at Incheon (perhaps 2 years older) and their general knowledge compared to students in Australia is astonishingly high, regardless of the aforementioned disorganisation. Their English oral skills are low even lower than those from Incheon, which was, of course, near to the International airport and lots of foreigners.
Our supervisor is Canadian, has organised some 14 of these camps, and he regularly expresses gratitude for our positive approach, our work with kids and our professionalism throughout. We have been granted an extra week’s hotel accommodation (instead of accommodating in bunks at the school), at our request and at no extra charge, as a reward – but it is a “secret”. This also seems typical of the Korean approach – no-one else should know of “your” arrangements.
Like Incheon and Seoul, Seongnam is modern, clean and colourful. Any western person would be comfortable here and I feel certain that many would feel that this place was even one step above their own home city. I am still amazed at how easy it is to fit in to this society. We share a cab to and from the school site (we are not on-site anymore) with 2 youngish Americans and the girl left her handbag in the cab at approx 9 pm. She didn’t miss it. Fifteen minutes later the taxi driver returned to the hotel with the bag. His next passenger must have alerted him to the bag and he returned it – no thought of a reward, just the ethics of being a good citizen.
The opportunity to update this diary has been almost non existent as has been our ability to communicate with our family. Our days have been totally filled with work issues with only time for sleep in between. We are aware of home issues only via Jodie’s regular emails. I have not seen a newspaper in English for 2 weeks and our room’s TV, which has some 60 stations (perhaps 6 in English), has none providing news services such as CNN or BBC. I have no knowledge of the one-day cricket series, but the results of the Test series were available before we were locked down to work.
