Teaching Life

It's hard to believe that I've been here for over a week now! I have a feeling this year is going to fly by! I'm enjoying everything so far! I've just been getting settled and seeing people and relaxing! I'm hoping to get a cell phone this week, so hopefully I can start having a bit of a social life!

Anyways, this blog is to tell you about the schools where I teach. My main school is Tongyeong Elementary. This school is currently where 1495 students are educated...the second largest on Tongyeong. Students range from kindergarten to 6th grade, and the classes average around 30-35. Most grade levels have 7-8 different classes. I have included a Google satellite image of the school so you can have a little idea of what it looks like. The building has 5 floors. Looking at the image, you can see the dark green is the actual school building. I believe the orange rectangle is a parking area, but I'm actually not 100% sure. And the huge brown area is the playground area.

My daily schedule varies, but here's a general overview. I get to school by 8:30am and leave after 4:30pm. Lunch is from 12:30pm-1:30pm and is provided for free to students. I have 22 teaching hours, and most of them take place in the morning, but there are a couple of days that I have a class after lunch. On Monday and Tuesday, I teach 6th grade classes with my co-teacher,Yujin, throughout the day. On Thursday & Friday, I teach mostly 4th graders with a different co-teacher, Minnie. I have a couple of 6th grade classes on Friday, too.

Wednesdays are a totally different ballgame. I actually go to a small school that is about 7 miles outside of Tongyeong called Dosan Elementary School. This is a country school that only has about 100 students from K-6th grade. There is only one class per grade level, so it's quite different than Tongyeong Elementary. There, the homeroom teachers serve as my co-teachers so I work with lots of different people there. The classes are much smaller, too....only about 20 students per class.

It's been go so far and I think it's going to be a great year! I ordered a handheld camcorder so hopefully once it arrives, I'll be able to show you some videos of my life! I haven't quite been motivated to take pictures yet since I already have pictures of Tongyeong from my last stay! I'll try though...for you!!