I had dinner with other foreign teachers in the area and it was such a relief to discuss our mutual challenges. Our original plan to eat at a local burger place was thwarted by its closing so we ate at a nearby pasta place where the owner revealed his English only after I stumbled through Korean. While waiting for them, I wandered around the complex. A woman with a limp told me that I looked like a supermodel (I was wearing a face mask and green trench coat). We chatted briefly and then a few minutes later as I wandered outside I heard a voice say “where are you going?”…

There was a moment of clarity in grade 4 when I realized exactly where I had gone wrong and what would need to be changed to make this class more successful. Earlier in the day I was talking about a game format with G and she said she doesn’t let her classes play that unless they know the rules. As I saw the fourth graders running around, only some speaking English and most just copying each other’s papers, I realized that the class management would really need to be overhauled for these kinds of activities to work. S gave stickers to the kids who finished first but I had half…

I’ve been feeling burned out the last several weeks due to illness and my new dust allergy diagnosis (China burns coal in the winter and Korea absorbs all the pollution). But today I feel restored! My internet has been down since Friday and S and the landlady don’t seem in a hurry to fix it but have promised to “call the company” (I have no idea who pays for the internet or even who the provider is): so I’ve been hanging out at a 24hr coffee shop since this evening. Today my outfit (red coat, THE hat, plaid scarf) was met with mixed criticism: Guitar teacher: you look like Santa…

My outfit was a hit from sixth grade to teachers to the office staff. S told me to put my hat back on before class and then addressed the class saying “doesn’t she look like she’s from another country today?“ To which students started shouting yes! Russia! Germany! France! At lunch the subject teachers and G also mirrored this enthusiasm. I’m surprised that my hat was the talk of the town and not my eight dollar Karl Lagerfeld coat that I found at community thrift store in Orlando. G said I should wear the hat in Monday for the fifth graders but I really think she wants me to wear…

G made 3-2 apologize for misbehaving on Tuesday when she stepped out of the room. They all voluntarily stayed after class to clean up. Cute. I ran into some grade 6 girls on my way back to my desk. Heejoo was wearing a hand warmer on her head. “Teacher! I am very sexy” she said as she modeled in her oversized hoodie and makeshift hat. This week has been tough (sick, weather changes, extra rowdy students, navigating within a different culture) but I’m looking forward to teaching comparatives to grade 6 tomorrow. I made some notes in addition to the ones in the book regarding th pronunciation but scrapped them—…

A day of small wins. Thank goodness. Grade four did very well and participated more in my lesson: 1. listen first, tell me what you hear 2. Repeat key phrases 3. Team 1 versus Team 2 stand and say. Competition is one way to galvanize participation. They’re also more interested in this lesson about money than any previous topic…. I quizzed them about exchange rates and global currency symbols. For the £ I gave them the hint 미국의 부모님 America’s parent and one student got it (some said “France!”). In the afternoon I took a TOPIK (test of proficiency in Korean) practice test. I’m cleared for an easy level 1…

I found out that 4-2 is very good in G’s ethics class which came as a shock to me. They are by far my…. rowdiest English class. I want to ask G for advice, but I don’t know how it will reflect on others or what she’ll pass along to the other teachers. 3-2 acted out when G left. She came back and deducted their class point. I asked her if other schools are like this, and she said it’s this area that needs this level of discipline (discipline as in: constantly watching, giving rewards and taking them away, gamifiying everything so students are motivated). I work at what is…

There is something I didn’t tell you. PhD asked me out. I politely declined but offered if he was at all spending time together non-romantically, I would be happy to meet, but only if he wanted to. So on Sunday PhD and I had kimchi stew and later he said “you’re the least foreign foreign person I know.” I was all “hair flip of course” until I was forced back into reality today. To be frank, I had an embarrassing school lunch (have you ever thought someone’s ankles were cute? Please kill me) and felt depressed about my language lacking. Everything I have come to fear about lunch conversations happened…

The grade 6 girls told me that my two braids were very cute. While the boys were being re-assigned seats, the girls of 6-2 gathered around me and asked me about K-pop. “Do you like in NCT?” “Of course I do! Look at this video I took of their concert. Also do you know WayV?” “No… Teacher do you know BTS?” “Yes but you should listen to the new WayV album”. The student that S mentioned before was in the gaggle of girls and tried to tell me again over the din of boy’s voices in the background that her family thinks I’m pretty. Something dramatic happened in 6–4 that…