I just completed my fifth week of being an English Teacher in South Korea! I have already had so many wonderful adventures, mishaps, laughing fits, and healing tears – what else could I expect?! Starting a new career is crazy, let alone doing so in another country! But I am loving my life as an English Teacher and am excited to share what a day is like for me at my school!

I teach level 5-1, which means I have 5 year olds who are in their first year of English! I was absolutely terrified to teach kids with no English whatsoever, and it certainly has its challenges! But I am absolutely amazed at how far my kids have come in just 5 short weeks. The first couple of weeks, they looked at me like I had 7 heads constantly – they had no clue what was going on. This past week, they were speaking to me in so many English phrases and words it made my head spin! These kids are resilient little geniuses, let me tell ya 😉

I work at a private language school in Korea, called a “Hagwon.” The rumors are true – hagwons are intense! You can apply to work at public schools in South Korea through a program called “EPIK.” Public schools generally require teachers to work fewer hours and you get more time off of work. However, you don’t have much say in which city you end up in and it’s almost impossible to plan to move with a partner if you are applying through this program. They also hire once a year at a specific time, while Hagwons hire at different times all year round. For us, applying to a Hagwon was a no-brainer. You have a ton of control over where you live, where you work, and can almost always find a job year-round. Jeremy and I interviewed as a couple, something that wouldn’t have been possible through EPIK. But ultimately, I don’t know much about the EPIK program, so I won’t say anything more about it here 🙂

My day starts at 8:30am with a brief staff meeting. Then, you have either 40 minutes of prep-time or 40 minutes of bus duty. You are assigned to bus duty 2 out of 6 weeks and ride the buses and help the kids get on and buckled up. It’s very sweet 🙂 Students begin arriving at school at around 9:25am and classes begin at 9:45am. Kindergarten is from 9:45am – 2:45pm. Then, we teach 2 “Post-Kinder” classes which are for elementary aged students – first and second grade. I teach Intensive Reading for level 2 and 3, Grammar for Level 2, Reading Project for Level 3, and Discussion for Level 2. All of my students are 8 years old and have great English skills! After Post-Kinder, you have another 40 minutes of prep-time before ending the day at 5:30pm.

The curriculum for all levels is pretty intense – my Kinders are 3 years old in International Age, and have six 35-minute classes per day with no nap time. This isn’t easy! I start all of my classes with an educational song and dance to get my kids excited, but also to keep them moving! They have a lot of work to complete in workbooks, so I also try to balance a lot of creative projects and coloring in whenever I can. Every break, and sometimes in the middle of a lesson, we drop everything we are doing for a “Dance Break!” Their current favorite songs to jam to are the Jackson Five’s “ABC” and Pharrell Williams’ “Happy.” It’s hard to stop them from screaming with joy before dance breaks…their joy is absolutely contagious! 🙂 One of my students has developed a sort of WWE move when he’s excited, where he screams and picks up his chair and raises it above his head – it’s hard to keep from laughing 😉

Here’s a sample of my weekly schedule for Kindergarten:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Song & Chant	Reading Project	Music	Listening & Speaking	Song & Chant
Letters & Sounds	Letters & Sounds	Chinese	Letters & Sounds	Letters & Sounds
Reading Project	Listening & Speaking	Letters & Sounds	Number Adventure	Reading Project
Number Adventure	Gifted Thinking	Body Movement	Society & Me	Gifted Thinking
Body Movement	Discover & Explore	Listening & Speaking	Discover & Explore	Story-ART
Story-ART	Music	i-Play	Story-ART	Society & Me

In addition to their regular curriculum, my students have three “outsourced classes” with other teachers. Music class, Body Movement, and Chinese. Yep…they’re learning Chinese too 😉 They actually LOVE it though because the teacher teaches the class in Korean. The school is an English Language Immersion school, so all of their other lessons and interactions all day are in English. Students are able to sign up for after school classes in Korean, and most of them do. This way, they can practice reading and writing in Korean in addition to their English language studies. As I said, it’s INTENSE. School in general is extremely intense here. It’s normal for kids to go to a full day of school, then go to a full evening of English School on top of that. I’ve come home after a late dinner with friends on a weeknight at 10:00pm and seen loads of students finishing up their classes at other Hagwons. It’s very common for elementary aged students to have school until 9:00pm or 10:00pm.

I can honestly say that I’m working harder than I ever have in my life. But being a teacher is one of the most rewarding experiences too. When I worked 12 hour days at my office job, I had very little to show for it. I worked for a great company, but I wasn’t doing anything that gave my life meaning. Now, I show up to work and am greeted with hugs and smiles and lots of “I love you teacher!” They crack me up everyday with their silliness and hearing them getting better and better at English everyday makes my heart soar. Wherever you are, no matter what line of work you find yourself in, I hope you take time for silliness and dance breaks – they’re not just for five year olds 😉

All my Love,

Lex