Education

In Korea, your education is everything.  If your not drowning in texts books of all kinds and learning at least one musical instrument and maybe taking up some taekwondo, you're not doing enough.  Or at least that's how the mother's feel.  I cannot speak for every mother in Korea, but most feel this way.

Last week was difficult.  I had four open classes.  I had two classes for the kids who are 4 years old, one for 5 years old and one for six years old.  I wasn't suppose to have all the classes, but my boss didn't feel that our part time English instructor was adequate for the job.  So i got to do her classes.  In Korea, that's a compliment.  So, i signed deeply and went forward with my job.  This is also the week that took place after our hike and when i wasn't feeling well.  So by Tuesday, the day i had to teach the little crazy kiddos, i only had half a voice, a super stuffy head, and low energy.  These classes usually don't listen to me.  They are crazy and we don't always get along.  Some days are good, but one a whole, it's not my favorite class.  However, when their mother and the boss is in the room they are a little better behaved (Praise God!).  Overall, the class went well, and the kids were kept busy and hopefully showed off all their English knowledge to their parents.  Except one kid.  He got his letters mixed up.  He wrote "m" when he should have written "h."  I noticed but i didn't bother to change it.  It would take time away from the rest of class and the kids would loose interest.  His mother got up quietly and fixed his mistake.  After class, she talked to the Korean teachers and was upset that her kid is behind and doesn't know his English.  She was very angry and seemed to demand that we (the teachers) do better.  (Just note that all the things she said was translated to me through another teacher, so i dont know everything that really happened.)  How do you tell a mother politely that they kid doesn't listen, doesn't care about English, and remind her that he's 4!?


The next day I had most of my voice back and got to teach the 6 year olds.  I love this class and was not really worried.  We had fun together and afterwards my boss told me, "Well done."  Whew!  Thanks!  I was happy to hear some feedback.  Also, later that day the 6 year olds told their teacher (Joanne) "We did so good with Alissa Teacher!!!"  I laughed really hard.  So cute and so arrogant!  I told Joanne, "Ya they did pretty good."

The last day were the 5 year olds.  Again we had fun and it went by quickly.  We were learning: jogging suit, socks, sneakers, t-shirt, shorts, and scarf.  So we had a race with two teams and they flipped over a card, ran and got whatever the card said and then had to dress a teammate.  It was pretty cute.  The shorts were over the jogging suit and the socks were over the sneakers!

Overall, my boss said i did well.  And at the end of the week she was smiling and laughing, which tells me things are going well.  Its a little nerve racking teaching here sometimes.  I teach at a private academy, so the parents can pull their kids out at any moment.  There's a lot of pressure to be perfect here.  A friend told me before i came here that, "Teachers are above God."  When i heard that i thought, well, cool i will be well respected and cared for.  Ok yes, but no.  It also shows that i should be better equipped than God!  Such a lie, how can any mother place me higher than God? I'm human?  There's a good nickname for the mom's here in Korea: "Tiger Moms."  They are aggressive and can attack at any weakling at any moment.  Ok, thats extreme, but sometimes true.  I have never faced parents who were so aggressive in pushing their kid to be a genius.  Its completely different form our culture.  They want to know everything about their kid, excuse me, their prodigy.

It was an eye opening week, and I'm so glad it's over.  I am very thankful for the other teachers at my school.  My boss and Joanne especially.  They are very helpful and they know the moms and they speak up for me when necessary.  My boss even thinks that Korean education is stupid!  Stupid because its so crazy, she knows there's too much pressure on kids to be human encyclopedias.  In fact, Korea is one of the highest rating country for suicide!  Because of not ever being good enough!  I could go on... but I won't bore you.  I'll save more Korean education for another day.

So, thank God for growing up in America.  Some of us may be a little slow, but there's always room for improvement.  And we got to enjoy the great outdoors!