I’m living my dream right now. When my mind is not busy being occupied with lesson plans or dinner plans, I catch some moments in the day where I think to myself “Am I really teaching students in Korea right now?”
At first, I really wasn’t expecting to teach at all, considering that the program said: “mentoring”. When I was told I had a class of 7 for almost four hours straight, I sat there thinking “Oh, no. What am I going to do.” My first class was just a mess of speaking English too fast, not being able to communicate, having no material, and awkward silences. After that class, I knew I had to pull myself together and get organized.
Prior to this trip, I had already been fond of Korea with their pop culture and TV dramas, so I was able to touch base with a lot of them through common interests. It helped to find out that a lot of students share the same age as me. (Fun Fact: Did you know that the Korean age is different than American age? They consider 1-year-old the day you’re born.) In the end, I was able to figure out a comfort level of teaching with my class where both parties can learn from each other.
Next week, I’ll be getting a new batch of students (Kinda, not really. Just switching classes with the teacher next door.) which will definitely be another challenge after having just gotten used to and attached to this one.
Looking forward to the next couple of weeks,
– Nicole L.
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