Teacher… please Korean speak.

As much as I want to, I generally make it a rule not to talk with my students in Korean.  I figure that since I am their English teacher, I should take every opportunity to help them practice their English.  The classroom provides so little interaction, that any extra little bit they get is a good thing.  However, sometimes it is necessary, and the word is strarting to spread that I can speak a little Korean.

Usually they plead with me in Korean ”한국어 말해주세요!” (literally, please give me Korean speech!)  I decided that if they ask me (in English) to speak in Korean, I’ll humor them.  If they say something in English, I’ll say it in Korean.  At least this provides something of a language learning experience for them.

 Mostly, they just want me to say “안녕하세요!” (Ann-yeoung ha-se-yo) which is equivalent to “Hello.” (More accurately it means, “Are you at peace?” which I think is a fascinating way to greet someone.)  One day last week a student desparately wanted to hear me say it in Korean.  I have been waiting for the time they ask me to say something more compliated….and it wasn’t then.  So I said it and then asked him:

“Are you really surprised that I can say hello?”
“Yes.”
“Why? I have been here for 9 months!”

I didn’t really get an answer.  I tried to explain that after 9 months, anyone could resonably be expected to learn at least “Hello”.  But yet again, they get such joy out of just hearing me say that one word. 

It hints at this subconscious idea Koreans have that their language is the exclusive domain on thier people.  Often, they don’t even call it “한국말” (Korean langage).  Instead, it’s called “우리말” (OUR language).  The “our” thing comes into play in quite a few ways actually…”our house”, “our teacher” (even if the speaker is alone) and the really weird one “our wife.”

Koreans are just really surprised when foreginers say anything in Korean.  They don’t expect it.  There’s one resturaunt I frequent where I have to ask for water 3 times or so before it registers.  Last night I was there with a Korean friend, andI asked for the water (3 times) .  But then they looked at my friend and said something like “Shouldn’t you be ordering? You speak Korean!!”

Back to it.

Tonight is my last night of “freedom.” The past two months have really been relaxing. I haven’t had much to do. But now that all changes. Sort of. School begins again tomorrow, and I’m back to full time teaching for the first time since before Christmas. That’s right – Christmas.

And even then, school starts, but my teaching schedule isn’t all that grueling. I am feeling a little bit frustrated about the whole thing, just because they’ve tried to make my life more difficult. Not in a malicious way, but for some reason i’ve just had this really negative reaction. It’s really silly, and I’m sure I’ll grow out of it as the week progresses, and I get in front of the students again.

On a couple other notes, I am mulling through some other things for the (not too) distant future: Grad School. Sooner or later, I want to do that, so that’s the savings goal for the next 18-24 months. I’m considering a program in Portland Oregon in International Management with a focus in Asia. I’d get to learn Chinese as a part of the program, and it would prepare me to do some sort of international business, which I am fascinated by. Teaching is good for now, but there are lots of ways to use my teaching skills that don’t put me in a regular classroom.

I found another thing I want to do just for fun. I found a one month course in Icelandic! One month spent in Iceland studying the language and culture. That’s purely for fun, but would be really exciting for me because of my Nordic heritage and my love of learning foreign language. And Iceland is beautiful – I’ve wanted to go there for a long time.

School Story

Last friday, I learned more about the next semester. I thought there would be some big changes in my daily schedule and teaching duties. But I thought wrong. There seemed to be a chance that I would start co-teaching, and get to focus my energy on only 4-6th grades. The benefits of that would be more time with each student, a co-teaching situation that allows for more varied lesson plans and activities. But my principal doesn’t want me to co-teach. She is very clear about it!

So instead, I will be teaching much like I was last semester. Grades 1-6, 1 time each week. It does give more kids exposure to English, but it means that I am really much more in charge of WHAT I teach. And being a pretty new teacher, I don’t really feel prepared to design an entire English curriculum. I am trying to get the school to purchase a textbook so that there is some continuity and structure to my teaching, but we haven’t decided on one yet.