Thursday, September 18, 2008

Elementary School

Today was my first day at the elementary school in Gajeong (pronounced Kajong) which can also be affectionately referred to as the middle of nowhere. It is about 45 minutes outside of Chuncheon and it was a nice car ride in this morning... going up and down a couple mountains (small ones) and seeing all of the rice fields and general greenery here. The school has nine students TOTAL and is set in a very picturesque spot with mountains, a lake, and some rivers nearby. I was supposed to go teach there last week but due to my awful cold I had to take a sick day.

In one of my classes I have three students which are grades 5 and 6. In the other class I have four students which are grades 3 and 4. One of the students from the grades 3 and 4 class was sick and at the hospital (don't worry, he's fine... Korean's go to the hospital for anything and everything... all of the teachers at all three schools have been trying to get me to go to the hospital since last Thursday just for a cold, lol).
The students all enjoyed looking at my pictures I brought from home. I laminated a bunch of me when I was little through my university years. They loved looking at them and asking questions about them. The 3rd and 4th grades all wanted to know "Do you like _____?" and you can fill in that blank with just about anything. Next week they want to talk about movies so I'll have to see what I can come up with for that lesson plan. :)

I didn't take my camera with me today but I plan on it next week. The kids are so cute and very pleasant. After lunch today we had about 15-20 minutes to do whatever so a couple of the boys grabbed some soccer balls and we threw them around (I didn't have good shoes for actually playing soccer).

So, with my six students for today (next week I should have all seven) I had a lot of fun and enjoyed getting to know their personalities. Most schools have 30-40 students per class for elementary here. It was a huge difference talking to only three students who don't know/understand English, but the Korean teachers were very helpful (and as their level of English knowledge is not spectacular it went very well).

The kids are so good here and they are so curious... it was a very fun morning. :D

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