Caveat: Beginning The New Term

Today was the first day of the new term at KarmaPlus English Academy. It’s winter term, which means that the kids are on “vacation” from public school – the consequence is that enrollments at hagwon often go up, and additional classes are offered. Also, there’s been a lot of turn-over in staff. Because of these things, I have hugely increased teaching load. I’m going to be very busy for the next few months.

I’m not really minding it. Today’s classes went well. I have some younger students, now – first and second graders. I really enjoy teaching kids this age. The overall balance of my class load is more toward middle-schoolers, though. And I’ve come to find things I like about teaching the older kids, too. I guess I’m feeling comfortable with teaching, lately. And I noticed something remarkable, today: my schedule has a lot of debate classes on it. That’s cool, because I remember when I started the debate classes, at Karma. It was viewed as a risky proposition, and not necessarily destined for success. The fact that I have a lot of them means that it’s apparently popular, at least with someone.

So I had some first classes. I had fun introducing Steve The Blue Plastic Alligator to various kids. One girl asked, as her very first question, very tentatively and wide-eyed: “Teacher! Do you like alligator?”

It was busy. Tomorrow will be busier.

pictureIt was cold, today – a reminder of why I like to call this place I live “Lower-Far Siberia.” I think it will get below zero Fahrenheit tonight – something like -18 or -19 Celsius. I like how the air feels brittle when it’s so cold. Walking home felt like those late nights coming home from studying at the U of Minnesota on winter nights. There’s a lot of snow on the ground, too, by Seoul standards. It’s all thick and solid and crunchy.

At right is a picture of Munhwa Elementary – though I’ve never been inside, I  think of it as my “home school” in Korea (public school, I mean), since I’ve walked past it on my way to work for all of my Ilsan jobs. There’s lots of snow on the playground.


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