New School Year Schedule

Back in March our school started a new year with a new set of kids. Two of the classes were the same, but three of the others graduated and moved on to elementary school. I was assigned to teach two of the new incoming classes, so my entire morning schedule was changed. The class I now teach the most has seven students, all of them six years old. But keep in mind six years old in Korean age really means a Western age of 4 or 5. I teach them for twelve class periods throughout the week. The other class is even younger – only 5 in Korean age! There are six students in that class, and I have them for seven class periods every week. Here is a breakdown of my schedule (it was the same for both March and April):

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
9:40-10:20					Oxford
10:20-11:00	Oxford	Oxford	Oxford	Oxford
11:00-11:10	snack (Yale)	snack (Yale)	snack (Yale)	snack (Yale)	snack (Yale)
11:10-11:50	Yale	Yale	Yale	Yale	Yale
11:50-12:30
12:30-1:10		Lunch Princeton	lunch Yale	Lunch Yale
1:10-1:50	Yale	Oxford	Yale	Oxford	Yale
1:50-2:30	Yale	Yale	Yale	Yale
3-3:40	Ivy Masters	Ivy Masters	Ivy Masters	Ivy Masters	Ivy Masters
3:45-4:25	Ivy Masters	Ivy Masters	Ivy Masters	Ivy Masters	Ivy Masters
4:30-5:10		One to One		One to One
5:15-5:55	CNN	One to One	CNN		CNN
6-6:40			Listening		Listening

As you can see my new schedule is quite a bit different from the old one I had in February. Monday through Thursday I start one class period later, although I usually go in by 9:30 to give myself some prep time or just down time at the beginning of the day. I used to have a gap in the early afternoon after lunch and before the elementary classes started at 3, but now it’s more packed in. (Yale, Oxford, and Princeton are the names of the classrooms).

My afternoon classes are also very different; only one of them (CNN class) is the same. Ivy Masters and CNN are just names given to the different levels. The 3:00 and 3:45 classes are with different kids, one of which is a group the graduated in February. It is nice to see them at ECC again and makes it a bit easier since they already know me from the kinder program. On Tuesday and Thursday I have a one on one class with a girl who is about ten. Her English level isn’t very high, but she is a good student and easy to teach. The Listening class on WF is with students who are probably around 11 or 12 in Western age. Typically ECC doesn’t have many kids older than 12.

At the beginning of March the kinder classes were pretty tough, especially with Oxford, the youngest class. The combination of them being so young and not knowing any English made it hard to keep them under control. There are also a couple kids in the class who aren’t very well behaved. I wouldn’t call them bad kids, but they are very energetic. During the first few weeks it was a challenge just to get them to sit down!

I felt like I was more of a baby sitter than a teacher at times. I teach them language class five times a week, and their book isn’t too challenging. It has a CD with songs and some coloring pages. The math book, which I teach once a week, is full of work pages. It has been difficult to get them all focused and on the same page, let alone teach the material.

Yale class is better behaved, which was a big relief during the first few weeks. They got used to ECC quickly and seem to be doing well in class. It can still be tough since they know so little English. If the kids talk to each other it is almost always in Korean, which is something I will have to work on in the coming months. Overall April has been easier than March, mostly because the kids are more used to the rules at ECC. I think I am also getting better at keeping their attention and controlling them. Teaching younger kids can be fun, but it wears you out! After my experiences so far I would say that I think I’m better suited to teach older kids. I can still enjoy the kinder classes though, and I hope that they will continue to get easier in the coming months.

Some of my Yale students

And with their Korean teacher, Ashley (that's her Western name)