I work at a Hagwon (private school or academy), called ECC, in Daejeon, South Korea. The people I work with are all amazing!! The owner, Mr. Lee, pictured below, is a very smiley Korean man who is always at the school, and seems very devoted to it. His wife teaches violin to the Kindergarten students, and generally helps out with the kindergarten kids. Then we have 2 receptionists, 2 homework teachers (they help the kids that stay at ECC after classes), 1 office manager, 1 office assistant (lovingly called the office bitch), a loving Ajumma (respectful term for older woman) who does the cooking and cleaning, and then 4 kindergarten teachers, 5 afternoon teachers, and then 5 foreign teachers including myself. We all go out together at least once a month for a "family" dinner, as I like to refer to them, and we all get along famously...I really love all of my coworkers.
After being here for 1 month, Mr.Lee, the boss, took us all out for dinner, and gave both Gloria (the new kinder teacher) and myself (the new foreign teacher), flowers.
Ajumma, the lunch lady at school, invited all of the teachers to her apartment for lunch. It was phenomenal!!!! She made enough food for an army, and it was all delicious, and amazing...which knowing Ajumma you really wouldn't expect anything but the best! She speaks only a few words of english, but she is the most lovely lady, and is really everyones mother at ECC.
From bottom left corner clockwise: Laura, Lucia, Helen, ME, Ajumma, Mary, Tina, Kate, Ben, Emily...not everyone made it into the picture...oops!
A shot of the spread!!!! SO MUCH FOOD!!!!!
The Children!
So of course I have to show everyone my new children!!! I am in love with these kids...and got to name some of them. The deal with naming kids is that if you have a student who has never been to an english academy before, then they have a name but of course its Korean...so we give kids English names, both for our own sanity and because as they grow up and meet foreigners or travel they tend to use their english names because its a heck of a lot easier!
The Afternoon Kids
So I work from 3:00pm to 6:40pm or 7:30pm with the "afternoon" kids. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I finish at 7:30pm, and I have 6 classes. They range in age from 9 years old Korean age to 13 years old Korean age. On Tuesdays, and Thursday I finish at 6:40pm, and I have 5 classes. They range in age from 7 years old Korean age to 10 years old Korean age.
My class of 7 year olds was completely new to english when they started so I was able to name ALL of them. I had 3 boys and 3 girls and named them, Patrick(after my dad), Mike(after my ex and my friend Winton), and Benji(after my friend Benji), and the girls are Mo(after my mum), Blair(after my sister), and Hannah(after my cat). They are all super cute but Patrick was an asshole...but he quit anyway and I just got a new boy in the class and named him Patrick so hopefuly this Patrick will be a better representative of my dad! Also Blair quit, but I also just got a new girl in my class so I named her Blair, so again hopefully this one sticks around! I don't have pics of the old or new Patrick or of the new Blair...
The boys showing me their beautiful colouring!
Blair...the old Blair...she was a bit of a slacker...reminiscent of Blair my sisters high school days :o) sorry Blair!
Benji...super adorable, but a cheeky little bugger.
Mike...cute as can be, but on a little on the weird side.
Mo! The cutest and smartest in the class! She is super super teeny tiny as well.
Hannah...really really cute, loves to sing and dance...talks waaaaayyyyy too much...but its ok cause she's adorable!
The Morning Kids
So I work from 10:50am to 2:30 with Kindergarten kids. I have two different classes that I teach during this time. One class is called High A, and it is only 4 children that are 7 years old Korean age, and therefore 6 years old Canadian age (when Koreans come out of the womb they are considered to be 1 year old). These kids have been going to ECC for 2 years already and after this year they will no longer be kindergarten, they will be afternoon kids. There are 3 boys, Noah, Tony, and Mickey, and 1 girl, Helena, in this class and I teach them writing/grammar, language(vocabulary), science, and a class called Theme Lesson that covers geography, world issues, environmental issues (my favorite!), seasons and sports, and helps them with their writing skills as well.
Noah...my secret favorite! He's sweet as pie, hilarious, and has the best cheeks for pinching!
Noah and Helena...Helena is as cute as a button, and is really smart...she is always bouncing off the walls, but I can bribe her with stickers to sit down :o)
Tony...he is the smallest in the class, and sometimes quite slow, but adorable and very sweet. He is definately the baby of the class and always wants hugs.
Then the second class is called Low A, I have 7 children and these kids are 5 years old Korean age, and therefore 4 year old Canadian age...and I am in love!!!! I am their first EVER english teacher, so they literally knew ZERO english when I got them, so needless to say I feel like they are my babies!!! I just can't get enough of them, and it is so rewarding teaching them because I know that all of the english words they know now is because of me, and they learn sooooo quickly its just such a joy to watch them grow. Normally, in this case I would have been able to name them, but 5 out of the 7 children already had names that their parents had chosen for them. So the 2 kids without names I named Alice (for my Nanny), and Richard (for my Papa). This has seriously brought me a lot of peace because they have certain qualities that remind me of my grandparents and the way they intereact with each other is often very reminiscent of the way my Nanny and Papa interacted with each other.
The whole class on Cooking Day with Ajumma!
Me and the kids.
Richard and Sean enjoying the camera!
Richard!! (My secret favorite, tied with Alice)
Richard is a character, always dancing and making the other kids laugh.
Alice...adorable, hilarious, smart as can be, and never poses normally for a photo!
Alice making a sad face during Cooking Day...silly girl!
Sean...adorable, adorable, adorable! He loves loves loves to sing, but never knows the words!
Nicky...hilarious, the ladies man in the class, and LOVES buffalos...of all animals!
Nicole...super affectionate and cuddly...needless to say a perfect match for me!
Nicky and Eva...I think they're in love...sooo cute!
Eva...super smart, super outgoing, and super cute!
Ava...the princess...more focussed on her clothes and hair then on learning...AT 4 YEARS OLD!!
Alice, Sean, Ava, and Nicole playing in the play room...the ball pit is my favorite!
At the bottom were beautiful cherry blossom trees, hundreds of flowers on display. We approached a temple and head in to have a look at the temple grounds. We were promptly met by an old monk who was really eager to show us "the best view of Naejangsan". He lead us over to a shelter, and instructed us to lie down on the table one at a time and look at the mountain upside down. Wouldn't you know it, the monk was right. It was a stunning view, plain and simple, there are no words to describe its beauty.
We continued on our way, climbing the steep mountain side, fighting against the wind.
At the bottom were beautiful cherry blossom trees, hundreds of flowers on display. We approached a temple and head in to have a look at the temple grounds. We were promptly met by an old monk who was really eager to show us "the best view of Naejangsan". He lead us over to a shelter, and instructed us to lie down on the table one at a time and look at the mountain upside down. Wouldn't you know it, the monk was right. It was a stunning view, plain and simple, there are no words to describe its beauty.
We continued on our way, climbing the steep mountain side, fighting against the wind.
At the top the view was hazy, but unmistakably rewarding and majestic. Naejangsan truly is an amphitheatre of grand proportions.
