Poly School Ansan Campus

Jay carrying my backpack at a field trip

So about 6 weeks in I think I am beginning to feel right at home at my new job and although it can get quite stressful sometimes, especially when you have to work with large numbers of elementary schoolchildren who have all the energy in the world, I am liking it so far.  My co-workers are very helpful and always help in explaining the logistics of the program.  There is never a shortage of things to laugh about in the teacher's office as the kids can come up or do some pretty silly things.

intruders in the teacher's office

Despite the long hours (9am to 7pm M to F) the time goes by fairly quickly although as I mentioned earlier the kids get squirmy after sitting in a classroom for long periods of time and sometimes drive me crazy, but its all part of the job.  The class sizes are not very large so that is definitely a plus as you can really get a feel for how every student is progressing, or not, in which case you can give that student more attention.

The preschool and kindergarten kids come to school in the morning from 10am to 3pm and then the elementary school students come in after Korean school at 3 and stay until 730pm.

Stickers are the rule of law, the kids are very competitive and they have sticker charts in the hallway to which they try to add as many stickers as they can to win various prizes.

The students call all of the teachers by their first name and then add "teacher" to the end of it.  Its kind of strange at first but you get used to it.  I was told that is how it is done in Korean school so they translate it over, although I am not 100 percent on that.  I am "Adam Teacher" ha ha.