Working in the public schools (EPIK) versus the hagwons (private language schools), the major difference is that we have to have co-teachers. It's illegal for us to teach in a classroom on our own, so we must have a Korean certified teacher. It can be a great and helpful thing or a terrible thing. Some get 1, some get 15; some get passive ones, some get aggressive ones. Number 1 thing we learned at orientation: your co-teachers will make or break your year.
In terms of showing respect, age is a very very big deal--it's very common to ask how old someone is upon meeting them. Knowing this, and the fact that most of my peers at orientation were college grads or mid-twenty-somethings (though of course, there were older folks too), being 31 I asked, "what if we are older than our co-teacher?"
This is coming from a place where I'm empathetic with their plight--foreign teacher, probably gets paid just as much, for much much less work (some teachers have to stay at school until 11pm). Add me and my needs into the mix, and I'd be a little annoyed, too. Have me be older than her too? Ugh...I didn't want it; and, with Koreans graduating a bit younger than westerners, fresh teachers were absolutely a possibility.
"Obviously, you won't have to worry about that, really," he said, more than slightly dismissive and moved on to the next question.
A few days later at our lunch meet-n-greet, I met my main co-teacher, JinSook Yang--she is one of 5. As with everything in Korea, she's cute--soft spoken, nice, helpful, and easy going. After 5 minutes of "what we should do today" stuff, she politely commented, "We were born in the same year. Actually, your birthday is before mine, a couple months." We both smiled and proceeded eating through the awkwardness.
Twenty-seven hours into our relationship--met the English department, the principal, my office and classroom, house fully stocked with gas, water and goodies from E-mart, internet--she's still smiling. My to-do list was a mile long, all of which of course needed communicative help, but I did (and still doing) my part to not overwhelm her. I would only tell her 2 things at a time, and they always came with a disclaimer, "Just point me in the right direction, and I'll try. I don't want you to go out of your way, just tell me what to do."
Sitting for a few moments, "Thank you. I really appreciate that." The next day she helped me get my medical exam and ARC card. The next, a gym membership. My address in English, next (which was tricky knowing where to actually send the package on campus). Then, she sent an email confronting the other co-teachers about classroom management (esp for the boys' teachers). Yesterday, she helped me with alphabet on my Korean homework. Tomorrow, online banking. AND, she gives me oranges. Everyday.
I covered the phrase "to go out of one's way" in class this week.
SCORE: Hagwon-0 vs EPIK-10
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