Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Bloopity Bloop]

It's my first year out of uni, first year teaching, and I'm in a PS.

As the thread title reads: how do you keep your jobs fresh? I'm generally content living here (done with culture shock and into the settling phase), but the job is becoming a drag. I work at an elementary school and while I get along swimmingly with my school and the students, I'm having the same day every day if you know what I mean.

I think a big part of this is my school's sh***y afterschool program where I see the same groups of kids EVERY DAY. This means I have to plan 2 additional lessons per day, tell the same kids to be quiet (every 10 minutes) every day, get constant requests for more games (contrary to what their parents and school want), etc. It's just becoming a grind.

It doesn't help that I picked up a second gig at night and also try to work out for at least an hour or 2 a day. So any time I have to decompress is the time I have sitting at this desk.

How do you more experienced ESL vets keep your jobs fun and exciting?

[AndrewL]

I teach middle school and have found that you need to keep them engaged and interested. If they like what they're doing, it makes the job a lot more fun (and easier).

For example, this week, I'm bringing my guitar to each class to teach vocab about the guitar and play music. I get to do something fun and read the student's (usually) amusing reactions from my playing.

The key is not to skimp on time when making your lesson plans. Lazy lesson planning means lame classes. If you put in the effort to make a good lesson plan, it's both more fun and easier to teach.

[mmstyle]

Last year was my first at this school, and since I was given no direction, I was lost for a while. I wasn't very happy with my lesson plans that I had done, so I have gone a new direction this year.

Yeah, PS can get a bit boring. I still always wonder about my lesson plans (I am a worrier that way, and I get absolutely no input from my CTs) but what gets me is the isolation and, like you said, having to get on the same kids. The thing that gets me is the isolation. I thought I was building relationships last year, then this year sorta discovered that it was really all for naught. That's got me down more than anything.

Sounds like you are working too much. Most of what makes me okay with this is my life outside of school, even though I do think I have one of the better PS jobs (well, except that I teach all boys at MS).

[air76]

It's harder with elementary school kids, especially at public schools where the level is so low...but see if you can't do some task based activities with them, especially the after school program.

[Ramen]

I flush my brain once a year.

[egrog1717]

My idiot handler decided that I should be spending 4 weeks teaching a "My first chapter book" (Remember those when you were a kid?... Great books but you plow through them in 15 minutes or so...)
These books have less than 35 pages...
So for the first 10 minutes of class or so we watch sesame street videos on Youtube that I'll (sometimes) tie into the lesson...
IE: Reading a book about grouping cats, so we'll watch a video of Ernie grouping his toys...

I also throw some filler in there for the hell of it, like the sesame street pinball vids, Animanics songs, etc etc... When in doubt, Cookie Monster is King

If there's time (and there usually is... We can only read around 6 pages a week, and even with me reading and them repeating, my talking about it, and then having them partner read, it only takes about 15 minutes...), I'll have the kids do an art activity...
IE: Kids were reading a book about a boy getting a tree house, but being sad because his dog couldn't come up with him, so I asked them to draw me different ways the boy might get his dog up the tree.... Elevators, Balloons, Rockets, etc...

[Bloopity Bloop]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I definitely need to put more energy into lesson planning.