Training

Well, today will be my third day of training.  Thusfar it's been ok; it's a standardized training held in downtown Seoul that everyone from every campus must attend.  It's kinda hit-or-miss, like most standardized training, but I have learned some helpful things.  It's also pretty cool to see all the new teachers and get to know them, and find out which ones will be at your campus.  Speaking of which, there are four of us who will be going to the Juk Jeon campus: Daero (Darrell), Bo, Vivian and myself.  Daero is Korean but moved to London when he was 9.  Bo is korean but she grew up in Melbourne and visited Seoul regularly.  Vivian is Korean and studied in America and Canada.  Really great people, and I'm excited to be working with them.  The past two nights we've gone to dinner after training and I just love the food.  I'm so glad to have three friends with varying experience in Seoul, all from different countries, all with different accents, haha.  

We've had homework every night from the training.  First night we had to write a reflective 2-page essay on learning, and last night we had to write a sample lesson plan.  I also got my schedule yesterday and I'm teaching only 26 classes as opposed to a possible 30.  I have 2 or 3 phonics classes, and the rest are reading.  I've also got everything from low-level to high-level, and 1st grade to 6th grade.  I'm pretty excited about having the full range as that'll give me good experience.  Most, however, are higher level and older, which should make it easier to teach them, though I can also foresee some problems with them being older and smarter.  Que sera sera.

I haven't been at Java City too much this week because Paul suggested that when I want to use the internet I should go up to TOPIA so I won't feel obligated to buy a coffee.  I like the atmosphere and music, though, so I'd like to be there often but it also provides a good segue by being up in TOPIA.  They play this great song that I really like: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3FDGviwiJo&feature=related>.  Anyway, gotta run and catch the bus to training.  While I'm in Seoul this week I'm gonna try to take some pictures.