POLY School

Hello all!

As promised, this post will be about the hagwon that I work at... first things first though, I finally got internet set up at my apartment. So it's time for webcamming! But actually right now I'm in Ilsan/Goyang City, another satellite city outside of Seoul. If you look at the map in my previous post, it's north of Bucheon, and under Paju. I came here to visit Judy (my old co-worker from Bucheon) and stayed the night. She's sleeping now... -_-

Anyways, Suji POLY School (the branch that I work at): http://sj.koreapolyschool.com/?ck=yes

You can check under About Us > Our Teachers and on page 2, there's a little bio about me. Embarassing picture and I have to get the director to fix the typo that he made!

POLY School is a huge franchised English language academy here in Korea. Each academy is privately owned butI think that all POLY schools have the same curriculum, books, websites, and what not. The first week after I got there, it was the bi-annual POLY workshop. All POLY teachers are required to come and basically there were many different workshops about POLY, the curriculum, the classes, etc. Although it was semi-helpful, it wasn't too fun spending my first Saturday back in Korea stuck inside a convention center.

POLY Schools are normally from Pre-Kinder to elementary school. I teach Kindergarten and elementary classes. Between 9:50-2:15, I teach the Immersion portion for the 4 Kindergarten classes. Each class is only 40 minutes. Working with younger kids is really draining and really tests my patience sometimes, but I really like it. The kids are so adorable and some of them are really bright. Their accents are adorable and they really do say the darnest things! The last two weeks, I taught them about Kongi and Patji (a Korean folktale similar to Cinderella) - we learned new vocabulary words, we play games, and we learn about stories and other random things. Haha. Now we started a unit about proper ways to act in school - like following rules or speaking in a loud, clear voice. Sometimes I feel more like a babysitter than teacher, but when I see that the kids are really learning, it's really rewarding!

My afternoon classes (3:00-7:30) consists of students about 8-12 years old. Throughout the week, I teach Reading, Grammar, Speaking, Debate, and Math. Personally, I think that the kids are harder to manage; they often get fiesty and talk back. However, the students in my highest level class, I think they're 3rd graders, are really bright and their English skills are really good. Many of them have lived and studied abroad. They're a fun class to teach and a good way to end the day.

Well, there's a lot more about POLY, but I should wake Judy up so we can grab a bite before I head back home (long bus rides), then out to Gangnam to meet some friends. More later!

Oh! Look who it is! Lee Min Ho, from the hit drama, Boys Before Flowers! He's everywhere (and I don't mind ^^)!



Peace out!