Beopjusa...
Trip Start
Dec 11, 2008
1
14
32
Trip End
Dec 13, 2009
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Songnisan National Park, Korea Rep.
Monday, March 23, 2009
The new journalism class had already created a bit of friction, due to the whole model teaching affair. However, that was in the past and Hew and me had been going about our business well, teaching our respective classes. The only problem I had was with the size of my class, as it contained just three students...and three quiet students at that! Therefore I deviated from the lesson plan and included some writing tasks, as I was finding it difficult to keep them talking for over two hours.
Unfortunately, I got called into the Korean head teacher's office later that evening and she wasn't amused. I still don't know how they managed to find out the contents of my lesson, although I suspect that they were sneekily watching on CCTV, but regardless, I was told in no uncertain terms to treat my class as an "editorial meeting," with the emphasis on the students discussing eachother's work. It came as no surprise when she announced that she'd be observing my class the following week...
With me travelling on weekends, I hadn't seen Eun ju for a while, and so we met up a couple of times during the week. I particularly enjoyed our rendezvous in Myeong dong as we ate at a really nice spicey chicken restaurant! We also had our traditional movie session, watching Monsters Inc and munching our way through a bucketload of popcorn. It's important to have time away from work to refresh the mind and body...
I'd been watching the weather forecast closely as there was rain on the way, but it wasn't due to hit until Saturday night so I went ahead with my travel plans. I'd decided to go to Songnisan National Park for the weekend for some peace and quiet, so again I woke up nice and early, but this time I made my way to the Dong-Seoul Bus Terminal. Buses are so cheap over here, so I envisage using them a lot more than trains, even though it may mean less encounters with friendly ajummas...
Once again it was blue sky when I eventually arrived in the small township of Songnisan, so I wasted no time in heading to the jewel in the crown - Beopjusa Temple. This temple complex was amazing, with ancient wooden pagodas and brightly painted shrines, all dwarfed by a magnificent 33m bronze Buddha statue! There weren't many tourists there either, so it made for a tranquil experience...
Less tranquil was the hike that I subsequently embarked upon, which was relentlessly steep. It was my first real workout for a long time, and it was a struggle! However, after a couple of hours of huffing and puffing, I eventually made it to the summit of Munjangdae and the views were excellent. It was slowly starting to cloud over at this point though, so I didn't hang around as I didn't have any waterproofs. Instead, I went to find my abode for the night which was snuggly tucked away in the forest, next to a stream...bliss!
I managed to squeeze in another visit to Beopjusa before nightfall, and I'm glad that I did because the whole place was completely deserted, apart from the monks who stay there. It was quite eerie as the sun went down, as all you could hear was the gentle tinkling of the bells, and a rumbling drumbeat caused by one of the monks, although I don't know the exact reason for it.
It started raining at 9pm, but I didn't mind at all as I was safely inside, enjoying a huge meal that the guesthouse owner had prepared for me...a great end to the day!
Comments
Whoah
They FILM your lessons? That must be nervewracking!
I'm so glad I'm mentally preparing myself for all this in case I do find a position in South Korea doing ESL teaching...
Would you say all jobs work in this same format, the way it does in yours? Have you met any other ESL teachers outside the company you are working for?
Don't worry...
Hey,
I don't think it is typical for lessons to be recorded on video...even in my academy it has only happened on our particular level, probably because we are teaching advanced students. The pressure is on for us to improve their test score, so our teaching needs to be closely monitored (at least in the Korean head teachers' opinion).
Other places often just teach directly from a text book, so it doesn't really require much in the way of teaching expertise. As such, you would probably be just left to do your job without any observations/recordings etc. To be fair, this is the kind of position I expected getting since I had no teaching experience at all, but instead I have kind of been thrown in at the deep end which has led to a bit more stress, but ultimately more enjoyment as I am able to talk to the students about anything as their English is so good.
Hope this helps!
Rich
CCTV
...although there is CCTV in every classroom, probably just as a back-up in case a student accuses you of something.