Teaching the teachers

Well, I'm almost at the end of my second week of teaching. So far it has been great - my confidence in the classroom has increased considerably and I'm slowly becoming a part of the furniture at the school.

Today I had my first teachers lesson - they've got me teaching the teachers English every Thursday afternoon which is a scary prospect. I foolishly asked them today what they would like to learn, hoping like hell it was nothing to do with songs and music. So what did they want? Songs and music! I agreed, with one caveat - they weren't to make fun of my atrocious singing. They thought that was hilarious, but I wasn't kidding. I am atrocious! My co-teacher sings like a bird and plays guitar like Hendrix (as well as being beautiful and elegant!) so I volunteered her to do the singing and playing - I think she thought I was kidding. Hah!

I also learned a very important lesson today - check your clothing before making important presentations. I realised just seconds before I entered the room full of teachers that the zipper on my pants was all the way down. Classy. Crisis averted - they probably wondered why I was laughing when I entered the room, and assumed it was nerves. Or I was a bit mad. They weren't far off on either count!

During the presentation I asked if any of the teachers had any questions. One of the few male teachers nudged one of the girls and she went bright red, and proceeded to announce in broken English in front of the entire teaching staff "he would like to have some one-on-one tutoring from you". This was after his previous (and very open) questions as to my age and marital status. Hmm. He wasn't bad looking but when he stood up the top of his head was approximately level with my chin. Not good. (shades of Green Wing - "you're better looking when you crouch down").

Today I also received my very first present from a little 1st grade student (very young and cute). I was accosted by her and her big sister and friends outside the school and she proudly presented me with .... an acorn. I was so honoured, and she was grinning from ear to ear (probably thinking "sucker, she's easily pleased"). How could I refuse a gift like that?!

Tomorrow I have the sixth grade all day. It's Friday, the weather is stinking hot, the class materials are truly awful and they are just not interested. I've decided to spice up the lesson with Mr Bean's Christmas (the one where he gets a turkey stuck on his head) as an exercise in past/present tense (a tenuous link I know, but I don't think they'll care!). Their current learning materials (namely the DVD) are absolutely awful. Today's one was a lesson in 'who is he' and 'who is she'. Cue token paedophile in knitted sweater lurking in playground saying "Who is she? She is pretty!" (speaking of a ten year old girl). In another episode he also lurks outside a store and says "Who is he? He is nice!" (talking of a small boy). It sounds a little odd, but what strikes me is that he is just Joe pedestrian - he doesn't have a name, he just lurks. Fishy!

And on a final note, this weekend is shaping up to be a big one. Tomorrow night everyone seems to be hitting the town, and Fatima arrives from Busan for the weekend! Saturday and Sunday is the annual Body Painting festival in Duryu park and Saturday night is K-pop night in town (lots of big stars coming out apparently). It all happens in Daegu!

More soon!