Seoul Global High School

There is no grass...only Astroturf.

We trudged up our first mountain climb of the day to Seoul Global High School on Monday.  I got a better look at the school this day as opposed to the last time I was rushed through like a foreign president, shaking hands with higher ups and doing a press conference before being whisked away to another important stop on the agenda. The school is aesthetically pleasing to see at first sight.  It sits squarely, high up in the city, it is architecturally beautiful and it is evident that a good deal of effort was made to make the building impressive.  Inside a minimalist decorating style was used, there are plants in the foyer, there are many windows, each floor is painted a different colors in the stairwell, but the walls of the school itself are bare, concrete bare, like a jail cell.  Explained to me later on, I would learn that the concrete was left bare on purpose to look like "unfinished work" to represent how teaching and learning were always "unfinished work."  Interesting.

The students live on campus.  Although a public school, they pay a tuition which includes their room and board, their education, the rec rooms, the exercise facilities and little else.  Students are to remain at the school (and out of the dorms) from 7:30 am to 5:00 pm.  Classes end at 4:30 and they are to spend extra time studying or checking out books in the library.  The students must get permission from the teachers to leave campus so there is little physical contact with Seoul while school is in session.  Two different teachers have expressed a dislike for the system, one English conversation teacher even saying it was "like a prison," for which I have to agree.  Especially after thinking about those concrete walls.

The teachers at the school have different responsibilities from other schools I have observed in the states (and I imagine, very different from other South Korean high schools).  This is the best (highest academic achievement) high school in South Korea for students who are taking the Humanities track of study. No pressure for us lowly student teachers. There is a sister school, not too far, that is the best school for the Math/Sciences track of study.

Economics Class...studiously studying for their midterms.

The teachers, on average, teach about 12 hours a week.  (Which is bad news for student teachers who were supposed to take over a subject and teach every day of the week, but found they can't because they would be taking too much of the Korean teachers job from them.  An obstacle we are still working our way around.)  They do not have their own classroom, but rather, have a cubicle in one of the handful of teacher offices and the students stay in one room for the day while the teachers carousel in and out.  The Korean teachers are expected to be in their Home-Room for thirty minutes in the morning and the same in the afternoon with the students.  I am still not quite sure what they do with the rest of their time.  I assume they work on their lesson plans or do administrative work...but, as we are assigned to an office in the library, far from the teacher offices, I have not witnessed first hand how the rest of their day is spent.


Many of the Korean teachers are also co-teaching with a Foreign teacher who speaks English as a first language.  I know some of the teachers are from the U.S. but also England and Canada.  They share the teaching responsibilities for one class.  Creating, it would seem, even less work.  As a teacher, this seems like an ideal job...except the every-other-Saturday work day.  That's right, America, they go to school on Saturdays.  That, I'm afraid, I would never get used to.

I have been assigned a cooperating teacher and a Home Room teacher.  Both are incredibly nice and helpful.  I was concerned (alright, I'm still concerned) with my assigned cooperating teacher because she teaches economics.  I don't do economics.  I hate the word "economics."  I am aware that it is the backbone of government and history--but, gah--I just don't get it.  If economics had been the only section of the Praxis, I would have failed my Praxis.  So it is frustrating that I will have to teach this bore of a subject.  But Ms. Yoo will help me, I'm  sure, she is sympathetic to my troubles.  My Home Room teacher's name is Mr. Lee.  He is so very nice but, sadly for both of us, his English is not great and I have a hard time understanding. I know he has been assigned a Canadian co-teacher this semester so I am positive it will improve, even the short time I am there.  I am always very impressed by their English proficiency here.  Everyone makes an effort--even the students.

Home Room class with Mr. Lee (left hand corner).  This was the end of the day.

This was a "sorta" first week for us at the school.  I say sort of because they have midterms for seven days so our classroom responsibilities have been about a zero all week.  And their midterms are intense.  The students are sat in the gym in long rows and they are assigned a seat according to their Home Room.  The teachers come in, pass out the tests and answer sheets, and then leave the room.  The only person who stays in the room is the person who wrote the test. (Example: If the students are taking the Korean history test, the Korean history teacher stays in the room.  The only job of that person is to answer questions.)  This school uses the "honor system."  A new, huge banner was hung in the gym with the words AN HONEST MAN IS THE NOBLEST WORK OF GOD written for all to see and shudder about. I guess it works, but, it is scary. It might as well say, GOD IS WATCHING YOU CHEAT, YOU SINNER! Maybe that's just my interpretation.  Again, this is a public school.  This would not go down so well back home.

Weird things of the week:
1. Being asked by two different teachers how comfortable we were in the school (totally normal) then one continued and said we must be uncomfortable because our Home Room teachers were men.  Huh?  Are young Korean women uncomfortable to work with men?  I could only laugh and reassure her that it was not the case.  She seemed genuinely shocked by my response.

2. Why is the toilet paper outside the bathroom stall?  Why do I always seem to forget that and end up having to stomp back out of the stall to grab some?  It's not all over Seoul like that, but a few places have it set up with toilet paper outside the stalls. I wonder how do Koreans know if they need to grab toilet paper first or not?  And the answer is not, "because the toilet paper dispenser is hanging on the wall so you know you should grab some," because they use that toilet paper to also dry their hands.  Culture shock.

3. A teacher (who is incredible nice to us, but, very intimidating to the students) uses English conversation homework as punishment.  Two students were caught this week watching TV in the rec room when they were not allowed.  They were assigned to memorize an English conversation and recite it to the teacher.  Sadly for them, they did not pass.  So...more English homework!

Upsides of the week:
1. The students are adorable and nice.  Many stop and say "hi" and "welcome to our school" and "good morning" every day.  They are obviously very respectful, they bow to their Korean teachers.  When we were asked if American students bowed to American teachers I, again, laughed.  I could never imagine a world in which that would happen.

2. The lunches are superb!  Delicious, different, a real experience.  I am pleasantly surprised everyday. I even ate tofu (fried and covered in deliciously sweet sauce) the other day which I NEVER do.  I usually hate tofu.  But, it was so good!  I am still very self conscious about eating with chopsticks in front of the Korean teachers. But, one did complement me the other day, so I guess my practicing paid off.

3. The foreign teachers are also very nice and they are working with us so that we can get more lessons in during our time here.  As they don't really teach too much during a week at Seoul Global, it is very generous for them to give up some of their teaching time.

4. There is no class bell for the students to know the class is over.  Instead it is either a classical music clip (which I'm sure is famous but I don't know about classical music) or Moon River.  It's actually very pleasant.  I'm sure the kids hate it.