I've had the curious "reward" of having my vacation cut short to five days instead of the agreed seven along with week after week of English camps at not one but THREE elementary schools - Gwangnyeong Elementary, Shinjeju Elementary, and Jeju Buk Elementary. It was introduced as a surprise, a fun-filled way of filling up the free time that I was originally very much looking forward too after so many rounds of feeling like wanting to bash my head against the wall a million times over. [Not] surprisingly, those who moaned got entire months of vacation while those of us that remained faithful to the contract, never daring to breach any of the terms, got "rewarded" in this manner. Another little surprise was that since I was "volunteered" into doing these three camps, I would not recieve any regular payment for this (even though I'm not actually supposed to be doing elementary school) and recieve a rather disappointing 10,000 won per day for bus fares. So much for two years of loyalty!
Taking deep breaths now. Quietly reminding myself that Korean teachers frequently get majorly screwed over by their own administration...
I probably should have seen it coming. Perhaps I should not have earlier mentioned directly to the higher-ups that I had no intention of re-newing my contract because of my decision to go to UCLA grad school. And I also probably shouldn't have told them that I was really bored with my work situation, which in my own opinion is a valid issue as being required to teach a horribly blasse textbook for an entire year instead of actually trying to do something called "teaching" (which I thankfully had the privilege of doing during my Namhae term) is about as exciting as watching grass grow.
Complaints about being "rewarded" aside, the camps themselves have been quite good since the three schools are designated "special schools," "special" meaning that they have a more specialized and intensive English program with staff trained in more advanced teaching methods and equipped with higher-quality teaching materials. I really-definitely-totally-truly-positively-absolutely didn't like having to listen to the same song over and over again - and I will definitely crack if I hear the bloody "Color Song" again - but for the most part, the camp programs were very well-done and the teachers involved knew what they were doing. I thought that I, being much too accustomed to middle school kids, would have been too boring for the tykes, but it seems that I could actually do elementary school. Could be that they see me more as a sort of brother figure as I get the feeling that I'm not exactly seen as a teacher. Or maybe as a walking tree - second graders have a fondness for trying to climb me and hanging on my arms. As my co-teacher put it, at elementary school age, children are pure, but once they get to middle school... At that point, he wearily shakes his head. That's not to say that the rugrats were all angelic, of course. There were a few that have a rather high likelihood of becoming a teacher's nightmare once they hit their middle school years. I can easily imagine their future teachers having the wonderful joy of wanting to bash their own heads against the wall for having the unique privilege of having such interesting characters in their class. For the most part, however, they were actually EAGER to LEARN, even the bratty ones! Most of my middle school hell-raisers were either just eager to imitate zombies or redefine the word "annoying."
And once again I ponder about the greatest and most mysterious question that taunts my inner consciousness - what, again, am I doing in middle school??? Could be masochism.
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