Teaching and living in Seoul...1 year on!

Hi everyone!

Sorry I haven't blogged in a VERY long time. Been busy with work, partying, travelling around Asia :)

It has been exactly 1 year since I first stepped in Korea, so I thought now would be a good time to write about my experiences so far!

Teaching:

I teach 4th, 5th and 6th graders in an elementary school west of Seoul. Its been a very up and down experience. Most of the students are lovely, they always shout my name everytime they see me..I love it! Be careful about the 6th graders though, they can get moody and bored easily so you have to think of things to motivate them quick! You can get bad students but I let the korean co-teachers deal with them so you don't have to ^^

When it comes to lesson planning, follow this structure; Intro (how are you?), Motivational vid or song, PPT (Powerpoint presentation), Listen & Repeat, Game/Acitvity, Review, Filler (Song or review again). I apply this to all my lesson plans in this structure. Its highly recommended.

My co-workers are lovely. Some of them can't speak english well and it can get awkward whenever they have conversations in korean and you're left out. My main problem is my co-teacher. She's new to teaching english and co-teaching. She's a good person but when it comes to teaching, she is ABSOLUTELY terrible. A lot of the times she would leave me in lessons, or when she doesn't she would just sit in the corner not do anything. The worst thing she did so far was when she randomly vacuumed the classroom DURING one of my bad classes. Possibly the WORST teacher ever. I have 2 other co-teachers and they always help make sure the lessons goes to plan and we always discuss beforehand. So not all korean co-teachers are bad!

Living:

Living in Seoul has been also a bit of an up and down experience.

My apartment is really nice (but small). Landlord is lovely. The school pays my rent and bills are really cheap. Can't complain!

Subway, haircuts, and seeing the doctor can be cheap as well. Food here are delicious! One of my favourites here is Dakgalbi. Its stirfried chicken and rice mixed together (you can also put cheese in!). My little sister came to visit me not long ago, and that is her favourite korean food. Try it!

Travelling around Korea is very convenient too. There are trains to Daegu and Busan (KTX), you can also use buses which are a lot cheaper and easy to book. Jeju (the korean version of Hawaii apparently) is gorgeous, definitely one of the places to go when you come to Korea!

Partying in Seoul is fun too. Hongdae is the place to go. There are loads of bars and clubs. There are always street performances. If you like singing, go to a noraebang! (karaoke). Many good bands and artists have come to Seoul in the past year. Lady Gaga, Beirut, Kings of convenience, New Order, Foster the People, Gotye, etc.... I love my gigs so I could go on and on!! ^^

Of course, you can't forget the KPop. I watched Super Junior twice, Big Bang, 2ne1 and Psy a few days in Gangnam (get it?? heeheehee). If KPop is not your thing, try K-Indie/Rock! Galaxy Express and Thornapple are my favourites :)

If you're going to live in Korea, you MUST learn to read Hangul (the Korean alphabet). It will make things a lot easier as a lot of places don't have english written. I thought because Seoul is a big city, surely most people speak a bit of English right? I was WRONG. I'd say only 20% of people can speak english here. Try learn some basic phrases too like Hello and Thank you. Goes a long way ;)

...

So I think that's it! Feel free to ask me questions about working in Seoul, I'll try answer them right away.

I'm staying here another year so maybe more blogs to come!

Bye bye for now! x

• South Korea
• Seoul
• teaching
• TEFL