Settling into school

We had a week to learn the ropes from the teachers we were replacing and then we were left in charge. Until we were left on our own it was difficult to really get stuck in, so we were suddenly left with all these responsibilities and had too learn really fast! I'm slowly getting there and making my lessons my own.

At school I am 'Lauren Teacher.' The school is on the 4th floor of a building amongst shops and businesses. The school teaches Kindergarten (aged 4-6 - add on 1 for Korean age) from 9.30am til 2pm and Elementary (6-13) til 6pm. I'm only teaching up to 10 years of age. The school is way under capacity at the moment, so my class size varies between 2 and 10 kids.

Each teacher has a 'Homeroom' Kindergarten class and teaches another Kindergarten class. My homeroom class are two lovely, very intelligent 6 year old boys called Daniel (left) and Elroy. They've only been learning English since March '07 but they're spoken and written abilities are great. The kids all have Korean and English names - the English name is often chosen by the school. In Elroy's case, his mum named him. Unfortunately his name has and 'L' and an 'R', the two most difficult letters for Koreans to pronounce! Every Korean kid and teacher call him 'Eloy' or some kind of similar sounding awkward mumbling!


Daniel and Elroy are little scamps! They are very cheeky but totally adorable :) Elroy is the sweetest of the two. Daniel can get a bit too silly. This week one of the teachers opened a door when a bottle tipped over with a yellow liquid in it. "It's pineapple juice" Daniel said. "Then drink it!" He wouldn't. Turned out he'd pissed in the bottle in break time! The vice principal has told me to be firm with them as the last teacher let them get away with too much. They never tire of hiding from the teacher before the lesson!


Daniel and Elroy