As previously mentioned in this blog, I am becoming to increasingly dislike the fact that the main purpose of my 8 hour working day is to line the pockets of my already very well off bosses. When people come out to Korea, as I was discussing with a fellow teacher yesterday, they believe that they will be making a difference. This may be true of teaching English in some poorer less developed countries, but in Korea the students pay an inordinate amount of money to be taught by native speakers.
There is something about the Korean way of life that everything has to be done quickly, everyone is striving to succeed. This also means that once they have paid for the books we teach from, they want to finish them! Otherwise the students and their parents complain they are not getting value for money. Regardless of the fact that if we weren’t so busy trying to finish the books we might actually be able to teach them better English.
However, as I said a few weeks ago I am now endeavouring to counteract this corporate machine by volunteering at a local orphanage. Well, they refer to themselves as a “Children’s Ville” Which I suppose makes it more like a Children’s Home rather than an actual orphanage. From the offset we were made aware of the fact that these children we going to be nothing like the ones we taught for 8 hours a day as upon entering the car that was to be our lift to the orphanage we were asked “Is this your first time working with the poor children of Daegu?”
Having driven around some of the back streets attempting to find the place we eventually arrived. We were greeted by a not entirely unpleasant building with a playground outside and a number of intrigued looking volunteers come to look at the foreigners. We were invited inside, offered coffee (they are big coffee drinkers here) and ushered up to a cheerful room lined with books. One by one children started to arrive in the room all carrying pencil cases. We were stared at in wide eyed wonder as we attempted to break the ice by smiling broadly and waving at a group of about 11 10-13 year olds. A couple of the girls had a game of Cat’s Cradle on the go. I haven’t played Cat’s Cradle in years; I used to play it with my Dad so I began to play too. They loved the fact that I wanted to join in with them, regardless of the fact that we couldn’t really speak each other’s languages.
Having not known the children’s level beforehand we had brought an exercise from one of the aforementioned much loathed text books. The exercise involved a bit of discussion, a bit of colouring and a story. Having come prepared with colouring equipment we soon ended up with some brightly coloured pages and most of them managing to say “Castle” “Cat” and “Goldfish”
After tiring of the colouring one of the more inquisitive girls decided to see if I was ticklish. I am. Extremely so. Which lead to the students learning the word “Tickle” as they were only allowed to tickle me if they announced what they were going to do in English first.
I then felt a small tug on my arm and one of the younger of our merry bunch of students had brought me a book to read. It was about sheep taking pictures of each other…well what else? But thankfully, after a long boring day in the office I knew the Korean for Sheep “Yang” so between knowing that and being able to mime taking a picture on a camera we seemed to understand each other.
All too soon the lesson was over, with a little bit of a riot ensuing at the end but it was soon mollified by the fact I had brought sweets with me. The children filed out in a non to orderly rabble all racing to get on their shoes and go outside. Myself and my fellow teacher wandered back towards the door where we had left our shoes. Both slightly hyperactive from the energy of the students. The students were now outside hanging upside down off the climbing frame. One of them introduced her small friend to me and the fact she was 9! Age is very important when you are that age. Digging into my bag of tricks I found the oranges I had also brought for the students. I thought oranges were a slightly better idea than sweets, as there is nothing more annoying when you look after students as somebody filling them with sugar and then leaving them! I distributed my oranges to the students who all gave a thankful bow and ran off as they had been told they were allowed to go to a playground.
I can honestly say that the hour I spent teaching those students, despite the fact we coloured and played games, was more enjoyable than a week teaching at the Hagwon. But, the Hagwon does have its advantages…my students are starting to discover sarcasm! Joy!
