ECC

A Day at ECC

My day usually starts some significant period before 3pm. It's about a 25 minute walk from the apartment, and the day was sunny and warm. Now when I say sunny and warm, I mean that by the time I arrived at ECC I was hot sticky and sweaty. My route from the apartment is carefully chosen for the amount of time spent out of the sun.

On entering ECC, I basked in the cool spot just after the door, where the AC blasts its friendly welcome to all who enter. It's a favorite spot of mine in the Korean summer, which is all I know of Korea. This spot exists just in front of the reception, where three wonderful young ladies also welcome those who arrive.

When sufficiently cool, I walked through to the faculty room, the base of operations for those teaching. The ECC day is split into 45 minute periods. The first afternoon class runs from 3 until 3:40, followed by a five minute break. The pattern is repeated until 8:55 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and until 7:25 on Tuesdays and Thursdays (Saturdays are a strange variation, with classes beginning at 1pm). I don't teach kindergarten, so I never teach in the mornings.

In this room you may spot my desk. It's relatively easy to find, being the messiest in the room. Here's what it looks like half-way through preparing for my lessons.

I tend to prepare at a leisurely pace, then relax until the kids arrive for the 3pm session. Here they are, fresh off the bus, heading straight for the computer room to play Crazy Arcade.

The kids, especially the younger ones, have a ritual they go through at the end of each lesson. As soon as the bell sounds every child will jump out of their seat and run as fast as they can for the computer room. You see, there are only about 12 or so computers, and at any one time there may be up to fifty young hopefuls vying for a seat at the keyboard. Here's the scene a few scant seconds after the first period has ended.

My first class was new, this being the first time I had had them. They didn't even want to take the candy from me until I engaged them with a couple of games of hangman and showed them that while I am a big scary white guy, at least I'm harmless and a lot of fun. One of them just started quietly crying the first day, but I get big smiles from all of them now. This being is one of the more positive sides of teaching.

As part of my photo taking master plan, I was carrying a large jar of candy as a sweetener for the kids, some of whom would kill for chocolate. So, as my first class started, I caught one of the boys coming dangerously close to the girls as he disposed of his wrapper. Korean boys and girls tend not to mix a whole lot. But then, this particular boy has a certain girl that he likes to fight with.

My next class were a little ahead in the material, due both to them being bright, and to the material being a little sparse at times. I decided to have a bit of a game of scrabble. We had a lot of very good two, three and the occasional four, and even five letter words, many of which the kids came up with themselves. Three teams of three played the game. The girls called themselves "Team Glasses", the three boys on the far right were "Team Uuuuuuuuhhhh" (when I asked what name they wanted, that's the sound they made) and the game was eventually won by "Team Winner", perhaps the most aptly named, I feel. As you can see in this picture, my candy jar was seriously depleted by this point.

Following this class, I wondered off to the local SevenEleven for a snack, taking with me snack orders from less fortunate teachers without period of inactivity. This moment was not immortalised, but another such moment, a similar one, may be captured at a later date for inclusion on this page. If I can ever be bothered. Let's face it, a trip to the convenience store is nothing to write home about.

The next class weren't too eager to have their pictures taken. They did eat the candy, and I did snap a few shots. We were doing phonics, and the bell sounded approximately two minutes early before I had a chance to get them all together by the board. This class are a great believer in running for a computer......

I really like my pre-middle class. They're old enough to try to make jokes in English, and young enough to not have a whole lot of self-consciousness that seems to creep into my older classes. We did a straight "yes, you can have a second candy if you let me take a picture of the whole group by the board" deal. This was a big sacrifice for the boys, who were outnumbered, and had to stand near the girls to be in the shot - and don't they look happy? I think the little stick man on the board was supposed to be me, but they managed to wipe it off before I got a good look at it.

My "On Your Mark" class, named after the text book of the same name, are pretty quiet. It is comprised of five very shy Korean girls and two boys who only just let me take their picture (perhaps if I hadn't run out of candy.....). I taught them grammar, which I find relatively easy to teach due to the rule based nature of it. A brief aside into Korean names. There seems to be a tradition of Koreans taking English names. I've named three of my kids so far, and only a very small number decline to take one. Apparently some of the kids don't take this too seriously and change their names on a semi-regular bases. One of the chaps in the picture below is, in fact, named Beckham. I don't know if this was a world cup inspired name, but when he told me what his name was in the first lesson he had trouble keeping a straight face. When I asked him why Beckham, he informed me (with the same barely uncontrolled mirth) "because it's funny." Both of them are characters and help keep me entertained during this class.

My final class is my easiest. This picture was taken a couple of weeks before the rest when I just happened to have my camera around and took it in as a bit of a conversation piece. It's a much better picture than the one I took on the day. These girls, who are probably my oldest students (though I don't know, I am a terrible judge of age), have a great understanding of English. They often finish their work early, then we play word games, converse, or I teach them a new word (like 'aspirations' or 'codependent'). They're very good students who seem to take learning English very seriously. I have a lot of intelligent conversations with them, which is a pleasurable way to end six hours of teaching.

At the end of the dat, there's usually only one receptionist left, who turns out the lights as we leave. I often have to guess my way across a pitch black reception as my eyes struggle to adjust to the sudden lack of light, hoping that there's nothing on the floor between me and the elevator - I've not had an accident yet.Back

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