A day in the life of a hagwon teacher in Gwangju

(This is a post I've been meaning to write but haven't had the time)

We've been here for almost a year and things are finally going in a routine manner. We work 5 days a week with the weekends off. Working in a Hagwon (aka English Academy) means we work late. So here's a snapshot of a typical Monday morning.

Morning

Neil usually starts the day off by waking up anywhere between 8am and 9am and then heads to the gym that's a block away from us. I'd wake up and spend about half an hour to an hour on my ipad, catching up with the west coast and playing some games. Eventually I'll get up and wash the dishes (if it hasn't been washed the night before). If I hadn't packed lunch the night before I'd start prepping breakfast and lunch. By the time Neil gets back, breakfast is usually ready and lunch is cooling down. Typical breakfast includes dumplings, eggs and toast, congee or if I'm feeling fancy then french toast. On extremely lazy days Neil will have oatmeal and I'll have nutella and peanut butter on toast. Oh and we always have either coffee or tea in the morning that Neil makes. Our lunches are usually leftovers from the night before or I'll make something easy like fried rice. 

We'll watch a short Netflix TedTalk or episode of something funny while having breakfast. Then I'll usually take a shower first because it takes a lot longer for me to get ready in the morning. I'm usually still finishing my coffee or tea. By the time we're both ready - dressed and packed - we'll head out the door by 12:30pm. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, we have to get to work by 1:00pm. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, it's 2:00pm so we'll spend an extra hour watching tv or leave early to run an errand like pay bills or buy something. 

Afternoon

By the time we get to work, most of the other teachers are just trickling in as well. On Mondays, all the Korean teachers have a meeting so that usually runs from 12pm-ish to about 1:30pm. I usually begin my lesson planning. There are 8 classes in one day that are paired up into 4 blocks. Korean and Native teachers share half the classes and students are generally here for 2 hours. The first block is usually the youngest students ranging from 7 years old to 10 years old. We teach them course books - which are designated books with a set curriculum. There's a pattern to these and eventually you'll get the hang of them and it's fairly simple to teach. The next block are a bit older but still in Elementary school. But again, still course books with set curriculum. In the third block, we have the older students, either in the last few years of Elementary school or first year Middle school. Native teachers focus mainly on teaching reading and writing books. Reading two times a week and writing once a week. Our last block are the Middle school students. There tend to be less of those students and some teachers have more breaks at this time. Once students have graduated from Middle school they no longer come to us and goes to a different type of hagwon.

I digress. Mostly planning is a bit robotic. I have a notebook where I write down what I plan to do with the kids. Usually the first thing I do is check their homework then we review vocabulary. Depending on the type of lesson, we read or do an activity. I also note down what homework I'm assigning for the day. For my younger students, I always give them special stickers for homework and if they've done well in class, I'd give them a certain amount of the school stickers. They all have sticker books that they'll collect and claim a prize from the receptionist. 

After planning my lessons, it's about 2:30pm and Neil and I head to the break room and have our lunch. Most of the other native teachers also eat around this time so we all sit together and catch up. Shortly before 3:00pm we can hear kids running and talking in the lobby and know we'll have to get back to our desk soon because classes start at 3:00pm. After each block of classes, we'll get a 10 minute break, which is nice to give us time to sit down or use the bathroom. On Mondays I teach 7 classes and get to leave at around 9:00pm. 

Night

Since March, Neil and I both get off at 9:00pm on Mondays so we'll head home together. Depending on what we're eating for dinner, we sometimes stop by the grocery along the way to pick up stuff. After getting home, we'll put our stuff down and get out of our work clothes. I start prepping dinner. Usually dinner is ready in about an hour. I specifically choose easy meals so I don't have to spend so much time cooking so late. A typical dinner includes black bean pork over rice, chicken curry, tomato noodle soup, shanghai udon fried noodle, pasta, or a chicken salad. After eating we'll usually watch an episode of something on Netflix to relax and digest. Then we'll get ready for bed. While in bed, I'd play on my ipad some more and Neil would be on his phone reading. Then we'd call it a night and start the day all over again. :)