Summer Camp

The five reasons I LOVE English camp…

1. Three hour work days. During winter and summer camp I only have to work for three hours from 9am to 12pm leaving the rest of the day free for me to explore Seoul, meet up with friends or just go home and sleep if I want to! Woohoo!

2. Small class sizes. The most students I’ve had in any one class for camp is fifteen. So half the size of a regular class. Soooooo much better!

3. No stupid textbook! Unlike regular classes, I don’t have to teach from a textbook and although the teachers get together before hand to allocate general topics and decide what each person will be teaching, it’s much more free reign than normal. This means lessons are much more fun and exciting and the students (and MYSELF!) are more interested and engaged in the lesson.

4. Teaching alone. Now don’t get me wrong, I ADORE my co-teachers and I have so much fun teaching with them BUT teaching alone brings with it so much more responsibly and challenge and I need this in my job. The lack of these things is what I find most difficult in Korea, even above the language and cultural barriers and missing loved ones from home. Teaching alone makes me feel like a real teacher again and it reignites my one main passion in life- teaching and inspiring children.

5. Building good relationships with the children. For me, good relationships with the children you teach is the most important part to get right. This needs to be in place first before the children can learn anything from you.  Children need to know that they can trust their teacher and that their teacher values them and cares about them as a person not just the learning they do in the lesson that’s being taught. At home it was the part of the job I did best and I miss having that closeness with my own class. I have built some good relationships throughout the year but it’s taken a long time and it’s been difficult due to numerous factors such as seeing the students only once or twice a week, having hundreds of them to get to know, the language barrier and of course the fact that to them I’m the ‘foreign’ teacher. Camp is a really nice way to get to know the kids on a personal level and for them to get to know me. Small groups of kids that I see every day for three weeks. I always feel so attached to them by the time the three weeks is up. Having those good relationships is the thing I love most about teaching because it’s when you have that that you know that you can inspire them and encourage them in whatever way they need. That’s when  you can make a difference and that’s why I’m a teacher.  So although it’s not quite like that all of the time here, I’m glad I get to have it for a least a few weeks of the year :)