Guro High School

I understand that this might be boring to some of you, but too bad! I'm not forcing you to read it, I'm just putting the info. out there!

A lot of people from home (and other English teachers) keep asking me what my school and classroom look like. To be honest, I haven't really seen much of the school - beside my office, my classroom, and the library (that has a total of 7 books in English). Not sure if this will paint too much of a picture, but I hope it helps!

As many of you may know, I teach first grade English (first grade meaning, the first grade in high school, 10th grade) at Guro High School.

I have right around 400 students; I teach 16 classes a week (so I only see each group of students, ranging from 35 -17 per class, for 50 minutes, once a week).

I am very lucky to have my own classroom (English Only Zone (1)). The ironic thing about the name of my room is that I am the only person that uses English in my class. I think some of my fellow coteachers are not too happy that I have my own room and they do not. I suspect the complete classroom make-over my room is supposed to get over summer vacation isn't going to help that...

We don't have janitors at our school, so the cleaning is left up to the kids! Needless to say, I spend a lot of time picking up trash, sweeping the floor, and pushing in chairs. Oh the joys of my students not understanding when I ask them to clean up after themselves!

Below are a few (bad) shots of my classroom.

Lately, I have been spending the majority of the day in my classroom and away from the teachers office. In Korea, all the teachers have a desk and computer in one of several teacher offices: this is where you can usually find them if they are not teaching or in the nap room. Yes, that's right, I said nap room! It's totally acceptable for teachers to take a snooze in this room, or right at their desk! I have yet to partake in this Korean 'tradition'...

The nicest part of my school is, no doubt, the garden. I know mom, you never thought you'd hear those words from me! There is a courtyard in between 3 of the buildings that has a little stream, benches, plants, and trees (including Japanese Maples, my favorite). Most of the kids hang out here between classes (10 minutes) and during lunch (an hour).

That reminds me! There is no student cafeteria at my school. The students report to their homeroom at lunchtime and the lunch ladies push steam tables around that have lunch at the ready.