The Average Day of This EPIK Teacher

The past few weeks have been abnormal, actually, since we've had trainings, Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) and other school holidays, leading to about three weeks of only 2-day work weeks. But, I thought it'd be helpful to outline what my days are normally like here!

First, normal disclaimer that everyone's situation is different, etc, etc. Primary schools vary from secondary, and commute times vary from teacher to teacher (one of my friends commutes an hour to school each way--but that's rare). Some teachers also have to teach supplemental, after-school classes to meet the 22-hours-of-teaching-a-week requirement. These are usually taught alone and with smaller classes of students, chosen by a lottery. Lesson planning time depends on your school's expectations of how classes are run, and one school’s hours can vary from another.

Also, I teach at two schools, but only go to my second school on Fridays, so on my Fridays I wake up 30 minutes earlier and take two busses to get there, totaling about a 45 min commute.

Okay, enough of that, here we go

My average day

7:30am

Wake up, get dressed, put on make-up, eat breakfast if any

8:15am

Leave for school

8:30am

Arrive at school, say hello to fellow teachers, grab a cup of coffee from the break room and set up my classroom.

This means changing the board's dates, opening my powerpoints, going over the lesson plan for the day, etc.

9:00am

School starts. Each period lasts about 40 minutes. Some days I begin teaching first period. Other days I don't start till 3rd period (around 10:50am). Some days I have 5 classes, some days I have 4 and others 3.

Note: at my second school, there's only 1 class per grade, so I teach 2 periods at once. That means one class is 9am-10:20am, or 80 minutes. This is suuppper difficult for young kids so we often take breaks and we play lots of games or drawing activities with soft music.

For me, teaching goes like this: My coteacher decides the lesson plan, based off the textbook. I provide some type of game. We begin the class asking how the students are, then introduce the lesson and go through the textbook activities, which involve writing, speaking, listening or reading. There's often a lot of partner work.

Then, the last 20-15 minutes of class, we'll play a game. I try to make these competitive and fun for my main school, but at my second school, I'm learning they actually resent team-based competition, so I try to make those games either individual or collaborative for the whole class.

10:20am-10:50am

School-wide break. I refill on coffee, eat some snacks and chat with my coworkers, or mess around on the internet.

10:50am

Resume/begin teaching.

12:15pm

Lunch time!

My school lunches are always pretty good. It's always rice and soup, plus some protein like bulgogi (marinated beef), fish, or tofu, and then kimchi and another veggie.

12:45pm

The other 5/6th grade female teachers and I walk around the school, chatting and enjoying the weather. We like to go outside by the school garden. I don't really understand their conversations though lol.

1:00pm

We head back into the classrooms. Koreans like to brush their teeth after lunch, buuuuut I typically do not.

1:10pm

Class resumes.

2:35pm

The school day ends. From here, I might have a supplemental class until 3:20pm.

2:35-4:30pm

I have to stay at school until 4:30, so this means deskwarming. I try to use this time to lesson plan or be productive in some way, like doing my budget or researching trips or studying Korean. This is both because I don't wanna waste my time and because I don't wanna just sit on Youtube in front of my coworkers.

drawing during deskwarming

4:30pm-bedtime

What I do with my evenings varies wildly and has been changing as of late!

The first few weeks, I went out for dinner with my friends almost every night. Now, I tend to buy groceries, and stay at home. I'm an introvert, so I really enjoy having a quiet evening to myself (and also saving money by cooking at home).

So this time depends--either I'm out with friends or I'm watching netflix or drawing at home.

I used to attend a Korean class but I haven't for the past few weeks in favor of self-study. I might pick this up again next semester! But for now...I started a dance class which is 2 times a week, so I expect that to take up most of my evenings on those days!

At night, I finish up any lesson planning, clean my apt, shower, and prepare for the next day by setting out clothes. This is also usually when I update and chat with my family.

Thoughts

So that's my whole average day! I hope this was insightful.

When I first learned about EPIK, my friend who told me about it said it was the easiest job she's ever had. I often wondered if I would feel the same way. I think in many ways it's simple--there's less pressure with my school and my students because they're so young and they aren't tested over English. My coteachers often decide the curriculum. I have a smart-board in class and tons of resources.

But, I think just because it can be simple doesn't make it always easy. This job is taxing in that it requires a lot of energy and enthusiasm, and dealing with the language barrier makes normal occurrences very difficult encounters.

I often worry if my students are having fun, if they're learning, if I'm being engaging, if they understand me, if they are just pretending to understand me, if they like my games or look forward to English, what my coteachers think of me, if they have any silent grievances they're not airing.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I deal with some imposter syndrome with teaching. The teacher before me had been teaching for a few years, and from what I gather, was very, very good. I'm still so new at it, and I worry that the transition is making my students' education poorer.

I know I'll get better as time goes on, but I also want to share these feelings, because while I'm a total worrier, I also think these might be natural fears that many new English teachers have.

I think here's where I'd offer some ~cool advice~ for any of you potential teachers, but I don't feel in a position to do that.

So, I'll just leave you with this: I think it's such a rewarding job, and I'm loving it--when people ask me about it, they say that they can tell I love it by how much I light up. I love my students and school and coworkers, and I feel very lucky to be in my position currently. This is a learning opportunity as much as it is anything else, and I want to embrace it.

Thanks for reading!