Jenny Goes to Kindergarten

Today was officially my first day of kindergarten... ever.

When I was younger, I skipped right from day care to first grade.  Kind of.  When we lived in Florida, I attended a half-day day care.  But at the age of four, when my family moved to Ireland, I jumped right into their equivalent of first grade.  They start children in the education process pretty young, so I attended some version of first and second grade in Ireland before returning to the States, where I was enrolled in first and second grade again (to stay with my age group). 

My original plan in coming to Korea was to work in a city called Paju as an English-immersion kindergarten teacher at a private school.  That job didn't work out, though, so I ended up teaching first through sixth graders at a public school here in Ansan.

At my current school, however, I am scheduled to teach one kindergarten class every Wednesday.  Quite the change from the original plan - 40 hours a week as the only teacher, down to 40 minutes a week with three Korean women by my side.  And man, am I glad!

I can't imagine being a full-time kindergarten teacher, even if I do speak the same language as the students!  The kids are 5-6 years old (in Korea, they say they are seven... it's complicated), and they are full of energy, emotions, wiggles, and saliva.  Yeah.  When we had circle time this afternoon, one particular little boy scooted right up next to me... adorable and enthusiastic, but I was sprayed with spit each time he spoke.

To make things just a bit more complicated, there is no working computer in the classroom, nor is there a white board.  Yikes.  So, I have to come up with songs to sing A Capella, simple games to play that I have all the materials for, and loads of patience.  The difficult thing about that is that this school apparently has no supplies for making materials.  I think a few years back there was a budget cut...which they are no longer under, but as a result, they've gotten into the habit of teaching frugally.  Thus, they don't have any supplies.  I suppose it's good for the environment to not be burning through lots of paper and various materials, but it sure would be helpful!

They do, however, have a piano in the classroom.  Kind of wishing I had stuck out lessons for more than a year when I was a kid.  Huh...