Curveballs and Roadblocks, or, “Onward, Ho!”

Here are some excerpts from last week’s rantyping (when you’re ranting and typing). I decided not to post the 1,000 word essay entitled, “A Misanthropic ALT After Winter Break.”

This letter is for you, my student. Please know that as much as I want you to have fun and learn English, I will be preparing your class based on some very rudimentary details and a hazy understanding of your English proficiency level and motivations for learning English...

...During the lesson, maybe I am the first foreigner you’ve ever seen, so you will look at me distrustfully while I nervously try to explain instructions to some activity with ridiculous gestures and demonstrations and incomprehensible English. All the while, members of my BOE are taking pictures of me, “Look at our resident captive foreigner who performs tricks for us.” 

The post would have gone on to detail the varied classes I teach:

5 junior high schools: My duties range from read-and-repeat from the textbook for 2 minutes and then standing awkwardly to the side of the room for 48 minutes, to teaching entire lessons which were prepared ahead of time or on the spot if the teacher forgot to inform me of my duties.

One-shots at about 10 elementary schools: My name is Rebekah. I’m from America. I have a dog and a cat. My favorite color is orange. I play soccer. Yes, I like sushi. Now that you know, I will teach colors while you stare at me like I have three eyes.

And a conclusion:

In the end, I find myself unable to properly communicate with the organizers of classes, the teachers, and the students, and my lessons suffer. No matter how much experience I have teaching or with children, or what I learned in my TEFL course, I am thrown curveball after curveball by everyone around me. 

But really, in the end, I’m glad that I didn’t rage post the entire thing. Things have definitely improved: the preschool, elementary, and adults classes have gone swimmingly since last week. I needed to get back into the swing of teaching after the long break. On Friday, I’ll be back to commuting to Jr. High Schools, and I’m sure there will be some curveballs and roadblocks, but, as an American might say(?), “Onward ho!”