A good day
I had a really nice day today. I like how much I get to be outside in my job. It’s so hot and humid here, but still nothing beats spending half of my day outside, whatever the weather. I also like how I get to move around to different classes all day every day. There is a one week program (OWP) here that is more like English camp for kids, and there is the one day program (ODP, in which I work) that is more like an English theme park. Someone said today that in the OWP, you have good weeks and bad weeks, but in the ODP, you have good hours and bad hours. It’s great. If there’s a bad class, the rest will be better. It can be a little hectic, but it’s interesting.
Here’s an example of a day at work for me:
Today Adam and I got up early and went for a walk around the Village. We came back and got ready for the day and had breakfast in our apartment. We talked to my parents on the phone. At 10:00 a.m., Adam left for church, and I went to the street outside for an hour of “street talk”. In street talk, I just walk around and talk to kids and families, asking about anything and giving the kids a chance to practice their English. Often, the kids want an autograph, and they want to take a picture with me. Today, four teenage girls gave me an iced coffee after I talked to them. It’s wierd to be seen as a celebrity for no reason, but I try to engage people in conversation before I will just take a photo or sign something. It’s fun.
After street talk, I spent 30 minutes in the teacher’s workroom putting together a collage of pictures from home to carry around with me as a conversation piece in street talk. At 11:30, I went to the “immigration” office for 90 minutes. There, a few of us sat in booths and stamped the souvenir passports of children entering the park. I asked each person their name and some other question like: “Where are you from?” “How old are you?” or “What is your favorite color?” Again, this is just giving the kids a chance to practice speaking.
Then I had my lunch break for one hour and came back to the apartment to have a sandwich and talk to Adam’s mom and then my brother on the phone. Adam was still at church. At 2:00, I had one hour of boardwalk games outside where I manned the ring toss booth. During the ring toss game, I ask kids questions about the rings, colors, numbers and simple math.
At 3:00, I went to a 20 minute lesson at the role play clinic which I co-taught with a Korean teacher. We taught 30 kids about symptoms, clinic vs. hospital, doctor vs. patient and body parts. Then we did a little skit about an accident-prone patient coming to the clinic. I was the patient.
We had 20 minutes between classes, and then I co-taught in the role play bank with the same Korean teacher. We taught about opening an account, saving, depositing, withdrawing and adding money. Then we did a skit of a bank robber who comes to rob the bank, but the bank teller teaches about all of the above points. I was the bank robber.
Then, I ran to the UNICEF building and co-taught the tee-shirt making class with two others teachers, an American girl and a British guy. It’s a nice class because there is a little teaching at the beginning about the basics of UNICEF and about all of the supplies to be used in making the shirt. Then we just sat at the front and helped kids as they had need. Afterward, we cleaned all of the brushes and stencils. That was the end of my work day.
I went to the administration building to pick up a package (our new wireless router!) and watched a ton of kids and some of the other teachers playing in the large fountain. The kids play there almost all day every day, but at the end of the day on Sunday, a lot of the teachers join in the fun. I went in the fountain last week, but I didn’t get in today.
Now I’m in the apartment writing this account. Tonight I plan to hang out with my new friend Renee.
So that’s a pretty representative day for me so far. There are many more classes that I have been trained in, my schedule shifts every day, and I’m always with different co-teachers. It keeps things interesting.
I just thought you might be interested in what an “edutainer” really does. Some of the edutainers do more street performance and a childrens musical twice a day on the weekends, but since I came in mid-season, everything was already cast. Hopefully I can get into some of that in the Fall.
That’s it for now. Have a great week. I’ll have a good weekend.
-Jessica
