Goodbyes and Hello's

In the middle of February before I headed off to Bali I had a sad task I had to undertake. I had to say goodbye to several of my co-teachers I'd worked with since I started in Taegu. It was very bitter sweet because I know I will stay in contact with several of them but it is not as easy as when I could teach with Sunny every day or see Mr. Kim at Lunch. I also lost Mrs. Ye and Mrs. Gwon. This is part of life in Korean schools at the end of every school year teachers get reshuffled. Not only in the school to different grades but also to different schools. I knew it was coming but the mass exodus from the school of English speakers was a bit of a shock. I handled the good byes better than many of the Koreans did there was lots of tears and heartfelt speeches at the farewell dinner. I managed to not tear up then in front of the whole school. There were many, many comments from people that I was going to really miss Sunny. Which is true.I was going to miss her. I didn't realize how much till I came back to school after Bali and didn't see her there. I've met up with her once since then due to both of our busy schedules. Hopefully that will be remedied with a dinner soon.

I got two new co teachers this semester. One is only there two days a week and she has a desk in my office. She's pretty good and she's growing more and more confident as a teacher every day. Her English is good and she feels pretty comfortable around me. I have a feeling we're going to end up being friends as well as colleagues.

The other new teacher is my main co teacher. She's the one who is supposed to be responsible for me and make sure all my paperwork is taken care of. She also is my liaison and translator with the principal. I've been trying to put off saying much about her because I kept hoping that she would relax and start to be a better teacher. I knew that since she had just graduated college I was going to have to mentor her and help her become a better teacher. Unlike Sunny who we both had been teaching awhile and we knew the basic concepts and that there is nothing wrong with borrowing other teachers lesson plans and just tweaking them. She wants to reinvent the wheel with every lesson. She also writes out scripts in English that she memorizes before teaching class. Ad-libbing or having a discussion with the students in class has been curtailed because she doesn't feel comfortable with them. I've also had to simplify my language so it's only short and simple sentences. I've gone from having 5 or 6 fluent English speakers around to maybe 2. It's a huge shift. I know the students can see the differences and I'm trying to help her but she's still scared of me. I'm trying to think up ways to make her feel more comfortable around me and let me work with the students. The problem is she, I think, feels intimidated when I step in and start talking with the students and taking care of any behavior problems that have come up because the students (like students anywhere) can smell the fear of a new teacher. I'm hopeful that things will get better I just know it's not going to be as easy as it was.
The good news is she is no longer shaking with fear when she talks to me. Unlike the first week where I think she was going to pass out from fear. She shook like a leaf whenever I talked to her the first couple of days.
The other new teachers at the school are obviously nervous around me. I don't have much interaction with them since I'm no longer teaching the teachers. A few of the young ones are fun and I may build up a relationship with them but it's going to take a real effort on my part. The new 6-3 teacher Mr. Seok is slowly getting over his fear of me, which is nice since his classroom is next door to mine. I know he get's teased by many of the young female teachers and he's shy but I have a feeling he will relax and start joining in the joking soon enough.
There is just a lot of things for everyone to get used to with the new semester and hopefully everyone will relax and start getting along soon enough.