a case of the mondays

I can't tell you how many times over the past 3 years that I've sat at my desk as the last few seconds before the first period bell sounded, dreading it all, unable to see how I could possibly get through the day. Sometimes that feeling is due to a hangover, other times it's due to a particularly bad schedule, and still others because I just don't feel like teaching. It's those last few seconds that are particularly awful, because I give up any pretense of pulling myself together, and for a brief moment I think to myself, "If you left for the airport now you could be sitting at McGlynn's in 36 hours."

I don't tell you this for any particular reason, other than I felt this way today. Mondays are the worst for me this year. 

A large part of your success or effectiveness as a teacher over here depends on what happened, and happens, when you weren't, and aren't, around. I'll try to explain.

First, most of how you'll fare in the classroom is decided before you even step on the plane to get over here. If the teacher you are taking over for was competent and managed his or her classes well, then you're already starting in the plus column. Conversely, if the teacher you're taking over for was dogshit, you've got a considerable hill to climb just to get back to level pegging. 

In my case, for year 3, much like year 1, I've taken over for dogshit. In both cases I replaced someone who was fired due to their incompetence. I still very clearly remember my first workday ever in Korea, when my manager said to me, "You can't do any worse than the teacher you're replacing. You could walk into the classroom and take a dump on the floor and you'd be doing better than her." I think my current employers could express a similar sentiment. The guy I took over for sucked at English and got fired because it was plainly evident- even to people who can't speak English- that he was incompetent. However, the school had to keep him around until a replacement was found, effectively making him a lame-duck teacher. So, for the last 6 weeks before I got here, my classes were being presided over by an incompetent teacher who no longer had any reason to even pretend to give a damn. In fact, he was actively trying to hurt the school before he left. I heard he even went so far as intentionally leaving the air conditioners in the school on overnight so that my employers would incur a higher electricity bill. If I had a picture of a considerable hill to climb, I'd post it after this sentence.

This applies in a more immediate sense as well. I'm the only foreign teacher at my school, but the kids are taught English by Korean teachers as well. This is also something that year 3 has in common with year 1. Korean teachers have the distinct advantage of being able to communicate much better with the kids. This is good for them, not so good for me. I've overheard a fair amount of my Korean co-teachers classes, and they go something like this: 

Koreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankorean*could*koreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankorean*should*koreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankorean*would*koreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankoreankorean*okay?*.

When I then walk in to bestow my own version of English education, which actually consists of speaking English, the kids aren't exactly primed for it. Insert another picture of that considerable hill to climb.

I don't mean to paint every class I teach with the same brush. But on Mondays that brush does get used a lot. Mondays, man, I don't know how I get through them.