Co-Teacher #10

The fall semester started on August 26th, exactly two months ago, and this is the list of the 5th grade co-teachers* I've taught with so far:

1. 손알찬 (Son Al Chan) - the substitute teacher from first semester who was only here for the first week of the second semester before Suk Jeong decided she was coming back


2. Homeroom teachers - taught one week when it turned out that, whoops, Suk Jeong wasn't quite ready to come back


3. 석정 (Suk Jeong) - the original 5th grade co-teacher who left due to pregnancy complications in May - taught one week before leaving again due to more pregnancy complications


4. Homeroom teachers - taught one week while a Suk Jeong decided whether she would return or not


5. 영은 (Yeong Eun) - the 6th grade co-teacher who stepped in and taught the 5th graders for a week before going on maternity leave


6. Sue - substitute who only taught one week before quitting due to shingles


7. Homeroom teachers - taught for two weeks while yet another replacement teacher was found


8. Un-named wimp teacher - quit after two hours, so she barely counts, but she held up the process of finding a sub for several days


9. Michelle - the latest in a long line of 5th grade co-teachers

People, this is crazypants. It's super stressful for me and counter-productive for the students. The homeroom teachers are annoyed about losing their free period and also, every time the homeroom teachers served as the co-teacher, the student only have English once a week instead of twice a week, and the 5th graders are now weeks behind. However, I do have a new co-teacher. Michelle has some of the best English I've heard in Korea and, more importantly, has made it almost an entire week, knock on wood, oh dear God!

*What is a co-teacher, you ask? Co-teachers are the Korean English teachers. Their exact roll varies by school and individual teacher, but primarily they are in charge of classroom discipline and assisting with the class (usually by providing translations when needed). They are also in charge of the paperwork (including all the paperwork a foreign teacher generates), assessments and exams. At my school, the co-teachers also teaches each grade solo once a week.