My very first winter camp was a hit. You can’t go wrong with a Disney Frozen theme for an elementary school English camp. Deciding on a topic or theme for a camp can be nerve-racking. Luckily Frozen 2 came out in November 2019, so students were still on the Frozen high. A Frozen themed winter camp in January of 2020 was perfect timing. As next year’s winter camp approaches, I want to reflect on my first time…
Nothing beats the journey of understanding yourself and the world around you. This fall, Cherry and I celebrate one year in Korea. Though she came to Korea from the Philippines as a missionary, who also teaches English and I came from New York as an English teacher, we share something in common: a beautiful journey of self, people, and cultural discovery…
This year has been a rollercoaster, to say the least. The coronavirus pandemic shifted the way teaching is done worldwide. In Korea, from late March to mid September, teachers in Korea juggled teaching online, partially-online, in-person with social distancing, and alternating between which grades will come to school. And due to various reasons, including the COVID-19 pandemic, many EPIK teachers have either transferred out of Korea’s smaller rural towns, into bigger cities, left the EPIK program, or left Korea altogether. The remaining teachers take on new and for some, even heavier workloads. Despite the new circumstances, there was always a bright side. And there still is…
I couldn’t wait to finally talk about what it’s like to work in travel schools. Prior to coming to Korea, and teaching for EPIK, I hadn’t read any information online about teachers teaching at more than one school or the term, “travel school.” It wasn’t until I arrived in my rural town and started teaching that I learned some schools are really small and therefore only have one English class with an EPIK English teacher every week…
I’ve been getting asked tons of questions from people about the EPIK program. I’ll answer the top five questions in this blog post…
I am an elementary school teacher. I teach in a rural city in the Gangwon-do Province. In my main school, I teach about 70 students from grades three, four, five and six. What’s a typical day like for me as an EPIK teacher? For starters school begins at 8:40am, and ends at 4:40pm. The commute to school is less than five minutes by foot…