Week One

The first week was a worldwind of culture shock and jet lag.





My first day of teaching for me was like being punched in the gut, i was completly wounded by one of my students. In the first hour of my class a very nervous me and an equally nervous students sat in my classroom and tried to get to know each other. I felt this was important on the first day to straight away try and establish a rapport with my student s ad it seemed as though they agreed. When i started to discuss some of the rules and what they layout of the daily schedule would be a make student of mine began to yell as me to repeat myself, when i asked him what to repeat he began to yell at me.
I did not understand him and he did not understand me. He then told me i was teaching wrong. I got so emotional that i excused myself to the bathroom where i began to cry. After a few minutes i returned to class with my puffy eyes and tries to continue the lesson.

Then later on in our 15 minute break, the male student cam eup to me and harrasssed me on what i was doing wrong and that we should do speeches as that is what his strenghts were. He continues even when i tried to leave.



This was my first experience of apart of Korean culture that is so different to my own, a partriarchal society.
My male student believed that because i was a younger female he tcould treat me with a lack of respect and yell at me. In New Zealand and my culture this would not happen. I was so shocked by this confrontation with the Korean cultur that i felt winded for the rest of the week.



How could this female and male dynamics be so different from my own culture? Will i ever gain respect from him? These questions kept me up at night. I found it even harder to cope with this different in culture then mayeb the other interns did as i come from a family of all girls. My family consists of my mum (a head strong woman who voices every opinion), my dad a man who never yells, unless you are really in trouble) and my two sisters. A male dominated society or culture is definetley a foreign concept to me. So to be yelled at on my first day by one of my students was very overwelming.

This 'patriarchal' society and culture in Korea is something i will never get used to or ever want too.  I had definetly gained more knowledge about of a part of Korean culture within thefirst week on my internship, however onyl near the end of my internship did i understand it, though i will never agree with it.