Fast Changes Arriving

So this week my new teaching term begins (Thursday is the first day of the new term/semester). It's actually the 1st semester of the year, as in Korea the first and second semesters are reversed from that in the US. But I've got quite a few changes coming my way. I don't know if they'll be for the better or for the worse, but I'll soon find out.

I am apparently changing rooms...I'm getting a bigger room, about 1.5 classroom sizes. Theoretically that's nice, but I haven't actually been in the room yet, so I don't know. It's on the 2nd floor...which is kind of bad b/c that's the same floor as the offices. But there are no windows looking into the room from the hallway, so that's good.

Also, previously I taught 4th and 5th graders; 4th graders once a week and 5th graders twice a week. Now I will be teaching 3rd, 4th, 5th, AND 6th grade, but all of them only once a week. This will mean I'll teach 26 hours/week (which is 4 OT hours). My co-teacher is gone and I'll have 2 new co-teachers; one will teach 3rd and 5th with me and the other will teach 4th and 6th with me. I know the teachers already, so that's nice. One was the other English teacher from last term (Ms. Kwan) who taught 2 weeks of English camp with me this winter. The other is the old 5th grade head teacher. She is very nice, but her English isn't the greatest (neither is Ms. Kwan's but it's not too bad). So it will be quite the change from Ms. Lee who was fluent in English (the new teacher is also a Ms. Lee). There will be much more Korean spoken in the classes this term, I think. Which I think will be good for the most part...but there might be TOO much Korean spoken...which will be annoying for me b/c then I'll have no idea what's going on. We'll see.

I am also going to refuse to teach teacher classes this term. That was the source of great amounts of stress for me last term so I WILL NOT do it again. I don't care if they think less of me for it. Screw them. I teach way more than any other native English speaking teacher I know--without extra classes I'm already doing 4 OT hours/week this term...and last term I was doing 6 OT hours/week. Sure I get extra money, but at this point my happiness and sanity is coming first.

So here's hoping for a decent next 6 months...