So I arrived in Sk on Monday and have been assigned two very small public rural schools. When I say small I mean REALLY small...like 17 students in total at each school. I'm the only foreigner in my town, which is okay.  I've now had my first day at both schools and I'm feeling a little bit ugh about the whole thing.

Basically the old teacher didn't leave me any instructions and I wasn't sure of the curriculum. The first school was okay in that they had me sit with students, guide pronunciation and help with the designated tasks. All over it was okay, the staff invited me to the meetings and we ate afternoon tea together. I hope it will continue this way and that I can work with each teacher in order to get the students engaged (some classes only had 3 kids).

My second school is....confusing. No one told me which lesson each class was up to until the kids arrived for their lessons and they would direct me to the lesson. They just expected me to run the whole thing with no prior knowledge of their progress? No one even showed me the computer program to lead each class with and they seemed a little taken aback that I didn't know how to read all the prompts in Korean. I assume the old teacher ran the classes alone?? I have no idea. My co-teacher is lovely but I only see her for one class. No one has asked about lesson planning or going over the subjects etc.

Is this normal? I feel like I've been thrown in the deep end.

Best advice is to take the initiative and seek out the answers to your confusion.  Don't expect them to come to you. 

Talk with your coT, ask about the curriculum/books/schedule (schools have a general academic calendar which can be helpful, especially if one has multiple schools).  Ask what is expected of you for each school/class.  Proceed from there. 

In lieu of that and even after you find answers, it's good to have some backup games in mind/on hand in case there's extra time or if you feel at a loss of what to do.   

It's pretty normal to feel thrown into the deep end at first.  I didn't find out until I arrived at my main school that I would also have three travel schools and that I would have both elementary and middle schools. 

Thanks for all your replies! Yesterday I taught alone for the majority of the time and it was okay! One teacher prepared games for me so I had an idea what the kids liked. It was fine, I actually felt semi okay about the whole thing. Today I'm at my other school and it's been so so. I'm gonna get myself a plethora of games/interactive worksheets etc and go from there.

I'm using the Daekyo text! :)

Message me when you hit 5 posts so I can send you the teachers guide files In the meantime here are a buttload of game ideas!

Hey OP! I arrived about a month ago, and I was in a similar position to you - I work in 2 really rural schools in Chungnam and 1 school downtown (3 schools in total). My host school is one of the rural schools. It takes me about 40mins to get into each of the schools, so I haven't fared well in terms of my placements as well.

When I arrived, there was an element of shock - not just at the fact that it's a brand new environment for me, but also at the fact that my students spoke very little English. My Principal and Vice Principal don't speak much English either. I spent my first 3 weeks thinking I was the only foreigner in my town and it was the loneliest place to be. I ended up coming across a couple of people at the supermarket who spoke English (by luck, i guess?) and it turns out there were a few of us scattered around the county. Maybe try and do a Facebook search to see if there are any groups out there?

Things have gotten a lot better over the 5 or so weeks - just keep your head down and work as best as you can! :) One thing I can say about working in rural schools is that the staff are very warm-hearted/ lovely and the students are also lovely. Don't get me wrong, there were times when I just wanted to sit alone and cry because I thought I'd made the wrong decision (I've moved from a big city in the UK) but you know, bad days will pass and good days are coming. Once you get the hang of your routine, your students and your colleagues, things will start making sense. Hang in there!

As for handling your new position - pretty much what everyone else in the thread has said to be honest, but I'd like to add that the staff I've worked with in all schools are pretty understanding that this is a new place for me, there are language barriers and I don't really know alot of people here. I'm sure that if you try your best - or at least show that you're not allowing all the BS to get to you, they'll recognise that.

Hope it works out for you! Feel free to PM me if you want to chat. :)

Sounds good to me. Sounds like you have freedom, autonomy and small classes! Lots of teachers in the public school system don't have those things.

But if you are a first time teacher I can understand. That's stressful. My first year was super stressful. Maybe you could do some training or read some books to get help.