One week of training

This week I'm in teacher training for CDI, the company I'll be working with from next week. Considering my previous experiences with hagwons, it's a pretty good deal. I'd much rather spend a week learning how to teach the CDI way than try to reinvent the wheel with every class.

Plus, this way the expectations are clear, the rationales are explained, and the "product" is uniform. I can't tell you how many times I heard "because Mr. Kim said so" at JEL, so it's nice to see an institution caring enough to explain the thinking behind the rules.

I also appreciate the way CDI integrates mobile phones and online lessons in their program. It's great to see a school using IT to minimize the amount of work that falls on the teacher. I don't have to worry about what worksheets to pass out to the classes, nor what to include in their tests. And I don't have to write evaluations either, because scores are available online and speak for themselves.

The only problem is that my cohort feels a lot of pressure about the qualifications tests we have to pass. We get tested on procedures, rationales, reading analysis skills, and grammar skills to make sure we're up to par in our teaching ability.

A few days ago I visited the school and found out what my schedule will be. Until the end of May, I'll teach on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday for six hours per day (plus prep time, which will be longer at the beginning).

Sounds like it'll be fun. We'll see.