My EPIK Teaching Schedule
I‘m teaching English in Korea – and this is my EPIK teaching schedule! Every school is going to be different. However, my schedule is fairly typical of someone working with EPIK (or GOE, as I actually work for this smaller program).
The Basics
Your arrival time at a public school is more than likely going to be at 8:40AM. This gives you at least 20 minutes to gather your thoughts before classes potentially starting at 9. They could start much later for you, but nine is the earliest. You will typically leave your school at 4:40PM. Sometimes you are allowed to leave earlier if public transport to the area is infrequent. I am allowed to leave at 4:30 from my main school, which is further out in the countryside. Most of the time your classes are going to finish a lot earlier. Mine finish around 1:10 most of the time, and a 3:20 at the latest.
Lunch time is honestly whenever I’m not teaching because I am not eating in the cafeteria (I opted to bring my own food).
My Schedule in Particular
Monday!
On Mondays I teach homeroom classes by myself. This is one of my longest days. It also seems to be unusual to teach completely on my own for 40 minutes, 5 classes. So far I’ve kind of been able to do what I want with the sections of the book I’ve been given to teach. I can add in Powerpoints for holidays or other quick topics, and play games somewhat related to the material. Since I am pretty much booked for classes until 1:10, I don’t get to eat until after this which isn’t great.
Tuesday & Thursday
Tuesdays and Thursdays are pretty much the same. My co-teacher teaches a chapter for about 25-30 minutes and I play a quick game with the kids related to the material. Often I’ve been doing very simple games as my co-teacher gives me very little information about the class content until just a few hours ahead, or the night before. So Charades and Telephone it is. At least it means I get to eat lunch at 12:30 which is much better for me. I have to be in the classroom for the 30 minutes I’m not teaching. She doesn’t want me to use my phone, so I spend a lot of time daydreaming/writing in a notebook. I’m hoping to start sneaking in books…
Wednesday…
Wednesday is my most confusing day. I have nothing to do until 11:40, at which point I do the 10 minute game from the previous day, followed by a new class with a new game. I kind of use the single class with the new game as a test for Thursday, where I will use the same game. I can refine things a bit by Thursday if need be. For example, I realized I needed more options in my charades game as the kids were moving so quickly. I tend to eat lunch early on this day, at 11. Then, at 1:50 I leave for my other school. I have just one after school class for around 35 minutes. These are generally pretty informal, the main goal is for the kids to memorize children’s books and work on pronunciation. On Wednesdays, we have the Cat in the Hat. I tend to borrow whatever game I used in that day’s class and apply it to memorization.
Friday
Friday is another long day. In this one, I teach at my other school the entire day, followed by two after school classes. During the main part of the day I teach the textbook lesson for about 20 minutes, and then my co-teacher sets up the games for the next 20 minutes. My afterschool classes are the Cat in the Hat again, and then some 3d graders who have a different book. Sometimes I simplify the games for them, so instead of Charades everyone will just act out the lines together and run around the room.
In conclusion, here is a photo of my schedule 🙂
This doesn’t have my afterschool classes or Friday on it, as my other school has never given me a schedule
I hope my EPIK teaching schedule has been helpful to you, check out my other posts on teaching in Korea!
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