Seoul Global High School - 서울국제고등학교

I'm finally getting around to explaining the high school that I work at, and why I feel I've been handed the best lot in the Seoul Metro Office of Education school lottery.

Seoul Global High School (SGHS) is in Jongno-gu, and is about a 10-15 minute walk from my apartment. I've posted a few pictures of the walk in previous posts if you're interested. The school is basically an experimental school, and has only been in operation for three years (the current year is it's third school year).

The school is a public school, and therefore doesn't cost any more than any regular high school, but students compete for spots. They apply from all over the country, and from abroad, and I've been told that there is no preference given based on the area that the students come from. The school is designed to prepare students for leadership roles in non-governmental organizations, companies, and government both in Korea and abroad. The philosophy of the school is to take the best students regardless of where they come from or how much money their parents have. The only restriction other than the competition based on merit for admission is the ability to speak Korean. It's still a Korean high school, and while many classes include some English instruction, students need to be able to use the Korean language to a high standard.

There are a number of differences between this school and your average Korean high school. For one, since students come from all over the country (and some from abroad), they are all required to live in the dorms on the school campus. Apparently the only reason a student would live off campus is if "they did something bad." I'm not sure what this could mean, and I'm not sure whether this kind of situation has ever had to be dealt with in the short history of the school.

The population of the school is also different. The students are massively talented, and many of them have a much higher level of English language skills than the average high school student (English language skills being part of the admission criteria). As is common elsewhere, students tend to be better at reading and writing, but more students at SGHS are able to speak quite fluently, sometimes in quite complex subjects. The staff are also exceptional, in that the vast majority of Korean teachers are very professional, very helpful and friendly, and generally have a higher level of English than you might expect from high school teachers who don't teach the English language. As well, SGHS has more native English speaking teachers than usual. I believe there are 10 of us in total, and we are involved in a lot of different aspects of the school, not just teaching the English language (e.g. I teach economics and ethics/morals [essentially applied philosophy stuff] in addition to a few language focused classes).

All in all it's an amazing place. I am happy that whatever combination of my qualifications and luck has brought me to this school, and I hope that I can stay with the school for more than just the one year contract that I'm signed up for at this point.  I'm glad to be able to teach specific academic subjects, and not just English language. I enjoy both teaching the language and teaching subject matter, but with students at this level of language it is more interesting to be able to teach things like economics and ethics.

I've prepared a few photos of the school, my office, and an example classroom to give you all a better idea of the environment in which I teach.

This is the school as seen from afar. I took this from the hill I walk
up on one of my routes home.

Here's the school closer, with labels. Not everything's included,
but it gives you a general idea of the layout.

The mini-football pitch and the academic buildings.

My desk!




















A sample classroom. This is one of the international track classes,
which tend to have a few fewer students than the domestic track
classes. I didn't explain that two of six classes are students who are
aiming to get into Universities outside of Korea, and the other four
are planning to attend Uni in Korea.

The same classroom.

The two entrances to the class, a bookshelf, desks, and the amazing
standing desk.

This is the same room, but from the front of the room. Each room
has a projector or large screen tv hooked up to an internet supplied
computer console. It's also set up to easily hook a laptop to it. Makes
me very thankful for Jay Wilson's internet class, which I'm starting
to put to good use.

Automatic chalkboard cleaner. Not all classrooms
have them, but they are common. I'm not used to using
them, since I've always cleaned my own boards.

Part of the path around the school on the mountain. I think I
mentioned that the school's symbol is a ^, representing the mountain
that the school sits on. I sometimes go walking after lunch with other
male teachers on the mountain.

More of the path. I walk this way home when I don't take the hill route
that I mention in relation to the first photo. It's really a nice walk down,
with a lot of trees and plants.

So yah, I think that pretty well outlines Seoul Global High School. If I've left anything out feel free to ask for more info!

I miss you all, and I look forward to talking to you again.