Elizabeth Richardson ("Libby") is teaching English in The Republic of Korea this year. She has just begun her duties at Avalon Education in Suwon City, where she is Head Foreign Teacher. The title basically means that Libby is the go between for the foreign teachers (there are 8 right now including her) and the Korean administrators. Any information for or complaints from the foreign teachers get filtered through her first.
Photograph by Elizabeth Richardson: the building where she works.
Libby is also responsible for editing any English documents, training new teachers, and substituting if another foreign teacher is ill. She also administers the oral placement exams, grades the essay placement exams, and delegates other work to the other foreign teachers. She also teaches speaking, reading, and writing classes for various levels. — teaching the highest level middle school students writing, the mid-level middle school students reading, and the lower level middle school students speaking.
In addition, Libby teaches one elementary class. This class is mainly a mixture of speaking, reading, and writing.
Libby says, "So I’m pretty busy so far and classes just started today! I’ve been here just over two weeks and I’ve really enjoyed myself so far. All of the Korean teachers here are super nice and very helpful. All of the foreign teachers get along and have pretty diverse backgrounds. The amount of importance the culture places on education is just amazing, especially considering that we’re in session from 4 p.m. – 10:40 p.m. after regular school has let out."
"What about the kimchi?" you ask. Here are some recipes gleaned from the Web. Enjoy! I plan to try some of them myself.