Korea's School System: Part 2 - Elementary School

Though I haven't taught in an official Korean "Public Elementary School", I do have the experience of teaching at a Hagwon at this level so I do have an idea as to how the students are treated and taught at this level compared to in the US based on my experience and associating with some fellow foreigner friends.  However, I will say before I get started that I'm sure there are variables that I may miss because I haven't taught or been in a true public elementary school.

The initial culture shock to most foreigners coming to Korea to teach at an elementary level is the lack of structure.  You walk into school that first day and you're told to take off your shoes at the door and put on slippers.  You think "Okay, I heard about this before coming here" so you were expecting this.  Then you find your desk and start to prepare and look at your schedule and you have kids coming in the room to just "hang out" with you.  They come in your room to ask you what you're doing, they ask you what you will be doing in class today, they sit on your lap, they want to play "rock, paper, scissors", they play games with each other, they give you candy... they basically do whatever they wish in the teacher's office.  Coincidentally, the only time that they may NOT do this is if the foreign teacher watches the door and tells them "Go to playroom!"  To someone from a western culture, this is absurd -- why on earth would anyone let little kids come into the teacher's office when they're supposed to be preparing for class?  The Koreans think of nothing wrong with this... as they are just being kids and they are letting them.

With private institutions, the way the classes are organized exactly depends on the school.  I know at Hagwon's and the private kindergarten and preschools, students move between classes.  From my experience at these schools, they go to class with one teacher, may  have a 10-15 minute break to run around the school and then the bell will ring again and they go to start their next class.  Some Hagwon's are a bit different here where you have one teacher that has the same kids all day, so it depends on the school.  

As far as public schools, the students have one Korean teacher all day but for English and Art they have the English and art teacher come into their classroom every day for these subjects.

The one thing that really stood out to me working with younger kids in Hagwons is that they never stand in lines.  This MIGHT be different in public schools, but seeing how the culture functions it doesn't seem to be something that they do in schools (if they do, someone else can certainly clarify for me).  I've never seen any teachers instruct students to "stand in single file line and walk down the hall".