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shmooj
Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1758
Location: Seoul, ROK
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 Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2004 2:12 pm Post subject: |
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Hey LA... where is Nirvada anyway? is it somekind of idyllic part of Nevada?
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shmooj
Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1758
Location: Seoul, ROK
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| Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2004 12:03 am Post subject: |
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Right, I'm off. In an hour, a friend is coming round to haul us off to the airport. We'll be in Korea by mid afternoon.
I'd just like to thank everyone on this board for their support, advice, criticism and humour in the time I've been on this board while in Japan. You guys have really made the difference some days.
ALthough I will be spending time on the Korean forum, I could never leave this beloved arena.
I'll be back to this post when I can to update on our situation in Korea. |
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JM
Joined: 11 Feb 2003
Posts: 7
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| Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2004 4:52 pm Post subject: |
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Hi
Good luck with your move to Korea...I do indeed work for the BC and my observations were not meant as condescending. You will see what I mean pretty soon! All in all though, it's definitely the best job I've had. Have fun! |
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shmooj
Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1758
Location: Seoul, ROK
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| Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 12:26 am Post subject: |
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Well here I am typing this at work.
The move has gone seamlessly so far. We're in a huge hotel round the corner from work where I've just finished a week of induction.
JM, I've already discovered a few little tidbits but found out that when incompetence is highlighted at least negotiation is possible.
On the whole, this is a very stimulating work environment. 3000 students, 36 other teachers, an open plan [b]very[/] hi-tech office and so many materials I've virtually got my first week sorted out just with all the stuff other people have created.
Anyway, gotta go - off flat hunting with my DOS and the Korean guy in charge of housing.
Catch ya later... |
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Belmont
Joined: 12 Jul 2003
Posts: 125
Location: Southern California
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| Posted: Sun Feb 29, 2004 5:26 am Post subject: ? |
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I'm just curious about what NEW things any EFL/ESL teacher would learn from gettting an MA after 6+ years of teaching English.  |
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Ben Round de Bloc
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1946
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| Posted: Sun Feb 29, 2004 3:35 pm Post subject: |
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I'm just curious about what NEW things any EFL/ESL teacher would learn from gettting an MA after 6+ years of teaching English.
- Belmont |
I've worked with people who taught EFL for 6 years or longer, people with little or no formal EFL teacher training. Some of them truly amazed me by how little they'd figured out on their own during all that time. Especially for those people, and for everyone else as well, I'd say the new things one could learn from getting an MA would be the same things that anyone would learn through continuing education in the field of teaching EFL.
I got my MA in TESOL about 10 years ago and have been teaching EFL ever since. I've learned quite a few new things via continuing education courses: new trends, methods and techniques with new slants to them, new ideas for activities to try in classes, new things available in the area of technology, etc.
To qualify my answer a bit, of course, it would depend on several factors including the quality/type of MA program and the individual (his/her previous training, types of work experiences, autonomous learning along the way, and continuing education to date among others.) |
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shmooj
Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1758
Location: Seoul, ROK
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| Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 4:43 am Post subject: Re: ? |
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| Belmont wrote: |
| I'm just curious about what NEW things any EFL/ESL teacher would learn from gettting an MA after 6+ years of teaching English. |
That is a truly narrowminded quote. You go your way...
An MA is not like a BA - you get out what you put in and the more you can put in the more you will get out. Obviously then, doing an MA after 6 years will be much more rewarding than after 1.
I'll start teaching tomorrow actually as I'm on a Tuesday-Saturday work week here. When they'd finally stopped inducting us (I'd say about 40% of it a complete waste of time), we were left to get on with lesson planning. My schedule is a bit of a bummer. Three days out of five I start at 7am and don't finish until 6. Only four classes but pretty spread out. The plus side is that for the remaining two days a week I only have two classes on each day. Personally, I like working like crazy for three days to have the rest of the week light or off so this suits me.
Planning classes is a breeze because there are so many teachers sharing materials and teaching the same courses. This means you simply hit the file on the network where everyone has piled materials and adapt what you find there.
It is going to be a new thing for me to be teaching the same adult students every day for 1.5 hours. I am used to once a week. They have a lot to get through in their 7 weeks courses too so it is going to be quite a fast pace. Another new thing is teaching kids for 1.5 hours at a time too. I'm not too bothered by this, but some of the new teachers have almost no experience with kids and are a little worried.
Finally, we are using tons more technology here than I'm used to using. We have interactive white boards which are effectively a huge tablet PC on the wall. This means you have a huge range of activities you can do with multimedia but it has meant for a bit of a steep learning curve in getting the hang of this new technology.
As for settling into Seoul itself, we've found a three bedroomed flat to live in in the same block as some other teachers and will be moving in on Saturday. It's only a ten minute bus ride away from work which is convenient.
I'll write more when I've actually met some students. |
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Scott in HK
Joined: 11 Jan 2003
Posts: 148
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| Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 7:29 am Post subject: |
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One reason experienced people take Master degrees after a long time teaching is when they are making a conscious decision to enter a part of the field where their knowledge is limited or perhaps make themselves more knowledgeable in one field to make them more marketable....
I am taking a Masters in Education focusing on how young esl students learn to read...most of my experience is in teaching secondary school students and adults...but as a primary school teacher who has never taught in my home country, I know that with my M'Ed I may be able to become an esl reading specialist some day....in the short term...I plan to use it teach at a korean univeristy...they don't care what your Masters program is in....and in the medium term (if that is a word)...I want to open an immersion kindergarten in korea...
Plenty of reasons to get one.... |
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Lanza-Armonia
Joined: 04 Jan 2004
Posts: 525
Location: London, UK. Soon to be in Hamburg, Germany
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| Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2004 4:34 am Post subject: |
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Good Afternoon Shmoojy ol' boy. How's one diddily doing in coruption central? It sounds like you are having fun over there. I'm just here to wish ya luck! Are ya home sick yet? (Japan reference)
LA |
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shmooj
Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1758
Location: Seoul, ROK
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| Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2004 12:27 am Post subject: |
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Yeah I am a bit homesick but there is plenty here to like (excepting the corruption of course).
I like the place we have and I like the working environment. In fact, the work has really been the major thing I've had to adjust to here. Teaching 90 minute classes of 15 kids takes some getting used to. But I can actually have decent conversations with kids here whereas in japan, the kids would look blankly at you if you asked them what their names were (after three years of classes).
We have a ton of resources as well which is good. At my old school there wasn't much. here we all pool material we produce which makes for a ton of support.
So, there we go, I'm here, I've left, I've moved. |
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