Korean Job Discussion Forums

[oxfordstu]

Besides their age, what's the difference in teaching methodology in Korea? I'm about to accept a job teaching middle school students at a public school, but most of my teaching experience is with highschoolers. I worry about their immaturity and eliciting information from them. Or maybe I'm just worrying too much. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

High schoolers (I teach both) aren't a great deal more mature than middle schoolers, though they are usually a bit calmer. High schools vary greatly in the ability and motivation of the students, whereas middle schools are more standard in that respect. The biggest determiner of how they are to teach is class size. On general they're easier to elicit information from than high schoolers.

[oxfordstu]

Great --- that's a big help. My recruiter told me that the class size is around 35, which is actually what I'm used to teaching in the US.

[oneofthesarahs]

I would say that high school students are better at responding to complex verbal questions than middle school students. With middle school students, it helps them a lot if you have handouts or write questions on the board.

[crazylemongirl]

Middle Schoolers can be broken down quiet easily.

1st Grade: Yappy little things. Will soak up English and love you.
2nd Grade: By the second semester these kids will have morphed into the devil's spawn.
3rd Grade: Junior Adults. however if they feel that they have nothing invested in you they can be hell.