Korean Job Discussion Forums

frozenpeas · Joined: 23 Nov 2005

Ok, I'm 2 weeks into a high school gig - second year in Korea...no culture shock or anything - just disappointment...

I'm teaching 50 art school students...Their level of English is low to zero and I have 1 lesson a week with each class...

They sleep, they chat and some refuse to pick up a pen or make eye contact at all...the co teachers seem to do nothing about it.

I told my boss that I wanted to set up a punishment class during lunch time so that I can help the students that want to work in the real classes but he basically just told me that the English lessons were not important enough...

Is this a losing game? Have some of you managed to turn a situation like this around?

Dunno, I feel like buggering off back to England to do a PGCE and teaching some real classes...

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

Do you mean 50 students per class or 50 in total. By 'art' do you mean liberal arts or fine arts?

frozenpeas · Joined: 23 Nov 2005

no each class has around 50 students...

They are 16-18 year olds majoring in Dance, Music and Art...English is really not a priority...

JD1982 · Joined: 19 Apr 2007

icicle · Joined: 09 Feb 2007 Location: Gyeonggi do Korea

What I would do is to try to indentify why English would be useful to them in the future ... or to what they are interested in and link what you are teaching into it ... With their interests in the Arts areas ... you could easily use music, movies ... etc and do it (the English learning) through that rather than a grammar or communication focus....

Even in my middle school classes using a suitable song in English and discussing what it means ... as well as listening to it a few times ... and maybe even learning it ... has been successful ... It would be worth a try ... especially in this context with their interest in the arts

Icicle

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

Well, my expectations would be that if I can get them to do anything whatsoever I'd be happy. I'd start with a game, move on to a very simple excercise and dialogue, a short video, a very simple Q&A about it, and then another game or a puzzle. http://puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com should be good for 20 minutes of a lesson once or twice a month. Once or twice a month I'd try a task-based activity that involves group work and moving about the classroom. I'd also do some art projects that involve English in some way. Don't try to do anything serious that involves them having to stay focused on one thing for more than five minutes.

Just remember that in a class of 50 for whom English is mostly irrelevant you'll be lucky to get anything at all out of them and should be thankful for very small victories. Leave the door open, however, for the few who actually do want to learn English. With that many students there have to be at least a couple.

root555 · Joined: 09 Aug 2006

I agree w/ JD 1982.

In my high school classes, the majority of the kids either talk or sleep. Keep in mind though- that h.s. students here in Korea study long hours. All of my students have classes until 9pm everyday- on top of their regular schedule. So some are just plain burnt out. Some don't seem to care to learn English at all, and that's fine. Then there are the ones who study biology or chemistry during my classes- fine too. I'd say, try to set something up where you can access the kids who do want to learn. For those that don't, let them sleep or study something else if they want to. Albeit quietly.

Your idea for the alternative class sounds good. However, if your boss doesn't dig it, just go through the motions of teaching. That's all you can really do. Another thing is you can try to incorporate different activities into the class (depending on how leniant they are w/ your curriculum.) I'll often do listening activities with American pop songs, skits, things that the kids are into. I often find this helps a lot.

teachergirltoo · Joined: 28 Oct 2006

I teach high school, with similar class sizes to what you describe. After an intro class describing the three kinds of learners, and how the brain learns information, which kept the students riveted because it affects them, we started using music and dance to learn English. I guarantee that if you use dance in the classroom you will not have to worry about your students chatting or sleeping. Mine are on their feet for most of the class. I do not make chairs available. They are not allowed to sit and are generally exhausted by the end of class from practising their listening skills to get the moves down, or the words to the song. The only time they sit is the last five minutes where we have an open discussion, and they practise their pronunciation and fluency. Large classes can have their advantages, but as icicle said: teach them according to their interests. You will really see a difference in their attitude. By the way, you do not have to have a dance background to do this - all you need to do is be creative, or be able to watch a training video from YOUTUBE or some other DVD you find.

Mosley · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

A couple of posters here have said, basically, "fook it." Can't believe that attitude. No way kids sleep or study other stuff in my class. Don't allow them! As far as what others have said about engaging their interest, there are some good ideas here.