Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Smee]

Hi, I work in a public elementary school, and as I mentioned in earlier posts the Korean teachers at my "regular" school normally teach the English classes by themselves. (long, long story). In the other classes, though, or when I travel to different schools, I typically lead the classes with the Korean teachers chiming in with Korean explanations, if need be, or walking around to check comprehension.

So, unfortunately, in the past 10 months I have very little experience coteaching. But since I'll be doing a public school again next year, I'd like to try to practice coteaching, if possible, in the final few weeks. I'm curious to know how you public school teachers split up the class. Does the Korean teacher do an introduction? Do they handle the "Look and listen" portions (from the elementary school textbook?) Do they lead the games? I can't get a feel for it by just looking at the teacher's guide (which is geared for a English-in-Korean class). As it stands now, when the Korean teachers teach the classes they're almost entirely in Korean. If I do get a few minutes in class, the Korean teacher zones out at the back of the classroom---that's typical, I guess---so it's not really coteaching there, either.

I'm not necessarily keen on dividing the class up a certain way all the time. On the one hand, I guess it would establish a routine, which is important. But, I hate being pigeon-holed, and I hate pigeon-holing others, which is what will happen if, for example, the Korean is only used for translation, or if I'm only used as a pronunciation guide. Some Korean teachers will be able to model dialogues, and some foreign teachers, like me, will be able to use and understand Korean. With one of my lone cooperative coteachers we sort of tag-team the class . . . if my material sucks he jumps in, or if his stuff isn't working, I jump in. At my "regular" school, though, (where I spend 75% of my time), when the Korean teachers "let" me participate at all, it's to read sentences for 30 seconds.

Hmm, well I guess this isn't as quick a question as I thought. I read the recent poll asking people how much they do in class, but I'm looking for some specifics. Thanks.

[xCustomx]

Why not gather all of the teachers together and explain that you would like more of a role in the classroom? I had to do that after the first two weeks at my job because some of the "teachers" sucked, and would camp out in the back of the classroom and not do anything unless I call on them (they still do that on occasion). I make sure to review the lesson that I have before the class and go over important details, including trouble spots students might have, and where I would like them to explain things in Korean. I have great rapport with 3 of my CTs, 2 of them are OK, and 2 of them are aweful.

Why are you using the textbook? I make, use, or adapt all of my material and told the students on the first day that they would never use the textbook in my class. It sounds like your CTs control the class and don't allow much input from you, which is something that you need to explain to them, otherwise I don't know how you will go about getting more of an opportunity to lead the class in the future.

[Jizzo T. Clown]

Ask them how much control they want and give it to them. If you don't get to teach 100% of the class it's not the end of the world...at least not in my view.

It pays to ask the right questions--have your CTs explicitly tell you what they expect, that way they can only blame themselves if things don't work out.

As I've said before, I go over the lesson with my CTs after each class (the ones that will listen anyway--half the time they don't care and go off for a cig). We discuss what went well and what we should change next time.

Although I have to be careful here becuase sometimes I get the feeling my CT thinks I'm being too critical!

[LuckyNomad]

I always come up with the lesson, and they'll usually just function as an assistant teacher. I usually don't tell them what we're doing until we are walking to the classroom. It's never been a problem because they are all really good at english. I've never had to divide the roles officially.
I usually come up with discussion style lessons, that allow the students to use any vocabulary or grammar that they know. I feel it's better because of the huge disparity in abilities of students who are in the same class.

[Alyallen]

My co-teacher and I are really in sync and have been since day 1 but for the most part it just naturally happened. During class we generally split things 50-50. If I want to do something outside of the book, I usually let him know in advance so I can hear his input on my plan and ask any questions.

It seems like no one teacher here can really give you an answer that will help you. Each school and situation are fairly unique in my opinion. You are going to have to talk to your co-teachers and sort out what sort of dynamic you will have in the classroom.

[shantaram]

I have 17 co-teachers. I have a meeting with an appointed 'head teacher' from each grade once a week, which usually ends up being held in a hasty two minutes before nine o'clock. We have a lesson plan in English which we divide into NT/KT parts. It's not really pigeon-holing, it's just putting some ground there so we know roughly what will happen in the lesson. I handle look/listen, with some translation and explanation from the KT, I do songs, the KT does activities and games. I go around and join the kids games and check their writing. I give them a stamp for completing reviews and ask them questions while I'm moving around the class. Sometimes we swap roles and the KT takes look and listen while I do the game, if they are confident. All teachers follow the lead given by their 'head teacher'. The KTs also give feedback to the 'head teacher' and they give the feedback to me. This system works and I think everyone here is happy about it including me. There is still room for improvisation in class and the KTs and I both improvise activities quite often. One class has severe problems- my 'helper co-teacher' Grade 6 class. That's because she insists on creating the whole lesson plan without any help, makes mistakes in every sentence she writes, speaks in Konglish to her students who know better, refuses to let me direct more than 10% of the class activities, rehashes the same irrelevant information over and over again in each lesson simply because she can pronounce it("It's too expensive" has been worked into every lesson so far this year), and is the most ambitious and naive person I have ever met. That is another story and I apologise for bringing it up here.

[pest2]

Since most administrative offices have yet to determine what exactly co-teaching is, alot of it is up to you and your co-teachers. It works pretty smoothly in Middle Schools to just split it up 50/50, but have the FT plan the lesson and have the KT help assist with translating some things, explaining, and reinforcing what the FT says. However, it really depends on your teaching style and that of the KT you work with. You have to find a chemistry that works with each teacher. It really is pretty effective if you find that chemistry...

The elementary schools are a different story... most elementary school teachers are not English teachers. Most elementary school students have a very low level of English language ability. Elementary schools seem to desire you to be a human tape recorder so the KT's dont lose face not knowing what you're saying... Elementary schools blow.

[Alyallen]

[some waygug-in]

I have a mix. The level 5 K-teacher is the only one who really communicates with me much at all. She tells me what she wants me to teach from each unit and leaves it up to me to design a lesson around that. She intervenes periodically if she feels they need some extra help or if she feels that I've missed something....but mostly she lets me teach.

The rest are ...........%^&*(), despite their best efforts they have no clue how to work with a foreign teacher. Mostly, they run the class in Korean and want me to jump in now and then.....except for when they suddenly expect me to take over...but haven't discussed anything with me ...and ..

Yeah...well.

I'd say that only 1 k-teacher out of the 8 that I work with knows what she is doing.

I've tried talking it over with some of them, but their level of English is so low that we can't really communicate much at all. I try my best, but there's not much I can do if the K-teacher won't allow me to talk.

I have to agree that so far, co-teaching sucks.

[Smee]

Great, thanks for all the input.

I teach at three schools. My Friday school is great, as I work together with each of the 4 homeroom teachers (although I do kindergarten pretty much alone). Now, ordinarily there I lead the class, but the Korean teachers are active in checking comprehension, translating, participating in the activities, and so forth.

At my "main" school, though, the administrators want the Korean teachers to teach by themselves. My county is phasing out native speakers by the end of the semester and putting them all into an "English Town." So, instead of using us as much as we can while we're here, the Korean teachers want to practice teaching classes alone. Obviously, it's pretty frustrating, and frankly it's 100% unacceptable. (Plus, our school is designated an "English and Research School," but I'm not involved with any of their English activities . . . I'm all for building confidence in Korean teachers, but this is ridiculous . . . sorry, different story). Some teachers are understanding and we at least rotate classes (I teach 1, they teach 1). But other times the Korean teacher comes into the classroom, speaks Korean for 35 minutes, and that's that.

I think face/ego has a lot to do with it . . . just as I find it unacceptable to not be used at all, they would find it unacceptable to have another teacher lead their class (and many teachers have said so, which is another reason why they do the classes alone).

So . . . I don't have much leverage in terms of trying to contribute more, as the Korean teachers really don't have to share their classes. Some of the teachers are accommodating, while others aren't. But having a big group discussion, though, isn't an option, because I've explained the need for one since March through my wrangler, but she keeps telling me that the teachers are too busy, or that there's no need for a meeting. And, sadly, some teachers have been quite vocal in their desire to teach their classes by themselves. With only about 5 weeks left, though, I think I'll have to get a little selfish and be a little more forceful about getting classroom time.

With the cooperative homeroom teachers I'll try to draw up a loose plan we both can follow in class. I was just curious if there was a "standard" way of doing things, but I see here that it's pretty much up to the individual teacher. I'll experiment a little over the next month and see what happens.

Thanks a lot.