Korean Job Discussion Forums

htrain · Joined: 24 May 2007

Ah, homework. I have such mixed feelings. I honestly hate busy work. I hate it with a passion. I made a rule. If the kids study hard in class, I give less/no homework. Productivity skyrocketed.

I have a feeling I'm gonna get my a$$ chewed though when some ajumma calls the school to complain that little Su Min didn't get any homework from the foreign teacher and I should be fired.

They have homework in their regular school. The Korean teacher gives them homework. I'm supposed to give homework too. No one does it. I tell the director, no one cares. I give no grades, nor is homework logged, but I'm supposed to give it every day, and lots of it. Anybody have a clue why?

How much homework do you give? .... honestly.

ontheway · Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 6:58 am Post subject:

We give lots of homework and required studying every day. None of it is busy work. The kids who do their homework and studying learn many times faster than the ones who don't.

We don't care what the mothers think. Homework and studying, if properly designed and assigned, help the kids learn. If the students don't do their homework or study, first we warn the kids, then we warn the mothers and then we kick them out.

Real teachers give homework and tests. It's an essential part of learning for most students.

htrain · Joined: 24 May 2007

xCustomx · Joined: 06 Jan 2006

I think a better question is, how can you not give homework? Do you really expect the kids to learn that much if they only focus in class? When I taught in a hagwon I had the kids write in their journals once or twice a week, along with sentence practice, vocabulary book homework, copying from a book to prepare them for dictation quizzes, grammar homework, etc. The kids who actually followed through with everything really thrived and accelerated through 600 page reading books. If the kids had midterms or final exams at school then I'd lay off on the amount of homework for a week, but never once did I not give them any homework.

htrain · Joined: 24 May 2007

xCustomx · Joined: 06 Jan 2006

htrain · Joined: 24 May 2007

OK. Here is one thing I want to put out here. I am not trying to preach at anyone or say I'm amazing or anything but I speak 3 langauges fluently, and I can back that up with paperwork (HSK and DLPT scores). I went to the #1 language school in America, the Defense Language Institute. It is the same school the FBI, CIA, and Foreign Service send their officers to.

A lot of teachers that teach English here know absolutely nothing about how people assimilate foreign language. It CANNOT be learned in the same way as math or science. People on here talk a lot of *beep* about the K-teachers and how bad their English sucks, but in actuality they follow suit and do the same thing they do, push busy work... it obviously didn't work for the K-teacher, so how is it gonna improve the English of future generations?

Here is my average student:
She comes to the school hungry at 5, stays until 7:30, gets home at 8. Eats dinner, takes a shower, starts homework at 9. She already has at least 2 hours of homework from public school. Then she does my co-teacher's homework for an hour. I have another student who stays at school for 4 hours and says she goes to sleep every night at 2am.

Where is the saturation point? If she gets an extra hour of written homework from me, is it really going to help? Is it going to make her an amazing English speaker? People on here can flame me if they want for raising the bullshit flag, but this is not how people learn language.

I see their homework. Writing vocabulary words 20 times each is B U S Y W O R K. That has absolutely no effect. It's brainless, it's not fun, it offers little application and GUESS WHAT!! THAT'S WHY THEY CAN'T PUT A SENTENCE TOGETHER AFTER 5 YEARS OF STUDY.

Whose homework is last priority? Their public schools? Yeah right, they grade them. Their K-teacher? Of course not, she'll call your mother or scream at you in Korean, maybe hit you.

They hate learning English, do you blame them? These teachers totally suck all the fun and enjoyment out of it. I would hate learning it too! I would be running my homework through babblefish and writing random crap down to fill the blanks as well.

I did not come here to debate the Korean education system. I recognize the fact that homework is needed, but folks, where do we draw the line? When is enough enough? Is 4 hours of homework better than 3? Isn't it better for the kid to get an extra hour of sleep so she can stop coming to my class with dark circles under her eyes half asleep every day?

Busy Work
Two books accuse educators of burying children -- and their childhoods -- in homework.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/07/AR2006090701159.html

htrain · Joined: 24 May 2007

htrain · Joined: 24 May 2007

Another thing I wanted to mention.... At one of my schools I'm not allowed to give homework. Why? Because they say the students "already get enough from every other teacher" and they want the kids to relax around me and try to have fun and practice speaking.

Keywords: test, test, test, homework, homework, homework, boredom, busy work, hogwon hogs

trubadour · Joined: 03 Nov 2006

this is my second hagwon. Here all the kids are drilled into doing homework - really it's not much - they just have to memorise a few words or a few lines depending on their ability. But the atmosphere is totally different from my last hagwon, where there were no expectations regarding homework, and not much support from the director. So the kids never did it. Totally different atmosphere. This hagwon has many teachers in many districts. The previous one (with no homework and not much in the way of routine or expectations had only one FT...)

Juregen · Joined: 30 May 2006

I have strong mixed feelings with "Homework"

Give the assumptions that the kids work at it, concentrate and are not immediately "helped" by their parents, it probably would create wonders.

But 1. We all hate homework 2. we don't always do it in the most appropriate setting and 3. Everyone tries to get "help".

Therefore, for me, homework is "additional" for those who want to do it. Forcing homework is going to be counterproductive imho.

So I am neither against it or for it, but if it is imposed, it should be done coherently.

htrain · Joined: 24 May 2007

Atavistic · Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 2:52 am Post subject:

rhinocharge64 · Joined: 20 Sep 2006

htrain spot on. Completely agree 120 percent.

Oreovictim · Joined: 23 Aug 2006

At my school, I teach a class, then I switch classes with a Korean teacher. One of my kids, who has been burnt out lately, came into class with a sad look on her face. She didn't do her homework, and she was dreading the time when the Korean teacher would come in. If you don't have your homework done, you get smacked a few times on the palms with a big-a$$ stick. I felt really bad for her (she goes to four other hagwons), so I let her spend several minutes finishing up her homework. Does that make me a bad teacher? I don't care.