Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Carlyles Ghost]

For all of the effort and time teachers put into planning and delivering thoughtful, well considered lessons, what practical results do you see in the english ability of your students?

[KYC]

[Ya-ta Boy]

Major improvements in their ability to communicate in English. I don't take credit for more than about 5% of their progress--nearly all of my students study really, really hard. I work with adults and they know their future careers depend on them speaking English.

[Snowkr]

I see very few results at this point. I'm in a public high school... the students are not motivated because the school is not known to be that good. While there are some exceptions, most of the students I work with could really care less about anything that goes on in my classes. I can't say I blame them. There's no assessment and so why should they care?

I was told when I first arrived that the students like young, attractive foreigners and will find them entertaining and so it seems I was hired to do just that. I'm going to tell my school very soon that I did not invest in a Masters in TESOL to come here and be an entertainer to a bunch of teenagers.

[bassexpander]

Snow, I agree, it's often difficult to motivate students at schools which are at a lower level. I noticed a dramatic difference in schools between Bundang's rich areas and Seoul's poorer areas (where I live now). No contest.

If you can't land a uni job next time around (I know, one must often amass experience teaching first), then I'd suggest trying to move to a public school in a richer neighborhood. You will find that the students are far more motivated.

I'd also suggest you try for uni jobs on the fringes of Seoul. Pay your dues there for a few years, then come inland.

[reactionary]

do you ever give up on some students? I have.

I have one now who FALLS ASLEEP WHEN I TALK TO HER. She says she only sleeps 2-3 hours a night, sometimes staying all night at convenience stores...but never has homework done! She also doesnt have a notebook, just dozens of folded loose pieces of white copy paper.

Some students are really hopeless and it makes it really hard to take the job seriously. Mostly I blame the school for not bothering to find quality students - they expect these slugs to succeed in an American university?!

That said, I really like it when I have students who give a damn about their ability and like to see when their writing goes from disgraceful to passing. Writing's where I can see tangible results - it's a bit harder to notice improved speaking/conversation skills for me.

[Carlyles Ghost]

Agreed. Trying to guage the growth in a students speaking ability in a classroom of 40 kids is impossible. I have tried to focus more attention on the kids who seem to care about their english; some times, it seems, if I can only help them to see the difference between "I read a book" and "I am reading a book" and when and how to use the two, then I have had a good day.

Like Ya-ta suggested above, I guess it's important to see my role as a facilitator rather than a 'teacher' as such, and to remember that any success the kids will have largely depends on how hard they study.

If the students english isn't improving, if they are not learning anything, if they are not using what we learn in class, some days I just wonder "what's the point?" "If there is no practical result", I ask, "then why do it?"

On the up-side, my supplemental classes are great; they care. It makes teaching/facilitating a breeze.

[the_beaver]

Considering the thousands of hours required for learning/acquiring a language, in terms of performance I don't expect to see much of difference over a single semester.

Over one semester, however, I do see increased motivation and a greater sense of learner autonomy and knowledge of how to learn language. Also I see more confidence.

With students who take my classes over their university careers I often (not always) see incredible improvement. I can take credit for introducing some of them to autonomous approaches and showing them directions for their acquisition, but, at the end of the day, they are the ones who chose to spend X number of hours studying/practicing and to take classes and to watch English sitcoms and to read English books and to record their voices to work on pronunciation and to join English clubs. I like to think that I influenced their choices.

[Mosley]

My great raving success has been to get them to say"Nice to see you" instead of "Nice to meet you."

[Dome Vans]