Korean Job Discussion Forums

ABC KID · Joined: 14 Sep 2007

I have done two English camps in Korea, with the third one coming up very soon.

The first one was great. I enjoyed it greatly. The program was well-structured and the children had a lot of fun. It was a very happy time.

The second one was in the summer at my public school. The camp had clear objectives, students had a good time and it was painless enough to teach. It was part of my contract and I just got on with it and tried to do the best I could.

However, I had two negative feelings about the summer camp...
The first was that on three seperate occasions, students arrived with their young siblings who are not students of the school. Each time I asked why they had come. Students reply that mom is at work, can my brother or sister study with me? Definitely not and don't come again I replied and terminated the conversation
(Parents perception: Camp = Free Babysitting Service)

The second negative was that the camp kind of felt like teaching for the sake of it. When initial demand was lower than the school expected they just cancelled some of the classes but increased the number of hours for the other classes. I can fully understand that the school wants to get their money worth from the foreign teacher but nevertheless it felt slightly over the top.

So in my case, one of the camps I've done gets a big thumbs up (It was at a university). The other one was just okay.

How about other people? What were your camps like and how did you feel about the purpose of the camps?

nomad-ish · Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 1:57 am Post subject:

i voted that it was like babysitting.
when i was still doing my extra classes i tried to do a professional lesson, basically, warm-up game, lesson, activity to consolidate the info, review worksheet, and maybe time filler games. but quickly i was told that i need to have "much activities" and that the students must have fun. i'm all for letting the kids have fun (and they did), but they also had to pay attention to the lesson.
now when my camps roll around i basically have 3 or 4 short lessons in 20hrs of camp time and the rest of the time, it's games/activities/scavenger hunts/etc.
i planned all of the extra classes and camps by myself, so i don't know how those joint camp ventures, where a few FTs are shipped somewhere else, work out...maybe they're more professional, since the students that go to those are more interested/advanced in English(?). no clue.

sojourner1 · Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 4:29 am Post subject:

In these camps, are they really camps or is it just short term classes? Like do you hike, cook over a fire, and take boat rides while you teach them English relating to what is going on?

I am kinda confused on what these public school camps are really like.

Bibbitybop · Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Location: Seoul

Each camp will differ from all others.

My camps have ranged from being a teacher in after school classes to just teaching somewhere else.

In sleep-away camps, the Koreans are generally responsible for the babysitting of the students. How can you console a girl who has been heartbroken by a mean ol' 2nd grade middle schooler? You can't. You aren't Korean.