Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Alexander]

This is my first tour in the ROK, and, bar the usual bureaucratic BS we all have to deal with, things have been going well, perhaps too well.

My P and VP are incredibly nice. They seem to like me. Some of my mates have never seen their P, whilst mine comes by of a morning just to make sure I'm "comfortable." I was, until now.

The problem is, I'll be starting a teachers� class shortly. They've both signed up. This is incredibly unusual (or so I'm told). I'm not sure I can get away with "free talking" every lesson. I'm also concerned that other teachers are going to be incredibly uncomfortable in this scenario.

Seeing as I have to run the class anyway, can anyone provide some links, ideas, or plans that can help?

[Juregen]

What qualifications do you have?

If you have TOEFL or any other additional training, why not use that?

Another way is to ask them what is the purpose of this class.

Jut don't fret, make it clear you want to know what the content should be. If they say it's up to you, then it is up to you.

[Mi Yum mi]

OP are they advanced speakers or low level?

If advanced get the to choose the topic for next week. Prepare something. You may or may not need it.

[ciccone_youth]

i also got the lovely task of teaching free talking lessons to korean teachers, including the VP and P.

and lucky me got the lower level class, they don't speak a word of english.

i dont have any qualifications at all, it's my first few weeks teaching, so it's a very bad situation.

they gave me a book to follow, so i just pair them up and make them practice the conversations.

i hate teaching that class, i thought i came to korea to teach kids.

[kiwiliz]

Get a book, get them to buy the book, my students who are my teachers, principal and vice principal do.
they like having a text, but I use it as a guide and use those topics. then if they want to the teachers can read ahead and become familiar with the topic before the class. I teach 3 adult classes. I have found some even go to the Internet and look up vocabulary before the class now.
My advice - get a text.

[Alexander]

I'm guessing they're going to be low level. Really low.

One or two (including the VP) are ok, but the rest are another story.

This is NOT the English Teachers class (I have one of those as well...and that's easy as)

[nobbyken]

Try http://www.roadtogrammar.com/welcome/ the downloads section has some good stuff.

Under Students: Here are five ways to make your English more natural.
Should be a good for better students, let them practice on their own
instead of asking for dialogues like the kids.

You may find the P and VP will be among the first to drop out.
Explain that the first lesson is more about finding the general level of the class.

[ddeubel]

This topic must come up every week. I do understand this site has NO search engine and I really wish people would just start shouting about that....

But that said, go to this discussion we had on EFL Classroom 2.0
http://eflclassroom.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=826870%3ATopic%3A3655

Further, teaching adults requires a little different approach. Here's a presentation I put together which outlines some of the differences....
http://eflclassroom.com/flash/teachingadults.swf

Teach about their lives, interests. Keep some structure by dipping in the book from time to time but if you are constantly nose into the book, you'll just lose them....

See the fine teacher oriented book for download in the thread mentioned above......

DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com

[spyro25]

loved the finch book DD - thats a great one just for these type of classes.

[Alexander]

The lack of a search function really does frustrate me. This site does have some useful information, provided by some incredibly helpful people. Finding it is almost impossible.

Trawling through pages of old threads isn't an efficient use of time.

That said, thanks to everyone for the help. It was just what I was looking for.

A