Korean Job Discussion Forums

[IncognitoHFX]

I'm starting at a High School on June 1st. Got the Visa, the apartment, and everything ready to go. There has been a lack of communication lately between the school and myself as I straighten things out on my end.

The thing I'm concerned about most is the first week, rather, the first day in the system. My first day is a Monday, and my first class is at 8:00am when I walk through the door. I'm a little nervous about teaching forty kids at once, but I'm more nervous about having absolutely no help whatsoever and just being thrown into the classroom and told to "teach". This is all well and good in a hogwan, but is this business as usual in a public school or will they allow me to shadow for a bit before letting me teach?

I have co-teachers (six I think) but from what I've heard 90% of co-teachers do absolutely nothing.

What should I expect and how can I prepare myself?

Thanks.

[mikeyboy122]

been here twice. told there would be training both times. no training. try to make a friend or two, western of course, and hopefully they'll clue you in on the game. Don't trust easily. They're nosy and they'll snitch you in a millisecond. Other than that, It's pretty cool. I've done hagwons, now I'm in public middle school. I'll never do hagwons again. You'll find out why. I hope you have very THICK skin. The kids and the females are generally cool, but watch the males. I've seen them burn many a good man. They're jealous as hell. They'll try to take you drinking. I told them I don't drink. Be wary. And cautious. Above all, always be polite. Even when you want to choke them remain above reproach at all times. Good luck. Be wise.

[bogey666]

[wanamin]

I was in the same boat as you only 4 months ago. My co-teachers do nothing. If your high school is like mine, there is no one to shadow, as you will be the only Foreigner teacher (except the Chinese teacher who can't speak English) , and all the other teachers (even the English teachers) conduct their classes in Korean. (!)
It was VERY daunting walking into the school that first day, 1500 students.
I started at the start of the school year, so there was a big pep rally to introduce all the new teachers, etc. which made it easier in my case. I'm sure they will welcome you somehow. As the only non-Korean, you will be a celebrity.

The nice thing, you will find about teaching high school is that you do the the SAME lesson 20 or 22 times, which makes it A LOT easier.

I didn't do a lot of research about public schools. My contract said "assistant teacher" so I thought I would be helping the teachers, maybe saying words properly, correcting students pronunciations, etc.
NO!! I am teacher, and I have to conduct class. The 'co-teacher' will help if asked.
Anyway, My first lesson was simply introductions. I spent 5 minutes introducing myself. Then I opened the floor for questions. (they never ask any... too shy)
Then I went around the room and had the kids either a)tell me something about themselves or b) ask me a question. I got about a 50/50 mix of "My hobby is computer games" and "Do you have a girlfriend?"
This was good because it helped the kids get to know me and feel comfortable with me, and it helped me figure out where their English was at, and what kind of lessons would work.
If you do as I did, you will have a week to get settled and figure out what to do.

I use a lot of worksheets, and always carry some kind of notebook or brief case. This gives the appearance that I'm busy, and I know what I'm doing; that I am a professional. After a while now, even I'm starting to buy it.
Each week it gets easier. Go to a bookstore and buy ESL books, that has helped me a lot. The English textbooks they use at my school look great, but since they're written in Korean I can't tell you if they're any good or use them in class.
Just to be clear, I worked at a hagwon for a year, and this makes my hagwon seem like slave labor. Its a great job!!!
Good luck, and feel free to PM any questions you have.

[curlygirl]

[bogey666]

[bogey666]

btw keep in mind that it's likely that in your highschool these same kids have English classes several times a week, but they only see YOU once.

with their usual Korean teachers..it's straight out of textbook, extremely boring, grammar , etc etc

and what really amazes me is that from seeing for e..g one of their tests and textbooks today, what they are learning with their Korean teachers is seemingly UNRELATED to any great extent with what they want YOU to teach..

which is to focus on "situational conversation" (at least that's what they want me to do).

it's really an assinine setup if you ask me.
but hey. it's their school system, their setup and they pay me.

so I'll do the best I can with what I've got.

(which isn't much, except candy)

they like the games..like puzzles, scrambled words. etc. but that won't promote the conversation they supposedly seek.

[mikeyboy122]

usingenglish.com VERY helpful.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

I'd be more interested in finding out what type of school it is - how many of the students are uni tracked, etc. I teach a real range of classes at my school and the difference between certain classes can be like preparing for university students versus preparing for kindergarten.

[Proustian]

I have been at a public middle school for 1 month. I had no training but was given 'Middle School English' text books with excercises in english and korean. There are text books for each of the three grades, each student has a copy, and they feature basic lessons and games etc. The korea teacher teaches the grammar and I teach the two pages of 'look and say' lessons.
Today I taught 'asking for and giving directions' based on the basic maps and locations in the books. I threw in a few key phrases: Excuse me, how can I find...how far is etc which my students all repeated. Next I had them work in pairs for 5 minutes, and then had them stand up and tell me where to find a location using the key phrases which I listed on the board. Later I played a game which involved picking locations out of a box and asking random students how to find that place on a map. I usually pick the talkers and those not paying attention - they are starting to learn to pay attention now
Sounds easy, right? One problem is that most of my students are so shy - and the girls are the worse. The boys are either very vocal and happy to participate or totally not interested. But most of the girls do not want to stand up and talk, despite the fact the they run up to me outside class, or scream across the corridor at me.
The other problem is the disparity in language skills and motivation. You have to cater for middle of the road and risk boring some and baffling others. I have had classes bomb and others succeed. I don't get any feed back from my co-teacher's so I have no idea if they are happy or not. They are helpful with translating my instructions and will control the noise level for me but other than that it is just 6ft me and my lesson plans talking to 35-40 students.
To the OP, use ice-breakers for your first week. The ones on this board are ok but try to combine and adapt them. For example, the 'my world' icebreaker can be adapted and used to elict info from the students. Get them to write up there hobbies and favourite pastimes. I have them do this, swap papers with the person next to them, and then come up and 'introduce' eachother. 'Hello, this is.... they like computer games. Their fav sport/season/colour/food etc.
For the lower levels I play true or false by writing true and false statements about myself and getting them to vote if they think it is true or false. I speak chinese, I beat Tiger Woods, I have 4 children. Next they write some true or false statements and come up to the board and the class can guess if it is true or false. One wit wrote 'I am legend' on the board. Favorite movie? I asked. 'No, I am legend'. The class all said 'true'
Anyway, it gets easier every week and you will soon feel comfortable in your role.
Regardless of what happens - NEVER GIVE UP!

[spliff]

[mrsquirrel]

[WoBW]

I agree with bogey, girls ARE much nicer students to teach IMO. My first job back in Thailand years ago was an all girls school. Even with classes of 40+ it was cake.

For first day introductions, here's what I do (if the students' English is up to it). I call it questions for answers:

I write a few things about me on the board, usually about 7-10 different things. I explain to the class that these are all ANSWERS to questions they might like to ask me. I put some real easy things like my name, my age, where I come from. Then I start making it more difficult byt writing things like my height (I'm really tall, so that gets a reaction), my old job back in England, what kind of food I like, how long I've been in Korea....you get the idea.

Then I tell the students that they have to come up with the QUESTIONS they would need to ask me for me to give the ANSWERS I wrote on the board.

It works well - the students are nearly always interested in the new teacher. Plus, they get to see that I'm a human being with a life before I walked into their classroom.

I also have a few anecdotes I can tell related to this stuff, and sort of branch out. You can easily fill that first 40-50 minute class on this if the students' English is good enough. In that case they often start asking follow-up questions.

And of course you get a chance to see how their English-ee is.

[bogey666]

I had one class today that was FULL of questions (surprise suprise) but they were almost all in Korean and Kotex translated.

but that's ok, the interest level is what's more important.

I'm in a technical high school where out of 1000 students.. there are probably something like 50 girls.. certainly no more than a 100.

but once again, in most classes, it's the girls who are more attentive, and certainly talkative and social. That's why I would love to have more girls for the interactive situational conversation exercies I wanted to do. A girl will almost always take the lead in such a situation while the guy (unless mature and or heavily motivated to learn, which my students are NOT) will just think he's too cool for such crap.

nearing the end of my first week I've found each class is different.. and I'm sure they will also be different on different days.

some of these kids crack me up though.. in one class they have nicknames for 2 kids in class.. one's Harry Potter and another there is a big kid.. everyone calls him Shrek... I couldn't help laughing my ass off with them.

then I had a class of 3rd graders this morning (these are usually the hardest in my school, I only teach 1st and 3rd graders in HS) and they were actually the most enjoyable class yet.

Not only did they exhibit interest but they were innate smart alecks. When asked what they do in their free time, they said "only study", and when I was asked if I had a gf.. then asked the question in return, got a positive response.. then asked if she was pretty or ugly.. everyone in the class yelled ugly (almost all boys class)

I couldn't help but laugh my ass off.