Korean Job Discussion Forums

[oceansdepth]

I have a friend in Korea now, who is also Korean. Supposedly, he says that most hagwons discourage it at all costs to even speak Korean even though a teacher could speak it. Are there any Koreans who are planning to teach English here in Korea who would know about this? Or is there anyone who would at least know some information on the matter? Thanks ~~

[Ya-ta Boy]

Most schools discourage the use of Korean in class. Most teaching courses discourage the use of the native language in teaching a foreign language.

This is why it's so strange that the Korean education system uses Korean to teach English.

[oceansdepth]

^ so do KOrean speakers typically speak KOrean pretty liberally while trying to teach English? I'm saying this is because I am Korean and with private tutoring lessons, obviously I spoke Korean to teach my students. but then my friend told me not to.

[Young FRANKenstein]

[jackson7]

At my uni I'm encouraged by my supervisors to use my Korean skills to explain grammar and vocabulary because that's what the students want. In hagwons, however, it's all about what the parents want, and they want English exposure from the native teachers.

[aka Dave]

This actually came up when I was teaching in a hagwon and first studying Korean. One of my students was a chatty little girl whom I taught along with the boss (a nice guy).

That little girl actually complained I was speaking too much Korean! (and this after she gave me a little English-Korean vocabulary book).

So the boss told me not to speak Korean in class, ever. I just ignored this and spoke less Korean to the girl who ratted me out. In my other classes I spoke as much Korean as I could without feeling guilty. Now I teach at a Univ. and when I ask my students questions in Korean they answer in English.


The Korean you use in class includes phrases you repeat over and over ( Ta Get nass o yo? An je sey yo! Chal hehs o yo! Saeng Saeng hey yo!), so these words are easily remembered.

[shifty]

Hi Dave I need the publisher's name and title of that little dictionary your student gave you.

I'm assuming it's a romanized one. I had one time ago, but foolishly left it to my successor.

Any kind of barcode would also help.

Anyone else having similar info feel free to spill the beans.

[Real Reality]

[Young FRANKenstein]

[aka Dave]

[shifty]

Big thanks Dave!!

[sheba]

The Korean teachers at my school always taught English classes in Korean but I cant imagine how they would be able to teach vocab and grammar without using Korean... Our boss tried implementing an English-only class for all of us teachers, but everyone hated it... especially the students.

I used basic Korean instructions for new classes until they had learned them in English, or for scolding... the students would just laugh if I yelled in English!! But then one student complained and I was back to English-only classes... really difficult for the young ones or the not so smart students...

[Young FRANKenstein]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Most hagwons want foreign teachers to speak English exclusively. A few want their Korean teachers to teach in English, but most tolerate if not expect their Korean teachers to teach mostly in Korean.

[aka Dave]

I teach prospective English public school teachers, and the theory they study and are taught is CLT which comes out of a social constructivist approach. In a word, the idea is you teach in the target language (in this case English) almost exclusively.

So, in theory, they shouldn't be speaking Korean at all (at least in public schools).

However, I also teach a special class for seniors called "Teaching English in English". It's a class focused on them learning all the classroom vocabulary so they can teach exclusively in English. Really a boring class for me to teach, because the vocab is restricted (chapters in the text book are about AV equipment, using the board, etc.). I had the students do a lot of practice teaching.

Anyway, the point of this is we were putting a lot of effort into preparing them to teach *in English* here in the department.

At one point about halfway through the course I asked them, "Will you mostly use English in the class or Korean?"

An awkward pause. "Mostly Korean". Ack! I felt crushed. All this effort for nothing. lt's partly a confidence thing, I think. If they make a mistake and the students realize it, they're humiliated (some of their students may have lived abroad).

It's also generational, younger students tend to be better as more of them have gone through the hagwon grind gone to the Philippines to practice.

I taught French at an American Univ. while I was a grad student for 4 years. 95 percent of the class was in French. It's the way you learn.

I'm listening to a Korean mp3 language lesson. One thing really bugs me is the sentences/dialogues are read in Korean, but an English narrator orders the sentences "One", "Two", "Three".

How dumb is that? It's a perfect chance to have the sentences numbered in Korean as I'd get numbers well memorized that way.