Korean Job Discussion Forums

scorpiocandy · Joined: 27 Feb 2008

I just heard something from one of my students that i can't even believe.

His mother thought he had finished the English textbook we're using and ... she threw it away!

Apart from the fact that we haven't finished it and he does in fact still need it... she threw it away Shocked

Apparently she throws all his English books away but not the Korean ones.
I wish I could express to him just how shocked I was and why but no-one else at school seems to think this shocking at all. Actually I'm more than shocked I'm livid but I realise that my anger is pointless and this is just one indication of their attitude to learning English.

I guess I was naive enough to think that they saved the books to refer back to. I can't even bear to throw elementary school NOTES away but I guess that's just me Smile

Draz · Joined: 27 Jun 2007 Location: Land of Morning Clam

I either sold my textbooks or "donated" them. (Threw them in the free box to get rid of them.)

Notes I always toss.

jdog2050 · Joined: 17 Dec 2006

scorpiocandy · Joined: 27 Feb 2008

Yes of course I understand the general attitude of most hagwon ( hogwon?i never know the spelling) parents but I guess it just never ocurred to me that the books actually went out with the trash.

Donating is one thing. Garbage is another.

From Day 1 at school we were taught to respect books. There was even a certain way we had to page to prevent damaging them and this just stuck with me.

Join Me · Joined: 14 Jan 2008

One of my students (a good kid mind you) has had to replace his textbooks 3 times in the two years I have been teaching him. Why you ask? Because his father gets frustrated with trying to assist the kid with his homework and ends up going into a rage and ripping the poor kids books in half.

Every 6 months or so this kid comes to class without his books and I ask him where they are. He just says "father" and makes a big ripping motion with his hands and we both have a good laugh. I'd guess it is a good thing the father takes it out on the books instead of my student.

aphase · Joined: 27 Apr 2006

i've also had students who's parents through their books away thinking they were done with them. I've also had students who intentionally don't bring their books so they don't have to study (they know i don't have access to a copy machine) I let it slide the first few times, but then i started making the rule that all the chairs in the classroom are mine, and I can allow anyone to sit in them and also take away the privilege. When they have to stand in front of their desk during the entire class hour after i take their chairs from them, they get the message and start bringing their books again.

maddog · Joined: 08 Dec 2005 Location: Daegu

Some of the reading books that we use are so bad that I see no point on hanging on to them. When the semester is over, my copy goes in the bin. On the other hand, some have been pretty good. I hang on to them in case I need extra material. But there's just no need for a student to keep them.

With grammar and writing books, I encourage my students to keep them, unless the book in question is especially bad. Last semester I used Writing Academic English by Pearson/Longman. It was a little difficult in parts, but it covered virtually everything they need to know about writing a good essay, so I made a point of telling them to keep it for future reference. I wish I'd had it as a textbook when I was in school. I'm sure most of them chucked it in the bin as soon as they got home.

MD

aldershot · Joined: 17 Jul 2006

the dude who runs the office in my department threw an entire bookcase's worth of books away. i was like a buzzard at the site of roadkill picking through those boxes of books. they were thrown away because he believed our department wouldn't use those books again.

...i'm currently using one of them for my afterschool class.

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

You should see what public schools are like. Every year at the end of the year we through thousands of books away. Last year I counted a row of 27 huge orange recycling bags after our third-years had cleaned out their classrooms.

Gollywog · Joined: 14 Jun 2008 Location: Debussy's brain

My school didn't throw out the 50 or so English novels, etc., they bought for the kids to study English.

They put them in a cabinet.

And there they sit today.

Not a single teacher has told the students about them.

What's the point of buying books in English if you don't put them in the library?

I tried lending some of them to students.

They returned them very, very gratefully.

Did they finish them? - Yes.

Did they enjoy them? - Yes.

They were returned in mint condition. Not one student could answer even the easiest question about the book they "read," even though the books feature a parallel Korean translation.

The amount of English the average Korean student learns in three years of classes they could probably learn, if they really wanted to, in one month. All these classes are a 90 percent waste of money.

Why don't the teachers tell the students about the books, and why don't the students actually read them?

Because the more or less unstated policy of the Korean government is that English is not to be used to learn about things non-Korean. English is only to be used for pro-Korean purposes.

crusher_of_heads · Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 7:33 pm Post subject:

To the previous poster:

If English is only to be used for pro-Korean purposes, that keeps the gravy train.

If they read Tom Sawyer 100 times, they won't get the moral of the story.

Let them keep their bigotted, narrow minded attitude about English for pro-Korean purposes, and let them think painting fences is fun!!!