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mayorgc
Joined: 19 Oct 2008
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 Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 11:37 pm Post subject: How did you guys handle the "no teaching experience&quo |
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I have absolutely no teaching ability, the gepik contract says that I don't need any.
so how do i prepare for class? i dont think there is any orientation for me.
so how exactly does gepik train teachers?? |
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sigh!
Joined: 27 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 11:58 pm Post subject: |
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| Its the equivalent of learning to swim by being pushed into a river. |
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Ultimo Hombre
Joined: 13 Oct 2008
Location: BEER STORE
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 12:22 am Post subject: |
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| A river full of screaming kids. |
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mayorgc
Joined: 19 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 12:26 am Post subject: |
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hmmm, I was hoping for more of a reassuring type of response, you know, like "it'll be alright son, just take it one day at a time"
but i guess not.............
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 12:31 am Post subject: |
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| More like learning how to swim by being pushed into a bathtub. |
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Straphanger
Joined: 09 Oct 2008
Location: Chilgok, Korea
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 12:37 am Post subject: Re: How did you guys handle the "no teaching experience |
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| mayorgc wrote: |
I have absolutely no teaching ability, the gepik contract says that I don't need any.
so how do i prepare for class? i dont think there is any orientation for me.
so how exactly does gepik train teachers?? |
For the love of god do you have a degree? Go to your local education authority (district) and apply to be a substitute teacher. Do this for a few weeks. If you still really really rilly oh mommy can I rilly wanna teach kids, then by all means, welcome to the peninsula. |
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earthbound14
Joined: 23 Jan 2007
Location: seoul
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 1:29 am Post subject: Re: How did you guys handle the "no teaching experience |
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| mayorgc wrote: |
I have absolutely no teaching ability, the gepik contract says that I don't need any.
so how do i prepare for class? i dont think there is any orientation for me.
so how exactly does gepik train teachers?? |
Don't worry. There will be no teaching instruction and very little help given to you. Because you have a university degree and you are a native speaker, they will assume that teaching is easy, that all you need to do is speak. When things don't go well for the first couple of months, you may get told you are a bad teacher, or that you are doing a bad job....ignore it, what they mean is "I'm sorry I haven't been helping you, you should try this....". Keep on truckin until you get things figured out. After a year in Korea you should be able to figure out a lot about how to teach (just in time to leave or re-sign). Just be patient when an article pops up in the press complaining about unqualified teachers, they don't really mean it, what they really mean is that unqualified people are running schools and they are not taking the time to educate the teachers they bring over (cause they are in such a desperate need of teachers they can't afford to bring qualified teachers here, and they are so cheap and nationalistic about it they would rather only get young fresh kids out of school who will only teach for a short time rather than people who might actually look at Korea as a long term teaching and educational option).
just enjoy the ride, you'll have stories to tell and you'll feel good about learning to teach while under fire...it's a challenge.
good luck |
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jkelly80
Joined: 13 Jun 2007
Location: you boys like mexico?
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 1:35 am Post subject: |
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| This will sound bad, but...don't worry about doing a good job for the first 6 months. Really. They will expect you to perform miracles because they're Korean, but screw that. Do what you can and don't let them criticize you. They apply for a program that brings in people with no experience, they know exactly what they're getting. |
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mayorgc
Joined: 19 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 1:37 am Post subject: |
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Thank you very much earthbound
your reply made me all warm and tingly
I can sleep well tonite |
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robot
Joined: 07 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:05 am Post subject: |
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| jkelly80 wrote: |
| This will sound bad, but...don't worry about doing a good job for the first 6 months. |
Perhaps even more than that. I sometimes look back at the lesson ideas I had after teaching for only three years, and think about how much more streamlined and effective my classes are now.
On the other side of the coin, though, every day at my own school I see many teachers with under a year's experience who are doing fabulous jobs and who are loved by their students.
So while experience definitely helps, it's by no means necessary. |
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esetters21
Joined: 30 Apr 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:13 am Post subject: |
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| robot wrote: |
| jkelly80 wrote: |
| This will sound bad, but...don't worry about doing a good job for the first 6 months. |
Perhaps even more than that. I sometimes look back at the lesson ideas I had after teaching for only three years, and think about how much more streamlined and effective my classes are now.
On the other side of the coin, though, every day at my own school I see many teachers with under a year's experience who are doing fabulous jobs and who are loved by their students.
So while experience definitely helps, it's by no means necessary. |
True to that. Although I have taught for many years here and home, I think some of my lessons suck at times. The students don't feel that way though. I have been told by my CTs that the students get upset when they can't come to my class. The kids will love you if you bring a good personality and show interest in them. Good lessons are important as well  . |
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Draz
Joined: 27 Jun 2007
Location: Land of Morning Clam
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:44 am Post subject: |
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| Laughing my ass off at the first two replies. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:53 am Post subject: |
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| Photos showing off my white skin and blonde hair. |
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xCustomx
Joined: 06 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 3:09 am Post subject: |
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| I would recommend teaching at a hagwon for the first year, just to get some experience. Even with two years of hagwon experience, it wasn't easy to start teaching at a public school because the style and methods of teaching are different. However, class control has never really been a huge issue, and I think the time I spent at the hagwon helped me with that. Good luck |
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red_devil
Joined: 30 Jun 2008
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:49 am Post subject: |
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Teaching is fucking easy.
Dealing with kids that are burnt out from a life based around 15-20hrs of school a day, the parents that then don't understand why their "wonderful jewel of a daughter/son" isn't doing well in class, co-teachers that don't speak any English, etc, is not.
If you include the above in "teaching", than some would say it's probably not easy provided those are issues for you - some places are great and those are non-issues such as the parents thing.
Besides, doesn't GEPIK/EPIK/SMOE all have like a week of teacher training? When i first came to Korea i spent 2 days observing classes and that was enough for me...the rest is cake. |
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