Korean Job Discussion Forums

[wilbur_h_cobb]

Hey there. I've been teaching middle / high school Koreans for a couple years now, in China and in Korea, but only in private schools. I thought I'd give public schools a shot, and I'm concerned over a few things:

1) Co-teaching? I've never encountered or even heard of this in ESL. How does this affect the class atmosphere and the authority of the foreign teacher?
2) English level? I'm told this varies widely even in a single class. How often does this happen and how do you deal with it?
3) Class size? I've been told 30-40 students. Holy crap.
4) Curriculum? Is there one laid out or are foreign teachers free to teach what they want?
5) Administration? How is the direction of a public school? Well organized?

I would appreciate it if I could hear your experiences.

[oldtactics]

I'm still new-ish, so some long termers might have different perspectives, but here's what I've got:

1) My (and most) coteachers are basically there to translate the instructions to students. Mine are generally pretty helpful and walk around the class making sure that everyone understands and gets help if they need it. I'm in a girls highschool and I have 100% authority - I do all the lesson planning, I run the class, and discipline is basically just telling the girls to stop talking, which myself and the coteachers both do. For the most part, I'm happy with the situation, although my girls are high level enough that I really don't need a coteacher to even be there.

2) I'd say I have about 4 girls in each class that are high level english, about 30 that are average/intermediate and 4 that have zero comprehension. It's different for every school and every class, but generally their reading skills are head and shoulders above their comprehension - they can read full pages of text but if I ask them how to order a hamburger in a restaurant, they have no idea what to say.

Everyone's techniques are different but I find it effective to aim for the middle group - the high level girls usually help people if they need it, and the low level girls get help from their partner or the teachers. It also helps to make lesson plans adaptable enough so that if you're in a class where they're just not getting it, you can lower the level enough that people start to understand.

3) My classes are 35 - 40 students. I see about 750 students a week.

4) All I was told was that my class was for 'conversation' english rather than grammar rules. I teach the class as though the students are moving to an English speaking country and need to learn how to survive - we do sentence structure and basic grammar as part of the bigger lessons, but they're always topic specific i.e. directions, restaurants, in the classroom, meeting new people, etc etc

5) Mine is super well organized and all my coworkers and admins are wonderful and keep me in the loop. Everyone's experience is different.

If you're already in Korea, it would be worthwhile to try and meet up with some current PS teachers to hear their perspectives on their school and the experience. Best of luck!

[Kurtz]

1) Co-teaching means different things to different people. Basically you'll hope for a nice Korean co-teacher who will let you do most of the talking, they will translate when necessary and maintain order.
Last year I had a hostile bitch so it was a nightmare, this year is perfect so it's a lottery depending on the K teacher's attitude to you.


2) Common problem. I'd like an answer to this myself, but in short, the weak students will just sit there and say nothing or cause problems as they don't understand.


3) Between 22 (if you have a "special" student) and 32 in my case.


4) I have a book to follow, while in some cases other schools will let you do what you want. This can be a problem if you're in the countryside and teaching at more than one school, and have to make many lesson plans.


5) Admin seems fine. I get paid on time, they sort out paying for my apartment, doing my tax, no complaints.

[rgv]