Korean Job Discussion Forums

[big_fella1]

A question for the qualified teachers. I have been offered a corporate gig. When I asked them did they have a curriculum established they told me yes they have a textbook.

I am concerned as I feel that a textbook whilst being part of a curriculum does not equal a curriculum. Am I being pedantic?

I am not from a professional teaching background, but to me the curriculum is the set of experiences that you want the student to go through in the course. It would include goal setting and then finding the tools that would help the student reach those goals. It would include activities, exercises and theory. It would include checks that the student was understanding the material and reviews both by me and their peers. Some of these things may indeed be in a textbook, some of them would be required from me and some would need to be developed.

Is curriculum development so expensive?

When I first came to Korea, I used to take these gigs on the basis that, if you pretend to pay me, i'll pretend to work. Now I am married and going to be living here for a while, I want to do good work. I feel that I would rather refuse work than do a bad job because there wasn't enough preparation done in advance.

So my question: Is a textbook enough or should I run away? (btw, the course starts next week.)

Thanks in anticipation of your feedback.

PS Thank you for those who take the time to grammar correct the above as I haven't proofread it.

[spyro25]

sent to pm instead

[spyro25]

request -

if you do end up doing the plan i told you about, could you please let me know in detail how you did it and how it went? i'm doing my ph.d on this very subject.

thanks

spyro25

[smoggy]

In the US I am a substitute teacher, and have been for 7 years. The literacy program goes through a weeks of work broken up in 5 parts. They listen to a story and the teacher asks questions about the pictures, what came next. They hear it 2 or 3 times during the week. They do the calendar daily and do simple math facts. Then they write something about the story etc. This is part of the curriculum - not the curriculum itself. The teachers always give supplemental worksheets. Whether they color pictures of things that start with H etc.

[lifeinkorea]

In theory, we can build anything to fit a set class of students. However, when you interact with each class, they have their own strengths as weaknesses. Mozart for example composed his music knowing exactly who the french horn player was. He wrote to their level and style, not just the instrument.

I like the idea of only being given a book. Then, I get to carve out, add in, and combine things to fit the students.

If there was a set curriculum, I am afraid it wouldn't be all that fun. Perhaps, at a college level, you need to establish a wide set of standards. In this case, I agree, there has to be more structure. However, with younger kids and teens, the focus should be more on the present communication you can have with the students. Try to make your time with them valuable for both you and the students.

[Conrad B Hart]

[Carla]

[D.D.]

Find out the goals and needs of your clients then make the stuff up. It's not difficult. I write the stuff from scratch for 28 classes aweek. I find live programs that are specific are much better than canned stuff like textbooks.

[dragon777]

The answer to your question is yes.

[wakingup]

Does the book have a teacher's version? If so, that probably has some supplementary things. Does the textbook have practice books along with it?

My school has textbooks, teacher's guides to go with them, and practice books to go along. Basically, to me, that's a curriculum. Do I still have to create worksheets, tests, and other materials? Yes. But so do most teachers in North America unless they teach some really structured program, which would actually suck, as it wouldn't allow for improvement and customizing it to the class/students/teacher/etc.

In Korea, if the school has a textbook they have consistently used, I'd consider that relatively organized.

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