Korean Job Discussion Forums

[nourozi]

I find that the co-teachers level of English is not very good and often she can't put one sentence together correctly. Also, when planning for the lessons, it's always tricky to know who is doing what. I feel it would be a lot easier for me to just plan the whole lesson and have the co-teacher on the side for discipline and translation if needed. It would be much more effective. Also the co-teacher speaks a lot of korean in class which is counter-productive most of the time.

[Clockout]

No, I do everything myself. Co-teacher sees the lesson when the students do. It's a good system.

[oldfatfarang]

[The Gipkik]

This situation is about as random as the toss of a die. One of my coteachers is really sharp and has decent English, the other is confused, a rookie, but likes to butt in all the time using Korean. What happens is that the momentum of the activity slows right down and everthing gets mixed up. It's not often enough to make me say anything, but it is very annoying.

[thoreau]

I have 3 co-teachers at 2 schools. Before I ever walked into the classroom I asked each about their idea of how the lessons should be planned and delivered.

2 of them said I should plan the lessons and be 'dominant' in the classroom. That is working more or less. I plan the lesson, email it to the 2 co-teachers the week before, and spend a few minutes at their workshop to discuss the lesson. During the lesson I lead and pause when I think some additional explanation is needed and the KTs chime in. It works for the most part.

The third KT wants a slightly more balanced approach. This is at a small rural school and I am only there one day per week. He has excellent control of his classroom and there are zero behavioral problems. I still plan the lesson but he provides more input during the class.

[Fishead soup]

It's best to decide in advance how you intend to teach. If we are using the Korean Government Approved text book I allow the Korean teacher to dominate. I become a kind of human tape recorder. Yes this is really regressive but when it's time for me to do my own activities I dominate and call the shots. It's a kind of give and take.

[ekul]

[nourozi]

In my case, the co-teacher is 80% in control of the class and the lesson plan! Obviously they are over paying me as they are not using me effectively. I like to feel that I am being more useful and quite frankly the job is easy but not very fulfilling. I guess I'm only 23 and the co-teachers are 27 and 30 so they might feel they need to take control. This is at a public elementarty school and it is my first year teaching. I am thinking of teaching at middle school next year as the students should be at a higher level and I will get to create my own lesson plans instead of using this crappy government curriculum.

[Julius]

korean teachers are invaluable for the translation and discipline aspect.

Aside from that, they should just leave the actual english teaching to the native. They haven't a clue.

[Countrygirl]

At the beginning of class, my first co-teacher did everything while I held up the wall. Eventually she wore herself out and she gave most of the lesson to me. Now she relaxes with a newspaper while I teach. I prepare the first 2 parts of the lesson and she prepares the game.

The second co-teacher has poor English so I have always taught the entire class while she does her work at the back of the class. I have a set routine to everything so there is really no need for the co-teachers to translate.

I've had 8 co-teachers and the best thing that has worked is splitting up the lesson plan. That way there is no need for a meeting, which most co-teachers always end up missing because they're scared of speaking in English.

[tomato]

[ekul]

[Morning_Star]

[Xuanzang]

[maingman]

Julius wrote :


korean teachers are invaluable for the translation and discipline aspect.