Korean Job Discussion Forums

[shinjilalenai]

What if you don't speak a word of Korean and you're starting a job at an elementary school in Korea?

What do you do?

Do the Korean teachers basically tell you what to do?

Is there a curriculum that you follow?

Are the teachers' textbooks layed out in a way that you can just go through from A to B?

Thanks.

[Julius]

Its best to iron out these fine details at the interview.

Not that it makes much diff though. They tend to say one thing then do another.

[lovebug]

there are loads of ways to teach only using english. many of us teach elementary without using any korean. you model examples of activities and make powerpoints for game directions.

getting your students to think and take directions in the language they are learning is one of the most effective ways to teach.

[shinjilalenai]

So, elementary school classes usually have computer projectors that I can do Powerpoint stuff on?

Do the Korean English teachers help explain directions from the native English speaker?

How dictator-like are typical elementary school Korean English teachers?

Thanks.

[andrewchon]

Answer to all three questions: sometimes.

When you get to your school, turn on your ability to think on your feet.

For Grades 3-6, there is an English version of teacher's guide available on website somewhere. Not that they are much help.

[lovebug]

your coteachers are going to vary. they can sleep in the back of the room or leave because they think it's their breaktime or be a control freak and not let you teach anything except to say words and phrases for the students to repeat. part of working with them is luck with who you get and the other parts are how well you can stand up for yourself and how you can communicate with them.
if your students are totally lost, you can have the korean teacher help explain directions but i've been teaching for a while and i haven't found a single activity that can't be explained using only english, miming, example modeling, or a short ppt.

most public schools have a projecter with a computer. tv screens vary from circa 1980 to flatscreens.

i second andrewchon's point about thinking on your feet. it's a big part of teaching here.

[thoreau]

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[Caesar1313]

It also depends on how comfortable you appear to be to the teachers. I've been here just over a year now. My first few months, my coteachers basically planned everything for me and told me what to do in class. I ran the class but they had made the plans and jumped in a lot when they thought it was necessary. which it almost always ways. Once I was more comfortable doing everything they completely let me take over. Now they don't even see the lessons until the children do, and basically are there to help me hand out papers, translate instructions if absolutely necessary and discipline the one or two kids that won't listen to me regardless of what I do. Every set of coteachers will be different though.

[shinjilalenai]

Oh good. I was planning on not thinking on my feet, so now that I've heard that it's useful, I'll strike that plan out. Back to the old thinking on the feet thing.




Thanks to the people with their descriptions of what it's like regarding the variety of situations with teachers and everything. It's good to know even basic stuff like that.

Happy Teaching!

[tomato]

[thoreau]

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[D.D.]

Just remember in elementary schools each class has their own homeroom teacher and that is usually your co-teacher. So you might hvae 8-10 co-teachers all with different levels of English and ideas on how to teach. I think it is best to make up your own material and negotiate to teach part of the class and let the Korean teacher do the crappy curriculum in the other part of the class, or you just do the whole class.

[ddeubel]

I'd take a look at the videos done by EBS which I downloaded and put into a nice player.

Real visits to schools, interviews with teachers etc.... across Korea in different settings. Find them HERE

DD
http://teachingrecipes.com

[gillod]

My kids don't really speak enough English to do grammar lectures. I did Present Continuous today, but the only thing that sticks is "-ing" and "Action Words!". So, it's not rigorous.

My lesson plan was:

Go over stuff on the CD
5 minutes for every group to write as many action words as possible, then we move them to -ing together
PPT about 'Tenses', plus a game where we name the action in PC form.
A video about ACTION WORDS (Verbs, durr) in PC form
Bomb Game with varied activities about PC form
Blazing Pen about PC if there's time.

So, games, repititon, writing. I'll do another lesson on this next week that'll be worksheet focused so I can see what, if anything, they remember. It's mostly just keeping their attention and hoping they can pick up the idea or see the pattern involved.

[Morgen]

The best way to prepare yourself, I think, is not to plan or prepare for any one specific thing or circumstance. Expect to be surprised and for things not to work sometimes. Or often. The good thing about elementary is that the curriculum is pretty well laid-out for you to rely on until you get your feet under you. Some not completely fluent person translated the teachers' guides into English and posted them online, and I can get the link to you later if no one else posts it. Generally speaking, the level is low enough for most Korean teachers to be able to function, so if you need to take more of a backseat as a newbie it won't be difficult for them to cope.

Definitely learn a few words of Korean (have a forceful "YA!!!!" if nothing else) and arm yourself with some games that only need the board or paper or whatever props you can bring with you.