Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Eazy_E]

I've been on the job for about six months, working at a children's hagwon that includes kindergarten.

Instead of getting easier as job are supposed to, the kindergarten is getting more difficult. I sing songs, do arts and crafts, jump around like a fool, all the things you're supposed to do with kindy. They just don't respond positively.

My hagwon doesn't have an assistant, as many of them do. My lack of ability in Korean really limits my ability as well. I really like the job and I even like the little tots that I'm supposed to be teaching. But I just don't know what to do with them!

Does anyone know of any solutions for kindergarten?

[tomato]

Hello, Easy_E!

My sentiments exactly--about four years ago.
But then I got the hang of kindergarten teaching, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
But little by little, I acquired some ideas of my own.
Here are some of my favorite ideas:

rhythmically greeting the children

If you are of musical bent, take a scrap piece of lumber, draw quarter notes, eighth note couplets, and a quarter rest. Then ask a carpenter to cut it out for you.

At the beginning of each class, greet each child in 4/4 rhythm. Say "Hello, Michael!" in even quarter notes.
Say "Hello, Jane, shh!" with a quarter rest at the end.
Say "Hello, Melanie!" with an eighth-note couplet on the third beat.

easy picture books

My favorite English bookstore is Kim and Johnson in Pusan.
Take the subway to Beomnaegol, which is station #18.
Walk out exit #1 and it's on the second floor in the building right in front of you.
They have a good selection of books published by Creative Teaching Press, which are adaptable for this purpose--or for almost any purpose.
Their phone number is 051/645-0515. Their e-mail address is:

[email protected]

But don't limit yourself to picture books written in English.
There is a wealth of picture books written in Korean which you can translate. There are oodlums of picture books with only one word or very few words on each page. If you know Korean, this will be good practice. If you don't know Korean, this will be a good place to start.

For that matter, the book doesn't have to be written in English or Korean. Keep an eye out the next time you go on a visa run.

As you read the book, elicit a response from the kids after every page.
After you show a picture of a dog, slap your knees while saying rhyhmically, "This is a dog. This is a dog."

give the children turns drawing

You say the children can't draw anything recognizable?
That's okay, have them draw lines, circles, or anything else simple.
Draw a line and then say, "Who else can draw a line?"
If every hand shoots up, and David is behaving exceptionally well,
choose David.

"Let's all say in a loud voice, 'David drew a line!'"
"Let's all whisper, 'David drew a line!'"
"Let's all say in a puzzled voice [scratching your head and frowning] 'David drew a line?'"
"Let's all cry [taking out your handkerchief and sobbing], 'David drew a line!'"
If David drew a circle when he was supposed to draw a line, that's okay too. Just substitute the word "circle" for "line."

spelling words with alphabet tiles

I once had the good luck of walking past a construction site which was throwing away small tiles of about the same size and shape. I took them home, painted letters on them, and have been putting them to good use ever since.

Lay down the letters for the word BLUE, fingerspell the word, and then take one letter out.
"Who can put the letter L back in?"
Sounds absurdly simple for us, but we're not four-year-olds!

gross motor activity

I try to time this activity for the halfway point in the class.
Jumping, marching, and stamping can be adapted for animals, colors, letters of the alphabet, or any other subject matter.

"What color is this? This is red. Let's march for the color red.
This is red! This is red!"
"What color is this? This is blue. Let's run for the color blue.
Thisisbluethisisbluethisisblue . . ."
"What color is this? This is green. Let's stamp for the color green.
THIS IS GREEN! THIS IS GREEN!"

In order to adjust to a more sedentary activity, it might help to make tiptoeing the last gross motor item.

sign language

Sounds complicated, but you will be surprised how easy it is to teach sign language.
Just make a simple pattern, such as "This is red, this is blue" or "This is a car, this is a truck."
You will only have to look up a few words each week.


My favorite sign language dictionary is:



http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0913580813/qid=1084934939/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-1658994-0003058?v=glance&s=books

monotone musical activities

You don't have to be Mozart to administer this activity.
"Red" has one syllable, so sing the word on G.
"Yellow" has two syllables, so sing the word on G-G.
Call on volunteers to play the appropriate number of G's on the xylophone.
Such a task may be an insult to you or me, but not to four-year-olds.

saying goodby

You don't have to be Mozart for this activity, either.
All you have to do is call for a volunteer to play the xylophone, then
sing "Goodby" on E-G-E while pointing to the correct keys with your finger.



As a disciplinary measure, you can choose the three best-behaving students for this activity.

Then you will probably look at the clock and complain that your classtime was so limited.

Incidentally, you are the fourth person who has asked this question since I joined the message board. Take a look at these forums:

students age 3
I HATE kindergarten
What's so bad about kindergarten?

I wish I could link to these forums, but I don't know how.
Waterbaby, can you help us?

[Eazy_E]

Thanks tomato. I'm willing to admit that I don't have the personality to be a good kindergarten teacher. I just want to make sure the little tots get something out of it. I don't want to fall into the trap of considering it glorified babysitting.

[rapier]

I love Kindergarten! This is the second hagwon i've taught preschoolers at: I teach 3 45 min classes of them every morning..one of these classes I rate as one of my most rewarding classes ever (joint tie with another older class i have now.)

I never do coloring, and hardly ever singing with them: I have a proper syllabus to follow based around a textbook and reading book. I teach them basic conversational questions and answers, accompanied with actions..I have no korean assistants.
Some of my secrets for you:

1) Take an interest in their little lives, keep everything positive, happy, and upbeat. they're very sensitive to any negative vibes. Spend time playing with them outside of class,- if they sense you like them, they'll behave well in class.
2) Give them incentives to learn, - punishment for bad behavior is minimal, and brief... Instead, why not buy them candy as a reward. I buy a roll of about 100 candies for no more than 100won, lasts me a couple of days.
3) They're very competitive: use this in everything.
4) Accompany all your english teaching with actions, mime, rhymes, or pictures. Break everything up with games a lot. They can't concentrate longer than 5 minutes remember.
5) Routine. They feel comfortable with regular favorite games, well known questions "what can you see" etc. Introduce new stuff slowly, each lesson should be about 75% idetical to the previous one, and 25% new stuff.

Finally, Preschoolers are cute, funny, spontaneous and innocent to a much greater degree than the older, more rebelious kids. They're great! Their smiles and enthusiasm never fail to get me in a good mood in the mornings, or their hand colored pictures, cards and gifts.

[rapier]

Further to that:-
* KG classes should never contain more than 9/10 kids. They're very demanding of individual attention, so you need small classes to keep them happy. Added to that, its far better to have more girls than boys in a class. Boys can dominate and bully girls if they outnumber them.
* Games involving TPR are best. they have lots of energy and need to burn it off.
* Be sure to have a stock of accessories: candy, a big dice, a ball, a sticky ball, a plastic hammer, funny storybooks, etc etc.
*Preschoolers are easilly pleased and don't stay in a bad mood for long. If they cry, start a game to snap them out of it: and candy is he most effective tool to manipulte them. make sure the rules are clear and unchangeing. Score points on the board for them, and minus them for bad behavior, and be scrupulously fair.

Good luck.. its entirely possible to have a great time teaching the little ones...

[kangnamdragon]

I think one would like kindi if one did not have to also teach elementary students in the afternoons.

[ratslash]

i've has great kindergarten classes that i enjoyed teaching. i've had horrible kindergarten classes where they don't teach the kids basic social behaviour, e.g. what is right and not right to do, e.g. it is not ok to use the foreigner as a punch bag!!!

[rapier]

The secret to successful Kindergarten teaching, and all things in life, is simple.
Enjoy it. If you don't, learn to enjoy it. Develop a passion for whatever you do, and it will become fun, easier, and successsful. Too many people are here to pass some time and wait for a paycheque.