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hockeyguy109
Joined: 22 Dec 2008
Location: Daegu
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 Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 7:08 am Post subject: Do you ever get tempted? |
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In the classroom, when you are giving an easy lesson and the homeroom teacher comes up to you and says "It's too hard. Why don't we do an easy activity?"
Do you ever get tempted to blurt out, "The reason why Koreans who have been studying English for 10 years can't speak English is because they are idiots and cannot learn? They can't learn so we must keep feeding them this stupid edu-tainment crap. Shame on you." ?
Anyways, ever get tempted? I really wanna say it. Maybe wait until my contract is over and then say it?
For the next 3 months of my contract, I am going to just show them Spongebob Videos, ask them to draw pictures of Starcraft and Rain. Then when I get home, I'll drink soju until I forget that I'm in this useless profession.
Why isn't Korea number 1? They're only working half as hard as every other nation in the world. Sparkle Sparkle. |
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curiousaboutkorea
Joined: 21 Jan 2009
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 7:29 am Post subject: |
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| Sounds like a rough day. Don't take it too hard. Enjoy your soju. or your maekju. or anything else you wanna do! Just don't forget the anju. |
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asylum seeker
Joined: 22 Jul 2007
Location: On your computer screen.
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 7:52 am Post subject: Re: Do you ever get tempted? |
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| hockeyguy109 wrote: |
. Then when I get home, I'll drink soju until I forget that I'm in this useless profession.
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If you feel like you're in a useless profession why not move on to something else? |
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hockeyguy109
Joined: 22 Dec 2008
Location: Daegu
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 7:58 am Post subject: Re: Do you ever get tempted? |
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| asylum seeker wrote: |
| hockeyguy109 wrote: |
. Then when I get home, I'll drink soju until I forget that I'm in this useless profession.
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If you feel like you're in a useless profession why not move on to something else? |
Trust me, in a couple months I will. I just believe in fulfilling a contract. It ain't a big deal, but I just can't wait to get out of this useless profession. It just seems the kids don't care at all about English. So why am I wasting my time?
I just believe the Korean educational system has flaws, such profound flaws. These problems will never be fixed in our lifetimes and it seems that these problems are being thrown on foreign teachers.
But honestly, if you studied a language for 10 years, wouldn't you be able to say more than "Hello, So-So, I'm fine and you?" |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 8:54 am Post subject: Re: Do you ever get tempted? |
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| hockeyguy109 wrote: |
But honestly, if you studied a language for 10 years, wouldn't you be able to say more than "Hello, So-So, I'm fine and you?" |
Ahhh, I took French for 10 years in Canada and I can barely say "Hello" in French. So I can easily understand the lack of motivation to learn English in Korea. |
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smjstevens
Joined: 04 Jul 2009
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 9:41 am Post subject: |
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| I took Spanish for 5 years, and came out highly proficient, nearly fluent. I think it has more to do with the student's personal motivation, and that's not your fault. |
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Olivencia
Joined: 08 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:50 pm Post subject: |
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You wrote: These problems will never be fixed in our lifetimes and it seems that these problems are being thrown on foreign teachers.
How dare you!!!! .....speak the truth  |
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Fishead soup
Joined: 24 Jun 2007
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 3:32 pm Post subject: |
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| I used to be in the same boat at you. I've recently started doing more Audio- Lingual( listen+ repeat Substitution drilling) activities in my class. Lots of text based activities with Power point. It's not very fun but the students ability is getting better. I still throw in the odd game from DDUBELS site but nowhere near as much as I used to. |
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Morning_Star
Joined: 21 Jan 2009
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 3:49 pm Post subject: Re: Do you ever get tempted? |
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| hockeyguy109 wrote: |
In the classroom, when you are giving an easy lesson and the homeroom teacher comes up to you and says "It's too hard. Why don't we do an easy activity?"
Do you ever get tempted to blurt out, "The reason why Koreans who have been studying English for 10 years can't speak English is because they are idiots and cannot learn? They can't learn so we must keep feeding them this stupid edu-tainment crap. Shame on you." ?
Anyways, ever get tempted? I really wanna say it. Maybe wait until my contract is over and then say it?
For the next 3 months of my contract, I am going to just show them Spongebob Videos, ask them to draw pictures of Starcraft and Rain. Then when I get home, I'll drink soju until I forget that I'm in this useless profession.
Why isn't Korea number 1? They're only working half as hard as every other nation in the world. Sparkle Sparkle. |
It's because they keep hiring loser, underqualified teachers like you that don't know how to teach. |
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Goku
Joined: 10 Dec 2008
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 3:52 pm Post subject: |
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Look at it this way,
no matter what topic you try to teach the kids don't want to learn.
It's of fear of the punishment or failing which is why they bother to learn other subjects...
It is the belief that language should be taught by being interesting. To a degree we know this is true. Language is best learned if the person is interested in it. However, the current philosophy is to MAKE it interesting. You can dress up Math all you like but in the end it's still Math. And it's a very difficult task to make everyone like it. You can play some games or whatever but some kids just won't like it.
They've sort of made our job to spark interest in the subject of English. For me, I feel this is a very futile task. Even if I'm Brad Pitt with charming dimples and a bagful of magic tricks, English is still English... boring as hell.
On the bright side, we get paid well and there's almost no stress associated with this job, the grass is always greener and people would kill for our jobs. |
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lifeinkorea
Joined: 24 Jan 2009
Location: somewhere in China
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 3:58 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| "Hello, So-So, I'm fine and you?" |
They don't even do that sometimes. I ask how they are and they reply, "I'm happy".
Oh, what's the other one, "I like apples, apples apples." |
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Aelric
Joined: 02 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 4:01 pm Post subject: Re: Do you ever get tempted? |
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| Morning_Star wrote: |
| hockeyguy109 wrote: |
In the classroom, when you are giving an easy lesson and the homeroom teacher comes up to you and says "It's too hard. Why don't we do an easy activity?"
Do you ever get tempted to blurt out, "The reason why Koreans who have been studying English for 10 years can't speak English is because they are idiots and cannot learn? They can't learn so we must keep feeding them this stupid edu-tainment crap. Shame on you." ?
Anyways, ever get tempted? I really wanna say it. Maybe wait until my contract is over and then say it?
For the next 3 months of my contract, I am going to just show them Spongebob Videos, ask them to draw pictures of Starcraft and Rain. Then when I get home, I'll drink soju until I forget that I'm in this useless profession.
Why isn't Korea number 1? They're only working half as hard as every other nation in the world. Sparkle Sparkle. |
It's because they keep hiring loser, underqualified teachers like you that don't know how to teach. |
I think it's a legitimate temptation, but largely because I did that a few months into my contract. I tricked the teachers into allowing me an essay test, which resulted in higher scores than they expected, so now when they pull that "teach them colors and animals" crap, I can actually point to the scores and explain that if I don't challenge them, they won't learn. I also pretty plainly told my old co-teachers that I was there to help the kids, not please the teachers and if they didn't like it that I would love to return home. My newer co-teachers are much better to work with.
I say give in the temptation. What's the worst that could happen? You'll find out if you can actually start teaching real lessons instead of the edu-tainment. I understand the urge to just start showing videos, but trust me, that is just gonna make you more miserable. |
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seonsengnimble
Joined: 02 Jun 2009
Location: taking a ride on the magic English bus
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 6:14 pm Post subject: Re: Do you ever get tempted? |
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| Morning_Star wrote: |
| hockeyguy109 wrote: |
In the classroom, when you are giving an easy lesson and the homeroom teacher comes up to you and says "It's too hard. Why don't we do an easy activity?"
Do you ever get tempted to blurt out, "The reason why Koreans who have been studying English for 10 years can't speak English is because they are idiots and cannot learn? They can't learn so we must keep feeding them this stupid edu-tainment crap. Shame on you." ?
Anyways, ever get tempted? I really wanna say it. Maybe wait until my contract is over and then say it?
For the next 3 months of my contract, I am going to just show them Spongebob Videos, ask them to draw pictures of Starcraft and Rain. Then when I get home, I'll drink soju until I forget that I'm in this useless profession.
Why isn't Korea number 1? They're only working half as hard as every other nation in the world. Sparkle Sparkle. |
It's because they keep hiring loser, underqualified teachers like you that don't know how to teach. |
How does wanting to do something other than drawing pictures and covering basic greetings make someone an under-qualified teacher? Does someone really need a teaching degree and years of experience to bow down and just teach "Hello. I am fine thank you, and you" every day for several years? |
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Juregen
Joined: 30 May 2006
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 6:32 pm Post subject: Re: Do you ever get tempted? |
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| jvalmer wrote: |
| hockeyguy109 wrote: |
But honestly, if you studied a language for 10 years, wouldn't you be able to say more than "Hello, So-So, I'm fine and you?" |
Ahhh, I took French for 10 years in Canada and I can barely say "Hello" in French. So I can easily understand the lack of motivation to learn English in Korea. |
And now you are a teacher who is supposed to get children to learn a language ....
I hope you use your experience to help the poor kids. |
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Juregen
Joined: 30 May 2006
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 6:34 pm Post subject: Re: Do you ever get tempted? |
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| Aelric wrote: |
| Morning_Star wrote: |
| hockeyguy109 wrote: |
In the classroom, when you are giving an easy lesson and the homeroom teacher comes up to you and says "It's too hard. Why don't we do an easy activity?"
Do you ever get tempted to blurt out, "The reason why Koreans who have been studying English for 10 years can't speak English is because they are idiots and cannot learn? They can't learn so we must keep feeding them this stupid edu-tainment crap. Shame on you." ?
Anyways, ever get tempted? I really wanna say it. Maybe wait until my contract is over and then say it?
For the next 3 months of my contract, I am going to just show them Spongebob Videos, ask them to draw pictures of Starcraft and Rain. Then when I get home, I'll drink soju until I forget that I'm in this useless profession.
Why isn't Korea number 1? They're only working half as hard as every other nation in the world. Sparkle Sparkle. |
It's because they keep hiring loser, underqualified teachers like you that don't know how to teach. |
I think it's a legitimate temptation, but largely because I did that a few months into my contract. I tricked the teachers into allowing me an essay test, which resulted in higher scores than they expected, so now when they pull that "teach them colors and animals" crap, I can actually point to the scores and explain that if I don't challenge them, they won't learn. I also pretty plainly told my old co-teachers that I was there to help the kids, not please the teachers and if they didn't like it that I would love to return home. My newer co-teachers are much better to work with.
I say give in the temptation. What's the worst that could happen? You'll find out if you can actually start teaching real lessons instead of the edu-tainment. I understand the urge to just start showing videos, but trust me, that is just gonna make you more miserable. |
Indeed.
Challenge the kids! They want to be challenged without the need of people bearing down on them.
You might be surprised how fast kids actually learn. |
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