Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Von Ludwig]

English Only Policy...suggestions?

I guess this is mainly directed at folks working in Hagwons as I would like some advice as to how effective it is in this particular setting. I teach speaking and writing class to mainly elementary and middle school students in a pretty sweet hagwon; the leniency regarding my teaching is as such that I was able to create, implement and teach from my own curriculum, choose my own text books and teach and assess as I choose.

So far so good. But now I am faced with a decision that could greatly affect student participation and learning..

Initially I was against having an E.O.P in my classroom as I felt some students would withhold their speaking ability due to feeling restricted and unable to ask each other for help if needed. However in the last two weeks I have considered employing this policy as I guess a trial run to see if it would encourage and essentially force some of them to try harder that little bit harder...so what are your thoughts on it? Do it, don't do it?

[tanklor1]

When I was in the Hogwan scene I had a policy of "no Korean" mainly as a means to maintain a handle on the class. When I used it I normally had students stand up at the first instance of Korean with the exception of instruction translation. If one student was explaining an instruction to another student I'd let that slide becuase it wasn't done becuase of rudeness.

[lowpo]

[Von Ludwig]

I haven't explicitly been told that it is not allowed, and neither that I have to do it. But I am thinking of the advantages it might have for those students who are either too shy or those that insist on always asking their friend for a translation. And no I am not speaking too quickly

Last week I had two students who have been progressively speaking more Korean in class, and I know they are talking about me from some key words and you can just see it in their demeanor. So at the end of the lesson I told them I have been recording our whole session and would like to play it back to the head teacher and their parents to show what improvements they had made. Well, the boy had the �oh crap, I have just soiled myself� look on his face and the girl began to apologize profusely while trying to stop herself from bursting out into tears! I was shocked at their reaction and wonder what the hell they were saying that would have been that bad!

So perhaps an E.O.P might be a good idea based on this reason alone..

[dirving]

[ChilgokBlackHole]

I'm not entirely sure if I cared which language they were speaking. If they weren't responding to a direct order or question from me, they were talking out of turn or talking when someone else was talking or talking while I was marking, but one thing is sure:

If they're speaking Korean, they're not talking to you. It doesn't matter if they're talking *about* you, they're being disruptive. That's my reason for an EOP.