Korean Job Discussion Forums

[maingman]

http://www.myfreearticle.com/uncategorized/bilingual-elearning-challenges-and-opportunities/

[liveinkorea316]

[lowpo]

[maingman]

lowpo


Glossing Can Help Students Think/ Write About Revising

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/bob-alexander-glossing-how-to-writing-instruction

[tomato]

The best way to do it is to establish more English immersion schools like the one where Little Lisa teaches.
I wish to make the following points:

■ It is financially feasible.

If the many private English 학원's in one community really wanted to make a difference, they would pool their resources with all the other 학원's to form an immersion school.

If that couldn't work, the government could do it. They could probably set up several English immersion schools with the money they've spent on those silly English villages.

■ There is enough personnel.

What does the Korean government use foreign teachers in the public schools for? To teach a sappy curriculum which is at least half in Korean. To jump whenever the Korean teacher says jump. To stand idly by while the Korean teacher takes over the class and jabbers to the students in Korean.

If they have enough money to pay us for that, they have enough money to pay us to really teach English.

And what about the Korean English teachers? You say they aren't proficient enough in English? That's because they don't get enough practice. They spend at least half of the class time giving instructions in Korean and translating everything into Korean. If they had experience in teaching in an immersion school, they would get better practice.

■ It is pedagogically feasible.

Some subjects use a very small vocabulary. When I attended karate classes in South America, the only unfamiliar words which I had to learn were the words for "hit" and "kick."

Third language instruction would not difficult either. My Korean proficiency is not what I would like for it to be, but I have had no difficulty in understanding Japanese class in Korea. I have had to learn a few Korean grammatical terms, such as the words for "noun" and "verb," but other than that, there was no problem. After all, the first words which one learns in a third language are usually the equivalents of the first words which one had already learned in the second language.

Music class would not be difficult. I have had no difficulty in learning to play Korean folk instruments.

Math class would not be difficult. I once gave a math class in Esperanto.

Admittedly, there are some subjects in which the students will have difficulty. I'd sure hate to take a social studies class in a second language. But in a class in which all of the students are learning the material in a second language, the class could be paced accordingly.

■ It works.

Two of the best English students I've known had attended English immersion schools.
Furthermore, neither of those schools were in English-speaking countries. One was in Russia, the other was in Thailand.

[jvalmer]

English immersion for the masses in Korea wouldn't be practical. Unlike many other countries, Korea has no historical reason to teach a second language. Korea practically has no ethnic minorities with a different language or culture. Economically they may have reasons, but which language should they concentrate on? English? Chinese?

[bobbybigfoot]

Why is it that my school, after 25 years of being in business, still has no idea how to teach English?

Answer: because they don't have to. Parents keep giving them boatloads of cash irrespective of the results. Quality is not an issue.

As soon as the parents start demanding proper English instruction, proper instruction will come to Korea. And not before. And when they do, their children will become fluent in English.

But right now they are content with the system, albeit broken, they have.

[some waygug-in]

I would change the visa system to allow teachers to change schools or teach privately if they so desired. (E2)

It will never happen, and I'm not saying it would solve all problems, but it would go a fair way to making things better.

[tottenhamtaipeinick]

I speak both Chinese and English (having learnt Chinese as a 2nd language from the age of 17) and all the classroom teaching you get will never help unless you leave for a Chinese speaking Country. Classroom teaching is a great stepping-stone though I think teachers believe they will change students dramatically over a short period of time. It just doesn�t happen unless you are fully immersed within the language. My gf learnt English in Korea and came to Australia and within 1 year without going to any classes and just working learnt more English than she did in her whole schooling life. If you want to learn a language go overseas! it is a great experience, a chance to earn money and meet people... Learning Basic English in Korea is a good opportunity but it is learning outside the classroom that makes you fluent in a language. I watched movies and tv over and over again with a dictionary to learn and then would probe my Chinese friends and constantly want to hang around Chinese people who spoke little or no English. When students learn a language in high school etc they are focused on other subjects not just English and the opportunities outside the classroom to focus on language retention just aren�t there.

Anyone agree to some point? As I cant be bothered to read over this haha!

[tottenhamtaipeinick]

Sorry just to add I had a Teacher who was famous for both teaching and writing textbooks for the beijing press. I can honestly say I never learnt anything in his classroom...This was because the time I was in his classroom my chinese level increased above the other students and his lessons touched on things I thought I already knew so I switched off a lot and did my law assignments from time to time.

If you want a good classroom situation you can only have a maximum of 10 students (even that pushes it) and everyone needs to be in a small circle and the teacher needs to use the CLT method. Though if students aren't at a mature level this will not work in my experience.

[liveinkorea316]

I prefer students to be sitting in multiple groups of 3 or 4 facing eachother and the teacher circulating the class. It gives people more chance to use and try the language in the class.

In Korea classes seem to always face the teacher. It is too teacher centred.

The reason many Koreans never even get confident in speaking or writing English is because they are never asked to PRODUCE it in a supportive environment. Written homework that is covered in red pen and paroting teacher sentences is all they get.

In the West my language classrooms were places to practice and try English. We srote essays in class. Analysed them. had discussions among students and as the teacher my job was to analyse the students abilities and personalities and design lessons that best allowed them to practice and develop their English. It was not to speak to them for 2 hours every class, stopping to sip my coffee or ask someone to answer a question as it is in Korean.

Lessons I taught were designed with a functional or task goal. I wanted students to be able to express something or write about something or be able to achieve a practical goal in the target language.

Lessons here from Korean teachers are mostly about memorising adn explaining grammar and vocab.

Very very different.

[maingman]

some waygug-in wrote :

I would change the visa system to allow teachers to change schools...




seconded

[ThingsComeAround]

[cj1976]

I believe that an effective way for SLA is to start 'em young. Introduce the 2nd language as soon as possible. My missus works in an English kindergarten and those kids rapidly adopt English and start using it without thinking about it too much.

[Seoul'n'Corea]

Well, I think there is a much much larger problem in Korea. The idea of Education like most social entities is that Education is a facade. It is all for show. There is no deeper purpose other than to put a mark on paper. That's it.
The approach to Education and people's attitude towards education needs drastic change before anything can change.