Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sirius black]

[sirius black]

I am no expert on english. Never claimed to be. I try and do my job as best I can. There is a bit too much sanctimony by some on here about what ESL teachers should or shouldn't know.

You have obviously forgotten the requirements to be an english teacher in Korea. Its a pretty damn low standard. Many of us leave college without a great knowledge of proper english, including diction, grammar, etc. This comes espeically from the english or education majors who hate being lumped in with the PE major or Poly Sci major who spent most of their college life playing beer pong.

We were all told we didn't need any experience to teach. Then some of us are surprised when the quality of teaching is not up to your standards. That's funny. Its the Koreans own fault NOT the teacher. They ask for a warm body from one of several english speaking countries and they got just that. Throw in the fact that a lo of us are fresh out of college, 22 years old and its our first job...if you want to call it that. Also, what ever english grammar skills they came here with or lack thereof it was enough to get them a college degree. so you may want to direct your anger at the university system in our countries.

Finally, direct most of your anger at the Korean schools that accept such low standards NOT the guy or girl that was recruited in a manner that was basically a paid vacation.

[some waygug-in]

Yes, you are an expert in English, though you may not be able to give the grammatical explanations for everything..... that's what grammar books are for.

You are able to tell if sentences are structurally sound and have the right contextual meaning, though you might not be able to explain why.

Many Koreans expect FT to be grammarians and to be able to explain to the minutest detail every situation.
They expect there to be easy to follow rules that they can just memorize and then everything will fall into place.

English is not like that, especially spoken English. (neither is Korean for that matter) Rules do not apply in many situations and often it is context more than anything else that determines meaning.

That doesn't mean we should avoid teaching grammar, it is good to be able to explain things using simple grammatical terms.

Here's some websites that may be helpful:

http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&biw=1270&bih=796&q=how+to+teach+english+grammar&aq=f&aqi=g1g-c1g3g-c1&aql=f&oq=&fp=882849600ad9521b

[sirius black]

Expert is a relative term. Being a native speaker who has any 'ol degree does not an English expert make to most folks. No one in America would call that person an English expert.
An expert in english would qualify to teach english in America. However by American standards the vast majority of us aren't qualified to teach grade school english in our own countries based on the qualifications needed to teach english and grammar in Korea.

To a korean we may be an expert simply because we speak engish as a first language if that's what you mean.

[some waygug-in]

OK. Have it your way.

I still say you know a lot more than you give yourself credit for.

Koreans who've studied "grammar" for 15 years still get stumped by things most of us would consider elementary level English.