Korean Job Discussion Forums

[SocknRoll]

Hello everyone,

I am a very capable English teacher. However, I have had serious and ongoing problems with my voice. Therefore, I have seen speech therapists about it and I'm learning to use my voice properly (from my diaphragm, rather than throat). However, even though I am getting better at this, it is still not easy to change old habits overnight and sometimes even if I am teaching groups of 8-10 students and they are well behaved and I am trying to speak correctly, I still find that I can get a very sore throat by the end of the day (btw, I never shout, and I am only talking 20% of the time anyway).

For this reason, it seems that my two best options are:

1) Find a place where I can teach either one-on-one, or otherwise to a small group of 4-5
or
2) I could find a school where I am able to use a microphone, so that I can protect my voice. In this case, even if there were 30-40 students in my class, that would be fine.

Therefore, does anybody know anything about this issue of using a microphone? Do you think schools would:
a) refuse to allow this,
b) allow it, even though they think it's strange or
c) be completely fine about me using this?

In addition, if anybody knows of any schools or hagwons where this is not an issue, especially in Busan, that would be really appreciated.

All suggestions and constructive comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much.

[Geumchondave]

c) - if they have one, my school offers me the use of one in some of my rooms but i havent used it yet - (thats public high school)

[Caesar1313]

We have one at my school. I asked for one and they took one from the science room and gave it to me, later when they renovated our English classroom and we had a budget we bought one for the class. There's nothing weird about it. I use it when we play games that get noisy and I need to speak over everyone without straining my voice, or for noisier classes. I'm at a public school

[bojangles]

I buy my own mic's, mic stands, and mini Roland micro-cube amps to use in the classroom. I don't use it for every word, but at certain moments they can be very helpful. I also encourage the students to try using it.

[Kaypea]

Small microphones seem to be pretty standard for Korean teachers at my public middle school. I think they come with a little shoulder bag you can hold the amp in, and you have a tiny mic you can speak into. The students' school teachers probably use them too, so it wouldn't be really jarring for them.

[nathanrutledge]

[Swampfox10mm]

Ask them you need two turn-tables and a microphone!

[Chaucer]

In order for you to rock like Dolomite, this is a link to the ones a lot of Korean teachers seem to have.
http://junsungtech.en.ec21.com/Gigaphone--3578947.html

[SocknRoll]

[winterfall]

If you want one, an ajumma should stop by every few months with brochures. Get a co-teacher to help out with ordering. Price wise is pretty reasonable, I expected it to run in the hundreds. Reality is closer to 30 or 40 thousand for a decent one.

I'm too lazy to order though

[I-am-me]

I had co-worker in HS that had one he carried around. He wondered why I kept calling him Spock! It looked like a tricorder.

[mmstyle]

Winterfall, do you know where to order one for that price? A coworker of mine uses a mike and recommended it to me, but she spent about 200,000 or more for it, which I thought was way too much (there about 50,000 back home, but it's too inconvenient that way...)