Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Eazy_E]

I'm a fair bit into my contract and finding my job getting a bit stale and mind-numbing... the same simple, banal questions forced onto the children, only to have them reply: "moolah boolah?" "woodgie?". When I confuse them with a tough question, such as: "how's the weather", they inevitably turn to the 'smart kid' in the class, who tells them what to say.

It bothers me that for the most part they cannot read phonetically, only memorize words through recognition because of the "balli balli" Korean approach to English education. Some kids are stuck in a class knowing virtually no English because they happen to be the same age as the other kids. I know dealing with different levels of ability is always a challenge for a teacher, but hagwons really magnify it.

So this rant isn't really aimed at anyone or anything in particular but... for the other hagwon teachers, how do you cope with it? I tell myself that any exposure to English when they're young will help them down the road, but what do the rest of you tell yourselves?

[Mashimaro]

[Kristsoy]

exactly, I do my job which is teach and I get paid and if the kids dont get it that's their problem. I stopped caring...

[rapier]

Hagwon teaching can be at times without doubt the most irritating and frustrating job I've ever done.
Especially if you're faced with a class of 15 yr olds who've been going to the same hagwon for 10 years, are bored out of their tiny minds, refuse to do any work, and know full well that you aren't allowed to do a single thing to make them learn.
Just realise that sometimes, you have a literally, impossible job- thanks to stubborn/ inflexible management. just read your novel in the corner, and stand up and pretend to teach when you see the wonjangnim walking up the corridor.

[some waygug-in]

Try to find or make games that actually teach them something. I know this is easier said than done. If they totally can't read the alphabet, try alphabet bingo. You can later expand to 2 letter word bingo etc.

But you can't play bingo everyday.

Vocabulary picture card games:

They have to follow category or color or first letter of the card previously played. Throw in a few wild cards to make the game more interesting.

You can make your own or buy the Let's Go student cards. Then get some colored stickers (5 colors) divide the cards into categories ex: food, jobs, places etc. The kids each get 5 cards, turn one card over from the remaining deck. To play, they have to match either the category, the colored sticker, or the first letter of the subject of the card.
I based this game on crazy 8's,which the kids love. It's good to have about 5 or 6 sets of game cards, each with different vocabulary so that the kids can work with a lot of different vocabulary.

Alphabet grid game: good for spelling practice

draw a grid on the board, make 2 teams. Fill the grid with the letters of the alphabet. Each team gets a shape ex: Square vs circle.
Rock scissors paper to see who goes first.
Square team chooses a letter, they have to correctly spell a word starting with that letter, if they get it right, mark a square in that box.
If they get it wrong, it's circle team's turn.

Scoring: Each team has to get 3 connecting sections of the grid in order to score a point. Either across, down, or diagonally.

These are quite simple and don't teach that much but they are better than hangman.

For more game ideas check the idea cookbook on this site.


Sentence game:

Take whatever page in your classbook you are working on. Write words from the book in random order on the board. Draw circles around each word or phrase if you like. Crumple a piece of paper. Divide the class into teams. Each team needs a blank peice of paper and a pencil.
Each team has to stand at the back of the room and throw the paper ball at the board. If they hit a word, they can use it, someone on their team has to write it down. Teams take turns.
The object of the game is for each team to try to make sentences with the words they mark on the paper. One point for each correct sentence.



Other things you can do, use a lot of crosswords and word-searches in your classes. Finding Out series workbooks are good for crosswords, but you may have to write the answers in random order on the board so that the kids will at least try.


Lastly, try to use the games as rewards for doing "bookwork". That way they might have at least some motivation to do the classbook.

I hope this helps.

Good Luck

[Eazy_E]

Thanks for the advice... I do play lots of games, but that was pretty much quashed by the wonjungnim, who told me last week that the parents are complaining that the kids are too excited about the games themselves instead of being excited about learning English (yeah like that will ever happen). He said something like 5 mins per week per class for games... but I keep playing games anyways because other than mechanical repetition, how else do you fill a 50 minute class?

[Kristsoy]

if u cant find a crossword book or whatever u can use www.puzzlemaker.com I use it every week

5 mins is redulous. u cant even get a game up and running in 5 mins.

[Homer]

[some waygug-in]

Some things I 've found helpful :

American English Today - workbooks in 6 levels
These books are good for extra writing and grammar practice.

If you photocopy a page, shrink it a bit you can make an answer box with the answers placed in random order. This way the students have to do some reading and figuring out for themselves what things mean.

It sure cuts down on the,"Teachaw" - I don know".

I haven't used the textbooks except the upper levels (which were way too difficult for most of my students) so I don't know about the lower level texts, but the workbooks are great.

English time - If you are using the text great, if not you can use the workbooks as supplimentary material for whatever you use.

American Start with English - very similar to Am. Eng. Today.

Let's Go - great series if you have all the stuff, cards, extra workbooks etc.

Finding Out - workbooks are great for lower levels but I hate the textbooks. You can do the same shrink thingy with these and use them as additional work-sheets.

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I like to use material from lots of different books when I teach because generally hagwans expect you to go through a book way too fast. So I like to give worksheets from other books as extra practice to reinforce grammatical structures. The problems with this are that the hagwans don't like to see too many extra worksheets (even if they are effective)
They want to see X-number of pages per day done in the regular classbooks. The other problem is that different series use different vocabulary, so this means you will have to teach the extra vocabulary.

However, if you can do this, I think it will be a plus in the long run because it exposes students to a broader range of language than just sticking with one book or series. I'm sure some will disagree with me on this, but what I'm talking about is using the extra books as review material.

This way you can mix and match books and worksheets, and try to keep the material from getting too dry.

I hope this helps.

[Eazy_E]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. As for your post Homer, I admit that my comments must have made me seem a bit cynical. I was in that kind of mood at the time.

I would guess that I'm more dedicated than most foreign teachers at a children's hagwon, but something about the nature of the business can suck the enthusiasm from even the most starry-eyed idealist. I'll give these ideas a try and get back to you....

[phaedrus]

[Alias]

Most of us have to remember that we don't work for schools.....we work for businesses. The objective is not to teach the kids properly. The objective is to keep the parents happy. That means continued revenue for the hakwon.

I considered myself a teacher at first but not anymore. White Clown is probably more appropriate.

[phaedrus]

Is there some sort of ethical line teachers should follow?

Despite the fact that the owner wants profit, do they hire the 'teacher' as obedient co-conspirator, or do they hire a teacher who should follow education despite profit corruption?

[Homer]

Actually, in my opinion we work for the students.

The director wants to make a profit and thats normal (even if many times it has negative consequences) since he or she is the owner of this business (the hakwon).

My idea on this is to do your job and try and improve the situation at your school (if need be) as far as education is concerned.

Finally, Alias if you see yourself as a "White Clown" then thats too bad.
I don't and many teachers here don't either.

[Ilsanman]

I try to give them an education based on morals and common sense. This country's kids, for the most part, lack both of those.

Not to sound holy and high, but I know the difference between right and wrong.