Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mmace1]

So - I was the western teacher for the "How and what to teach in Korean classrooms" person. Was in a suit, looked a bit like Pee-Wee Herman with spiky hair.

We did 2 sessions (both my first to do, so my fall-back excuse). The first went really great, but the 2nd I think was more difficult (my co-teacher agrees by a lot), and I was not as adaptable as I should have been for the second one.

First session: Went really fun/well - went over for Q&A for 15 minutes...so if from there - ignore this. No questions for them so much but...just like Korean classroom, they differ:

Second session went much less well for us (we've no idea why overall). Just like Korean classes...all are different.

1.) It was my mistake to tell people to "shut up". In my Korean classrooms that's a very funny statement, so it get's a lot of attention, and in presentation "1" today it was funny too. But...like all of you know, every class is different and - totally not funny in presentation "2".

Which I Should have picked up on (aka - it just sounded rude, not funny), but I'm a bit daft to change.

Also I off-evenhandedly criticized Mexico which...gah...that's technical, email me if you want to discuss it! To not know the OECD yet be offended by technicalities...I'm way out of touch!

Anyway- main point, we had two sessions, the 2nd of which didn't go so well, so - on the off chance I may be pressured into doing this again (hope you are not!), what would you change? Yangwe is great, but I'm the variable so - what do you think?

Or on the off chance in the first session and have a not-yet-expressed opinion too, please share it, thanks.

EDIT: There were a lot of questions in the first session so - feel free to ask here. I went for being very honest, but can be 100% here.

[Julius]

The blind leading the blind. Thats what these gyonkki inductions remind me of.


Is it really that hard for Korea to a) value tefl qualifications over appearance and b) Make them an E2 requirement?

[Skipperoo]

[mmace1]

[chickenpie]

[mmace1]

[quote="chickenpie"]

[chickenpie]

I know the system enough to realize it was *not* the fault of the people who organized this conference (they had to hurry like crazy to even make it this timely)...but definitely a highly incompetent system in place.

The organizers worked hard and I understand that tough job they have to do.

Why doesn't the MOE just ask the British Council to do the orientation...... They have a huge team of highly qualified teachers and teacher trainers at their disposal and they are one the most highly regarded teaching organizations in the world.....

[mmace1]

I assume national pride/politics would get in the way of that...? It would seem odd to outsource it. Especially in an unusually patriotic nation like S. Korea.

The politics I mentioned were that the gov. jobs all switch early in the year for the most part (itself an odd system). So...the outgoing people in January/February don't care about this April-nonsense. And the incoming people in (late February? I forget exactly), have to deal with all forward-looking things.

Good people, but a horrible setup they have to deal with.

I'm not familiar with British Council...how well could they handle organizing a thing in Korea? It would seem difficult given the language/etc. Though even if they could to better...I think that's not Korean style...style is more slug it out until we are as good, which has worked remarkably well long-term, I have to say. Like you know, circa 1985 everyone drove shitty Hyundais, but now a days...Hyundai is a global brand with ever-increasing quality.

[chickenpie]

The BC are already training Korean English teachers in Korea, so I don't think it would be a problem with national pride, they would be training western teachers on the orientation after all.

[mmace1]

[chickenpie]

Personally I think the only way to improve teaching English in Korea is to move away from a test based system and to a communicative system that is used in almost all developed countries syllabuses.

Having an western English teacher to see 30-40 kids once a week isn't going to make a difference when 1. Korean teachers use grammar translation in all their lessons (reading, listening writing) and 2. having western teachers with no qualifications what so ever......

On the the whole the orientation was great for new people arriving in Korea to get through a year without causing problems with their co-teachers, behaving respectable in Korean society, and it also showed how to get the kids engaged. Unfortunately there was nearly no focus on actual teaching methodology.

[comm]

I appreciated the points about putting the "co-teaching" system into practice. The rest of the presentations that touched on the subject only gave tips on surviving classes with a non-participating Korean teacher, whereas yours actually pointed out how things work ideally. It may have been in another presentation, but hearing that Korean teachers have no official guidance on how to work with a native speaker was pretty eye-opening.

And though it's your responsibility to handle it, that second group was loud to the point of rudeness during your presentation.

[mmace1]

[mmace1]

[bobbybigfoot]

At the end of the day, people want substance, not general fluff. Did your seminar provide this?