Korean Job Discussion Forums

[soomin]

I was just wondering what everyone's hagwon was like~ I'm pretty frustrated with mine, because recently it's become pretty much a kindergarten where no one speaks English, there are no books or guidelines to follow, and my class is just "fun time" but with no instructions, goals, or materials other than the advice that "you don't need to teach them. Just entertain them." I just wanted to know if I was in the minority or if this is pretty common around the board~ No one is learning anything, and if my students don't feel like coming to class or doing homework, they don't have to~ I've even been told not to make them work hard and the really low-level classes (especially middle-schoolers that still can't say basic phrases), I was told "just give up and don't worry about them." Is this pretty even across the board, or is this hagwon just really bad? I've been at two hagwons and a kindergarten, and both hagwons were filled with low-level students, but at least my first hagwon had books and didn't outright say it was a babysitting service... What about you?

[comm]

Hagwons are unpredictable because parents are unpredictable. Some think that having a foreign babysitter will infuse their child with English. Others think that a filled-out workbook = English education. Still others just need a place to put their kid and will be perfectly content to pay as long as the kid is happy. Either you're able to contact a NET at the school before you arrive, or you find out which type of school it is when you show up :- /

[amnsg2]

With little kids you'll teach them things you didn't even realise. To stop yourself going crazy, set yourself a small goal for every class: 'at the end of this class every child will know ___________' or 'every child will be able to ________' As long as you have one meaningful piece of information to give them each class you'll feel like a teacher and not a babysitter.

If they're completely ignoring you, bring full teacher rage down on them, scare them to death and then the class after start fresh with a completely new set of classroom expectations, rules and routine. As long as they listen to you most of the time, English really is magically seeping into their brains. I now teach phonics, but to 9 year olds instead of 6 and 7 year olds and I miss how fast the little ones picked up on things.

[some waygug-in]

[some waygug-in]

There is another thread about keeping students entertained.

In it, there are some very useful ideas for games and things that can be

used both to give the class some focus and to teach the students something

whilst not being formal bookwork.


I just checked and Soomin is one of the main contributors to that thread,

oh well.

Picture Bingo or word bingo; but don't use those silly pre-made games you can buy.

Have the students make their own Bingo cards, then cut them into individual squares.

The students turn the card over as each item is called.

Thus they can play several rounds with the same set of cards and re-arrange them any way they choose.

Another good one is pictionary, but you have a set of picture/vocab cards that the students must choose from. That way the game is more focused
to your teaching goals.



20 questions - use the same cards as above. The student must choose
one card and the other students have to guess what it is. It's good to
divide the cards into categories so the class can narrow it down a bit.

EX: Animals, people, things, actions, fruit etc.[/quote]

I spy.

Charades.

Sorry, using matched sets of cards - 1 card has a picture
- the other has the word.

Go fish - using the same set of cards.

Sorry or Go fish - using picture cards that are cut in half, they have to try and find the other half of each card.




You can also buy different games like uno, crazy 8's at EFL bookstores.

But I've found them to be more time wasters than educational.

[some waygug-in]

Why does it keep quoting myself when I try to edit my post?

[soomin]

Lol, I posted lots of games in that thread... because I have ALL-CLASS GAME TIME T.T Thanks for the ideas, though~~ I just need to get out of this place before my brain turns to cotton candy @.@

[Gorf]

My first was the strict book kind. The parents had the "filled out book = English education" mentality which led to my quitting, since the parents complained if we deviated at all.

Now I'm in an after school program at a public school and they give us book and we just go through the book, and the kids do homework out of the workbooks that come with the textbooks.

[YTMND]

I'd say all of the above. I think the question should be simply, does the school actually do testing or not?

They can provide materials and a curriculum, but that doesn't mean your classes or school are strict. What gets kids motivated is the illusion that tests will make them more fluent than trying harder in class with a native speaker.