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lithium
Joined: 18 Jun 2008
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 Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 6:32 am Post subject: Re: Co-teacher can't speak English |
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| John Stamos jr. wrote: |
I work an after school job and the level of English my CT speaks is ridiculously low. I find it absurd that she could ever be hired as an English teacher to begin with. I mean, she can't form basic sentences and struggles enormously when trying to explain anything to me. And she has worked as an English teacher before this current job. What is up with this? "You no eat-uh runchee cafeteria?" Seriously? I've been here for a reasonable amount of time and have seen plenty of Korean teachers whose English speaking abilities were fairly low, but this one takes the cake. I'm guessing she gets these jobs because she wears Chanel EVERYTHING, lives in Gangnam, and spent a summer in Australia... so people just assume she speaks English. But she don't.
Are things really that bad here? "You need go medical check-uh, OKEE?" Lot of public school teachers here, I presume. What the heck is going on here. |
Doesn't.....doesn't. |
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fustiancorduroy
Joined: 12 Jan 2007
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 6:38 am Post subject: |
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| young_clinton wrote: |
| No problem there, just learn Korean and you will be communicating perfectly well. |
That's not a bad idea, especially seeing how the OP lives in Korea. |
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John Stamos jr.
Joined: 07 Oct 2012
Location: Namsan
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 6:38 am Post subject: |
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| Joke... Joke. |
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John Stamos jr.
Joined: 07 Oct 2012
Location: Namsan
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 6:45 am Post subject: |
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| fustiancorduroy wrote: |
| young_clinton wrote: |
| No problem there, just learn Korean and you will be communicating perfectly well. |
That's not a bad idea, especially seeing how the OP lives in Korea. |
Ugh, don't turn it into that. I can read, get around with it, and pick more up daily. That's not the topic and I'm not teaching Korean. |
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Dodge7
Joined: 21 Oct 2011
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 9:19 am Post subject: |
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| John was brought in to Korea to teach English and learning Korean is not his responsibility nor requisite to be in the classroom. You can take that learning Korean crap and shove it. If he doesn't want to learn Korean he doesn't have to (although I do recommend at least learning a little so you can get around better around town). On the other hand, our co-teachers were brought in TO SPEAK ENGLISH and is the language used to communicate in the school with the foreign staff. How you get off blaming the OP is something I'll never understand. |
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andrewchon
Joined: 16 Nov 2008
Location: Back in Oz. Living in ISIS Aust.
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 4:07 pm Post subject: |
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About the levels being screwed up: after-school programs do depend to some extent on attendance. Some kids go because friends go and will quit if separated from friends. I think you have to lose the idea that you have to teach AND get results. You can teach, yes. Knock yourself out. Do these kids have to speak English afterwards? No.
Co-T's low ability: I think she is suffering from 영어병. If you bring your English down a bit and talk like her, then she will catch up sooner or later. She just needs some practice speaking and confidence. Like everybody at where I am, she has no need to speak English to live her life. But since I began refusing to talk to them in Korean, they started speaking to me in English. |
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fustiancorduroy
Joined: 12 Jan 2007
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 7:29 pm Post subject: |
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| Dodge7 wrote: |
| John was brought in to Korea to teach English and learning Korean is not his responsibility nor requisite to be in the classroom. You can take that learning Korean crap and shove it. If he doesn't want to learn Korean he doesn't have to (although I do recommend at least learning a little so you can get around better around town). On the other hand, our co-teachers were brought in TO SPEAK ENGLISH and is the language used to communicate in the school with the foreign staff. How you get off blaming the OP is something I'll never understand. |
I get what you're saying, but I also know that you are a stickler for what the specific requirements for a job are, so I have to ask: Does it specifically state in the Korean teachers' contracts that they have to be able to speak English in order to communicate with native English speakers who are unable to speak Korean properly even though they there are living in Korea where the national language is Korean and people are not obligated to speak English? Likewise, does the contract for native speakers guarantee that their co-workers can speak English? I don't know since I have never worked for a public school in any way, but I know that the contracts I've had at my hagwons and foreign language high school have never made such declarations. If the Koreans I work with speak English, it's a nice bonus, but if they don't then I don't get upset about it. After all, Koreans shouldn't have to speak English, even if they are English teachers. I just man up and speak Korean. Who cares what your preconceived notions of what you ought to do are? What is important is what you have to do in your actual job circumstances. |
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John Stamos jr.
Joined: 07 Oct 2012
Location: Namsan
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 7:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Koreans shouldn't have to speak English, even if they are English teachers. |
See, I don't get that part. There's no logic in it and you seem to want to take the other side strictly for the sake of doing so. |
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some waygug-in
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 5:19 am Post subject: |
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Korean teachers don't have to speak English because they are not required to be able to speak English.
Whatever we may think of that situation is irrelevant.
Korean teachers are randomly shuffled around each year are required to
teach whatever class is assigned to them. They may teach science 1 year,
math the next year etc. If they get assigned to be a co-teacher, that is
what they must do, whether or not they can speak a word of English.
Does it make any logical sense from our perspective? No.
But that is the reality. You can't change it. You have to work within
the system and do the best you can. |
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EZE
Joined: 05 May 2012
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| Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 6:31 pm Post subject: |
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| fustiancorduroy wrote: |
| young_clinton wrote: |
| No problem there, just learn Korean and you will be communicating perfectly well. |
That's not a bad idea, especially seeing how the OP lives in Korea. |
How many weeks should it take for the OP to communicate "perfectly well" in Korean? If the number is higher than 52, then it won't really resolve the problem he's telling us about. |
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ayahyaha
Joined: 04 Apr 2011
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 2:07 am Post subject: |
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| some waygug-in wrote: |
This is all too common.
What you may or may not realize is that she is trying to appear to be in
control in front of her students. I'm sure many of the students do speak
and understand more English than she does, and she knows it too.
The last thing she wants is to look foolish in front of them, even if it means
making you look foolish.
Try and empathize a bit with her side of things and see if you can't work
out some ways of making things work for both of you. You won't get anywhere by fighting with her. |
I really agree with this advice. There is always more going on that we know about in other people's lives, and especially in Korea, there are probably layers and layers of extenuating circumstances that I can only begin to fathom.
Not to mention, belittling or even inadvertently making her look stupid in front of your students probably makes you look bad as well.
It's not an easy situation, but this is Korea, and the standards aren't going to shift dramatically any time soon. I say make the best of what you've got. |
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