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isitts
Joined: 25 Dec 2008
Location: Korea
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 Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 5:13 am Post subject: Re: Preparation for an EPIK elementary position |
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| Bran wrote: |
I'm starting an EPIK position in March and would love to hear some ideas from people who've been through the process. Although I've experience teaching a completely different subject at university level I've never taught ESL before.
For example can I prepare myself now for teaching; are there books I can read or maybe even lesson plans I can develop before I start? I did an absolutely hopeless 100 hour tefl cert which taught me next to nothing and I highly regret not doing a CELTA course but it could be something I'll do part-time while teaching...
How difficult is lesson planning and how much time does it take up for new, inexperienced teachers generally (I know it's a bit like asking 'how long is a piece of string')?
Are there any other nuggets of brilliant advice you can give me to help me not be an awful teacher!?!
Cheers all! |
You're overthinking this, Bran.  Don't sweat it too much. For EPIK, you'll have an orientation before you go to your school. Doubt it will be helpful, but who knows?
The elementary schools have textbooks and CDs (you might have to use them, you might not). You'll likely have at least a day to plan your lessons before the first class, if you even do the textbook for the first class. Might just do introduction activities with the kiddos.
Korean schools, for the most part (haven't heard of an exception) have good media devices (computer hooked up to big TV) so you could make a self-introductory quiz game, or something rather.
That's about all the planning I'd do before having a look at their text books and deciding what kind of supplementary material (ie; games, activities) I want to create. Also probably (er...definitely) need to wait til you've met your coteacher to see what you can or can't do.
I guess the main thing I'd consider is that you'll be working with kids. While adults studying English want to learn how to use correct English in realistic situations, kids are more interested in imaginative and unrealistic situations.
Anyway, I'm sure you'll be fine. |
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Bran
Joined: 17 Nov 2014
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| Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 5:26 pm Post subject: |
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| ttompatz wrote: |
My condescension is earned, not given freely.
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[/quote]
Ridiculous and cringe-worthy thing to say.
Anyway, I really appreciate the replies from everyone else. I've picked up basic Korean writing and phrases and I'm prepared to be unprepared! I'll keep in mind the importance of being flexible with changes in scheduling, etc.
Again, thanks for the replies! |
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Coltronator
Joined: 04 Dec 2013
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| Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 6:56 pm Post subject: |
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Universal Grammar is a highly contentious theory. I tend to agree that it is not so much descriptive as the truth of things as it is a framework that one can shove any observed aspect of a language into. Of the list of things to read I think it was the most unrelated to teaching EPIK and more like if someone is going to audit a 2nd year linguistics course.
Otherwise yeah. ^^ |
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Peter258
Joined: 18 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2015 6:21 pm Post subject: |
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| ttompatz's posts in this thread are totally uncalled for, IMO. |
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Coltronator
Joined: 04 Dec 2013
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| Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2015 11:52 pm Post subject: |
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| He has a point and is almost totally correct. His words are harsh and probably hurt some feelings. However they are far less severe than the Korea basher's words -which are in general cheered for- often are. His were about a situation and about better questions and preparation that one could take not actually bashing the person. |
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Peter258
Joined: 18 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 12:19 am Post subject: |
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| Coltronator wrote: |
| He has a point and is almost totally correct. His words are harsh and probably hurt some feelings. However they are far less severe than the Korea basher's words -which are in general cheered for- often are. His were about a situation and about better questions and preparation that one could take not actually bashing the person. |
Calling someone a "lazy azz newbie" is uncalled for, especially from a moderator. |
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Coltronator
Joined: 04 Dec 2013
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| Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 2:20 am Post subject: |
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That is soooooooooo mean. Right up with there with.
"You should never leave your country you will ruin the world"
"Stay out of my country, we don't need dirty spitters there"
"Stupid _________ now do this outside their country"
"When will __________ ever learn that their country is backwards and terrible"
"We are a better culture because ___________________ and they are oblivious to _____________."
"#@&% all ________!!!"
When moderators care about that stuff then we can worry about calling people lazy. |
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Peter258
Joined: 18 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 3:35 am Post subject: |
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| Coltronator wrote: |
That is soooooooooo mean. Right up with there with.
"You should never leave your country you will ruin the world"
"Stay out of my country, we don't need dirty spitters there"
"Stupid _________ now do this outside their country"
"When will __________ ever learn that their country is backwards and terrible"
"We are a better culture because ___________________ and they are oblivious to _____________."
"#@&% all ________!!!"
When moderators care about that stuff then we can worry about calling people lazy. |
WTH?? You really went off on a tangent there. I don't think we're on the same page...
Anyway, agree to disagree. |
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2015 5:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Go to Waygook and download some Power Points. Modify them and add in your own material and things related to the textbook. But, then again, your teacher might just want you ro mimic the book and be a human tape recorder. Hard to say. Also depends on the age group you teach. One thing I do suggest is taking pictures of yourself and your friends, your self and your relatives, take a few pics or find some of your hometown and doing some cool things. Bring the pics on a USB and show them to students the first week when you introduce yourself to the students. (Classes are set up with computer and TV screens.) |
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watergirl
Joined: 01 Jul 2008
Location: Ansan, south korea
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| Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2015 3:53 am Post subject: |
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Hi~
~I agree~it is hard to find stuff on searches for this.
wagook.org actually has ppts and games, extra stuff organized by textbooks i the elementary school curriculum, posted by other teachers. pretty helpful!
I found this out by another teacher, which wasn'tt in google searches.
some problems~school politics~be very enthusiastic about korean culture, def. have to eat their food (there is a weird cultural bias about their food. don't like Korean foood=don't like koreans) .
~will be difficult to get along w. some K. teachers, but, basically, there is language barriers.. (they won't tell you this..just say illogical things etc. bc maybe they don't understand you)..go with the flow. easygoing, will have some terrible teachers, and good ones.
~big classes ..28-30 students in a city school (and English is only a couple times/week and non-testable AND mixed levels of skills not normally seen bc maybe 50%students go to private academies and study english after school, so the book is ridiculously too easy=means classes need to be fast-paced, more fun, but obviously lesson related.
start class w. a song, review game, speaking game
grades 1-4..love songs.. youtube 'super simple songs' have great, catchy songs for learning numbers.
read-up on some games on here under teacher forums... big classes..often games are in teams... always popular,,,'hot seat' ppt of 4 words, then 2 mins. for each team to use words to describe the word 1 student in a chair can't see.
Names..1st day, have SS make a card w. name to put on their desk for english class. They often use english names for english classes here so that's easier for you.
Really..read the games section here to get ideas lots of ideas.
waygooks..good for the pots |
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watergirl
Joined: 01 Jul 2008
Location: Ansan, south korea
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| Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2015 3:57 am Post subject: |
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Lesson plans will be the least of the your problems. lol.
It'll be class discipline, and getting along w. the coteacher.
I taught in a public school, and I found it not as pleasurable as the hagwon (for actual teaching) to be honest.
For the above reasons mentioned, but try and see what your good coteachers do. Really, bc of reasons I already mentioned in the previous post, you do have to be 'fun' teacher to keep the class disciplined. still discipline, but..fun teacher.. |
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Bran
Joined: 17 Nov 2014
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 6:58 am Post subject: |
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| watergirl wrote: |
Hi~
~I agree~it is hard to find stuff on searches for this.
wagook.org actually has ppts and games, extra stuff organized by textbooks i the elementary school curriculum, posted by other teachers. pretty helpful!
I found this out by another teacher, which wasn'tt in google searches.
some problems~school politics~be very enthusiastic about korean culture, def. have to eat their food (there is a weird cultural bias about their food. don't like Korean foood=don't like koreans) .
~will be difficult to get along w. some K. teachers, but, basically, there is language barriers.. (they won't tell you this..just say illogical things etc. bc maybe they don't understand you)..go with the flow. easygoing, will have some terrible teachers, and good ones.
~big classes ..28-30 students in a city school (and English is only a couple times/week and non-testable AND mixed levels of skills not normally seen bc maybe 50%students go to private academies and study english after school, so the book is ridiculously too easy=means classes need to be fast-paced, more fun, but obviously lesson related.
start class w. a song, review game, speaking game
grades 1-4..love songs.. youtube 'super simple songs' have great, catchy songs for learning numbers.
read-up on some games on here under teacher forums... big classes..often games are in teams... always popular,,,'hot seat' ppt of 4 words, then 2 mins. for each team to use words to describe the word 1 student in a chair can't see.
Names..1st day, have SS make a card w. name to put on their desk for english class. They often use english names for english classes here so that's easier for you.
Really..read the games section here to get ideas lots of ideas.
waygooks..good for the pots |
This is all great advice. Thank you! I'll definitely use the name cards idea too, I know there's no chance to remember hundreds of children's names so using the cards might allow me to create a quick rapport with the class.
Cheers! |
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young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 6:37 pm Post subject: |
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| ttompatz wrote: |
If you were serious then you might want to look up things like:
Language Acquisition Theory (Krashen).
Universal Grammar (Chomsky).
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Read "Universal Grammar" even though the science in it and significance of it is probably questionable? |
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Coltronator
Joined: 04 Dec 2013
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 11:33 pm Post subject: |
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It major use is in creating a base of knowledge to read further on various topics that reference it whether in agreement or disagreement it does get mentions and can help one understand the other material.
However as above, it has little value in teaching ESL or EFL. |
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young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2015 8:16 am Post subject: |
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| I've never read any of his material, so I only know about it from other material and hearsay. But the black box idea sounds like a Chomsky pronouncement and it seems that he leaves it at that. There are many things involved in human language and I don't think that it goes the way he says it does. |
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