Korean Job Discussion Forums

[clay4bc]

teaching here can be both good and bad, depenging on the particular school and the willingness of the directors to support the teachers - and I have had both extremes. Unfortunately, it is a sad fact here that you are all too often not so much expected to "teach" as to provide babysitting services for "the mommies" who are too lazy to raise their own children.....for a good example of this, I reccomend reading the following article....
http://www.geocities.com/prisonerofwonderland/index.html
If you also take the time to read the replies, you will notice that this experience is all too common here in Korea.

[Gamecock]

I guess it depends on your school. Others may have had vastly different experiences than me. I taught for 2 years in the States, and I find that there is little that could be called teaching at my hogwan. We are glorified babysitters at best. I "teach" 1st-7th graders, have almost zero curriculum, and I have little doubt that 90% of my students will never speak a complete English sentence once they have taken their high school or university entrance exam. If you are looking to be a teacher, I think going to a hogwan is a bad gamble.

[Crois]

I think teaching in a hogwon is the best thing to do to start off.

Different hours.
It's a business.
Learn how to entertain.
Great to teach all ages.
Learn more from this that at a public school.

Yes a public school job is great but having some experience in a job like a hogwon is soooo valuble.

[mindmetoo]

Most classes break down roughly into thirds. 1/3 of students are keen to learn English. They're highlighting everything, asking you to define words, going through their dictionaries. You live for those kids. I put them in the "joy to teach" category.

Another 1/3 takes the weather vane approach. One day they seems fairly on the ball. The next day they're doodling or drooling on themselves. They're in the "Your attention today is appreciated" category.

The last 1/3 hate being there. They're forced to be there. They want a life. You're the single hour in their day they're not under the control of a Korean adult. Ho dad! Play time. I put them in the "All my children are precious to me but if I had to pick one to have a Korean department store collapse on, well, I have a small prepared list for you".

There are a lot of rewards, ultimately, and the kids can be cute as all get out. There's something precious about teaching a 10-year old who comes to class in his taekwondo outfit and when you ask him to name his favorite food, he has a list that goes on for twenty minutes.

Many of the middle schoolers, I find, can be real grand batards initially but I find once they clue in you're actually trying to listen to them, you offer them encouragement instead of cracks on the head, they begin to empathize with you.

[Eazy_E]

I have heard from more than one person that Korea is the toughest EFL country in which to teach. Supposedly Japanese, Chinese, and Taiwanese kids all show up to the school ready to study, and the English school in those countries is considered a legitimate school and not a daycare.

That said, I have nothing to compare it to as I had no prior teaching experience anywhere. But chalk me up to the "well-intentioned novice" category. I actually went out and bought a book, prepared games, and I still make sure that I'm ready for each class. Preparation DOES help. Kids can smell blood if they sense that you don't know what you're doing.

The language barrier can be a huge factor when teaching children. The Korean teacher doesn't have to do as much preparation as me because she can explain things in Korean, or just talk to them if she has nothing else to do. They don't understand a thing I say in English, and I can only explain simple things in Korean.

Thus, you have to be ready to entertain for 50 minutes straight. If you let them slack off for just a few minutes, they might goof off to the point where you can't regain control of the class.

[ThePoet]

I have a B.Ed. and taught in the Alberta Public School System for 6 years as a high school teacher in various subjects including English, Social Studies and Computers (I was a Drama Major, Phys.Ed. Minor in University) -- after several different jobs on temp contracts (hired after the official school year started so it wasn't a probationary), after dealing with parents that blamed me for the reason their children were 17 year old delinquents with years of 'history', after doing the countless paper prep hours that students threw away or didn't bother doing, and then the hours a week of marking papers and assignments that the kids didn't care about or copied from a dictionary or Encarta or simply didn't understand and didn't bother asking for help, after taking on (voluntarily but it was clear if you didn't they wouldn't look at you for the next school year) extra curricular activities (this I am not bitching about however -- I was a football coach for 20 years -- fully 10 before I even started going for my B.Ed but there is a difference between being a volunteer and forced to volunteer), after being told countless times by the Klein/Getty/Lougheed Conservative governments that teachers were useless and every time a contract came up they did their best to make teachers look like fools who were spoiled brats and incompetent, after teaching summer school and/or taking university classes every summer for "professional development" while the public thinks that teachers have it soooooooo easy getting all that time off, give me Korea ANYTIME!

Thanks

[The Man known as The Man]

kiwiboy, after reading this thread and the prisoners of wonderland website, I would hit it with Jane Keeler

[jajdude]

I would agree the curriculum matters a lot. I've got some lousy classes that I'm sure would go better with a better book. Better material helps a lot.