Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jajdude]

To improve as a teacher one has to be aware of what is and isn't effective. Sometimes it takes a long time indeed to learn where your strengths and weaknesses are. Sometimes I speak too fast. That is a big one as the kids haven't much of a clue what I'm saying sometimes. Sometimes I am not interesting or fun enough. It is not all my fault. The curriculum given by the boss says teach this boring book. So I try to teach it. But the kids age 12 or under (or ever 15) are dying to have fun and be entertained, or else they drift off into the land of amuse one another and ignore the waygookin. No one said learning was always fun but it does work the best when it is interesting, like some shows on Discovery Channel or BBC World.

Other "mistakes" may include putting a kid on the spot. They hate to lose face when they don't have the skills in English. They also will sometimes not speak the English they do know because it will seem like showing off, and they don't want be outside the group.

Frustrating indeed! Want to learn and know English but not actually use it and "show up" their buddies!

There must be many more things we need to be aware of as teachers in this strange country.

[Paula May]

I think that you have a lot of good points. I know that I have made a few mistakes, but I think that we all do, its just part of the learning process. I have just finished my first year teaching in Korea and looking back on it, there were a lot of areas that I could improve on. Classroom management for example, I would have been wiser to have been more firm and not as leniant at the beginning, as it created more discipline problems thoughout the year (although reading some of these posts, I know that I am not alone in having behaviour problems in the classroom).

Also (and I don't know how many other people did this as well) but I used to treat some of my classes, if they were behaving well for me that day, like take them out for slushies or waffles (my school was really great about my taking the kids outside, I was given a lot of free reign to do that). However, my kids would then come to expect it and beg me for slushies or waffles (sometimes demanding). Overall, I think it worked well, got the kids out of the classroom once in a blue moon and they really enjoyed it. I enjoyed it too

I signed a contract with a new school, and I am going to put to use my past years experiences and try to improve myself. I am still a newbie as far as I am concerned, and I know I have a lot more to learn in this field (not quite jaded about Korea as some of the other posters have been, at least not yet! )

[phaedrus]

I find that my current schedule allows me to really notice and fix my mistakes. I am blessed with being able to teach the 'same' lesson to several different classes. I get a chance to make instructions more clear, change what didn't work, perfect my humor etc. Great learning chance.

[captain kirk]

There's a kid in class named 'Ron'. The other six kids are doing their best to write the answer neatly to the question 'How old are you?' but Ron isn't doing any writing. He's three questions behind because he doesn't care and when I get him to write the answer he writes in giant letters so that all the space for the four answers is filled by one scrawled answer. Horror! The little horror! So it's the end of class and I get him to stand in the corner and he's screaming in his over the top rebellious way 'shinbal' which I thought was 'shipbal' (a famous Korean swear word). What he meant was 'shoes'. He wanted to put his shoes on before he stood in the corner. Thinking he was shouting swearwords and not 'shoes' I hauled him over my shoulder to the front counter and set him down for the boss to figure out and settle his account. Anyway, a top student in that same class leaves a short time later. Was it because she told her mother that teacher hauled Ron out for only wanting his shoes? How unreasonable, thinks Mother, there must be a better school with a reasonable foreign teacher. Horror! Horrible foreign teacher!

[Demophobe]

Learning Korean.

I think that in some ways I was a better teacher before I learned to speak Korean.

My lack of the vernacular forced the kids to turn on their own lights of learning, and forced me to be more creative in my explanations and lessons.

Now, I must admit, that if the students don't get something after a couple of tries, I will just explain it to them in Korean.

Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but I think that "newbies" have a strange advantage here in some ways. I mean, after all, we are here to teach English via English. The Korean teachers can do the 50 minute classes with 2 sentences in English just fine.

I don't use Korean exclusively, but I do use it as a fallback to spare myself some leaping, animated, uber-gesticular explanation.

This, I feel, is a mistake sometimes.

[matthewwoodford]

I feel that ideally you should be able to explain something without resorting to Korean. Of course it's easier to be able to just rap off a translation for them but a) one never knows when speaking a foreign language what all the nuances are so one could be wrong and b) students then start speaking Korean themselves.

If they don't get it after making it as clear as possible by illustration, goofy acting, mime, diagrams or whatever I will try Korean, assuming I know the right word. Most of the time I don't so can't afford to get into the habit of relying on it.

[FUBAR]

[ghostshadow]

I have days when I feel that I can't get across to the students at all. I guess some teachers could just teach and do a job and then end it. I have to have something that shows me that they learned something or I feel that I'm not doing my job. I have tried many things in the classroom to get them going and have fun and learn but it's so draining. There are times where I can not think of anymore things to get their attention.

[lepid gecko]

Making eye contact with all the students is something I;ve been trying to improve on, or at least dividing my attention equally to each student. Sometimes out of pure fatigue and absent-mindedness i end up talking mostly with those who volunteer answers all the time.

[Crois]

Not making the students right stuff i tell them in their notebooks

[TheUrbanMyth]

Mistakes? In the classroom? You people scare me.

[Demophobe]

[eamo]

Speak Korean, don't speak Korean.... It doesn't matter as long as you are communicating the lesson objective and have concept-checked to make sure they got it.

My biggest mistake....I allow the kids way to much familiarity with me. The teacher/student boundries are often crossed in my classes and then I have to be a big bad ogre to rein them back in.

[phaedrus]

[Corporal]