Korean Job Discussion Forums

peppermint · Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2004 10:16 pm Post subject:

What I meant is that maybe somebody knows and they havent' told you. I didn't mean for there to be any hidden meaning. I'm prepping on my own, cause I have to. Most of the teachers at my school simply don't show, and there's no one who's running the English program 'cept me, as far as I can tell. ( I've been here for six months now)

Demophobe · Joined: 17 May 2004

I think the point of this thread (and thus I missed it) was that there are no clear definitions of roles in the classroom between you and your co-teachers.

Sorry for missing the point totally.... Embarassed

I guess my situation is exceptional in this sense....well, and peppermint....

What about getting in touch with GEPIK and requesting a set of guidelines as to what exactly "co-teaching" means as far as delegation of prep duties and who-does-what in the classroom?

I_Am_Wrong · Joined: 14 Sep 2004 Location: whatever

surprise?...no, shouldn't be. Nov.2 is my date and my co-teacher has already planned everything. They will be watching us teach one class and we even go to choose which class (the best class of course!!!). Do most of you have different co-teachers for every class? Monday to Thursday I have the same co-teacher and on Fridays I teach by myself, however, the Korean home room teacher must be in the room.

peppermint: that sucks that your teacher's guides aren't being translated. What grade are you teaching...grade 3?...."I Like Apples"

Grotto · Joined: 21 Mar 2004

I teach with different teachers Mon and Tue. Wed, thur, and fri I teach with my main co-teacher.

I find that my lesson improves in content and delivery from the first class to the last. Sometimes I feel sorry for my first class as they are not recieving all the benefits of the progression.

WTHF I work with my main co-teacher. Since I have laid down what is acceptable and what is not we are getting along alot better.

My co-teacher is seriously overworked. She is the head teacher for the school, grades 1-6 and the main English teacher. That is alot on anyones plate. I found that out today and decided to cut her some more slack. She is responsable for the curriculum planning for all grades, fieldtrips and alot of other stuff.

I still stand by what I said. Stand up for yourself and let them know what is acceptable and what is not.

TheUrbanMyth · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Location: Retired

schwa · Joined: 18 Jan 2003 Location: Yap

Short of breaking some serious law, Korean public school teachers never get fired.

peppermint · Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2004 4:25 am Post subject:

Thanks for the concern, guys. I teach grade 3 through grade 6, and unfortunately I'm not in the GEPIK program officially, though I teach in Gyeonggi-do.

I'm usually fine for the most part, and I can make an educated guess about the texts the trouble is only with the games- both understanding the rules myself, and explaining them to the kids. I've made finger puppets for the dialogs and they seem to get the point across- sort of. I'm trying to sort out where the teachers are getting the idea that not showing is acceptable, but I'm hoping that the school board visit will change a few things. The main part of my problem is that in most cases, my co-worker's English skills are very limited, and I try to work around that, by only asking them to explain the games.

In answer to I_am_wrong: on paper, I'm supposed to work with the kids homeroom teachers, but as I said, there are a handful that are co-operative, and most aren't.

I_Am_Wrong · Joined: 14 Sep 2004 Location: whatever

ok...I'm not in the GEPIK program either. I teach grade 3 and 4 and they seem to have it worked out really well here in that I go around with the grade 3 and 4 English teacher almost all of the time. I could see the games being incredibly difficult to figure out...some of them are hard to figure out after they've been translated! You could probably just take the lesson and use one of your own games with it or something. Just a question, how much do you folks in GEPIK make and how many hours do you teach?

babtangee · Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2004 4:38 am Post subject:

Daechidong Waygookin · Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2004 4:43 am Post subject:

Prepping isnt a big deal. I mean cmon guys, it doesnt take that long to prep a good lesson.

Grotto: about the progression, I agree. My first class is the most difficult, and it gets easier and easier because you get ideas as you go along from one class to the next.

I have to not only teach alone, prep alone, but I have to find my own material to teach.

itaewonguy · Joined: 25 Mar 2003

GROTTO: I know is alittle late to say.. BUT YOU MESSED UP BRO!
when you reached that hole of an apartment with the wonjung you should have said you got to be kidding!!!! and just walked out the door !
then at the school.. you should have done the same deal!
why OH WHY! did you believe them!! why did you put up with them???

you have taught here before dude.. you know this is BS!!
stepping foot into that house was the first nail in the coffin..they thought ok if he take that house he no problem for us! he do what ever we say!
DUDE!! you are the foreign teacher! you are the MOVIE STAR of their production!! demand stuff man!

emmm you laying charges to your school? well good!!
if you are not happy now.. GET OUT NOW!!!
pack up your stuff.. go to a yeogwan! and look for a new job!!
before you sign,, you check the school.. you check the house! and most importantly you check your boss.. to what kind of person he/she is!!
you dont have to live like this!

Grotto · Joined: 21 Mar 2004

I decided to cut them some slack for several reasons.

1: the pay 2.72
2: its their first time with a foreign teacher
3: its a government job
4: I knew they would eventually fix things up
5: I set a month time limit, things were fixed within that time limit so why freak out about it!