Korean Job Discussion Forums

[some waygug-in]

Today, my hagwan informed me, in their infinite wisdom, that I will start teaching the Junior TOEIC course to a class of elementary school kids.
(age 10 - 12)

This is so f****** ridiculous I can't even begin to express it. The kids are probably ready for Let's GO - 3. Some of them might be ready for Let's Go - 4, but that would be pushing it.

This is just stupid, but like everything else in Korea, when it fails they will blame the teacher.

I read through some of the readings. One of them was concerning the nutritional advantages of breast feeding infants over store-bought baby formula.

Yes, this should go over well with the class.

[hellofaniceguy]

Show this to your school owner....you're an idiot! Beyond stupid!
Your school hires you to teach ESL and tells you what book to use?!?! Goes to show you once again....hakwons are not about education...only money.

[some waygug-in]

So tell me why is it that I am an idiot here?

[Dispatched]

Because you think hellofaniceguy is calling you an idiot when he specifically tells you to show that message to your school owner.

[Homer]

Also....you would not be the first (or last) teacher in history to be handed a teaching program that will fail....

As teacher in Canada for a couple of years, I went through 3 teaching program reforms...each stupider then the next.....who did they blame when results did not show? The teacher......

Nothing shocking or new here my man...

[some waygug-in]

[hellofaniceguy]

As "dispatched" posted...I was not calling you an idiot. Your boss is. And so are the majority of hakwon owners. It is only about money. Not education. No reason to bust your hump...cause most times then not....no one cares. That does not mean we all should do teach badly....but putting even a little effort into it...hakwon owners don't care. Foreign teachers are not wanted by hakwons...but...no choice. No FT...no students.

[some waygug-in]

Understood.

I'm a little slow on the uptake some daze.

Cheers

[TJ]

It's not only hagwans that expect their teachers to work miracles. I teach at a middle school. Yesterday I was told that I would be teaching extra classes during the winter break. What's crazy about this is that they have combined grades 1 & 2 for these classes.

This means that the students' abilities will range from low ability grade 1 all the way to high level grade 2. It's hard enough to teach mixed ability students in one grade but with two grades and this range of abilities it will be almost impossible.

I don't know if the students volunteered for these classes but I guess most of them would rather be elsewhere during the break.

To really make things worse the lessons are supposed to be 2 hours long.

The only good (?) news is that the class size is small .... 20 in the first week and 9 in the second week.

My tentative thoughts on dealing with this situation are 1...... Plenty of 'educational' games. 2....... start late. 3...... 10 minute break after one hour. 4....... finish early.

[Homer]

Some people really do not seem to grasp what it means to be a teacher....

I think most of the complaints here (this thread) are a result of people either not understanding what beaing a teacher implies or simply not being cut out to be a teacher at all.
Nothing to do with ability or intelligence of a person here. Simply a question of understanding the characteristics of a job.

Most of the complaints here are the similar to the ones I heard as a teacher back home from some people who had chosen teaching because they did not really know what to do career wise. This factor is magnified in Korea because of the low required standards to become a foreign teacher....

[bosintang]

[Sage Monkey]

[Homer]

Read morecarefully before responding bosingtang.

I am not blaming the foreign teachers. I did say specifically that part of the problem lies with the way the teaching industry is organized here.

Having worked in both places as a teacher (home and here) I can see some similarities in the complaints.

We did not get random university level textbooks. We did however get 35-40 kids per class and education reforms that made it more an more difficult to teach.
We also got a whole lot more parental interaction and that is not something I miss all that much.

A principal did tell me that grading was not part of a teachers recognized tasks, hence it should not be counted as extra time when talking about salary. Hence, 95% of teachers at the schools I worked at had to bring papers home and grade on their own time.

What I am getting at here is that this is part of teaching. Here in Korea or back home, you will hear similar complaints on similar problems or issues. Not identical, but similar.
Also, it is often the case that the complaint comes from people who are just not cut out for teaching.

By the way, when I first got to my current school (2 years ago) my director did operate her school in a similar manner then you described. What did we do (we being the teaching staff)? We changed things by working on a better curriculum on our own time. We then presented this program to our director and she was convinced it was better. We had to work at it and to convince her but things changed for the best.
Back home, many teachers do similar things.

So, instead of bitching...do something about it.

[some waygug-in]

If teaching means working for the rest of my productive years in places like this one, then perhaps you are right. I should look at some career alternatives.

In my brief 5 years as an "EFL-er", this is by far the worst job I have ever had. It is the most disorganized, poorly-run institution I have ever seen. (and I've seen some doozies, let me tell you)
So I felt like whining a bit when this last stellar program was shown to me.
So what.

Have a nice day.