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Metsuke
Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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 Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2005 8:53 am Post subject: |
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Yeah... tough to drop the fear of the "I'll call your mother" if you can't really back it up. 
Sounds like it could turn into a power struggle that could go the wrong way.
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| Unfortunately, as has been pointed out on other threads, and in particular just by Jack the Cat in some recent post, that takes a lot of energy in work and in preperation. You just can't sustain it at 25+ hours. You can't do it 8 classes a day. You can't do it seeing the class twice a week. You can't do it with 15 plus students. You can't do it shuffling kids in and out each month. You can't do it with some of these ridiculous textbooks. You can't do it in 90% of Korean schools. |
That got me thinking actually.
Sounds like there is always that sense of dualism going on... between wanting to be a good teacher and getting a bit worn down in the process.
What about making your classes inclusive. And what I mean by that is making sure there is always one thing that everyone can do... but if there are a few keen students who want to learn more... have something ready for them as well.
Kind of hard to do I guess, as you can't be all things to all people...
What does everyone think? |
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Blind Willie
Joined: 05 May 2004
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| Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2005 9:24 am Post subject: |
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| Metsuke wrote: |
Kind of hard to do I guess, as you can't be all things to all people...
What does everyone think? |
If you're a hagwon chimp, I've found the best thing to be is the boss' pal. Protecting your spot is the top skill you can learn.
Unfortunately, everything else is icing. |
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the_beaver
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2005 6:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Zenpickle wrote: |
Think back about the teachers you had that made the biggest impact on your life.
Emulate them. |
Yep. |
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Universalis
Joined: 17 Nov 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2005 7:00 pm Post subject: |
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I learned an important lesson a few years ago back when I worked with two guys who were formally trained in English instruction. They both had lesson plans and were quite professional about their work. There was one problem, however: the students said they were boring... that they were too much like Korean techers.
Over the years, I've come to realize that studying English is already a major annoyance for most of the students anyway, so making the class fun goes a looooong way towards satisfying the students. Of course, the teacher needs some level of comepetence when it comes to covering the details of grammar, but I think most students prefer a lighter, more easy-going class to a more traditional Korean-style class. Knowing the difference between being a fun teacher and acting like a clown is tough, but a good teacher will be able to pull it off.
Also, a good teacher knows that in the local market... you'll never be able to satisfy all the students all the time. Students will find any number of seemingly trivial quirks to dislike in a teacher... so don't worry too much about students disappearing from your class and turning up in another teacher's class.
Brian |
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