Korean Job Discussion Forums

tomato · Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 1:36 am Post subject:

Jack the Cat, I'm not crazy about Side by Side either.
I used to use that book to punish classes which misbehaved.

Ask anyone who has ever used the Parade series, and they will not hesitate for a minute.
I don't see any way possible to teach out of that series.
On my first job in Korea, I made an index which cross-referenced the Parade series with the other series in the office. Whenever I had to teach out of that series, I would copy the appropriate pages from another series and use those pages instead.
One day, the boss caught me copying those pages. When I explained what I was doing, he threw the copies down on the floor, stamped into the office, and slammed the door.
Then I quietly picked up the copies from the floor and used them in the class.

peppermint · Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 3:31 am Post subject:

Parade is pretty great for my purposes . I teach a camp program on school vacations and I have each group 2-3 hours a day for a week. Because Parade isn't really a text book the kids don't feel like it's work and will put up with a full hour or so of "teaching".

Basically, it's a nice pretense for me and the kids.

harryh · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: south of Seoul

All the Korean franchise produced books I've had to use have been terrible.

Kimchieluver · Joined: 02 Mar 2005

Gogo and anything EiNS

Wrench · Joined: 07 Apr 2005

My school uses Parade and its a masterpiece to Sha Sha english and Magic Max series of books.

Sha Sha English is the bigest turd ever. There are gramatical mistakes, huge inconsistencies and Contractions. Who in the world teaches contractions to begginers.

The only reason why we use Sha Sha because our director is friends with the wife of the guy that made these books.

Our school paid 6 million won for this guy to come and train us for 4 days 3 hours a day. Yet they refused to pay the Korean teachers more money.

Kimchieluver · Joined: 02 Mar 2005

I forgot to mention the GnB series. I hated teaching that mindless dribble even though it was only one day a week. The Korean teacher made sure the students had memorized the chapter I had to teach in order to impress me. It was the longest day of my week and it was only four hours.

pdxsteve · Joined: 29 Sep 2004 Location: Bundang

JongnoGuru · Joined: 25 May 2004 Location: peeing on your doorstep

EINS, EASTERN, MAGIC -- "Filled with mistakes."

SIDE-BY-SIDE -- "Used it to punish classes."

DISCOVERY -- "Sucks sucks sucks."

POPCORN -- "I'd rather slit my wrists."

NEW PARADE -- "I despise it with a vengeance so unholy that churches burn in my vicinity."

PARADE -- "I don't see any way possible to teach out of that series."

WAKE UP -- "It reaches the point of being absurd."

GO-GO -- "Loathsome." "Horrible, terrible, and just truly awful."

GO-GO LOVES ENGLISH -- "*gag*" "You couldn't pay me enough."

CHILD U -- "Marginally less repugnant than Gogo."

SAY SAY -- "Repellant ... Contained nothing but tracing exercises."

TINY TALK -- "Die, Benny & Sue! Die!"

GNB -- "I hated teaching that mindless dribble."

LET'S GO 2 -- "Though not horrible, I am REALLY not a fan."

STEP UP -- "The worst one I have ever encountered."

SHA SHA ENGLISH -- "Biggest turd ever."

Okay, great. Now please, are these all produced in Korea? And if so, why aren't they buying materials produced in English-speaking countries? I thought Koreans demanded the best... Confused

guangho · Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 5:09 am Post subject:

Say Say is produced locally and it shows. Today we started a lesson on "Kevin's Birthday party" and the script included this exchange:

"Kevin, did you like the cake?"
"Yes, I got to blow the candle. "

It was the first time I noticed and practically fell over laughing when I was reading it out loud. Sadly I couldn't explain to my 4th and 5th graders why I was bawled over.

Child U is the best of a bad lot- it covered math and science in addition to language so that gave me something to use- or would have if my hakwon hadn't insisted that I "review" the completed books for two months while we were waiting for the "new curriculum", which turned out to be say say.

peppermint · Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 5:10 am Post subject:

Side by side is produced in the US I believe, and it's fanstastic - as a supplement

I believe the Parade series is from the US too. The rest I don't know much about

Demonicat · Joined: 18 Nov 2004 Location: Suwon

Don't defend childU! hehe
My problem with it is that although it does have math, the math element is pathetically below the level of the students- I have 13 year olds learning basic additon. They are of the right level in reading and pronunciation, but as math is universal- its kinda ridiculous.
Oh nad lets go is internationally produced.

guangho · Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 5:27 am Post subject:

It's not really defending- it's about picking the winner of the Elephant Men beauty pageant. Laughing

JongnoGuru · Joined: 25 May 2004 Location: peeing on your doorstep

"Hewwow, muw nwme ij Jwhn Mewwik."

guangho · Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 5:35 am Post subject:

And what are your hobbies? What will you do during your reign as Mr. Elephant Man? How will you make the world, if not better, at least marginally tolerable? We can skip the swimsuit competition for now.

Lizara · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Location: Seoul

Side by Side is one of the *better* books I've taught..... sigh.

Discovery is pretty bad. Not appalling, just kind of boring, and not very good on spelling or writing. Although the phonics can get fun when they use "whiskey" or "Joe smokes at home" as examples.........

I don't mind Wakeup with some classes. With the smarter ones it's not too much fun trying to make two new words fill a forty-minute class.