Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kangnamdragon]

When you are in the classroom, what have you noticed is a big difference between Koreans and Western students. For example, Koreans tend to speak in long sentences. This becomes a problem for them when they learn English because they want to write in long sentences or begin sentences with conjunctions. Another example, Koreans count large numbers with 4 place values (how many 10,000s) yet westerners use 3.

[Return Jones]

The usage of "Yes" and "No" in answering questions, particularly negative questions, is the opposite of how it's done in English.

For example:

Me: "Jae-won didn't come to school today?"
Student: "No." (In fact Jae-won is upstairs talking with the teacher)

An English speaker would say "No" to mean "No, he didn't" while a Korean uses "No" to mean "No, you're incorrect".

Another example:

Me: "You didn't do your homework?"
Student: "Yes". (Homework was indeed not done, "Yes, you are correct")

I think most English speakers would say "No" to mean "No, I didn't."

[ulsanchris]

when called upon korean automaticly answer with "why"

This one really annoys me. I know thats how koreans do that in korean, but I want them to answer with an acceptable english answer like yes.

[inthewild]

I know this isn't the kind of thing you're looking for but I'll rant anyways. The kids will swear at you because they can get away with it.

In my years as a student I can never remember a student swearing at the teacher. Here, it happens to me multiple times daily. Sometimes I wish I never started to learn Korean. End rant.

Oh yeah, maybe more on topic... they try to construct English sentences with Koream grammar structure. That's probably how I would've gone about it too.

[Badmojo]

Do they have something taboo about their tongues? A couple of my female adult students have big problems with the L's. So when I'm trying to teach them "cold" or "pills" or "girl", I open my mouth and show them my tongue hitting my front teeth. Then when they do it, they'll get their book and cover their mouth so I can't see it. Not all of them will do this, mind you, but these two are really starting to bother me.

[matthewwoodford]

I've noticed that they never seem to be familiar with the idea of information gap activities so tend to look at each other's pages - cooperatively solving the problem - rather than using the supplied language to inform each other.

So explaining to them how they're supposed to go about it always takes a long time and it takes one or two lessons for them to quite get it.

It always used to - ok it still does - annoy me because it seems like common sense to me. If anyone's figured out an efficient way to present information gap activities in general please post it. Or maybe it's just inevitably going to take a lot of patience at first...

[sarahsarah]

[peppermint]

Not sure if it's a Korean thing or a recent thing, but in the public schools, thers' a really heavy reliance on multimedia to teach.

[Moldy Rutabaga]

Yes, I've noticed the more-is-better approach to multimedia. I teach adults, and when they do in-class presentations, I've had to put limits on the tools they can use-- or else people spend half the class period setting up Powerpoint, music, and laser light shows if they could.

One quirk I've noticed is that Korean students seem to be used to do-as-your-told teaching styles and are uncomfortable with too many choices. If I give students a list of activities, often they find it difficult to pick one. "Whatever you want".

Ken:>

[paperbag princess]

1. wrote learning. my students will memorise pages of our storybook (not at my request) and tell me the story verbotem, but can't answer a simple question about it.

2. my students WHINE INCESSANTLY. i've never heard children who whine this much and oddly enough it's not my grade 1s but the grade 6 boys who whone the most. for example:

"teeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaacher. i want to play soccer. teeeaacher"

3. my students answer for other students. which is the most annoying thing.

"sally, how's the weather today?"

before she has a chance to say anything another student will blurt out "it's sunny!"

"is your name sally? ok everyone, bob's new name is sally"

arhg.

4. the worst is talking while i'm trying to explaing things. then i have to explain it 20 more times. i've been trying to get them to raise their hands instead of just blurting out the answers, but it's hard and the co-teacher doesn't make them do it.

[crazylemongirl]

that students are supposed to have an 'insa' every time they see me. It can be a little annoying at the end of a bad day, but I always greet them back.

that everyone gets the same cooked lunch on site.

that they wear special shoes for in school but can wear anything they want on their feet outside of school (clg spent many years in aweful black schools shoes)

that the teachers expect the kids to do a lot more work in running the school than back home. Students have to clean, mark homework, carry teachers things, fetch their photocopies etc.

Parents bring gifts when they come. More if the student is in trouble.

[Greekfreak]

Kids are generally whiny all around the world, but it seems as though Korean kids are encouraged to whine when they don't get their way. It doesn't stop there, either.

College/Uni age korean girls whine like no other human alive. One of the reasons why I stopped dating . My last Korean gf would whine to the limits of human endurance for no reason whatsoever, and when I asked her why she was doing that, she had no answer.

Is it a mating ritual? Anybody that finds it sexy has got to be suffering from tinnitus.

[tomato]

Hello, !

The Korean language doesn't have any l's or r's. The closest they have to either one is the ��. So they are tempted to substitute the �� for either one. I have a go fish card deck which includes the words lock and rock. I have trouble convincing the students that those are two different words.

It works both ways: we have just as much trouble pronouncing ��. When I try to buy �� (water) or Ǯ (glue), I often have to write it down.

Hello, !

I agree--in Korean education, it's "do as you're told." It takes independence and creativity to apply English outside the textbook, so they don't. Spend a whole hour teaching them to tell time in English, and what do they do? Point to the clock and say, "Teacher, �� �� �� �� ��!��

Suppression of creativity appears at all levels, not just the teacher/student level. I have an ongoing fight with my director because I can't be happy without creative outlets. She is constantly nagging me to pitch out all my games, songs, and picture books and follow the textbook, because "the textbook can give you some guidance."

There is hope for the future, though. It seems that most �����'s have creative art activity and proudly display the children's work on the walls.

I used to work at X �����, which didn't. Each of my English lessons centered around one word. Usually, that word was a noun. Supposing that the word was "tree," I would draw a picture of a tree. Then I would hold up a crayon and ask, "Who could draw a picture of a tree?" Then I would call on three volunteers who drew trees exactly like mine.

I never noticed this pattern until one day when I chose "red" as the topic for the day. Without drawing a picture of my own, I held up the red crayon and ask, "Who could draw something red?" Nobody dared move. After I begged and begged and begged, one child finally volunteered. Then I called on two more volunteers, who drew pictures exactly like the one drawn by the first volunteer.

I didn't have this problem in the three-year-old class, though. They all eagerly raised their hands. The three volunteers could only make scribbles, but they made three different scribbles.

I hope that �����'s like X ����� are phasing out and creative �����'s are phasing in.

Hello, !

If you are reading this post, skip this last section.
I'm going to say the same thing you've heard me say fifteen or twenty times before.

Hello, !

I have had students answering for other students also. I suspect that the Korean people place a higher value on cooperation and a lower value on individualism than we do. This would make sense, because Korea was predominantly agricultural before it became overpopulated.

Many Koreans don't understand that the foreigner who learning Korean is trying to become independent. So they don't understand the foreigner's rejection when they are "just trying to help."

When Bob answers for Sally, he might be showing off his knowledge, but he might be trying to help Sally.

[paperbag princess]

i know, but it my world if you can't recognise your name, than you are only showing me how stupid you are.

[joe_doufu]

I'm amazed by how different the students are when talking to me or talking to the Korean teacher (who they usually see after my class). I'll sometimes see the funniest, most outgoing student in my class come to the teacher's room on an errand for her, and he's totally docile and shy. When he sees me in class he has five different ways to say "hello" but when she is there, even if she prompts him to say hello to me, he is too shy to speak. Weird. What's weirder is that she (the teacher) would probably be angry if he didn't act that way!