Korean Job Discussion Forums

Gopher · Joined: 04 Jun 2005

[deleted]

Kwai_Chang_Kain · Joined: 16 Feb 2005 Location: The Borg Collective

I have to do it too but honestly it's not a whole lot of work. I only spend about a minute or two with each student and give them a notice to take home to their parents. If they're not around when I call or their parents hang up then they get a nice big fat X. Too bad so sad. Here's a tip, don't leave it all until the end of the month. Get a head start on it and start calling 1 or 2 classes everynight halfway through the month.

Shutterfly · Joined: 02 Sep 2004 Location: Seoul

I have to call 3 students every day. It isn't so hard, because they are used to it. The parents of the new students don't know who I am, and hang up. I just don't call back. They know ahead of time that the foreign teacher is calling at precisly 5:30 pm.
Tkes about 5 minutes out of my day. No biggie.

nrvs · Joined: 30 Jun 2004 Location: standing upright on a curve

Qinella · Joined: 25 Feb 2005 Location: the crib

A student's mother called and talked to one of the KTs today to complain that we don't do enough phone talking. She'd like it to happen at least once a week. So I told the KT to tell the mother I think it's a great idea, and in fact, I will speak to her child on the phone five days a week for 15 minutes if she pays me, say, W40,000 a month. The KT laughed and wouldn't tell her.

Gopher · Joined: 04 Jun 2005

Better yet: Ask the parent or any hogwon director or manager to produce any study at all that links weekly or monthly telephone conversations of 3-5 minute duration with the acquisition of a foreign language.

plokiju · Joined: 15 Mar 2005

It's all just a show for the parents. I actually don't mind it too much. The only thing I hate is the number of people I have to call and when their English level is very low. I end up repeating the question 5 five times and then say 'you don't know?' and move on to another question with the same results. When they can speak though it's nice having a little conversation and get to know them better. I get lonely sometimes so maybe I'm just rather pathetic.

I have to try each of them 3 times over the course of a week. There's no time for that. Reading is a good way to kill time. I correct the major mistakes but sometimes I don't really listen. I have some parents though that will call the school midweek and ask why they haven't received a call yet. I also wish I could shake the feeling that there was a parent listening on the line. One mother said I spoke too fast.

Gopher · Joined: 04 Jun 2005

[deleted]

PolyChronic Time Girl · Joined: 15 Dec 2004 Location: Korea Exited

Thank God I never had to deal with that crap....what a waste of time Rolling Eyes

Kimchieluver · Joined: 02 Mar 2005

I tried it and told my director it was too hard. He said try again and I told him no, it is too hard. Then one day he tried to show me how to do it and I said no it's too hard. He didn't believe me and I was lying but we both knew that it was not in the best interest to get pissed off about.

PaperTiger · Joined: 31 May 2005 Location: Ulaanbataar

As that kid on the Simpson's would say "ha-HA!" That place sux royal. How's Monica the psychotic gyopo? Did she yell at you yet?

In addition to phone testing, one of their gimmicks included, down-sizing their foreign staff to one teacher, eliminating their kindergarten program (and then forcing that teacher to work illeagally at another hagwon) , and providing kids with very poorly PHOTOCOPIED text books instead of originals.

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

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

I had to do it once a month at my old hogwan. With the less advanced kids it was a waste of time, except as a test to see how little some of them really knew. With most of the more advanced kids it was somewhat worthwhile, though it was difficult to turn it into any sort of conversation as the kids were accustomed to getting five questions and then saying goodbye. The worst was if a kid's mother was obviously listening in. Then they were sure to *beep* it up completely. The whole thing was just to impress the parents, with little thought given to how it might be designed or used more constructively. One of my co-workers just started going over the questions in class one-by-one with the students, as it was such a waste of his time to ring them all up outside class. I think it left management really distressed re: what to explain to certain parents who felt they weren't getting their money's worth from this mostly pointless excercise. But what really got me were these idiot parents who had no idea why I was calling their home even though they had been sending their kids to the same hogwan for years and every month a foreigner would call asking to talk to their kid - I mean, after this has happened 36 or 48 or 60 times, why the hell do you think a foreigner is calling your place from __________ hogwan?

jajdude · Joined: 18 Jan 2003

Mostly it was a pain and seemed like a useless thing, but I think it can be a useful exercise. For one thing, it is communication only with a voice. And the student really cannot just ignore you as much as he might in the classroom. (Well I don't know about you guys, but I get ignored a bit since I'm speaking such an obscure language). And his mom may be right there next to him while he's on the phone, so he might actually try. I'm not sure but I believe it is possible for a good bit of actual listening/speaking, i.e. conversational ability to develop through phone teaching, though it would require a lot of time and patience. Done well, it may be effective.

And Hell, I think we all know some kids with years of hagwon experience who cannot tell you their birthday easily.