Korean Job Discussion Forums

[JacktheCat]

That semi-lame ass co-teaching "meeting" some of us attended last week got me thinking.

It seems the powers that be in the Gyeonggido department of education believe all of us waegukin public school teachers are co-teaching with hangukin teachers.

How true is this?

Or, how many of you are like me, with the students all to themselves and are left alone by their schools?

[Draven]

I have a co-teacher scheduled for half my classes. I see each class twice a week - once solo, once with a co-teacher.

That is, of course, when the co-teacher isn't too busy (or otherwise disinclined) to attend. Doesn't matter much to me; the students get the same lesson either way.

[crazylemongirl]

Offically yes. Unoffically no. I have two that reguarly don't show up to class. 1 that doesn't do much when she is there and the rest are there for crowd control and providing an explaination if needed. I do the lesson plans, I make the handouts, I lead the class.

I think co-teaching is just another education buzzword that isn't really defined well here.

[jaderedux]

Yes...in true team teaching style.

My lesson plans are now developed with that in mind.

We teach together. It isn't always easy but I find it to be most effective because of the multi-levels we have to communicate.

But that being said it was a long process to get us here. Very very rarely am I in the room without a Korean Teacher and never ever during true class time. Once in awhile during the holdiday class or the classes at the end of the year and only after finals.

I have great co-teachers. Luck of the draw I guess.

Jade

[Ekuboko]

I have a co-teacher, but only in so much as she helps me with stuff outside of class. That video you saw of her and I is a lie in most ways because the English teachers and I never teach together. The only things that are true are: that classroom is mine; I do teach half the class (20 students) at a time (the KET has the other half); and the students in that class are responsive.

During my time in Japan, I had co-teachers and we always taught together. I guess I was lucky I had younger, cooperative teachers. When I came to Korea, I was surprised to find out that most KETs do not and cannot team teach. It's sad, because I do think students benefit from team teaching.

[deessell]

I work in a co-ed highschool and don't have a co-teacher, which means that I am unable to do any structured classes. The boys classes are more of a divide and conquer type situation where I put them into groups and move around trying to engage and get them to use even a small bit of English. The students level of communication and comprehension are very low, contrary to what the KETs think. I think they would definately learn more with a co-teaching approach. Sometimes I get very frustrated at the lack of language practise they are acutally getting but I try my best. The boys classes are a lot about classroom mangement but they are getting better. For my sanity I have decided to focus less on objectives and more on engaging the students. On the downside my teaching skill sets are being left behind and it worries me when I leave Korea that I will forget all my "training".

[peppermint]

Officially, I have a co teacher. Unfortunately, the school's "English teacher" speaks the language at about the same level as an average student. I explain the grammar and things to her before we start a lesson. The two classes that I teach on my own are progressing much faster and are foar more fun to teach.

[OiGirl]

This year, I have ended up teaching classes myself, and the co-teachers grade papers or run to the office or occassionally take it upon themselves to hand out papers.

In the past, I've had awesome co-teachers. One of us would teach the content, while the other was responsible for language and structure, showing the students how to do the assignment. It was really awesome.

[crazylemongirl]

The more I think about this the more I think that the Korean education system wants to have it's cake and eat it too. They want all these new wonderful concepts of 'communication based teaching' 'using differientiated learning styles' and 'team teaching' but the classroom enviroment is still stuck very much in the 1950s.

I teach 1200 students a week in classes of up to 45 of highly variable abilty. If I want to do anything even slightly new and creative the class descends into chaos. I can't have them into teams because the classroom layout dictates that I can't see all of their faces and the class management turns to custard.

If Korea was serious about actually implementing all these wonderful concepts. They need to start lowering class sizes. Having specialized classrooms for language teaching with a good classroom layout for teaching is need too. They also need to start sorting students into academic grouping so lessons could be better tailored towards their individual level. Instead everyone gets the same level of medicore teaching as teachers try to be everything to everyone and fails miserably.

However the biggest change that needs to happen is that the education culture needs to change. I think here in Korea, people view education as the filling of the pail. Students are just empty vessels and it's the teacher's job to fill them with knowledge. Students don't have any responsbilty over their own learning here. It's too passive. Teachers need to see their role as lighting a fire, arousing curisotiy, chanelling creativity, and letting students arrive at point b from point a by themselves so that they are more equipped to deal with the classroom enviroment that the policy wants to create.

[schwa]

Big emphasis on team-teaching in my district. (I'm with epik, in a middle school.)

My good fortune that my first co-teacher was a strong advocate of the practice. I learned a lot from her, especially techniques for involving subsequent team-teachers in class activities & lesson-planning. Its been up to me since to train my partners. They rarely skip class & only with bona fide excuses.

Lots of benefits. Discipline problems, of course, are reduced. Its useful having a partner to model target dialog. When the students are engaged in small-group work, an extra teacher doubles student access for questions & corrections. Subtle, but perhaps valuable, the students also get to see a relaxed example of east-west conversational interaction.

The K-teachers can learn from us too -- fresh & engaging activities & classroom strategies, as well as the viability of leading the class almost exclusively in english.

Key, I think, is regular meetings. To discuss upcoming lessons, to get input on how things are going, to share views on individual classes & students. To air problems before they simmer. I had to initiate this. 15 minutes a week is usually sufficient & sometimes we have nothing to discuss, but the forum is always there.

I've had numerous team-teachers over the years & they've all been great. Some became good friends.

[TheUrbanMyth]

Do any of you have what my school calls "extra classes" ? These are part of my 22 classes a week and run from 3-5 PM. I don't have a co-teacher for them, because the school claims these are extra classes and not regular classes which I do have a co-teacher for. I did however put my foot down for the first and second grade "extra classes". I pointed out that they only learn English in the third grade and as such it would be pointless to teach them English unless I had a co-teacher to explain in Korean.


Also I may be mistaken, but didn't one of the officials state that it was illegal for foreign teachers to teach elementary WITHOUT a Korean teacher? Or something along those lines? If somebody could clear that up, I would be thankful.

[schwa]

I work a class of elementary kids (grade 5) on my own from 3 to 5 every wednesday. Volunteers from around the district, 16 showed up last week. Not elite students in any way -- many come from disadvantaged homes that cant afford hagwons. I love these kids. The class was my idea.

Last semester I did a one-off class of grade 2's for a K-teacher friend. They were so fun. I'm angling to set up a regular afterschool session for rugrats next year. I'm intrigued by the sponge-like learning capacity the younger kids display.

There might be some regulation against us teaching elementary kids alone during normal school hours, but outside that I'd guess its open. Hagwons certainly do it.

[lastat06513]

I worked at an elementary school for 3 months last year in Gongneun, Nowon-Gu. During that time, I had 3 co-teachers and 2 of them were the most worthless people I have ever met in Korea.

Co-teacher number 1- She was a university senior who only sat at the desk and checked her cellphone messages and did her homework. I asked her to control the students and translate what I was saying to them, and she got into a hissy-fit about how it was not her job and that doing all that gave her stress. She finally quit.

Co-teacher number 2- She was a well experienced person with a TESOL certificate and experience making lesson plans. We did well during the first 2 weeks together. One time, I needed to reprimand a student for not respecting her. Having saw the incident, I told her to warn the student not to do that again. She refused. So after all the students left, I told her that her main job was to translate for me when it was needed. She started yelling, saying that I treated her like a child by warning the student not to insult her or disrespect her. From that point, she didn't care about her work at all, always late, not teaching, she started doing the same things as the first teacher.


I told the company that I could do a better job without a co-teacher (and I did on most occasions). but they said that the contract they had with the school, it was obligatory for the foreign teacher to have a co-teacher.

Co-teacher number 3- He was a VERY experienced teacher (having taught in Korea and Canada) and we got alot of great ideas for the classes. The best moment was during the open class in which each class did a performance before the parents, other teachers and staff and the company. That was our moment to shine.

I personally prefer to teach alone, since it is confusing for the students to deal with 2 conflicting people in the same classroom. Also, it allows the students to learn more effectively by being with a native speaker in class alone.

I think alot of it has to do with safety. Parents feel that their child is safe as long as there is a Korean in the same class as a foreigner.

I'm not sure though.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Yes and no. Sometimes on the schedule, sometimes not. Sometimes show up when on the schedule, sometimes not. Be prepared for anything and usually everything's fine.

[steelhead]

I voted yes, but I wouldnt call her a "co-teacher". Actually I have about 4 different ones. They usually just hang out in the back of the classroom and poke their head up once and a while. Sometimes tehy help me with the discipline, but I usually have that under control, however sometimes the little wisenheimers are up to something and I dont notice because I am at the board or something.

My Korean is pretty good so sometimes I have no problems explaining things, but if its too difficult, they interject.