Korean Job Discussion Forums

[manlyboy]

Someone in the GEPIK hierarchy has decided that all schools with a foreign teacher must commence an English program for the Korean teachers immediately. Attendance will be MANDATORY. I know for a fact that most teachers at my school are resentful of this, and I've been getting some rather rude complaints before the course has even started. I'm on good terms with the teachers who I work closely with, but I have always gotten a bad vibe from several others who I don't have much contact with - dirty looks, being ignored, being spoken down to, and so forth. My gut is telling me that they're really going to stick it to me, and that no matter how hard I try, there will be no pleasing them. I'm in my 6th year of teaching. I trust my gut. I'm pretty good at what I do, but I'm not superman. Every once in a while with adults, you get some who've just got it in for you. 25 teachers of vastly different ability levels, some of whom personally dislike me, all of whom would rather not be there - Forget improving their English, I'll be happy just to avoid a full-fledged mutiny!

I've decided on a series of "screen" lessons. We will watch episodes of "Friends", "Seinfeld" etc, and I'll give them student-centered tasks and activities based on that. This will get me out of their crosshairs, and hopefully ease their discontent through a little light entertainment.

The problem with all of this is that I really, really, really like my job, and I'd like to avoid having these guys piss on my parade if possible.

Thoughts?

[coolsage]

Korea: Land of the morning curve-ball. You've got your hands full with this one, but if you feel that you're good at this particular gig, you'll probably pull it off. 'Friends' and 'Seinfeld': You can't go wrong there as a beginning. From there, who knows where it might go? All luck with it, and take your vitamins.

[Ya-ta Boy]

Having been a teacher for a while, too, so I can sympathize with you as well as with the teachers who have been commanded to attend an unwanted class. It's no reflection on you as a teacher or human being. They have their own classes to teach and problems to solve.

Nothing like a bad administrative decision to screw everyone over.

The only thing I can think of is to throw in various sorts of Bingo games etc to vary the pace.

[Ekuboko]

[EFLtrainer]

[dulouz]

Do nothing or as little as possible but have a catalog of what you have done. I know you want to do well but pushing this will be unrewarding.

[ontheway]

I've met over 100 (elementary school through university) Korean English teachers in Korea, and not one of them could possibly comprehend Seinfeld or Friends. You will have your work cut out for you.

I taught a "Korean teachers" class 4 years ago. We got some American stories to read that were aimed at 3rd graders. These stories were way over the heads of the teachers. It took a lot of explaining. My intermediate level hogwan students ( mostly 2nd grade through 5th grade), however, can read and understand these stories.

Some of the teachers in the "teachers class" were eager to learn, others were resentful at having to be there. Good luck.

[Zenpickle]

"Lost" (one of the later episodes where the Korean characters are less stereotyped) may get a better response. My Korean girlfriend has become obsessed with the show, and it is the only English language show without subtitles that she religiously watches.

[Cheonmunka]

I'd go with Zenpickle. There's a Korean couple on there and the guy uses Korean not English.
How about scripting it and pulling grammar parts to study, and expressions etc out of the script. Get them into teams to do activities and have them report things to class.

[polarbearbrad]

GOOD LUCK!

We all know about the English speaking competition right? Well, my students write their speeches in Korean, bring them to the director, she and her husband translate and then give them to the staff to correct.



Then the battles begin.

First we get the directors telling us
"but the students want to say it this way."
Teacher: "What they want to say it incorrectly and sound like an idiot?"

Or we get "the child's mother wrote and it and insists that it is right because she took English in school for six months."
Right six months versus 20 something years yeah that is backing the right horse!

Now the part that is relative. Should we get past those two hurdles and actually have both child and parent on board to doing it properly we run into THE KOREAN ENGLISH TEACHERS!

Yep, the judges at these competitions are the Koreans who teach English in the schools and I have been told on more than one occasion:

"You can't phrase your sentence like this, the words are too big."

"What do you mean? (Insert name here) can handle those words, I taught him/her myself."

"I know, but the judges won't understand and if the child's English is better than theirs, they will be embarassed and mark the child down."

In other words you may find that some of the teachers that you are now teaching will NOT like the idea that they know less than you do and may resent the entire notion. The fact it is manditory means they may feel that they are being humiliated and we all know what happens when a Korean feels humiliated or is confronted with evidence they are wrong.

I shouldn't be tarring everyone with this one brush but it seems to be a pretty fair chunk of the adult population. All I can propose is keep your head down and good luck.

[periwinkle]

I've gotten teachers into discussion groups- they enjoyed that more than any other activity. They're English teachers, so they must enjoy the subject, right? The majority of teachers didn't have a chance to speak English outside of the classroom, so it was a great opportunity for them to have a chance to practice free talking. I'd pair the groups so that the weak ones have a stronger helper. Then they won't feel embarrassed or left out. Also, they weren't interested in talking about teaching or students. They wanted the class to just be relaxing and fun.

My most fluent teacher told people when she travelled abroad that she worked in an office because she was ashamed of her English ability!

[joe_doufu]

[I_Am_Wrong]

hehehehe....they stopped doing the teacher class at my school last year because all the teachers are so busy. they did a mock class for 3 minutes and filmed for the school's promo video in order to show that they are still doing it tho.