Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Examfreaker]

Hey.

I'm into my second week at my second Public HS. They have put me in an office by myself, without any liason teacher, and with little or no idea what they want me to do!

This is an Academic HS, in an affluent area, and I'm their 2nd foreign teacher. Their last foreigner left after one year, partly because of loneliness! My Korean co-teachers are always "too busy" to sit down and discuss what exactly they want me to do. I was happy to design my own curriculum, which would try to complement theirs, but thet told me that they wanted me to help teach the Korean HS textbook, which is primarily in Korean, and crap. Boring dialogues, little or no room for creativity, balck & white pages, dull as dishwater etc.

Has anyone else experienced this, and how did they deal with it?

I should mention that my last HS was a Technical HS with ultra-low level kids, but an incredibly friendly, supportive faculty and a clear plan for what was expected of me.

I knew what to do with my last job, I don't with this one!

Can anyone advise?

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Just because it's an academic HS doesn't mean that everyone will be at a high level, so be careful when planning your lessons. How does it work - do you see each class once a week?

I'd suggest that you look at what's being covered in the text each week and try to incorporate some of that into lesson. Use the text vocab to teach phonics and pronunciation. Use the same thems as the textbook chapters (animals, romance, the future, whatever), but otherwise make it your own show. I'm sure you'll quickly get yourself sorted out and figure out what works and what doesn't.

Good luck with it!

[Examfreaker]

Thanks. But unfortunately, I'm not being given any leeway with regard to lessons - teach the book, a la the Korean Teacher (Chalk & Talk from the top down).

I'm a fairly experienced teacher, and have no problems developing a suitable and interesting lesson, if given a free hand. Here however, i'm being hamstrung by having to use unsuitable, uninteresting material and conduct my classes the Korean way.

I'm simply concerned that my class will become as dull and unproductive as the Korean English classes.

If only I didn't have to teach the textbook directly....

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Is there a Korean teacher in the classroom with you? If there is could he be gently persuaded just to stay in the staff room doing something more productive?

I think there's still a lot you can do based on the book that doesn't bring out all the book's disadvantages. When I teach comparatives and superlatives, for instance, I print out a bunch of animal pictures and get them to make their own questions and answers, or make a trivia game (what country has the tallest tower? What's the smallest dog? etc.). Then I can ask them questions and attempt some free-talking - 'why do you the kitten is cuter than the crocodile?'. I'm still teaching the same material as the text. While my middle school text dialogues are good my HS ones most certainly aren't so sometimes I just write my own - that can be a lot of fun.

In short I'm sure there are a lot of creative ways around this problem, and I doubt very much that the KTs will mind if you use the last 10-15 minutes of the lesson for a trivia game or to teach them a pop song or something fun like that.

[jinju]

[Examfreaker]

Hi Jinju.

I'm complaining because I'm NOT being permitted to put together a curriculum. In fact, I already had prepared the first 4 weeks of lessons, with a common thread, key dialogues and interesting activities.

I'm neither new to this teaching game, nor lazy or incompetant. I am, however, aware that the Korean High School English textbooks are unsuitable for my students, boring to teach and frequently both inaccurate and use unnatural speech patterns.

My only complaint therefore, is that I am being forced to teach an unsuitable curriculum, as if I were a Korean English Teacher. Why employ a Foreigner if you won't let them exploit their potential? I am more than a breathing CD player - let me do the job which I am paid to do - teach English in a dynamic and productive way!

Or do you disagree?

[crazylemongirl]

What I do is supplment the text books. Bring in some interesting slides and pictures about the book. And have a cool hand-out to go with it.

[jinju]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Another think I think you'll find is that it's very difficult to maintain any continuity with all the schedule changes and cancellations. Today they're already having an exam day at my school and so I won't see my Thursday classes until next week. By the end of this week I'll have seen my Friday classes twice. That's why I tend to stick with weekly themes rather than semester-long plans.

[deessell]

edited for being half cooked.

[Homer]

There is always a way to follow the textbook and be creative with the material. Just ad different ways of teaching the textbook material. Explain these are aditional tools for you to teach the lesson material. This should solve the problem for you...

As for being left without direction...and having your own office...those would be considered positives for many!