Korean Job Discussion Forums

[schwa]

Indulge me a bit of rant.

I've had lots of team-teachers in my years here & no trouble with any of them, till now. I've known this guy for several years from teachers classes & other events & he's reasonably personable, he's easy-going, & he speaks good english. I didnt anticipate any difficulties.

First day, first class, typical girls middle school. I want to start off (as I always do) with simple banter -- stuff I know the kids understand. I get a random student to stand, I ask a dead simple question, & coach them, if necessary, to make a simple response. Its meant to be fun, & we build on this all year long.

But in this class, Mr Blahblah (they call him that, really! its his nickname) sidles up next to the girl standing. I ask her a question. She turns to him & he translates it into korean. She answers him in korean. Then he translates her answer back to me in fancy english none of the girls has any hope of understanding. Wtf? This goes on throughout the class.

So I told him politely & diplomatically after that class to please not do that again & I explained why. "I got it," he says. 2nd class went a bit better but I had to ask him to stop supplying running korean translation of everything I said. "I got it." After the 3rd class I had to ask him to stop feeding answers to the students. "OK, no problem."

This week we're doing a simple game I like to play with new classes called "What 3 things?" In small teams they brainstorm answers on a worksheet to a short set of questions like What 3 things are very expensive? or What 3 things have no color? It elicits lots of vocabulary, prompts some pronunciation work, its fun & easy, & the students are happy to discover they know a good bit of vocabulary. I've led this activity many times & know what to expect.

The girls finish suspiciously quickly. One of the questions: What 3 things are inside your body? I'm looking for words like heart, brain, blood, cell, bone, etc, maybe dung if they're funny students. In Mr Blahblah's class I'm getting responses like duodenum, urinary cyst, & anus! Mr No-clue "pre-taught" the game in korean the day before -- they had the answers all written down in their notebooks!

I'm not looking for advice here. I'm going to give him hell tomorrow, face be damned. We have a year to go & I will not be undermined by his stupid techniques. Luckily I can pull rank -- I'm older & I think my position here is unassailable. But jeez, whats this guy thinking?

This is the first time I ever co-taught with a male. Maybe he feels vaguely threatened somehow. Clearly, he's going to be my toughest student this year.

I know others have worse problems but it felt good to vent. Thanks.

[crazylemongirl]

ick that sucks.
I'm sure you'll handle it though.

[Ya-ta Boy]

That would really suck. Good luck with him tomorrow. Hope you can solve it.

[crazykiwi]

i hear you schwa!

at my hagwon i had the same situation (note "had"). My co-teacher would sit there the whole lesson and translate EVERYTHING into korean for them. from , "sit down", open your books", " red, blue green etc" even that i had said good afternoon, hello etc. to top it off, she was also translating for my american gyopo student as well, like " time for class lets go, " in the eachers room.

finally had had it up to hear, blew my top at my boss ( had been going on for 2 months, and i had been telling my concerns since day one) and he finally put a stop to it. she felt prteey angry towards me for a wee bit, but all is passed now and im happy as larry. good luck

[SPINOZA]

Holy FLIP! What a bloody weirdo! No advice really as you've asked him not to do it three or more times to no avail. I hate confrontation but I'd probably almost plead, emphasizing how unproductive it is.

Next time I get slightly annoyed at my co-teachers for standing at the back twiddling their thumbs while I struggle with 38 kids I'll remember that story!

[UncleAlex]

All of my co-teachers, but one, refuse to speak to the kids in Korean unless
it is absolutely necessary, which is seldom. The woman who often translates what
I say just refuses to refrain from the translation approach by continuing with it.
She's from the old school and believes that translations are an integral part of
learning a second language. No wonder our kids are making less progress in speaking
than those in my other classes.

[butter808fly]

This year I finally have an awesome coteacher who disciplines the children, is totally orderly and organized, teaches me something new everyday about the field of teaching, and just plain old rocks!

And then unfortunatly the psycho I had before. She cant stand it when Im up front teaching and she will do everything in her power to distract attention from me such as answering her cell, chatting with students, or writing on the board nonsense that isnt even needed for the lesson. I cant stand working with this lady.

5 months left..........wooohoooooo..

[crazylemongirl]

Oh I forgot about the 'best student' in the class co-teacher who yells out the answer before the kids have a chance to.

[idealjetsam]

8 years of teaching in Korea leads me to say this to you:

Yell at him.

Seriously, anyone who has been in Korea a day knows that a person who would even start doing nonsense like that is one of those who JUST WON'T GET IT.

The other option is to invite him out for drinks. After the third bottle of soju shared he will break down and tell you how insecure he is when he speaks English in front of you. After the third bottle of soju each he will tell you about his army days and how he just isn't attracted to his wife anymore, but you look like Brad Pitt. And Brad Pitt is sexy guy.

At this point, you will be able to lay into him about his conduct in the classroom, and you may get laid as well, if that's your thing.

Kidding aside, it will come down to you tolerating him, confronting him or getting bladdered with him. Bottom line.

Good luck.

[schwa]

Update.

I didnt yell but I did confront him this morning. Told him calmly that what he had done had made me angry. I explained the rationale behind my teaching english through english at some length & he agreed to never again preteach my lessons. We did a class together my way this morning with almost zero korean & the girls floundered & had fun & learned. The class rocked. I'm pretty sure he got what I'm getting at.

He's not a bad guy, however much his methodology lacks. I need to get along with him because I teach 5 classes a week with him & he's my official liaison teacher. It would have been great to seal it over soju but he doesnt drink. We'll see how it goes but I'm more hopeful now.

[idealjetsam]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Is there any way you could just get rid of him entirely?

[UncleAlex]

When the native English teacher is constantly interrupted by his co-teacher
who translates just about everything he says or blurts out the answers be-
fore the students have a chance to reply, it is the students who are ultimately
being interefered with. Many Korean teachers, if not most, gravely under-
estimate their students' learning abilities and capacities. Butting in, they
honestly feel that they are helping the children by coming to their rescue.
The entire Korean school system endorses and fosters passive learning, and I
believe one reason why this is so is because Korean adults are convinced that
children cannot possibly know anything without listening to the more knowledgeable
and experienced. And they lack confidence in the less knowledgeable and experienced
to figure things out for themselves. This state of affairs is paradoxical for a Confucian
influenced society. The great ancient thinker himself had provided a dictum
that is more observed in the West and exercised by us foreign teachers:
To hear is to remember.
To listen is to know.
To do is to understand.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[ddeubel]

I concur, Uncle Alex, very well put. I'd further add that it is even more paradoxically (the Korean pedagogical/teaching down attitude) given that Confucius taught that knowledge and understanding are uniquely personal. Nobody knows "more" than anyone else. He espoused a very open, learning from everyone, life is a classroom kind of schooling. The teacher as a helper rather than an "all knowing" . So the Korean educational system is far from being Confucian, rather a very corruptive form. Nothing confucian about it, which is quite confusing.

DD