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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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rapier
Joined: 16 Feb 2003
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 Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 6:51 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
The ones I wonder most about are those who choose a persona as aggressive, hostile and negative. Some rare, very rare ones, are kind of funny, but I think that is extremely difficult to pull off. I think most of those appeal mainly to others who are trying the same schitck.
Based on nothing at all, I think these are social deviates who had no friends in high school, were considered weird in college and couldn't find work at home because no sane employer would take them on.
But that is just my opinion. |
I worry about the old ones who are from prosperous first world countries yet have chosen to run away to the ends of the earth to pursue ESL, of all things. suspicious. If you have a passport to live in the US or Canada, why on earth would you drop out to pursue esl in the anonymous ends of the earth? if someone is from ..say..zimbabwe..or Sudan.. , i could understand them being here.There is no civil war or starvation back home for most of you: you could have a proper job there. So why here? On the run from something? criminal record? Unable to hold down a job? overweight?Alcoholic? The mind boggles.
On the other hand, being the non-judgemental person that I am, I generally hold no preconceptions or form any concrete opinions of anyone I haven't met. |
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SirFink
Joined: 05 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 11:29 am Post subject: Re: How do you see other posters as teachers? |
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| tomato wrote: |
I also wonder about teachers who make frequent spelling and punctuation errors. Are they giving accurate information in the classroom? |
Based on these boards, half the children of Korea must think "your" means "you are." And 25% think "noone" is a word.  |
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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| Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 12:14 pm Post subject: |
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| rapier wrote: |
| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
The ones I wonder most about are those who choose a persona as aggressive, hostile and negative. Some rare, very rare ones, are kind of funny, but I think that is extremely difficult to pull off. I think most of those appeal mainly to others who are trying the same schitck.
Based on nothing at all, I think these are social deviates who had no friends in high school, were considered weird in college and couldn't find work at home because no sane employer would take them on.
But that is just my opinion. |
I worry about the old ones who are from prosperous first world countries yet have chosen to run away to the ends of the earth to pursue ESL, of all things. suspicious. If you have a passport to live in the US or Canada, why on earth would you drop out to pursue esl in the anonymous ends of the earth? if someone is from ..say..zimbabwe..or Sudan.. , i could understand them being here.There is no civil war or starvation back home for most of you: you could have a proper job there. So why here? On the run from something? criminal record? Unable to hold down a job? overweight?Alcoholic? The mind boggles.
On the other hand, being the non-judgemental person that I am, I generally hold no preconceptions or form any concrete opinions of anyone I haven't met. |
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SPINOZA
Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Location: $eoul
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| Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 2:10 pm Post subject: |
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Trainer,
I think the first paragraph is using Yataboy's logic against older teachers.
The second paragraph says that - although it's easy to think of these things - he himself doesn't think that, because it's not very nice. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 3:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
The ones I wonder most about are those who choose a persona as aggressive, hostile and negative. Some rare, very rare ones, are kind of funny, but I think that is extremely difficult to pull off. I think most of those appeal mainly to others who are trying the same schitck.
Based on nothing at all, I think these are social deviates who had no friends in high school, were considered weird in college and couldn't find work at home because no sane employer would take them on.
But that is just my opinion. |
I'm not so sure - I know some people from this site who can come across as very belligerant (including two who got banned) and yet I can tell from conversations I've had with them that they really value their students and put their all into teaching them. If I had kids I'd rather they be in their classes than in some of the teachers who come across as know-it-alls. |
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laogaiguk
Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Location: somewhere in Korea
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| Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 4:22 pm Post subject: |
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| rapier wrote: |
On the other hand, being the non-judgemental person that I am, I generally hold no preconceptions or form any concrete opinions of anyone I haven't met. |
Except Muslims, and most of Europe, and athiests. |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 4:39 pm Post subject: |
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| laogaiguk wrote: |
| rapier wrote: |
On the other hand, being the non-judgemental person that I am, I generally hold no preconceptions or form any concrete opinions of anyone I haven't met. |
Except Muslims, and most of Europe, and athiests. |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 4:54 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, the spirit of the Enlightenment lives on in Rapier, the board's own Renaissance Man...
Why do I picture The Rapier Youth in brown shirts, goose-stepping to the strains of Wagner?
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SPINOZA
Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Location: $eoul
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| Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 9:03 pm Post subject: Re: How do you see other posters as teachers? |
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| tomato wrote: |
Sometimes I wonder what other posters are like in the classroom.
When a poster asks questions about salary, benefits, and accommodations, but doesn't ask questions about pedagogy, I wonder how much time that poster spends on preparation time.
When a poster habitually flames other posters, I wonder how much empathy that poster shows toward the students.
When a poster shows intolerance toward Korean culture, I wonder if that the students can sense that poster's intolerance.
I also wonder about teachers who make frequent spelling and punctuation errors. Are they giving accurate information in the classroom?
On the other hand, when a poster shows creativity on this board, I suspect that the poster shows creativity in the classroom.
I'm sure most of you have seen Ya-ta Boy's recent gems. |
The teachers I worry about are the ones who are really, really into politics and serious issues in a huge way. In a typical middle school class, the very best English student will say ��SPIN��yesterday��I go��per-render��s house-ugh��(in)��[insert town in Seoul where SPIN lives]�� (translation: ��SPIN��.yesterday I went to my/a friend��s house in����). I worry that some teachers use material that��s wholly inappropriate, basically. I worry that many stand at the front talking about the environment, anti-racism, social issues that Korean kids don��t understand in English, much less care about. Some posters seem somewhat superior and humorless. I worry that – if they��re teaching kids especially – their classes are about as fun and interesting as watching lights turn on and off. I wonder whether some feel as though they're over here on a civilizing, moralizing mission. Call me terribly old-fashioned, but, as an English teacher I'm here to teach English. Sure, English can be learnt via fun and interesting topics, but I wonder what other folks' opinions are on 'fun and interesting'.
I also wonder about the folks who make no effort with the Korean language. Even more worrying are the people who not only don��t try but celebrate not trying, like some Quebecish woman I met recently. If you don��t know any Korean, how are your kids gonna learn how to say large numbers? Knowing the difference between how 450,000 is expressed in English and Korean facilitates that understanding in the students. How are you going to ask kids for the past of ��I go�� if you don��t know the Korean for ��the past��? Say ��the past? Theeeeeee��past? The��pa..s��t? hello???�� to a class of blank, bored faces? |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 9:18 pm Post subject: Re: How do you see other posters as teachers? |
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| SPINOZA wrote: |
| If you don��t know any Korean, how are your kids gonna learn how to say large numbers? Knowing the difference between how 450,000 is expressed in English and Korean facilitates that understanding in the students. How are you going to ask kids for the past of ��I go�� if you don��t know the Korean for ��the past��? Say ��the past? Theeeeeee��past? The��pa..s��t? hello???�� to a class of blank, bored faces? |
It's very easy to teach numbers (start small, work up from a thousand) and "the past" (use a calendar, starting with today, yesterday and tomorrow, and go from there) without using the translation method.
Second nature for those who've taken the CELTA.
Don't tell. Their job is to do, not listen. Get them doing many examples in a set activity. When mistakes are made, ask other students to fix them, don't give the answers. We are not here to give knowledge but to facilitate learning. If students are bored, that's a sign they aren't expected to do enough. Listening is too passive and quite limited as a learning experience. Numbers should be fun!! right up to the millions, billions, and for some trillions and... infinitely large gazillions! |
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laogaiguk
Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Location: somewhere in Korea
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| Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 11:30 pm Post subject: Re: How do you see other posters as teachers? |
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| SPINOZA wrote: |
| If you don��t know any Korean, how are your kids gonna learn how to say large numbers? Knowing the difference between how 450,000 is expressed in English and Korean facilitates that understanding in the students. How are you going to ask kids for the past of ��I go�� if you don��t know the Korean for ��the past��? Say ��the past? Theeeeeee��past? The��pa..s��t? hello???�� to a class of blank, bored faces? |
timeline (or use a calendar). And when you get higher, how many people learning Korean would understand if the Korean teacher suddenly said I want a sentence using the past perfect  ??? |
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rapier
Joined: 16 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 11:37 pm Post subject: |
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when a poster shows creativity on this board, I suspect that the poster shows creativity in the classroom.
I'm sure most of you have seen Ya-ta Boy's recent gems. |
You mean his recomendation that the French should offer their daughters as a sacrifice to placate rioting immigrants? "Take her, she's hot to trot".?
A real gem that one, very creative solution. |
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laogaiguk
Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Location: somewhere in Korea
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| Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 11:44 pm Post subject: |
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| laogaiguk wrote: |
| rapier wrote: |
On the other hand, being the non-judgemental person that I am, I generally hold no preconceptions or form any concrete opinions of anyone I haven't met. |
Except Muslims, and most of Europe, and athiests. |
| rapier just wrote wrote: |
| Exactly. If I was an atheist I'd have no problem with it. If we are as most people on here make out, just programmed animals, then whats the big deal. Kill them like flies. who cares? |
| rapier just wrote wrote: |
| Korea will never reach the top unless they can break that habit of bumping into other people. Must be a pretty deep rooted instinct. I suggest psychological training that includes running at a brick wall repeatedly, to instil an "avoidance of solid objects" mechanism. |
yep |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 12:30 am Post subject: |
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Is it possible that rapier is the reincarnation of Emily Litella? I'm not the only one to see the similarity, am I? Shirley we can be frank here. Just substitute 'reading problem' for 'hearing problem' and the description fits like a glove.
From Wikipedia:
"Emily Litella was an elderly woman with a hearing problem seen on the op-ed "Weekend Update" segment in the late 1970s. Dressed in a simple dress and a sweater, "Miss Emily Litella" was introduced with professional dignity by the news anchors, who could be sometimes seen cringing slightly in anticipation of the faux pas which they knew would be inevitable as their "guest" would launch into tirades on various topics.
Radner's character peered through her bifocals and read a prepared letter addressing some public issue, becoming increasingly agitated as her statement progressed, only to discover in the middle of her report that she had gotten the theme of her story wrong. A typical example:
"What is all this fuss I hear about the Supreme Court decision on a "deaf" penalty? It's terrible! Deaf people have enough problems as it is!
When the on-air reporter interrupted to point out her error (death vs. deaf), she would crinkle her nose, usually say, "Oh, that's quite different...", and then humbly say to the audience, "Never mind!"
Other misunderstood topics included Saving Soviet Jewelry ("Jewry"), Endangered Feces, Making Puerto Rico a Steak, Presidential Erections, Pouring Money into Canker Research, the Eagle Rights Amendment, Busting School Children, Natural Racehorses, and Sax and Violins on Television."
And look at the names: rapier/Radner. 4 letters are the same and in the same position. |
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Satori
Joined: 09 Dec 2005
Location: Above it all
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| Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 6:56 am Post subject: |
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| I'm pretty sure you can tell absolutely nothing about how a person is in the classrom from thier posting on Dave's. And I'm sure most posters are much better in the classroom than they appear to be based on thier Dave's persona. For one thing, if you're a regular on Dave's you're already on the right track, as one needs to be somewhat literate and thoughtful to be entertained by a purely text-based medium. |
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