Korean Job Discussion Forums

[AbbeFaria]

My boss says to me "At other schools students repeat so much they're hoarse." Which is, as I'm sure you've guessed, what she wants me to do. The more I actually try to teach english, the more I'm told not to. It's basically just repitition she wants. Which, in some small way I can see the benefit of, since they're working those muslces they need to speak english clearly, but there's no comprehension. I try to take the time in my lessons to get across the meaning of what we're doing, instead of just having them repeat back to me like a broken record. I try to engage them in conversation as much as I can and ask numerous comphrension related questions about topics to get their juices flowing. This results in some often quiet classes as the students struggle to work out the answer, and this upsets those in charge.

"Your class was quiet today, do you ask 10 questions? Did you read and have them repeat many times. This is important. I want repeating you and students many many time." Etc.

Does anyone else get this sort of thing? If I didn't care about what I was doing I would just go with it. It's less work that I have to put in to my lesson planning. But if I just do it then I suffer, not only from extreme boredom, but a guilty conscience as well. If all they're doing is repeating, not reading/understanding, they're not really learning anything.

To those it might apply to: How do you deal with something like this?

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[tzechuk]

I really think it depends on the age and the type of class you are teaching.

I am teaching young children and, frankly, they have to learn by rote to begin with before you can teach them anything else.

I don't know whether you have ever learned a second language or not, but I learned 3 - German, French and Italian and all of them required that we repeat after the teacher during part of the class - like vocabulary.

I am not saying you have to talk them to death or until they are hoarse, but I think there is validity in listening and repeating.

[C.M.]

I am under the same instructions; the director wants (insists) that the students speak clear english with very little accent thus comprehension, grammar, and vocabulary all come second to speaking the language well (at least in the foreign teacher class). I was met with blank looks when I questioned the value of simple whole-class text repetition. However, pronunciation is important and so the next (and I think more productive) step is taken; we have punishing, full-on, hard-core pronunciation classes which usually leave the students sweating and breathless. Obviously this is not every class; one day on pronunciation, say, and one day on vocabulary/comprehension. The director wants them speaking clear english and these "sessions" are an excellent way to do it. Done in good humor (but relentlessly!) these classes can be fun.

[AbbeFaria]

[Col.Brandon]

I've got the same issue with one of my gigs at the moment. It's the Confucian style of learning that everyone knows doesn't work but they still use because the system here is geared towards passing tests, not actually "knowing/understanding" anything.

I told them to save themselves some money on my salary and buy a tape recorder, because I, too would get bored/feel guilty drilling the poor little buggers with that Confucianist bollocks. They are paying us for our expertise as native speakers, and they squander upwards of 20-30,000 plus won-per hour on stupid crap they know doesn't work. Oh, the humanity!

So far I've managed to get them to agree to disagree and they're tolerating my crazy waygookin ideas. God forbid the children might actually learn to speak English! It can make you crazy if you worry about it too much. Just go with the flow, or make a stand; at the end of the day it doesn't really matter. Take your money, and go home.

If they persist with ignoring my advice and squandering my highly-paid time, I'll walk away. There'll be other people wanting to throw money at me again tomorrow.

[Hollywoodaction]

Rote repetition has very limited uses, but it does little to improve communication skills. You can repeat anything until your blue in the face and still don't know what it means.

Your boss likes rote repetition because it gives the mothers the impression that the kids are capable of communicating in English, which they can't.

[AbbeFaria]

[Ya-ta Boy]

Repetition has its uses, but they are limited. "I am", "I am", "I am" until it becomes automatic and they don't have to think about whether it is "I is" or "I are". "I walk", "you walk", "he walkS". In cases like those, it is enough that it sounds right. Of course an intellectual explanation is useful, too. But repetition is effective for those parts of learning.

It's also useful in pronunciation exercises where they are focused on making sounds that don't happen in Korean, like 'th', so their tongue gets used to the new position.

I think its utility begins to decline with set phrases. It's important to know how to say, "How are you?" It makes sense to me to start a class with that for a week, and then vary it in the following weeks: "How are you today?" "How are you guys?" "How have you been?" The same with the variety of responses. In just a couple of minutes a day, over the course of a few weeks, they can greet and respond without sounding like a tape recorder.

But the real challenge in learning a language is how to make a sentence. You can't memorize every possible sentence you will ever need to make. Elements of the 'how' need to be memorized and drilled, but most of the time needs to be spent on assembling coherent sentences.

[pet lover]

if you are teaching many classes, you'll lose your voice way before the kids do because you'll be speaking a lot more than they do. If you teach the same lessons in any class, record yourself the first time and then just play the tape in the next class, with one hand on the volume control to turn down the previous class' repeating. At least this will save your voice.

Or, go ahead and lose it and write a note to your boss saying that listen and repeat didn't work out so well because now you can't talk at all.

EDIT: Oh yes, and any time your boss makes an insane demand that you know is not going to work out, put the exact request in writing and then have him/her sign it and stamp it. Makes it harder for them to blame you later when it fails miserably as you knew it would. Just tell them that you want to be very clear and sure that there are no misunderstandings and that is why you want it in writing.