Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Hyeon Een]

How long have you been in Korea, and how much teacher training have you received? (Or did you receive before you came here)

Like a lot of posters I came to Korea with a degree, broke, and with little more. If I had cash I would have taken a course before I became a 'teacher', but I didn't, so I didn't.

I arrived after many many hours of flying, and many many hours of getting my money's worth of free booze to a small town on the south coast of Korea. I was handed a book, and told to teach. I said "I don't know how, and I'm tired" (I would have told the boss I was drunk too, but I didn't want to make a bad impression.. I'd kind of been assuming I'd get a night's rest before I had to work..). So.. I got in the elevator, and spent a great 12seconds getting to know the 2 other foreign teachers and 3 of the Korean staff. Unfortunately those co-teachers didn't use that valuable 12seconds to train me in the ways of teaching. Instead, all I heard was "My name is XXXXXX, I can't BELIEVE they've got you teaching alread...."

So i went into class and luckily they were lovely great kids and I just chatted with them for 40 minutes. That was luckily the only class they thrust upon me before I got some sleep.

Next day I taught 6 classes (no training), and then, as it was canada day and there were a bunch in town (of the 18 foreigners 6 were Canadian) went out for a Hello/Happy Canada Day. I promptly got beaten up by a crazy guy who never ventured out with the foreigners again. Welcome To Korea New Teacher.

At that hagwan I asked to sit-in on classes a coupla times, but got rejected because it would have meant someone would have had to cover my classes.

I started a new job working for a city. The only training I had there was some 'Korean Culture' class where I was taught things like "Pass things with two hands", "Turn your head when drinking with elders", "Don't dispute the health benefits of Kimchi" and "It's rude to punch people in the face on first meeting" (shame the guy from my first town didn't know that..)

Now I work at a University, and again I've had no teacher training. Ah well, it's a learn on the job-job I guess. I'm currently signing up for the Asian EFL journal online TEFL course because it's cheap (free), and I can do it whilst working unlike a real one.

So how much teacher training have you received in your Korea/career?

[Homer]

I came here having been a High School teacher in Ontario for a couple of years.

Since then I attended workshops and took courses to improve myself. I got training from a few employers (some useful, some not).

[Hyeon Een]

That is good. My hagwan job didn't really allow for the whole workshop thing, since I worked Saturdays too (unless they were on Sundays, and close enough.. never happened as far as I know, and my free time was too valuable then).

Is there a place to check for workshops in Korea? I'd definitely be interested in workshops in Busan or Gwangju on the weekends. I really don't know where to look. I'm now considering a career in ESL so anything I can get my hands on would be good. Seoul is a bit far for a weekend though, so things in the south are of most interest.

And out of interest, has anyone done the free TESL certificate by the Asian EFL journal? It's free but you have to spend $100 on books. I'm mainly interested in it for learning, rather than resume enhancing reasons. When I want to improve my resume I will do a CELTA or start an MA.

PS And Homer, you had at least the advantage of proper teacher training and high school experience. Whilst it isn't quite EFL training, I am sure it is a damn load more helpful than a dozen G+Ts on a plane in terms of teacher preperation =)

[Mr. Pink]

My first hawgwon had me do a week of orientation. That was basically watch other teachers classes.

You do learn on the job. If you don't, chances are you get denied renewal.

God I wish I had training before I came, even a week of orientation wasn't even close to enough. It takes time to learn classroom management, how to deal with Koreans and how to effectively teach ESL.

[VanIslander]

[cruisemonkey]

None.

[laogaiguk]

My first ESL position was AEON in Japan. I got a pretty good 1 week orientation to teaching (using their method, but that was what was needed, and I picked up some good things from that too) with a bit of what to do in Japan thrown in too. There was then a 3 day overlap period with the teacher leaving to get info from them about your city, your students, what to do and you could watch them. All in all, especially compared to what you guys are saying, it was really good.

[crazylemongirl]

I did an education degree... still didn't help me that much for Korea. But I did a lot of reading and talking to other teachers about teaching and teaching methods. There's so much information out there and most good teachers here will always give some tips. There's really no excuse to not do a semi-decent job, even if you are thrown in the deep end.

[I_Am_Wrong]

Well,

I've been around esl students since I can remember. Our family always had students from Japan do homestay at our house. We also had students from Thailand, Indonesia, Germany, Belguim, Russia, Costa Rica stay at our house. I think having esl students around me so much helped quite a bit simple because I was used to communicating with them and always spent lots of time with them while I was a teenager.

I took one education course in Univeristy and it was pretty terrible.

My first teaching job was at an Elementary School in Suwon last year. I think I was lucky because I had an amazing co-teacher for the first term (she had to move schools after the first term). My first semester at the school was basically like doing a practicum in an education program. I got to follow my co-teacher's lead, she'd teach me different things and would help me immensely.

[StephannieK]

Basically, if you want to develop your skills as a teacher, you have to get out and network with other professional teachers. This doesn't always happen at the local foreigner watering hole either.

One way is to join KOTESOL. There are chapter meetings & workshops all over Korea & membership is open to anyone interested. There will be a National Conference May 13 in Cheonan.

Leading experts will be there to do hands on workshops to help teachers improve their classroom skills. Dr Paul Nation & Dr Sei-Kyung Cho are the keynote speakers, Caroline Linse, Thomas Santos, Yoo GyeHyoung, and David Paul...+ 40 other presentation by regular teachers with wisdom & experience. The program book with have reproducible activites included.

Check out their website:
http://www.kotesol.org/nationalconference/2006/

It's only 15,000 won to attend the all day conference. You can network & get great ideas in one place in one day.

Sunny Days

[TheUrbanMyth]

[coolsage]

I'm suspicious of anyone who uses 'network' as a verb. But if you're fresh off the boat and in need of resources, the Kotesol gathering might be the place for you. Good luck with that.

[Thunndarr]