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i_teach_esl
Joined: 07 Sep 2006
Location: baebang, asan/cheonan
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 Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 2:23 pm Post subject: how old are your students? |
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im working on my first job search. had offers so far for elementary. is high school hard to find? adult students are super hard to find? what is the best way to go about finding a job with adult students?
OR do you prefer elementary students? can you all tell me some nice stories about your students so that i wont be weird about teaching elementary?
how does it work? do you see the same students the same time daily? how long are classes? |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 3:19 pm Post subject: |
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My students are age 12 to 18 (a couple are 19) in western years, but this has absolutely no correspondence to their mental ages. This is at a public middle and high school.
I would never teach Korean kids under 12, and the majority of Korean kids, especially boys, under 6 are simply demonic. |
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heydelores
Joined: 24 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 4:15 pm Post subject: |
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| I teach preschool, kindergarten, and young elementary and wouldn't have it any other way. My classes are either 40 or 50 minutes long. Some of my classes meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the others meet MWF. I have one class (young preschool) that only meets once a week. I also teach (legally) four private students who are in elementary school grades 3 5, and 6. I've worked with middle and high school students, but I really enjoy the younger kids more. Teaching very young children (preschool and kindy) can be a lot of fun. However, it's not for everyone. You have to be able to deal with very short attention spans and loads of energy (which sometimes, but not always, translates to loads of enthusiasm). Additionally, you have to be completely undaunted by bodily fluids. I'd say that if you enjoy working with young children at home, you'll probably enjoy it here, but if not, keep searching for a job with older students. |
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atlhockey
Joined: 20 Aug 2006
Location: Jeonju City
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| Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 4:19 pm Post subject: |
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I teach one adult class, kindergarten and young elementary. Kindergarten is challenging discipline-wise but easy teaching-wise. Beginner elementary is the worst for me, because they don't really know enough to learn in immersion. However, while people will tell you the young kids are awful, I really like the kids themselves. It isn't their fault we're assigned textbooks too hard for them.
The adults are fun, but I have much more performance anxiety with them and hangman doesn't cut it as a timefiller  |
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Buff
Joined: 07 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 7:42 pm Post subject: |
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| I teach high school literature. They're 10th grade to 12th grade so 15-18 western age. |
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kermo
Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Location: Eating eggs, with a comb, out of a shoe.
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| Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 7:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Buff wrote: |
| I teach high school literature. They're 10th grade to 12th grade so 15-18 western age. |
But 15-18 years on this earth in Korea doesn't add up to 15-18 years of experience in another country. At that age, kids are so well-supervised (at regular school until 6, at a hagwon until 10) and book-addled that they don't really resemble Western teenagers. |
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jaderedux
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Location: Lurking outside Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 8:04 pm Post subject: |
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13 to 16 or so Middle Schoolers! Wooo hooo! Perfect age for me. I like em...they still have some fear of teachers. Not too smart butt at this point but silly funny and mostly a joy to teach. Been teaching these kids at the same school for 5 years!
They rock!
Jade |
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tomato
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: I get so little foreign language experience, I must be in Koreatown, Los Angeles.
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| Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 8:28 pm Post subject: Re: how old are your students? |
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| i_teach_esl wrote: |
| im working on my first job search. had offers so far for elementary. is high school hard to find? adult students are super hard to find? |
To get a job teaching high school students, you have to get a job in a high school.
High school students don't come to after-school hagweons because they are in school all day--and I do mean all day.
I don't know if jobs teaching adults are hard to find because I never tried it. I would say that they are harder to find because the job/applicant ratio is somewhat lower than for jobs teaching kids.
| Quote: |
| what is the best way to go about finding a job with adult students? |
Run an ad saying that that's what you want.
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| OR do you prefer elementary students? can you all tell me some nice stories about your students so that i won't be weird about teaching elementary? |
I could, but I'm not sure it would do any good.
For each age group, it takes a certain kind of person.
Have you noticed the contradictory responses on this thread?
That's because there are different kinds of people on this thread!
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| how does it work? do you see the same students the same time daily? |
In some schools you do, in some schools you don't.
In most schools, you alternate with another teacher, something like MWF and TTh.
I have worked in one school where I teach one class for 25 minutes, trade students with another teacher, and then teach another class for 25 minutes.
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| how long are classes? |
In most schools, 50 minutes. |
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i_teach_esl
Joined: 07 Sep 2006
Location: baebang, asan/cheonan
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| Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 11:02 pm Post subject: |
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ah, OK, i didnt understand that "high school" inkorea doesnt mean high school here. i was using "high school" just to mean students age 15-18.
i really appreciate everyone's responses (and the diversity among them), im feeling more prepared by the minute. you guys rock. chester loves you. |
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SirFink
Joined: 05 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 5:05 pm Post subject: |
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| atlhockey wrote: |
| Beginner elementary is the worst for me, because they don't really know enough to learn in immersion. |
I teach elementary and generally love the little scamps. Yes, it can be hard to teach 1st and 2nd graders, but I've been at this six months and it's stunning to me how quickly some of them have picked up English. One little boy -- 1st grade -- basically didn't say a word and looked confused for the last six months, but just in the last week it's like it finally clicked in his head and his English is now terrific. So immersion seems to be working for him.
I taught a few adult classes over the summer and it was hell. There is a shyness to many Korean adults and teens that makes it very difficult to get them talking. Younger kids, fortunately, are not self-conscious and not concerned with all that face-saving BS. They are happy to ramble on in their broken English and it really puts a smile on my face to hear them put sentences together and express themselves.
Discipline can be a problem and it is sometimes like herding cats. If you are a total control freak you'll probably hate elementary, but if you can go with the flow and improvise as the situation calls for it, you should do fine. A day doesn't go by that I don't find myself laughing out loud at one of my student's antics or something they say -- laughing with them, not at them. I just can't see that happening with a room full of dour-faced, worn-out, jaded adults and teens. |
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CBP
Joined: 15 May 2006
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 6:54 pm Post subject: |
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Herding cats!!!!!!!!
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