Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Hotel Cheonan]

I'm curious . . .

How many people come over here to be serious teachers? I always got the feeling that wasn't the reason why most people come over here to teach.

[kimcheeking]

[kimcheeking]

*bump* just for MODYBA
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=8354&start=90

[Zyzyfer]

[captain kirk]

bobster's comment re; 'pride' and 'dignity' and how these battered keepsakes have to be jettisoned to enter the world of children. absolutely. well said. kids totally hack around, ninja each other's egos with savage delight. it's a topsy turvey totally happening world, immediate.
real teacher? seven years in hagwons now. when i started i was horrendous. when i look at the 'bingo playing/hangman playing' teacher description now i can't believe it. but that's what i did my first contract. the boss said 'just teach'. culture shocked, uptight, frustrated at the kids not having fun and the book being flatline dull, i played bingo with them until being let go early. it was one of those illegal 11 month contracts anyway.
next contract it was the same deal. the boss said, 'just teach'. this time it was meeting a different class each day, every day, all week. so they saw me once a week, the momma of all hagwons. and i was determined to get creative. so i drew 'picture dictionary' type drawings on the board. pirate ship, factory, city, house, and so on. labelled them while talking about what the words for the details were. after three months, the boss confided that most of the kids, most of the time, had no idea what i was talking about. suddenly it was IMF, and i went to tawain.
by the time i got there i'd been 'teaching' a total of fourteen months in korea. this school in taiwan, a franchise, was totally together. modules. daily lessons all layed out. each kid had five different books to cover the modules; grammar, phonics, dialgue, etc. all splayed for them and teacher to see the parts. THAT's where i 'learned' to be a teacher, to deliver components. until then it had been 'just teach, here's the book'. the recruiter said 'be a clown, if you're not funny the kids won't like you and your director will fire you'.
after taiwan a semester, back in korea, i was a 'teacher' at least up to par with what a 'teacher' is in a hagwon. but still too 'serious', not interacting with enough glee with the individual kids creating a reparte. yeah, becoming a teacher is by 'experience'. two years there, then another korean school but boobytrapped by morning kindy. another korean job then this one. the main determining factor is how much 'teacher' loves what he's doing most of the day. get as funny, spontaneous, and hilarious as possible. while minding they are on track and following the details, 'learning english', that we are obliging. 'teacher' sets the tone, and if you're smack dab in the middle of digging the moment with these very potentially wonderful little comedians, then there's nowhere else to be.

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

CaptainKirk ... solid! again!

For me, I teach adults. And I would say, I'm good when I plan, and I plan about half the time. I'm qualified, and I read. So, knowing what to do is not the problem. It's getting up off my goldang ass and DOING it that's my stumbling block.

My goal, to work on my motivation. I want to love the planning as much as the execution. Sinse this is my gig, I want to become a jedi.

[Ilsanman]

us ESL teachers are the amoeba of the teaching world.

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

[kimcheeking]

[ulsanchris]

I'm trying to be a real teacher. I find it dificult because I've had no training; i have no outside input on to how to improve my classes, and no guidence from a more experienced teacher. Trying to do it on my own, which is tough.
This is my second year teaching here and the school that I am teaching at is really tough on me. I had a whole class decide to hate me on my first day and it has been a constant source of irritation. this class is improving though. A lot of the kids don't have any basic skills and I have to go back and teach them the skills. But they don't want to go over it because they have done it. The kids attitudes towards english wasn't that great when i got here but it is slowly improving. My boss' policies keep losing students. There have been 5 korean teachers since I have arrived here so its tough to build a good working relationship with any of them and to coordinate our efforts. there will be a sixth one pretty soon I think. However I am trying to improve myself and make lessons plans and lots of materials and activities for the students to do. Always keep them busy. I'm trying to be as student centred as possible. I've read a book on it, and it has helped, but it is not the same as seeing it done.

[captain kirk]

while of course taking care of business IMHO the pinnacle of achievement is to be a clown. if you can't be a clown then be a buffoon. barring that be a jackass. if being a jackass is unrealizable, then be a dumbass. if that seems impossible then be yourself; it'll have to do. via 'the great teacher', experience, attempt to steadily work your way up to 'professional bozo'.
'esl is being the ameoba of the teaching world'. now that's just plain mean. i prefer bottom feeder.
yeah, ulsanchris, i had 'whole classes deciding they didn't like me' too. i had stagefright, and was talking AT them too much. maybe using words they didn't understand forgetting who i was talking to. pissed at the book, not getting any coaching, and new at 'maintaining class discipline' while appearing to them to be nervous and 'proceeding' haltingly. 'there's no fool worse than an uptight fool'. 'fool' in the sense of 'professional(esl) jester'.

[the_beaver]

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

[bucheon bum]

well how much time do you put into planning Beaver? I'm the same with you, I have to plan. On the other hand, I don't put much effort into planning. That is, I come up with 3-4 things to do for each class and then move on to plan the next class. The whole process takes me around 30-45 minutes each day (for 6 classes). Not exactly a hell of a lot of time but a) After doing this for a year and doing the same book numerous times, cuts down on the prep time b) I don't have much to work with.

Like Kirk, my two hogwon jobs here in Korea were "just teach" positions. The first one at least had some kind of curriculum whereas the 2nd time around I just have a storybook to work with. The rest of it is up to me. Given the circumstances, I'd say I'm doing ok.

On the other hand, I'm totally not motivated to read about teaching techniques and other information that could assist me. I'm a lazy bastard when it comes to certain things. Thankfully, I'm not planning to make a career out of ESL.

[kimcheeking]