Korean Job Discussion Forums

[The Hierophant]

Hi.

My hagwon likes me to teach straight from the text book. Each class has two textbooks (one story book and one conversation/activity book). We alternate these books day by day.

The lessons are decent enough, I think most of the students are learning (slowly). However, since we simply follow the progression of each book there isn't all that much direction or goal-setting involved. There are no tests and no grading at our hagwon, so it's difficult to determine how much the students are actually learning.

Ultimately, the students seem happy, my coworkers seem happy (I'm the only foreign teacher), and I'm assuming I should be happy too. But I can't quite shake the feeling that I'm not doing enough for my paycheck in simply trying to stretch the textbook as far as it will go.

Is teaching from the textbook a common thing? Our hagwon is very small (about 50-60 students total), and I get the feeling that if we could be more innovative, and give students tangible representations of how much they are learning that they can take home and show to their parents, then perhaps word of our school would spread and we could attract more students. What do you all think?

[kimchi story]

OMG don't open up that can of worms! My first job in Korea was an ECC and we had monthly reports for every student. Sometimes I'd have 12 or 14 classes of 8-12 kids and each one had to be graded according to five skill areas and a paragraph of anecdotal report, to boot. Reporting is pretty much universally treated the same as prep so it's usually not paid time (at hogwans, anyway).

I have a professional opinion on assessment: it's not an exact science. Education occurs through a process of overdetermination. If you mix up your approaches to the material just enough to keep you from getting bored, you will be presenting the information in a wide enough variety of ways that you can be confident your efforts are worthwhile.

My gut instinct says that if you have even thought to ask this question, you are probably an effective teacher.

Breaking up your program into levels and moving the students through them will give everyone a sense of accomplishment. I would do that by looking at the number of chapters in a textbook and dividing them up so that the students finish a textbook in a month or two.

They finish a textbook, they 'level-up' and it's giggles and grins. Make completion certificates, sure. But if you institute a process of reporting, I swear I'll beat you with a bag of Jeju oranges myself.

ok kidding about the oranges...

[The Hierophant]

Thanks for the feedback Kimchi Story.

You've given some good advice there. So, in general, I should have a vision in mind as to what written and spoken skills I want the students to have by the time we've finished a section of the book?

I get the impression that the books we use are designed for immigrants to America, who are surrounded by English every day. Most of my students (even the middle schoolers) really struggle with basic pronunciation. We have to crawl through the storybooks at a snail's pace and I feel this runs the risk of boring and discouraging the students.

OK, I'll avoid making reports part of the job I'm a real greenhorn (this is my first teaching job, I have no TEFL training, and I have no foreign coworkers to get advice from), and I just wasn't sure if I'm on the right track with my lessons.

Thanks again for your help!

[kimchi story]

Hey and I just noticed the winter camp thread - check that out. Supplementing with games is always a good idea, imho. When I was teaching littl'uns I'd keep a suction cup ball and draw a a really basic dartboard style target on the whiteboard. Two teams take turns throwing the ball and you ask the player a question. Really basic review stuff.

eslflow.com and our sponsor here also have a lot of resources. Don't fear games - I have regularly let them take up half a class at a time and never had a complaint. Kinda noisy, but parents love that.

G'luck

[The Hierophant]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[The Hierophant]