Korean Job Discussion Forums

Kennyftw · Joined: 08 Aug 2011

it's neither. It's an after school job

Draz · Joined: 27 Jun 2007 Location: Land of Morning Clam

brento1138 · Joined: 17 Nov 2004

Hey I know what you must be going through. It's the age level. I am definitely not cut out for teaching people under the age of 16 or so. Just isn't for me AT ALL and I did it for about 2 and a half years. At the end of that, I said "never again."

If you stay here long term, married to a Korean woman, think about getting a Masters and university job. Work in an adult hakwon. Adults (even teenagers) are just so much better to teach than little kids.

That's just my opinion on why you're not happy. It's a bit of a mind-numbing job. I can never imagine singing songs with kids, teaching the alphabet, A-aaa Apple ever again. To me, it's really just... dull and horrible!

So ride it out, finish it up, and one day you'll look back and laugh at your old job like I am now. My experience in Korea changed vastly after getting a new job, teaching a new age group... It will get better!

ATM SPIDERTAO · Joined: 05 Jul 2009 Location: seoul, south korea

i used to really love this job when i was super young looking and all the girl students thought i was hot. at least i felt like a celebrity while teaching and i had no idea what i was doing. now that i'm a great teacher, the students treat me with respect and more or less, like a teacher... and it's just not as fun anymore. i'm looking forward to a new job. maybe teaching middle school or high school and not elementary school. they ask me how old i am and i say 27 in korean age and they are appalled that i am not married. sigh... youth is so important in this country...

mmstyle · Joined: 17 Apr 2006 Location: wherever

v88 · Joined: 28 Feb 2010 Location: here

I know how you feel.

I came here thinking I was going to really get to know my students and have this great teaching experience. Teaching in Korea really isn't that great. It's not like working at home in a school where you are part of something and able to help the kids make it through to the next step. In Korea you are teaching kids whose parents are certain a little face time with an English speaker will make their kid an English speaker. You have a boss that sees you more as a commodity rather than a teacher. You have students who are just desk warming because they are forced to go to endless hours of classes by their parents. You teach different levels, different ages and likely have far too many hours of teaching all these different levels, ages and faceless students to actually do proper prep work.

While the expectations of your employer may actually be low in terms of the quality of work that you do (rather than the quantity), the hours of constantly teaching English on the fly (rather than with good plans), managing students who have been to one too many classes already that day (and a boss who likely doesn't support you) and the general lack of enthusiasm your students have for the subject matter can be extremely tiring.

Being burnt out can happen to any teacher, but I think it can be worse here.

My advice: make class fun for your students if they are willing to do the work that you ask of them first, learn to feel good about the work that you do (rather than waiting for your students or your boss to give you the gratification you want...it's not going to happen), don't feel bad about giving your students 'busy work' so that you can catch your breath once and a while, keep your expectations low and get a new job (because some jobs are better than others here).

Things were getting horrible for me until I decided that I would have students do work sheets in class while we listened to music. This gave me a break, they were easy to prepare and I had more energy for the speaking and communication parts of class. I was also able to get kids to review the day's work and check up on them to see if they truly understood.

I also kept points for kids who did their homework and behaved in class. If they had enough points they could participate in games that we had from time to time. If they were bad...more work sheets. Games can be simple (like hang man or pictionary for reviewing vocabulary) and last only a short time or more complex and time consuming (like Clue, Scrabble or even poker). I had a simple rule, kids would lose points or lose a turn if they spoke in Korean.

I also had monthly activity days where kids did projects in class. Kids did posters, science projects, stories, book reviews and even invented their own games. This broke up the monotony of the daily grind and gave everyone (including me) something to look forward to. I really enjoyed being able to work with the kids on their projects and it gave me a chance to get to know them better.

If you are unable to do this (or something like it) at your school....quit and look for a school that actually wants a teacher and not an English robot.

alistaircandlin · Joined: 24 Sep 2004 Location: Seoul

alistaircandlin · Joined: 24 Sep 2004 Location: Seoul

alistaircandlin · Joined: 24 Sep 2004 Location: Seoul

mmstyle · Joined: 17 Apr 2006 Location: wherever

Yeah, the "get a different job" idea is a big one. I got the one grade level I asked not to teach. I am at a school where I could be incredibly lazy if I wanted to (I think, anyway) but I am not like that. I like to get the kids engaged...but I am handicapped at every turn. So, it's a new job or new country for me after this. It's sad really, I feel like I have connected with a lot of students during my time at this job, an driven the proper (supportive) environment, I think I could go from good at my job to totally kick-a$$ (maybe that's why my coworkers aren't supportive?). Oh well. I've had non-teaching jobs like that in the past.

alfr · Joined: 27 Aug 2011

maybe it is also that first you think that you "can make a difference", but then realize that neither your school or coworkers are supportive of whatever "individual" initiative or engagement you make. you get "sucked" into the system and your work does not provide any satisfaction and you get burnt out by the monotony thereof. that, at least, is how i feel.

Kaypea · Joined: 09 Oct 2008

DanseurVertical · Joined: 24 Nov 2010

PatrickGHBusan · Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 4:10 am Post subject:

Hitting the wall as a teacher is common enough. It happens to many educators as teaching is a hard job and is often thankless in many ways. That grinds some people down.

The key in my opinion is to find ways to improve your lessons, learn about teaching methodology and techniques in order to see things more clearly. That will allow you to see beyond the text books and to manage your classes better. Eliminating much of the unecessary discipline will free you up to focus more on an entertaining lesson.

That does take time and effort but it can pay off big time. There are tons of websites with suggestions for ESL-EFL lessons and activities that you can use to ehance the textbook stuff. There also sites that offer tips on classroom management, planning and other key issues. Reading up on these things will typically help a teacher a lot.

Resorting to drinking and locking yourself in a "lets just get through this week for my next weekend drinking binge" will not improve anything and in fact will push you down further into this negative spiral you put yourself into.

Other things that will help are: get hobbies or re-engage in the things you did back home, stay active, exercise, get out there and meet people, travel to other places in Korea on some weekends.

A lot of this will also depend on why you came to Korea and on how you view teaching.