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bosintang
Joined: 01 Dec 2003
Location: In the pot with the rest of the mutts
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 Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 8:32 pm Post subject: |
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| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
How do you not suck so badly at a sucky institution? Do you know of any courses in Canada in how to be slightly more effective in an environment of systemic Korean educational fraud? |
Well part of a being a "professional" is that you make due with the resources you have. Although I feel the hagwon system is overall a horrible system, in general, I don't doubt the sincerity of most of the people involved. You work with what you have.
However, let's pretend for a moment that teaching in Korea is straight up and not the 3-ring circus we know. Would throwing more money around attract more qualified teachers? Marginally maybe, but assume that you're a typical sincere career-teacher in your home country considering doing a stint overseas. You're going to worry about things like: what kind of work can my spouse get? How much will it cost to send my children to an international school? What resources are available to help my family adjust? Let's face it, Korea is no expat paradise. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 9:34 pm Post subject: |
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| bosintang wrote: |
| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
How do you not suck so badly at a sucky institution? Do you know of any courses in Canada in how to be slightly more effective in an environment of systemic Korean educational fraud? |
Well part of a being a "professional" is that you make due with the resources you have. Although I feel the hagwon system is overall a horrible system, in general, I don't doubt the sincerity of most of the people involved. You work with what you have.
However, let's pretend for a moment that teaching in Korea is straight up and not the 3-ring circus we know. Would throwing more money around attract more qualified teachers? Marginally maybe, but assume that you're a typical sincere career-teacher in your home country considering doing a stint overseas. You're going to worry about things like: what kind of work can my spouse get? How much will it cost to send my children to an international school? What resources are available to help my family adjust? Let's face it, Korea is no expat paradise. |
This is another good point - the system really only caters to single people.
As for being professional - I agree that you have to make do with the resources you have, like a doctor at a thrid-world clinic. However, if the doctor's supervisor told him that he wasn't allowed to dispense almost all types of medicine and had to treat everything with aspirin and hope for the best, would a professional stick around? |
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The Lemon
Joined: 11 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2005 4:24 am Post subject: |
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| bosingtang wrote: |
| Lack of qualified teachers is a symptom of the much bigger problem and not the cause. |
I'm not smart enough to label what are causes and symptoms. But I'd consider the lack of qualified instructors an element of Korea's educational problems. I believe it's at least a supporting role.
It doesn't have to be a money issue. Frankly, if I was running the place I'd ship home the western "native speakers" and bring in qualified, trained Southeast Asian teachers who would likely do the job as well or better, for less.
Only in Korea's wildest dreams will they attain the widespread English-speaking level of Malaysia or the Philippines anytime soon. They should be using this regional expertise and get over the white-faced "native speaker" fetish. A few Koreans are cluing in to this and going overseas - to these nations - to learn English better than they can in Seoul.
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This is Korea and the people in charge can do whatever they want with their education system and listen to whomever they want to listen to. When it comes down to it it's their problem not mine.
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Absolutely right. I made my initial post about trying to attract more qualified teachers through better pay, benefits and conditions knowing full well that it's not going to happen.
| YBS wrote: |
| Do you know of any courses in Canada in how to be slightly more effective in an environment of systemic Korean educational fraud? |
All educational systems have their special frustrations for teachers. Ever deal with Canadian parents who launch into their kids' teachers like they're the kids' lawyers? "I want X, Y, and Z for my little Johnny and couldn't care less that you're responsible for 30 other kids in the room..." Or, how about special little Louise, who basically runs the school by threatening the teachers and the administration that she'll get her influential mom to make some phone calls to the school board if she doesn't get her way (and they know her threat is valid)? I'm just getting started on the commonplace headaches for teachers that I experienced while working in Canadian and American public schools.
As far as I know, there are no special courses in North America for dealing with teaching in those specific situations either, and they're more common than any of us would want. But professional teachers try to do their best in those systems despite the obstacles (while hoping to secure a transfer to a better school).
| YBS wrote: |
| I worked as a volunteer at an ESL programme in a Canadian school and none of the disciplinary options there are open to me, so I fail to see how a Canadian teachers training course would be of much good to me here re: class control. |
With all respect due, we wouldn't quite call you an expert on Canadian teacher training courses, would we?
| bosingtang wrote: |
| You're going to worry about things like: what kind of work can my spouse get? How much will it cost to send my children to an international school? What resources are available to help my family adjust? Let's face it, Korea is no expat paradise. |
Quite right. Which is why I mentioned the bit about improving "benefits and conditions", which include what you've listed. They're essential components of my current contract outside Korea, and were major factors luring me away from the big K.
| YBS wrote: |
| However, if the doctor's supervisor told him that he wasn't allowed to dispense almost all types of medicine and had to treat everything with aspirin and hope for the best, would a professional stick around? |
I visited the infamous Chunggye Wonderland for a week in 1998 and saw educational conditions on a level close to what you're describing. I would however claim that such an environment is atypical, even in most cash-is-king hogwons. In none of the schools where I ever taught was I prevented from teaching to the best of my ability.
This includes almost two years at the much maligned English Friends Academy in northern Seoul in the 1990s. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2005 5:53 am Post subject: |
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| The Lemon wrote: |
| YBS wrote: |
| Do you know of any courses in Canada in how to be slightly more effective in an environment of systemic Korean educational fraud? |
As far as I know, there are no special courses in North America for dealing with teaching in those specific situations either, and they're more common than any of us would want. But professional teachers try to do their best in those systems despite the obstacles (while hoping to secure a transfer to a better school).
| YBS wrote: |
| I worked as a volunteer at an ESL programme in a Canadian school and none of the disciplinary options there are open to me, so I fail to see how a Canadian teachers training course would be of much good to me here re: class control. |
With all respect due, we wouldn't quite call you an expert on Canadian teacher training courses, would we?
| YBS wrote: |
| However, if the doctor's supervisor told him that he wasn't allowed to dispense almost all types of medicine and had to treat everything with aspirin and hope for the best, would a professional stick around? |
I visited the infamous Chunggye Wonderland for a week in 1998 and saw educational conditions on a level close to what you're describing. I would however claim that such an environment is atypical, even in most cash-is-king hogwons. In none of the schools where I ever taught was I prevented from teaching to the best of my ability.
This includes almost two years at the much maligned English Friends Academy in northern Seoul in the 1990s. |
By no means am I an expert on teachers' training in Canada, but I do have a lot of friends who have gone through it, with very mixed opinions. About the closest parallel to hogwan I can think of is a friend of mine who got a job teaching on a remote native reservation in Manitoba. Nothing in her schooling prepared her adequately, she quit after a year, and I think she may never teach again.
As for my hogwan, some classes are great, some are unbelievably atrocious (see my 'being their friends' thread for more) and some are in between. I can't think of anything I learned volunteering at a Canadian school that would help me in the latter, and attempting to apply proceedures I learned only made things worse. The only training I have that's been of any use in the last week was what I had when I worked as a security guard as an undergrad - how to restrain someone physically without hurting them.
I'd advise anyone looking to be a better hogwan teacher to save what they might spend on a course and spend it on educational games and supplies. Spend the time you might spend on an ESL distance-ed course photocopying more interesting material (and unjamming the photocopier) and printing interesting pictures off the internet that you can use in your lessons. |
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