Korean Job Discussion Forums

[spyro25]

I work in a unigwon that does kids in the afternoons. at the moment our existing program of study does little to help the kids, and involves putting kids in class by age regardless of their ability. The lesson plans just have page numbers on.

we have a great set of teachers who jump through hoops to do the best for the kids and make the lessons as good as they can but the powers that be have decided to revise the way we organise things here from the ground up in a bid to make the childrens program here seem more organised and to actually have objectives / expected outcomes to the classes that we do.

myself and another korean teacher may be given the responsibility to develop the kids program here before it starts again next march, so basically i'm on an information hunt to see how well the program at your place works, and if it does work then what makes it work.

current problems at the unigwon include
- kids who can't read in pre-intermediate reading classes
- such a wide range of abilities amongst kids in the same class
- a level-test that CLEARLY isnt working
- kids being put in classes by age
- no real objectives to the class other than finishing the book in 3 months
- no real way of putting a kid into a higher / lower level class if they are performing well / underperforming

that said, if we develop a decent enough program with expected aims / objectives and goals to meet, many of the problems faced above can be mediated, as being a national university we can turn around and say that this program is in the best interests of the students without the parents complaining too much. also most of our students these days actually come for free as part of a government scheme for impoverished children, so thats another thing to weigh in mind.

like i said, we are being given the power to change our system here, and i would like some advice from those in an educational management position or for those teachers out there with really good programs for their kids - could you share some of those ideas with me?

the only thing we can't change at this point are the books, but the new books are a great phonics program i have used before (smart phonics series) as well as the Macmillan 'treasures' series (of which i dont have much experience). What we want to do is have lesson plans and a course of study that dont just have the page number on it, but dont also have a load of meaningless motivational c*** on there paperwork's / parent's sake.

any thoughts or ideas would be very much appreciated.

also how much would you charge for doing this? it seems like a lot of work split between two (already busy) people. i don't want to agree a flat rate for it if it turns out to take much more work than i think. perhaps an hourly rate is the way to go here?

thanks guys!