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crazy tigger
Joined: 06 Aug 2006
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 Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:51 am Post subject: Do I prep too much? |
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This is inspired by another post by a teacher who says he doesn't have time to lesson plan all his/her lessons.
I work at a hogwon, teach for 6 hours a day (that's 12 x 30 min lessons) and I have books for every class to follow (English Time, Magic Time, Backpacker, Phonics ones etc) however I spend hours a day making games, activities, worksheets etc just to help make sure the kids understand and enjoy classes a bit. My director is really suprised (and seems pleased) at the variety of my lessons etc, and talking to most of my friends here they do no prep and just follow the books and tapes.
Is it just the area I am in where the norm is to stick to the books or is this standard in the hogwon area of teaching? |
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stuey11
Joined: 13 Jun 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 3:10 am Post subject: .. |
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I was doing the same when i first arrived, It's a good thing and sometimes can be very rewarding, but as you say it can be very time comsuming.
At my first school I encouraged all the teachers(Korean and Foreign) to copy and file any prep like games,flashcards, activities, tests and supplement sheets for certain lessons. (There is nothing worse than having to make tests or flashcards that have probably been done/used a thousand times before, especially with Magic/English Time) That way when the time comes to repeat a lesson or even chapter not only you but other teachers have many additional resources to use in class.
It worked really well and soon we had a huge library of things to use, try mentioning it to other teachers. If some teachers are'nt bothered then just keep the library to yourself and the other teachers who are prepared to contribute.
Good luck |
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ddeubel
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 3:28 am Post subject: |
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Do you breathe enough??????
No such thing. Don't believe all the quakes and snake oil salesmen -- there is no such thing.
Great job. Do what you think helps your students or all students or your own potential as a teacher. Don't count the hours and just be. Be a teacher.
DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com |
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ddeubel
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 3:29 am Post subject: |
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Do you breathe enough??????
No such thing. Don't believe all the quacks and snake oil salesmen -- there is no such thing.
Great job. Do what you think helps your students or all students or your own potential as a teacher. Don't count the hours and just be. Be a teacher.
DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com |
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ddeubel
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 3:30 am Post subject: |
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Do you breathe enough??????
No such thing. Don't believe all the quacks and snake oil salesmen -- there is no such thing.
Great job. Do what you think helps your students or all students or your own potential as a teacher. Don't count the hours and just be. Be a teacher.
DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com |
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the_beaver
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 4:55 am Post subject: |
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| ddeubel wrote: |
| Do you breathe enough?????? |
Exactly.
I teach 12 hours a week (assuming there's no overtime) and with grading and prep I'm easily adding another 40 hours to that. It's not necessary to do that much prep, but when you like your job it doesn't feel like work. |
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crusher_of_heads
Joined: 23 Feb 2007
Location: kimbop and kimchi for kimberly!!!!
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 4:57 am Post subject: |
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When I first started teaching, i spent an inordinate amount of time prepping.
I'm not implying don't prep, or be a slacker, but that's a black hole of time if you're a new teacher and not careful. |
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Vancouver
Joined: 12 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 6:49 am Post subject: |
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| good job. Keep it up |
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tomato
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: I get so little foreign language experience, I must be in Koreatown, Los Angeles.
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 7:24 am Post subject: Re: Do I prep too much? |
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| crazy tigger wrote: |
| Is it just the area I am in where the norm is to stick to the books . . |
Heck, no.
In every school I've worked, the majority of the teachers, both Korean and foreign, showed up about 30 minutes before class.
What they considered preparing for class was finding the page in the teacher's manual and running the worksheets through the copy machine.
| Quote: |
| or is this standard in the hogwon area of teaching? |
I still spend a lot of time making materials, but my first year was the busiest.
That is because your materials will be reusable.
A bingo game for learning verbs are especially valuable because you can adapt it for any verb tense.
I happened to pass by a construction site where small shingles of about the same size and shape were being thrown out. I painted letters on them. That was 8 years ago and I still use those tiles almost every day.
Teaching with a variety of materials and activities is more enjoyable than teaching like most other teachers.
If for no other reason, I have selfish motives for teaching in a creative way.
I'm glad your director is pleased.
One of my directors had a hundred reasons why it was better to follow the textbook and the teacher's manual than to embellish the class with songs, games, and picture books.
She told me that all of the students liked it better her way, they all hated my class, and they were all going to quit and she would have to close the school down.
So I took a tour of all the English schools in town and left a resume at each school.
She found out and gave me an angry phone call.
I said, "I'm doing you a favor! If another school in town hires me, all the students will quit and the school will close down! So then you will have one less competitor!"
She didn't see it that way.
In my present job, it is different.
My present director not only approves of my games, he even borrows them to use in his own class. |
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Biblethumper
Joined: 15 Dec 2007
Location: Busan, Korea
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 2:26 pm Post subject: |
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Extra resources and preparation are one of the several essentials to good teaching: "just teaching from the book and tape" will barely improve the children's English. (Too many supposedly higher level classes which I have inherited cannot even make a proper sentence in the present continuous, which every curriculum presents in the first few months.)
Preparing your own homework is also important, because almost all the workbooks and activity books and school-produced practice books are next to worthless for helping the students practice making simple sentences.
Be careful however to integrate drill into all the flash cards and flashy stuff.
Of course, do not burn yourself out on preparation, which I say from experience. But after taking breath I was able to resume preparation although a little less frenetically. |
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PRagic
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 2:34 pm Post subject: |
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Depends. If you are working in a hakwon, then, yes, I'd say you are doing too much. If you are working for a real school, then great job; you are doing what a teacher should be doing.
Your boss seems pleased? Shocked would be more like it. They don't pay for real teachers and they know it. It's a business. |
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Biblethumper
Joined: 15 Dec 2007
Location: Busan, Korea
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 4:13 pm Post subject: |
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| PRagic wrote: |
Depends. If you are working in a hakwon, then, yes, I'd say you are doing too much. If you are working for a real school, then great job; you are doing what a teacher should be doing.
Your boss seems pleased? Shocked would be more like it. They don't pay for real teachers and they know it. It's a business. |
A good private English school is a real school, and because you never have to teach more than ten or twelve students at a time, you will find the results of extra effort bear very noticeable fruit and very quickly.
A good business pleases the customers: when the children's English demonstrably improves the parents do notice. Of course there are foolish directors, supervisors and co-teachers everywhere who out of pride will deny reality, but a good school is good because it fosters good teaching.
The thing is you cannot do something half-assed and expect results and praise from it. Some teachers are bitter because they have not been recognized for some small effort on their part. Small efforts (or large but mis-guided efforts) only have a point if they lead to greater efforts. |
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PRagic
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 4:44 pm Post subject: |
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See what happends when the 'pleased boss' is asked for a substantial raise by the OP. They will find out very quickly just how appreciated their extra efforts are. Hakwons are businesses, pure and simple, and are a byproduct of a failed education system.
The OP would be better served by teaching at a school. The prep work and dedication displayed are indeed admirable, but they should be directed toward the formal education system and the students therein.
Maybe people find that they have a true interest in teaching once they give it a go. I don't know whether or not the OP was an education major, but even if he/she weren't, then considering teaching as a vocation might be the way to go. |
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Funky Chunk
Joined: 29 Sep 2007
Location: Haebangchon, Seoul
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 7:46 pm Post subject: |
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I cut down on prep time by having the students do a fair bit of it. For example, during one class I may have the students retell the story in their own words. As they're retelling, I type their responses on the classroom's laptop. By doing so, the kids see their responses on the board, and I'm already prepping a game for next class. When the kids come back a couple of days later, their retelling has been printed out a few times and cut up. Now they get to play a sequencing game in which they have to put the story strips back in order before the other teams do.
As for flashcard construction, give them to the kids for homework. Sure, you'll get a few done wrong, but for the most part, you'll have materials that can be used in the classroom. After you get them back, laminate them so you don't have to be bothered doing it again. An added bonus of this method is that the kids are often proud that something they constructed is actively being used in the classroom as a teaching tool.
Nothing wrong with lots of prepping, just try to save yourself a bit of time when possible. |
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zizi
Joined: 01 Dec 2007
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 8:13 pm Post subject: |
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| I spend too much time photocopying the books because half my students don't buy them. |
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