Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ImInKoreaAintI]

Hello everyone:

I thought I'd ask the wonderful teachers here on Dave's for some ideas on a demonstration class that I have to do in the next few weeks.

Okay, so I'm teaching at the high school level and just need some ideas for the demo class. I've thought up a few on my own (like making recipies, and putting on a mini skit), but just wanted to check in on some other ideas.

For those of you who have gone through this demonstration class process... what did you teach? and overall, how did it go? what should I look out for? what should i do differently than on a normal day?

I was told that I would be doing this in front of about 20 administrators and it will be recorded on camera for recruiting and instructional use. So, my nerves haven't settled yet. So any help would be great guys. Thanks.

[ImInKoreaAintI]

...

[ImInKoreaAintI]

...

[Rteacher]

I've taught at the same technical high school in Gyeoggi province for over three years, and each official from the Education Ministry had different ideas as to what constitutes a good class.

The current one in charge thinks that trying to teach English grammar to technical students is a waste of time because "they can't understand it".

More troubling to me is his underestimating the value of making English-learning a fun experience.

While all the students and visiting teachers enjoyed my last demo class, this particular official sported a stern frown from start-to-finish.

My main Korean co-teacher (who really thought the class was "great") said that the official (admittedly not at all fluent in English) must have already prepared his comments before coming to the class.

Of course, this may not be specifically applicable to you at all - or anyone not teaching at a technical high school in Gyeonggi-do - but it gives an idea of how picky some officials can be sometimes.

There definitely is some politics involved, but the pressure is mostly on the principal and Korean co-teachers to comply with whatever the Ministry wants in order to get funding for native-English teachers.

In general, I think they want the demo class to be well rehearsed, and they want student speaking time maximized - and teacher speaking time minimized.

It's usually a good idea to include speaking practice and role-plays in pairs and small groups while teachers monitor.

The Korean co-teacher should avoid speaking Korean.

I think they still want to see cooperative "team-teaching", but they keep changing how big a role the Korean co-teacher should play. Three years ago they wanted it 50-50; two years ago they wanted the Korean co-teacher to lead the class and the native-English teacher to assist; last year I heard they wanted the native-English teacher to lead about 80% of the class ...

Usually (at least in Gyeongi province) teachers are encouraged to observe at least a couple other teachers' demo classes to get more ideas -and to give feedback.

So, my basic advice is to do the best you can, don't worry about the "administrators" (until they give you specific instructions) try to rehearse at least a couple times - and keep everyone involved most of the time.

Btw, a couple times I was told that a lot of guests would show up but only a few actually came - make sure to have the class welcome them and thank them for coming ...