Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sojourner1]

I taught 1 year at a kindergarten hagwon with elementary and middle schools classes in the afternoon with provided curriculum and materials to center my lessons around.

Do you (small town/rural public school teachers) have provided materials in your public school English program or do you have to get that off the internet or at a store in Seoul?

Do you take an interdisciplinary approach where you include many elements of various subjects such as math, science, art, and music or do you simply follow and model what your co-teacher lessons are?

What should I bring with me that would aid in a smooth and successful entry and a year of teaching other than an open mind and positive attitude? Thank you in advance...

[ttompatz]

[spirit2110]

[some waygug-in]

Does anyone have a link that works for the English version of the teacher's guide?

The one I had last year is no longer active and the one I was given this year doesn't seem to have an English version.

[Stormy]

[retrogress]

I came from teaching in academies to this rural area last year---to teach in a public elementary school.
During the first semester I basically created my own lessons. THEN! at the beginning of the second semester we got a Korean English teacher--a kind of co-teacher. She started scrounging around for materials and found nearly around 100 plastic cases FILLED WITH TEACHING MATERIAL!!!! When I got hold of this my problems were solved and it's been smooth sailing every since. In these cases are absolutely everything you need to teach, from dice to play money to picture cards. I mean EVERYTHING. Lesson planning came to an immediate halt and I found myself just trying to figure out how to use all of the great stuff.

In short, see if your school has this material. It was originally produced by www.kyohak.co.kr, but they have since stoppe dmaking it because the books are going to change soon. But in my rural county, TWO of the schools I teach at have the material, so yours might as well. If you can find it, you'll be doing yourself a favor.

[yeremy]

What you're likely to find is an audio-lingually based textbook series which the local Education Office may want you to make more communicative. The characters are okay but the substance of the dialogs is thin. The teacher's book is not always helpful. The cultural tips are usually a bit off the wall, to be polite. Elementary school students copy rather than write. The sentence lengths will range from 4 to 8 words officially. The official vocabulary lists are only a couple of hundred words and from 3rd grade to 6th grade the structures presented range from the simple present (What's this?) to the simple future with either will or going to.

It looks like this: Third graders will study the simple present; Fourth Graders will add the present progressive; Fifth graders will study the simple past; Sixth graders will study the simple futures.

The CD Rom program is a bit difficult to learn how to use at first and the songs are better suited for the third and fourth graders. The fifth and sixth graders, some of whom have started going to hagwons, are not probably going to be very interested in the songs and chants, which heavily "borrowed" from some classic songs with lyrics changed to suit the function of the lesson.

I taught in the same school for three years and the parents at my school do not like the official textbooks approach very much in my experience. I spent a lot of time making my own supplemental listening activities, boardgames, and researching for useful and interesting games to use in class. I put up a lot of crossword puzzles for vocabulary work as much as possible. I also made a lot of flashcards to use, which I laminated so I could re-use them again and again. www.classroomclipart.com is a very good site for finding royalty free clip art to use to make flashcards from. The more you put into your classroom preparation, the better your classes will be.

I wouldn't put too much faith in using the officially supplied materials that much beyond the CD Rom. I suggest that you take a functional-notational approach towards supplementing, if you do, and in teaching your classes.

However, to me, teaching elemetntary aged young learners is often a blast and a great experience. Once you get to know your students, and they you, the level of trust will help you to introduce new activities and materials, which will add a lot of value to your classes. Young learners are not always that easy to teach and to plan for, but they are perhaps the most energetic of learners. Good luck. Have fun and work hard.