Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Fishead soup]

Dancing Monkey is a term that implies that you edutain your students.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

No dancing or monkeying but I am a bit of a game-show host at times. There are some things, like waving like a retard and yelling 'Hi!', that just aren't in my nature.

The other day at an English expo I saw a foreigner who fit the very definition of dancing monkey, singing and dancing with a group of little kids as part of some hagwon's promotion (I think). I sure hope she really enjoys that kind of thing and was getting paid very well. If she doesn't and isn't her job would be the very definition of TEFL hell.

[it's full of stars]

I'd like to be a real teacher but I ate some American beef and contracted BSE, so I am a dancing downer monkey.

My classes are education free.

[cruisemonkey]

No, I'm a crusin' monkey! (and a real teacher/game show host).

[KYC]

Nothing wrong with being both. I teach elementary so when the kids are good, I reward them with games. If they are not, they know they will have month long of worksheets & speaking activities.

One of hte positive thing about not having a Korean teacher with you I guess. I control the activities.

[some waygug-in]

Unfortunately I have to say that most of the time I am a dancing monkey.

The odd times that my co-teachers relax their vice-like grip and allow me to run the class are far too few and far to far between.


I was talking to a collegue yesterday who works in a smaller country school. He gets to teach alone mostly and is free to do whatever he wants. Hmmm.

I guess going small may be the answer I'm looking for.

[Easter Clark]

When I first arrived last year my co-teachers wanted me to be "funny." I told them that if the kids wanted to be entertained then they could go to a human zoo (or "English Village"). My job is to impart some knowledge / awareness of English conversation, as well as try to give the students a good impression of foreigners.

If you "dance like a monkey" then you're teaching your kids that foreigners are here for their amusement. If you want to be taken seriously then you should try more teaching and less entertaining.

[some waygug-in]

Thank you for the lesson on how to be taken seriously.

I agree with what you say, but unfortunately my co-teachers do not.

I am allowed to teach what and how they tell me and little more.

The few times I have tried to push the envelope and do more of what I think should be done, they cut me off mid-sentence, interrupt by loudly disciplining students or simply tell me that what I'm doing is not part of the lesson.

You're condescending attitude is duly noted though.

[Draz]

[branchsnapper]

While I basically admire Easter Clark's attitude, I suspect at least some people in his school would rather have a dancing monkey. On the other thread he said he punished students (how, I wonder?) even when the co-teachers are there - I think you take quite a risk with them taking offence at that.

Anyway, Koreans don't like to be contradicted when they tell you what they want, that's for sure.

[garykasparov]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[spliff]

Not a "dancing monkey", but rather, a stepping razor.

[Easter Clark]

Sorry if I came across as condescending. That certainly wasn't my intent! I may be criticized for taking my job seriously, but I guess that's the price one pays for trying to be a professional and not just a foreigner on display.

If "edutainment" works for you and your students, then who am I to say don't do it? For me, being an authority figure is more important than being an entertainer. And I feel like my classroom is a good environment to learn in, especially considering the background of my students.

And my co-teachers would probably be more offended if I didn't take any role at all in discipline.

If it walks like a duck...

[garykasparov]

Easter Clark,

Are you any relation to Hermann Goering?