Korean Job Discussion Forums

[nautilus]

I do as much as I can to get my Korean co-teachers to avoid these basic mistakes. To be honest I've seen foreign teachers do this stuff as well but to my mind, qualified teachers with years of experience should not even be making these mistakes..

1) Giving the students the answers too fast.
Hint: make the students use their brains and try to think. Just reeling off the answers in the same breath you ask them may show off your impressive knowledge, but its boring to the students.

2) Not challenging students
Hint; make them work for it! Push the boundaries a little. Give them tasks that stretch them a bit and you will often be surprised that they can actually do it. korean teachers are too afraid to give them anything new i think. Its always "oh that will be too difficult for them".

3) Not punishing bad behaviour instantly.
Hint: reward good behaviour, punish bad. very simple. Some Korean teachers sympathise with students too much and don't want to upset them.

4) Speaking in monotone
Hint: vary your voice tone, be more expressive. It holds students attention.

5) Not spacing out study with activities.
Hint: childrens attention span is about 11 minutes max. They cant focus for a solid 40 minutes. Keep switching attention to new activities every so often It keeps them fresh.

6) Testing them on stuff they don't know
Hint: actually teach stuff before you ask them questions on it, or they cannot know what you're on about.

7) Not using gestures
express words constantly with gestures, movement, pictures, drawings, whatever. It keeps their attention more than just speaking alone.

Writing too small on the whiteboard
this one is very common. Hint: kids do not have telescopic sight.

[Netz]

All good advice and reminders.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Good observations. One more general fault I find with language teaching in Korea is not realising that monologue doesn't work - it has to be dialogue. Being unable to tell the difference between good classroom noise and bad classroom noise is another common problem, especially with younger Korean teachers.

[polonius]

All excellent tips. Those as well as the ones that follow are things I commonly tell my teachers:

1. Along with the idea of pushing the students to excel, I encourage students to speak in sentences. Depending on the proficiency level will obviously determine the complexity of the sentence. Start by giving the students a model sentence to work with. Students will be amazed at what they can do when they are asked to.

2. Start with a warm-up. Many times the students may have thought or read about the topic your will be working on but in Korean, however, this is the first time working through the materials in English. So, start with what they know. Encourage them to speak out on the materials prior to the reading or the listening so that you actively engage their brains to the subject.

3. Speak properly. Many times teachers will remove articles from speech or mis-conjugate verbs in the hopes that the students will understand them better. You are doing a disservice to the students. They will mimic what they hear. Also, choose your vocabulary accordingly. Make sure you space out your words so that the students can distinguish when one word starts and ends.

4. Remember that not all learners pick up the materials in the same way. It is necessary to switch styles within the class so that auditory, visual and kinesthetic learners are all benefitting from your lesson.

5. Many of your students may not be linguistically inclined. They may be geniuses at Math or Science, and they are only in the classroom because mom and dad want them to be. Don�t discourage these students because they never comprehend your materials. Try instead to put it in a way that they will understand.

[poet13]

1) I'm a fan of Mulltiple Intelligences Theory, and I think at least keeping it in mind when planning a lesson helps generate a more inclusive classroom environment. This goes along the lines of, but a little more expansive than polonius's 5th point.

http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligences.htm

2) Slow down.

2a) Don't talk so fast.

2c) Speak at a speed the little buggers can understand.

Yeah, I said it three times, cause it's one of my biggest problems in the classroom. My students have a standing order to stop me when I get going too fast.

3) Speak in complete and correct sentences. I listened to a teacher say, "My friend is teacher too." and skipping the verb "To Be" in several other sentences during a camp and it drove me nuts.

4) Find a way to encourage each student individually during a class. Many of our students, especially in the rural areas, lack the confidence necessary to make the mistakes necessary to effectively learn. Once they gain that confidence, the results can be amazing.

5) Don't worry if you think a student doesn't like you. There are lots more who don't, and you'll never know it. You're not there to be a friend or buddy. You're there to impart knowledge. If you develop a (healthy) bond with a student, fine, but don't go out of your way to be "a buddy".
Being a buddy wil not earn you repsect but it can earn you a creepy nickname from other students.

[joshuahirtle27]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[agoodmouse]

Extraneous speech; directions not written out logically and planned before the lesson; and not using CCQs. I'm off to lunch.

[tfunk]

How about disciplining the younger children?

I've always thought that a 'sore loser' should be rebuked for acting up but I've just read a piece that counters that children are behaving appropriately for their age. Their behavior, while it shouldn't be encouraged, should be tolerated to a degree because trying to impose adult values on younger children can distort their internal framework of how they relate to the world. They learn to act in certain ways because it's what teacher/mommy/daddy tells them, but they haven't made a conscious relationship between the target behavior and its purpose in the larger context. Feeling bad and hiding their feelings is just one of the possible results.

Korean parents seem to treat their children like 'princess and princes' and in some peoples opinions this will result in the children being spoilt - but I don't think this is necessarily the case.

Any thoughts?

[nautilus]

[Kikomom]

[SHANE02]

Challenge Your Students: Yes

BUT

Beware of setting un-reachable goals. E.G. A teacher who thinks his/her students "should be able to do it", because of their age, or simply becacuse the teacher expects a result, is sort of missing the point.

Also

Maybe you think they can do it, then in class you find they are struggling to understand what is expected. This can usually be solved in class by a good teacher who know how to "pitch" lessons to his/her students level without panicking.

[schwa]

Many good points above that newbies & some vets could do well to heed.

But it needs to be noted that many of the bad practices the OP points out are deeply entrenched in the Korean system. It would be a very rare Korean teacher that would welcome news that they're doing their job wrong. Especially from the likes of us, whom many K-teachers already view as just temporary nuisances, unqualified & brash.

Change can only be initiated gently, incrementally, & diplomatically.

[nautilus]

[Ya-ta Boy]

I've seen a lot of teachers use idiomatic English without (seemingly) realizing it. You need to be aware of what you are saying and how you are saying it. Remove any slang, idioms and complicated grammar until you have taught it. Once you have taught something, then use it as often as possible to reinforce the learning. Focus on vocabulary building by teaching one use of a word, then gradually build the students' ability to use the word in its various forms. Add the other meanings of a word gradually. Students do not automatically know that you can use many nouns as verbs. You need to teach them.