Korean Job Discussion Forums

[some waygug-in]

As I was studying Korean on the Sogang site today, I started to think about this situation, and wondered what others do about it.

What I am refering to is the Koreans tendancy to want to rush through a book, without any review and then move on to the next level right away. Do the same with that level, and so on.

What got me thinking about this was the fact that I need to review the basic things in Korean so many times, even after I think I have finally learned them.

What I tried to do in my classes was slow things down, and do some reviews, but my students always protested, "teachaw..hets-oi-yo!" I still tried to do some reviews, but the students were very uncooperative. Worse still was the fact that the parents were urging the director to make me do "3 pages a day" in their books. The only way to do this, was to write the answers on the board, and have the students copy them. Not really a great teaching method.

So I started using alternate material. Things from other books or things that I had made, which would give some sort of review and extra practice.
This was viewed with disdain, as they accused me of "not following the school's curriculum". I had no problem with the curriculum per se, it was just the speed that they expected to push through it all, without any reviewing, all so that they could say to parents, "look, they are doing 3 pages a day in their workbooks".

I am wondering what other teachers do (or have done) about this. Is there any way to deal with this attitude, without getting into a big row over it. ( and then quitting or getting fired).

Just curious.
Cheers

[FUBAR]

I don't know if this will work but, give them homework. Let them do the questions at home. Then the answers can be a review for them; Providing that they do the work. If they fail to do the work, bring in a Korean teacher.

[rapier]

Koreans want everything instantly: very impatient to get ahead. I'm like you, I prefer quality over quantity.
Giving them homework arbitrarily will just make you their enemy. Use it as a punishment for bad behavior, and then you'll be on the right track.

[crazylemongirl]

you know this is my big beef with my current school, I have to teach X pages a day. No matter if the material would be suited in two different lessons. For example today I had to teach a review of one unit and start another one beacuse of book layout. I would have rather stayed on the review and started the new unit in another unit rather than the last 10 minutes of the last lesson of the week

CLG

[some waygug-in]

Thanks for the responses. I am already out of work (terminated)
so I suppose it's a bit late to try the homework thing. I already know what would happen, they would just not do it.
I was hoping for more constructive advice on what I should have done.
Is there a way to make them understand that faster doesn't =better.
Perhaps this is a pointless question, being asked by a pointless individual on a pointless forum.

Ah, c'est la vie.

[ulsanchris]

do one class they way your boss wants to and do one way you want to.
Then show him the test results. the class done at a slower pace should do better. Then you have proof that your way is better. But then your boss might not care.

[jajdude]

Just the fact that they can't express "Hess-a-yo!" in English shows a need for lots of review! Trying to get them to understand this is hard, though. I think they are often so eager just to get through the book, as though it means they've accomplished something and really learned the material. Often they would probably be better off doing a book twice.

[Son Deureo!]

I've gone over this again and again with my boss. Her take on it is that while she might agree with me, there is an enormous amount of pressure from the parents to have their kids in higher level books as soon as possible. Parents like to be able to brag that little Johnny is in Let's Go 4, and this takes a back seat to whether or not Johnny actually understood and remembers what was covered in 1, 2, and 3.

I've been able to slow it down a bit at my school, but my boss can actually be reasonable sometimes.

[matthewwoodford]

This problem is endemic in the Korean hagwon industry. Their primary objective is to have something to show the mothers. Even in the school I'm in, which I would rate higher than any other I've been in, they expect you to go through pretty advanced books at an insane speed. I taught similar books to students back home - including Koreans - went much slower, prepared a lot more, and they all - including the Koreans - needed a slower pace to benefit from it.

So what to do? I would suggest skipping rapidly over some parts of the book, and focusing on some one part. Give 25% of the lesson time or whatever as a concession to the mothers' obsession with quantity and devote the rest to actually - shock, horror - getting students to understand how to speak English.

Matt

[wylde]

i teach high school. these guys are learning works they might use once a year or maybe never...

when i ask them to say 'THE' i get a 'duh' sound from everybody..

i then ask... does a student go to school or go to the school..

they wouldnt have a clue.. if they manage to fluke the right answer, they have no idea why it is right..

the korean english education is upside down.. they prefer to learn a new word rather than learn a simple word correctly.. drives me crazy..

they are korean and that is the korean way and we are not their equal so who are we to change things..

oh..ya know kim chi cures sars don't you?

[shawner88]

I gave up long ago. Now my kids are masters at wordsearch puzzles!

[coolsage]

The Korean education system is geared for memorizing, not thinking. It's a test-oriented system, and critical thinking is neither valued nor encouraged. This is by no means unique to Korea (it occurs in other Asian countries as well), but it's a misguided methodology that is already biting this country in the butt: witness the increasing number of families who can afford to send their kiddos overseas doing so because they realize that a genuinely rounded education won't happen here. And even in Korean companies, an overseas degree is regarded as more genuine than one garnered at one of the so-called top-tier unis in this land. Yes, the system needs a major overhaul, but it won't happen until the Old Boys clean out their desks and let some young blood in. Then when there's room for them, the ones who've been educated abroad, which includes many underutilized professional women, there will be some fundamental changes here. But don't hold your breath; this will take place long after we're gone.

[tomato]

If you're in a community which is not popular with prospective foreign teachers, do whatever you want to do. I had a class which was in Side by Side 3, even though they didn't even know the material in Side by Side 1. (A couple of the students didn't even know which problem in the book we were on!)

My director and I had shouting matches because I couldn't advance them to the next page. I told her if she didn't like it, she could get another teacher. She tried to do just exactly that.

[tomato]

There is plenty that a creative textbook author could do with one verb tense or one grammatical point. Games, riddles, quizzes, puzzles, drills, dialogues, stories, songs--you name it.

Is anyone going to the next convention?
If you are, here's how you can do us all a favor:

Go to all the textbook publishers' booths, explain our dilemma to the representatives, and tell them you want a textbook series consisting of a 100-page textbook and a 100-page workbook on each grammatical point and each verb tense. If enough of us do that, they might get the idea.

If the page layouts are neat enough, and if the illustrations are attractive enough, the directors might like such a series as well as we do.

[some waygug-in]

Wow! An interesting idea. Get language texts that are specifically designed for the problems in Korea.

One thing that puzzles me though, I've heard of schools where the directors actually do their jobs and tell the parents the truth about where their kids should be placed. The kids are expected to act respectfully towards the teacher, and if not, they are sent to the office. 3 strikes and they are out of the school. Parents pay premium rates to send their kids to these schools, and the level of English among students is very high.


If it is possible for some schools to do this, why not others?

Why do most directors take the lowest common denominator route and just let parents call the shots?

It just seems odd that more places won't do this.