Korean Job Discussion Forums

[gojulie]

Hello,

I am looking at a contract at a great new place (I have already been in Korea for a year). Everything about the school is great! Working hours, bosses, vacation, pay..etc.

The only thing I am unsure about is the ages of the kids I will be teaching. They told me that they will be 18 months to 2 years old (Western age). Does anyone have any experience/advice for me? IS it fun? Is it crazy frustrating? There would be 12 kids total and I would have a Korean co-teacher to "babysit" with me.

Any help would be great.

Thanks!

[Cerriowen]

I envy you That's the greatest age group ever.

Sing songs. Read stories. Play games. Talk to them like they already speak english, and don't let your co-teacher translate. They learn SOOOOO fast.

Basic lesson plan for ya...

(1) greeting... sing the same song every day. Like a "Say hello, HELLO! How are you today? Say hello, HELLO! How are you today?" Use hand motions. Lots of them. Kids LOOOOVE things like that!

(2) Do as I'm doing... Follow me... get them to wiggle and jump and run around the room as fast as they can. Burn off a tiny bit of energy. Teaching them commands... "Run, Jump, Wave, Wiggle" Have them make faces... Everyone stick out your tongue, like me!

(3) Lesson... Very quick, like... 5 minutes... Kids have a VERY short attention span, and it's better to end it when they are still interested, instead of after.

Teach them a letter of the alphabet. Big pictures. Let them touch them. This is "A", Can you say "A"? OOOOH good job! What begins with "A"? Aaaaple, Aaape, Aaaaaligator, Aaaairplane. Then hold up the pictures of those things. What is this? It's an... aaapple. What is this? Can you remember? It's an Aaaairplane. Next time quickly review... What letter is this? What picture is this?

Teach them a number and colors together. The number 3! How many bunnies are there? One... Two... Three! There's a pink bunny, a green bunny, and a blue bunny. How many cars are there... One... Two... Three! Sally, can you bring me three BLUE blocks? Joey, can you bring me three GREEN crayons?

(4) Coloring... lets color the letter A, or an apple, or an aligator, or an airplane.

(5) Teach them a new song... you can use the same song for 4-5 lessons. teach them the words, AND make up motions.

(6) Read a book together. Very, Very, Very short. Have them point to the words that have an A in them. Is this an "A"? Noooo. Is this an A? Nooo... is THIS an A? YES!

(7) Sing the same goodbye song every day.

[poet13]

Wow, theyr'e too young to be spoiled rotten little monsters. That might be interesting for a year. Like the other poster said, lot's of aural and kinetic activities.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[icicle]

If you love working with younger students ... it could be good ... But the class size is perhaps a bit too big ... to be easy ...

Is it for an all day type kindergarten class ... or just for a couple of hours .. That might make a difference ...

I would probably want to know more about what they are going to be teaching through the class ... Content/curriculum etc ... because that can make a difference too ...

I am currently teaching in a smallish hagwon which has kindergarten students during the day and then elementary classes from mid afternoon. My main class is made up of 3 and 4 year old (western age) students so a little older than what you are talking about in that job ... But the class size is also smaller ... The class at the moment has 6 students and when I teach them I teach alone ... They also have Korean teachers BUT most of their teaching is given to them in English regardless of who is teaching them ... So they get their maths and science and most other things through English ... At that age (and younger) I think that it would really help if you had some Korean ... because they don't know enough English to say much they want to say in English ... so will frequently talk at me in Korean ... context often helps ... and with upset student who can't explain what happened I can easily get one of the Korean teachers to help resolve it ... I chose to take a job which had both kindergarten and elementary because I do like working with younger kids ... and am a trained primary teacher ... and this way I could get both ... and not have to work into the night (I am also much more of a day person than a night person ...) I have a job now that suits me very well, though like any job it does have its ups and downs ...