Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Rumple]

I teach at a university. I teach people who will one day be your co-teachers, if you teach in public schools.

I want to do a seminar on "co-teaching skills," and told my students I'd post a query on this board, asking for feedback from foreign teachers who have co-teachers.

What would you like new co-teachers to know? Let it fly, folks.

[ben-ja-mas]

English

[Draz]

If there is something that is quite easy for you to do, but very difficult for your brand new to Korea FT to do, JUST F***ING DO IT FOR THEM.

Went six months without a bus card because my coteacher made constant excuses over getting me one until I gave up. "Those are only for students." I saw old people using them. "Uuuuh, that's only for old people." I saw a 30 year old using one. "Ok, if you go downtown there is a little store that sells them." What store? What do I ask for? "Uuuuhhh."

(This was in the provinces where they don't use tmoney, and no one speaks English.)

I'd tell you to tell them not to be assholes, but if they want to be jerks they are just going to go ahead and do it anyway. I gave up on asking for anything after the first month and if I couldn't figure something out, it just didn't get done. I quit after six months, would have run away in the middle of the night after two but I wanted to stay in Korea so I had to do it "right".

On the other hand, there is an FT in town who calls his coteacher in the evening if he wants take out and she orders it for him. Above and beyond!

[bundangbabo]

That all native speaker 'Englishes' are of the same value. Sure here in Asia the North American accent is highly valued and teachers speaking it are sought after but if your future co-teachers come across an Irishman or a Welshman in their classes in the future - tell them that they are still native speakers and that the co teachers are not in a position to correct or override them in class because they have not heard that paticular accent before.

A co-teacher of mine tomorrow is going to get an abrupt English lesson off me because she thought it would be clever of her to feed the students misinformation at my expense. No grammar book written by Byung Jung Kim (BA Hons English. SNU) is going to override my 30 odd years as a native speaker.

[MrRogers]

not to tell me the students do not understand English, and then try to do everything in Korean

please do not use Korean unless I ask you to

drop the "e" thing at the end of whatever you are saying in English

please translate for me to my non-English speaking supervisor...that is do not give your opinion to him, just translate what I am saying

[SqueakyBuddha]

That because the principal is making you be a co teacher or the NST's "handeler" and you don't want to do it is not a good reason for you to make the NST's life any harder than it is. If you don't like the position the principal has put you in ask for them to find another teacher (which of course they won't do) or at the very least don't go out of your way to give the NST a hard time.

[sojourner1]

I teach in a couple rural elementary PS schools and the English level is too low to even ask them for support or help with anything. I know elementary is where the lowest skilled teachers go while they can move up to middle and high school if they improve their English and teaching skills. Elementary is just simply not taken seriously like upper levels are, but it should and could be. Co-teachers need to provide support in the form of explaining things to students such as rules, instructions on activities, and the fact the foreign teacher probably will not understand much of their Korean speaking. The PS students try to speak Korean as that's all they know to do and then they are confused to not receive an appropriate response in Korean, because they do expect that you know Korean just as they do and they have no idea why you don't speak Korean. You can explain in English that because you grew up in America, you were not taught Korean and people outside of Korea don't speak Korean so we use English and our goal is to learn English to communicate with and understand the world outside of Korea.

This language and cultural differences barrier with no appropriate support leads to confusion, misbehavior, and a lack of respect towards the foreign teacher, especially if the co-teacher isn't physically present. I'm observing many co-teachers who can't speak English nor have any skills at classroom control as there classes are always noisy, disrespectful, and present more challenge to manage. You can quickly tell which classes are accustomed to be effectively controlled and which ones are a flop by how it responds. If it lacks control and discipline, the whole class suffers as they can't learn if used to all talking at the same time all the time. Most co-teachers do sit in the back of the classroom, but can't provide support, because they don't know what I'm saying nor teaching. I'm bumming out and not enjoying the job, because I can't get them to understand games, activities, and lessons like I did with Middle school.

Co-teachers need to know that because foreign English teachers don't fall anywhere in the rung of Korean society, students don't take them seriously, especially when no Korean co-teacher is present. I was expecting a co-teacher that speaks English that would be my teaching partner for all classes at a school, not each grade levels homeroom teacher, most of which can not speak or understand English. I have one co-teacher that speaks some English, but she is only for 6th grade and is my liaison teacher since she speaks more English, but is poor at it so it's confusing and mentally laborious for us.

Co-teachers and schools should seek English education materials to support a foreign teacher and English program. I find no professional support of any sort offered to enable me to best do my job. My co-teachers only see English class as a free break time and care less what I do. I could show movies all the time if I wanted, but only use the video for karaoke and projecting text for speaking practice lessons. I know co-teachers are very tired, depressed, and juggling all the demands of raising kids and working full time so I don't ask for or expect much out of them as keep things harmonious.

[DrOctagon]

Tell them to actually co-teach and to be in the room with the native speaker at all times, or at least for part of the class. Mine haven't been there from day one. They've helped me in all other aspects, which I am grateful for, except teaching.

[I_Am_The_Kiwi]

[jvalmer]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[sojourner1]

[Rumple]

This stuff is really good, everyone. I'm going to print out every response, even the rude ones, and go over each with them. For the bitter/angry/rude ones, we're going to talk about what has made the writer so angry or bitter. Every response is an insight into your minds, and I'll use them to help my students understand how problems lead to frustration and frustration leads to burnout. I'll be asking questions like "Would you like a foreign teacher like this guy?" And when the answer comes back "No!" the follow-up will be "Well how do you think he got that way? Do you think he was like that on day one?"

Keep it coming.

[Roving_gypsy_gurl]

Please ensure that your FT has a place to work where students cannot be. My desk is right by the glass door of the teachers room, while the Kteachers are in more distant cubicles. All day, every day, children are gathered outside, tapping on the glass and yelling hello to me as if it were the monkey house at the zoo. When I tell them to stop, the tapping and yelling eases up for a while, but they still stand there staring, pointing and giggling. It's incredibly distracting and makes my planning much more difficult. My CT doesn't understand why it bothers me, as it means "the children like you".

Discipline means more in a language they can understand. I shouldn't have to do all the discipline work in English, when the children don't understand half of what I'm saying. Most things I'm happy to go over in English until a child gets it, but "stop hitting him" needs to be understood as quickly as possible.

Children take their cue from the Kteacher on how a foreign teacher should be treated. Treat your FT like a respected professional and they will do likewise. Treat them like a dancing English clown and they will do the same.

[jvalmer]

I've noticed, especially among the older teachers, that sometimes they don't show up to class. Or they leave half way through. I think we shouldn't have to be in class if they can't. They should always be in the classroom with us and if for some reason they can't, then the NT should not be in the classroom.

Also, another thing, they should always tell us and invite us to the various teacher events. Even, we don't go, an invitation would go a long way.

And come down hard on students that use banmal on native teachers. Even if we don't understand Korean, it would go a long way for students to realize that we should be deserving of the same respect as the rest of the teachers.