Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Bigfeet]

What types of students would you prefer to teach? I originally thought high schoolers because they understand me better but the middle school kids seem so eager-to-please and frank. I'd like to teach older folks some day to see what it's like.

[Xuanzang]

Middle school kids can be sulky, moody in that adolescent phase. Each group has their good points and bad points. I`ve just never taught adults or university students before. That would be interesting.

[FixedGearJerk]

I like Kindergarten. Virtually no lesson planning and the kids are easy to please. A sticker or a star go along way. All you need is some pateince and a loud voice. Oh, I had two kids pick their way to a bloody nose this week, watch out for germs.

[Fishead soup]

I voted Middle school minus third year.

[Xuanzang]

I think kindy would kill my voice after a few days...

[Zutronius]

High school (the ones who want to be there in your class).

[daz1979]

I've taught all levels at some stage. My opinion is:


Kindy - Great fun if you like singing and dancing. You have to put every ounce of energy in your body into the classes and therefore you are completely shattered by the end of the day. They have no fear about making mistakes, so are not afraid to shout out answers, which is great. Rewarding, but tiring.

Elementary - Great fun. Enthusiastic students that really try hard and never really complain. No fear = students who try explore the language. Games and fun are the key. I love teaching elementary and find it a very rewarding experience.

Middle school - Grade 1 are great, grade 2 are mixed between great and sulky/rude. Grade 3 are stressed with exams and again mixed between fantastic and terrible. The fear of making mistakes seems to creep in around grade 2 and therefore some classes can be quiter now and again. Can be great fun though if you teach fun material. Again, m/s can be a rewarding experience and as they are a little older you can have some fun with them and share some jokes etc.

High School - This is my hardest challenge to date. Students are shattered from constant study and stressed about exams constantly. They have no life outside the classroom and learning English is a headache they don't want. My experience is that because they are all taught in Korean they seem to forget all the basics and only concentrate on grammar, therefore their ability to hold a conversation is generally at a lower level than elementary and middle school. I have realised that these students are un-motivated, so I try to just have fun with them in a learning environment for an hour. I have great fun with my h/s students as we can talk on an adult level, but given the choice I wouldn't teach at a high school. All in all an unrewarding experience in my opinion, you just go through the motions and hope they retain something useful.

Uni - This and elementary are my favourite levels. Students have chosen to study English, so are therefore motivated to learn. There is no discipline problems like in h/s as if they don't want to study in your class they simply don't show up. Any activity that you prepare will generally go well and you can use a plethora of available resources effectively in discussion classes. The level of vocabulary is higher and you can have fun socialising with your students outside class, helping you form a bond with your students and therefore encouraging them to learn.




Given the choice, I would teach at Uni or Elementary any day of the week.

[bbonthec]

Voted middle school, but also enjoy elementary. Middle school kids are genuinely interested in having mature conversations, and elementary school kids are just fun to do activities with. I'd choose 4th grade elementary if I could.

However, kindy is too hard for me, as I lose my voice quickly if I have to shout a lot. High school kids are usually too tired to participate much. University students can be really lazy, and adults are far too demanding. Just my opinion.

[Bigfeet]

Bleh, I put Adults as one of the choices but it didn't show up and it's not showing up on the edit menu. Anybody know how to add it in?

[I_Am_The_Kiwi]

Students that would like to learn.

Age doesn't bother me.

[EzeWong]

I'd vote kindy,

In some ways I'm like a giant child who wants nothing to do but run around and eat candy all day. This way it's a win win situation as I see it, we can all spaz out all day and I won't look like a complete idiot like I do with my middle school students. BTW who are too tough and mature to do games but too childlike that everything else they do involves speaking loudly, slapping other kids, or throwing things out the window.

lol also I'm a sap for the korean children here. They are so adorable. Especially the little girls with their cutesy bows in their frilly hair and the chubby boys with their marshmellow cheeks and overalls... Awwwwww...

Still too innocent to piss me off like the middle school students do.
:>

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Students at an academic HS that had high entrance standards would be at the top of my list, students at a technical HS at the bottom just above kindergarten.

[BS.Dos.]

Tough choice.

Another 50 or so of my best academic HS boys would be akin to heaven. However, I also really enjoy my 1st and 2nd grade MS girls, weighted purely on the gounds that they're in that kind of grey zone of adolecence. Old enough to have stopped throwing tantrums (or toys) around, but not quite old enough to have developed the sulky and detached qualities of the typical moody teenager.

At a push, I'd probably go with the former as, and in my particular case, it's a bit like choosing whether to play good cop or bad cop. I find it easier to slip into bad cop with the boys, whereas the girls have me, to a large extent, wrapped around their little fingers and get away with murder, which I wouldn't tolerate from the boys.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Anything except for middle school girls. They mostly aren't interested in english and are too cool for school.

[Hamlet]

None!!!!!!!