Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Starla]

I work at a public elementary school in Seoul and have 3 co-teachers. I'm the first foreign teacher there. I'm trying to figure out how to work out my relationships with them so that I feel like I'm being useful in the classroom.

Teacher #1 speaks pretty good English and we have a good working relationship. She uses Korean only when the students don't understand what I say or to discipline them. She can be a bit of a control freak and speaks in English when I should be speaking or am about to speak. She corrects students over mistakes that I already spoke with them about and could be a bit harsh with them but she's a good teacher nonetheless and they respect her. I help prepare the teaching materials too so I am feeling useful.

Teacher #2 is in her first year of teaching and her English is poor. Whenever I meet with her to plan lessons, she has a problem getting her message across about what she's planned out. We agreed that I would write out the lesson plans because I cannot understand her broken English. She explains a complicated game in 2 to 3 simple sentences which I later have to explain to the students in its complexity. Today, we met to plan a lesson and she wrote out the entire lesson already. This made me upset because this is supposed to be a joint activity and I am supposed to write out the lesson plans after we discuss them after all. She also prepares the teaching materials before we even meet so I often don't have a chance to help out. When we teach, she speaks Korean for the majority of the class which of course isolates me from the teaching. Sometimes when I give her a suggestion during class time in the form of an idea, she takes the idea as her own and says it to the students in Korean before I have a chance to. I try to be diplomatic and tell her that I think the point of me being there is so that they could hear spoken English and make conversation in English. She said she tried speaking English with them before and they got discouraged so now she uses Korean. Why am I there then, I wonder? When she disciplines them, she gives them the silent treatment...for several minutes at a time...several times during a class. Admittedly, some of the students can be a bit rowdy so discipline is in order...I just wish it wouldn't take so long. Needless to say, the lessons rarely get completed and I do very little speaking to the students.

Teacher #3's English is ever poorer than #2's. Nonetheless, she's very organized and somehow, I understand what she says on her lesson plans. We practice what we're going to do and it's working. She's not controlling but I wish I could communicate with her more but we barely talk outside of class. She also prepares all the teaching materials which I wish I could have more a part of.

Overall, I'm working with two co-teachers who are a bit controlling and whose spoken English is often wrong. I have to correct them sometimes because the students are not learning correct English from them and I would be doing the students an injustice if I didn't. Does anybody have co-teachers similar to the ones I described? If so, how would you handle the personalities I have to deal with...especially #2 and #1? #2 is driving me a bit crazy now though I think the language barrier is the primary reason this is the case.

[wayfarer]

My advice is to just go with the flow. Take a look at your contract: what is your title? "Assistant English Teacher". You're their assistant. They'll still be there when you're gone. You're not going to cause a revolution in English teaching in South Korea. Do you realize how much worse it could be for you? Some teachers are given a class with no co-teacher, no textbook, and 40 undisciplined middle school boys to teach. Would you rather have their lot, or have those two "bad" co-teachers you describe? I think you're quite lucky. If you're satisfied with how things are with that first co-teacher, maximize your time with her and take things easy with the other two.

Everyone's experience with public school is different, but trying to upset the system will make you seem like a busybody and cause your co-teachers to lose face...

[oskinny1]

How much teacher training do you have? If it is zero, then #2 has duty to make up the lesson plans, especially since you are both new teachers, and in her mind, you have no idea what you are talking about. She just finished training for 4 years. Put yourself in their position. Nothing better solves problems like empathy.

[Perceptioncheck]

[Jeff's Cigarettes]

Morris and Isaac were constant companions. Morris was a calm laid back individual and never complained. Isaac was very nervous and always complaining about something.
One day Isaac said to Morris, "Morris how do you manage to get along with everybody?"
Morris answered, "Oh, I just never disagree with anybody."
Isaac said, "Morris, you are a liar !"
Morris said, "You know what? You're right!"

[Fishead soup]

Right now It have a great relationship with all my co-teachers. For the regular classes I keep it simple. We follow the textbook. I model dialogues and instigate pairwork. I act more as an assistant. I understand that the Korean co-teachers have to teach basically for the test and finsih the textbook. I'm just there to ensure that the students get at least some speaking time every class.

If you make trouble with your co-teacher it's really bad for you. To put it simply your contract won't be renewed. Sometimes you might just have to go with the flow even if it means doing lessons that might go counter to GEPIK objectives. In Korean culture sometimes the unwritten rules are more important than the written ones.

[bundangbabo]

We are all seen as 'tolerated guests' in this system and none of us are going to change the wheel unless our co-teachers let us. In the main my co-teachers are really good and I let them know that I could not teach any of the classes without their help - I value their contribution.

The school itself - is my photo on the teacher roster? No. Am I going on their week long trip to the English village? (as I am an Englishman - you would think my participation would be of some use) No. Do I get invited to their shindigs? No - they would tell me 5 minutes before I would leave for home but now they have stopped the pretence.

Everyone is cordial and polite - and thats how I want it if truth be known, getting them to bend to your will will only cause you unwanted and avoidable grief.

[tigercat]

[Draz]

[espoir]

Wow that sounds like a dream position compared to mine. But from what i've heard mines is fairly standard.

I have 7 co-teachers in total, all with varying degrees of English. I create and plan 5 different lesson plans every 2 weeks all by myself. Every wednesday i submit my lesson plans for the next week and they get back to me by friday if they think i should change something. They made sugegstions for my first two weeks, but nothing since, so either I've improved that much or they just stopped reading them (the more likely conclusion)

I also run the entire class. I am definately not an assistant teacher because the only time the other teacher in the room talks is to explain things to the students and to enforce discpline. I also at times have to teach classes on my own, which I hate doing and plan on confronting my lazy coteachers about it soon. 4 of my co-teachers are amazing, are never late and very helpful, 3 of them (which also happens to be the oldest three) either show up half way through class or not at all.

I wish i had what you have OP. Truely its much less stress than my current situation, but again yours isn't perfect and if its truely troubling you then talk with one of your teachers about it in the most constuctive and friendly manner possible.

[Kurtz]

I think this topic has been done several times before, but I find it interesting each time.

Some random thoughts from my experinces this year

a) K teacher doesn't want to give full control to someone with no teacher training, so may be reluctant to give up the reins

b) K teacher feels threatened by foreigner due to KT lack of English, or conflict arises due to communication problems

c) FT lacks knowledge of K culture, FT forgets that he/she is not in their own country

d) K by nature are stubborn and hard to work with (maybe generalization)

e) KT feels animosity to FT as they don't have much extra work apart from teaching, don't have to work Saturdays so as punsihment don't help FT in class

f) some people regardless of culture just don't get along

g) harmony is something you naturally have or requires lots of practice to get

If you're a newbie, know your place, you are only a co-teacher, don't start creating problems for yourself.

What I hate though is when the K teacher doesn't help at all or walks out of the class, leaving FT with 28 hyper elementary kids.

I'll be glad when this year is over, I got to the final round of a competition for FT in my city but I bailed because I simply don't want the stress of working so closely with my KT.
If I re-sign and have problems again with the two new KT I'm out of here, it just ain't worth it.

[IncognitoHFX]

I'd say all my co-teacher relationships were pretty good. Of the four I have, one is great. We get along really well as human beings, too. I think if we had met outside an academic setting, we would have became friends. I'm lucky to have that.

The other three co-teachers are good too. One is very helpful and kind to me and the students. Because of my age and lack of experience, a few of the co-teachers let me do my own thing but are quick to comfort me after a bad class or act sympathetically if the kids are being little pricks. I think my co-teachers are trying to act as a discipline and authority buffer between me and the students. I'm a pretty nice guy, and I like the students. It shows, which has both positive aspects and negative.

The students are failing to see me as a teacher and getting too "buddy-buddy" with me. I had to do some distancing to be vaguely seen as an authority figure, which has alienated some of my boys' classes to the point of resentment (I'm working on it) yet my girls classes still pay vivid attention to me--too much attention--and not enough attention to the English.

All in all my co-teachers have been great in understanding and using this. A lot of my classes flop though and another reason might be because they're too boring. I don't try to make my classes fun. I don't think I should have to but I feel these kids and co-teachers expect me to be entertaining.

Of my four co-teachers, there is only one I want to distance myself from. The angry one that hurls insults and hits students regularly. Pretty understandable.

I'm thinking of renewing at this school and taking another crack at it. I made a lot of mistakes down the line, but it's my first time, and I have a lot of fresh ideas to use on the next batch of kids. I will focus on making my lesson plans more fun, so long as the fun doesn't detract from the educational value.

[Starla]

I'll try to respond to everyone's posts at once. I wasn't necessarily complaining because I know I have it good. The thought that's always in the back of my mind is they think I'm not doing enough or I'm lazy. I only do lesson plans for one out of three co-teachers. I rarely make teaching materials. I was told I won't have to plan lessons until my second year. I just show up to do my lessons and have short meetings with my co-teachers about the lessons once a week. The rest of the time is spent sitting at my desk and admittedly, I'm a bit bored. I want to feel a bit more productive and I don't know if I should just accept everything my co-teachers say without providing my point of view or if I should give them more input. They flew me across the ocean and gave me free housing to teach here and I think I have some obligations to fulfill. Sometimes I feel like I'm not needed in the classroom and that's not a good feeling to have at any job. That was the intention of my post. I hope it's understood and I'll take everyone's advice with a grain of salt.

[Kurtz]

Yes, I feel the same way, especially when my co-workers are very busy and make me feel uncomfortable for having it easy. I don't want to sound too cynical but that's part of the "fun" of being here.
The job itself is easy, but you have to deal with a lot of crap here so in your spare time maybe study about teaching, find some games, make suggestions to your teachers, think about making materials in the classroom like a calendar or something.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Most of my co teachers are great. But one usually high jacks what I'm doing and takes it for her own. Which would be fine but it usually degenerates into rote memorization of the dialogue I prepared. Then when she's done I try to do what I wanted but oh no we are finished that now so I generally run out of material with 10 minutes to go. But we aren't allowed to play games. Cue 9 minutes of her leading the class in repetition of the dialogue.