Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Tor@]

Hi, everybody.

I taught for a year at a hagwon, and it was a really great experience, but I also think I was really lucky. This time I want to try a public school. At the hagwon, I most enjoyed teaching 1st graders (because they're still having fun and usually well-behaved) and middle-school kids (because their English is higher level so we could have class discussions and do more interesting work, plus they were less noisy and didn't give me a headache).

So I thought I would like to teach at the middle school or high school level. I've been contacted about teaching at a technical high school in Gunpo (south of Seoul on subway line 1).

At first I was nervous about teaching at a technical high school, because I thought that the students would be unmotivated, since they are not planning to attend university, and that this would make them likely discipline/behavior problems.

A friend of mine who knows a lot about teaching in Japan (but not Korea), said that in Japan, though, teachers at technical high schools have the highest job satisfaction, and classes there are more enjoyable because they are more communication-based, rather than grammar translation-based. She says students in academic high schools usually hate their English classes, because they are very boring and all based on test preparation for university entrance exams.

So I was wondering if that's true in Korea, too. Would a technical high school be more enjoyable to teach in than a business or academic school?

I'm hoping some of you will be willing to share your experiences in the different kinds of high schools in Korea.

Thanks!

[Yu_Bum_suk]

I'd never work at a technical high school in Korea. My school has both an academic programme and a sanghwa (commercial-vocational) programme, three classes of the former and two of the latter for each grade. The sanghwa students are basically at a typical technical high school level. I only have to teach the grade ones. This year and two years ago my two sanghwa classes were all right, and not very big as well. But last year they were really terrible. If many or most of my classes were like that I'd probably quit. It was probably partly my fault last year for not being a lot stricter half-way through when thinks started going really bad instead of just letting things slide through til the end of the year. But I wouldn't want to teach at a school where I had to be a constant hard-ass in all my classes, either.

I've known all three FTs who've taught at the worst technical HS in my district and quite frankly based on what I've heard I wouldn't want to step foot in that place.

[Xuanzang]

Easter Clark can tell you some stories about his former technical high school boys. I remember one about marrying beautiful rich girl and playing at a PC bang all day

Those technical high school students might not even know more than "Hello" so you can forget having a nice conversation with them. There`s some diamonds in the rough but on the whole my friends who work there just want to get the F outta there. They say it`s like pulling teeth trying to get them to do any work at all.

[Tor@]

Thank you both for your replies. It sounds like it's as I feared: the students lack motivation and tend to be behavior problems. I thought it might be that way, since the middle school students at the hagwon who were the biggest problems were likely destined for technical high schools.

I told them, "Thanks but no thanks", and hope I can find a position in a business or academic high school.

Again, thank you for the input! You may have saved me from a terrible fate.

[Xuanzang]

[Tor@]

You may be right, but I got the impression that these students were basically there because their parents were making a desperate last-ditch effort to prevent them going to a technical high school, and the school director was too soft-hearted to refuse desperate parents. Probably a waste all around, as those students didn't put any effort in and likely didn't learn much anyway.

Frankly, I have a hard time imagining them putting in the level of work I heard was necessary to succeed at an academic high school. But then, I'm basing that on hearsay, maybe not all academic high schools are really that demanding, I don't know.

Anyway, it still sounds like technical high schools would be a really difficult place to teach, so I hope I can find something else that will be better for me.

Thanks again for your input!

[bogey666]

i teach at a tekkie hs.
motivation and getting them to learn/remember anything will be your biggest challenge(s)

that said, this also happens at some academic schools (plenty?)

the KEY, no matter where you are is how you get along with and are treated by your school. Mine treats me splendidly.They also know how difficult their students are to teach so I am not expected to work miracles.

I try, knowing I probably won't succeed... but I try anyways.

I'll probably resign for another year.

once again, the key is how you are treated in the place you teach, not the "type" of place.

[Xuanzang]

[Tor@]