Korean Job Discussion Forums

[FistFace]

Time for me to let off some steam.

Our school has begun "team-teaching" this semester. What happens is the students now share their 3 hours of class time per week between two professors- a Korean and a foreigner- on different days. The professors split the book up by pages, so the Korean professor teaches X number of pages, and the foreigner teaches Y number of pages. The school started this program so that all students would have the chance to spend at least 1 hour per week with a native English teacher.

Because of this new schedule, my classes are now 1 to 2 hours long instead of 3. Also, I have effectively double the number of classes compared to last semester. I have nearly twice the number of students. I am teaching each class using one of three books, depending on level. Two of the books (American Headway) are just horrible, horrible, horrible. I hate Headway, but we are using them because the Korean teachers requested them.

We spend 2 hours per week teaching the higher-level students. We spend 1 hour per week with the low-level students. In the past, only the Korean teachers taught the lower-level students who can barely understand, let alone speak English.

I made the argument today that this is confusing, creates a lot of extra work, and is pretty much a waste of time for the lower-level students (how much can you do meeting them just 50 minutes per week?).

Does anyone's university follow a similar program?

[lifeinkorea]

Have you ever taught at a middle school with the same situation? If so, how would you compare this experience you are dealing with now with the middle school one?

Personally, I think if college students aren't making conversation with you, then they are not genuinely interested in learning English. It's just something they need to graduate with. So, faced with the same problem, I wouldn't sweat it too much. Have a routine lesson plan for most of the class. Then, when you get a chance work individually with small groups of students you feel are more keen on learning English.

This will hopefully save you some headaches. I don't think teaching them English and satisfying the Koreans teachers are the same thing here. The school is obviously trying to maximize your time.

[FistFace]

They got tired of hearing lower-level students complain that they didn't have a chance to learn from a foreigner. I'm not thrilled with this new format.

[Draz]

How does that work with giving the students grades? You're each responsible for half the mark? What about homework? Do they have two midterms and two finals? It sounds like a headache.

[FistFace]