Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tomato]

Thanks--or 감사합니다, as the case may be.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

To translate what? For what level of students? For my academic HS classes I'd like my CTs not to bother coming. For my vocational classes I'd like them to translate a lot but only after I've attempted to get through in English. For my middle school classes I'd like them to translate the occasional thing as well as the textbook dialogues, which they can do in their own lesson time.

BTW, I don't spend a great deal of time studying Korean.

[rationality]

[oldtactics]

I answered but I don't really understand how the two are connected - Yes, occasionally my CTs translate the instructions, and yes, I am taking a Korean class once a week, but I'm taking the K class in order to function better in Korea - I'm not learning anything relevant to teaching.

[nomad-ish]

i said i'd like for my co-teachers to translate for me (sometimes!) and i don't study korean (although i've picked up a decent amount). you know those times, whether you're having a bad day or you're trying out a new lesson for the first time, and you just keep talking in circles, making it easier, and easier, and easier. but the kids still look confused. i wished my co-teachers would see this, realize perhaps a word or two from them would ease the situation, and do something.

now-a-days, since my co-teachers don't do anything and that annoys me, i try to send them out of the room. i have used a korean word here or there to help the kids, but they realize my korean is limited enough, so that they've got to give english a try in my classes. hope my babbling made sense!

[gregoriomills]

I don't think answering the given question reveals too much. My two cents is changing the question to ask "what percentage of your blabberings you like the KT to translate," or do you like them to translate "only when you ask, or all time," etc, etc. Just my opinion, though!

Strategic and limited translation can definitely be a "good" thing in the classroom. If you don't believe so, you've never worked with low-level high schoolers...

[Big Mac]

I think the kids learn faster if they are forced to listen to my English and to try to communicate with me in English. It is too easy for them if the Korean teacher translates everything for me, because then they are only listening to the Korean teacher, not me.

I am studying Korean, but it is not useful to me in the classroom, since my job is to speak to them in English, not Korean.

The way I look at it, if the material is level-appropriate then there should be no need for translation. The trouble is that the public school book concepts are usually way beyond their actual language skills, and there is a need for translation for them to understand the robotic nonsense that they are expected to spit out in English.

That's why we've just split our classes into high level and low level classes and are teaching more level-appropriate material. We've started only teaching enough of the public school book to allow the students to be able to pass their standardized tests. I mean, half of these kids don't even know the alphabet...because nowhere in the elementary public school curriculum does it require you to teach it. So now I'm teaching low level Grade 6 students the ABCs and phonics. I'm teaching reading, writing and speaking to the high level kids.

[harlowethrombey]

I would hope we're all studying Korean. It's awfully rude to go live in another country and not even bother to try and learn the language.

With that said, I never speak Korean in the classroom. As far as the students know, I dont speak any Korean. That way they cant get away with trying to answer/ask questions in Korean.

The only times my co-teachers translate is when we're pressed for time and the students have a complicated activity to do. Other than that, I think its our job as teachers to find a way to help them to understand the English (even if you're pantomiming, drawing pictures, making sound effects, whatever).

[KYC]

My two awesome coteachers only translate the complicated stuff. Most of the time, I keep it simple. I speak slowly and repeat at least twice. My other two coteachers...well...no comment.

[ChinaBoy]

[Cerriowen]

If it's basic classroom management, or a basic concept, I prefer to speak to them in english and try to have them figure it out. If it's something complicated (grammar, rules to a game, or something they just aren't getting) then I'll ask my coteacher to translate. But they always wait until I ask them before they translate.

I can understand most of what the kids say to me in Korean. If their English is OK, and they are being lazy, I just stare at them blankly til they repeat it in English. If they are really low level, I say it in English and make them repeat it before I answer.

90% of the Korean that I have learned is from naturally picking up words. (Eg... the korean teacher saying "Anjah" and the kids sit down... eventually you figure out that "Anjah" means "sit down"). I hope that the kids pick up english the same way. If I always say "open your books" and then most people open books... eventually something should stick.

[nomad-ish]

[lifeinkorea]

This "English or the highway" philosophy reminds me of Christians and Muslims trying to enforce their skyfairy down on everyone else. So what if we speak both. Isn't that the point of being bilingual? If you are bilingual, you can go back and forth. I find this much more rewarding that creating some isolated one language room.

My first year of college was a major eye opener. I spent all my time up until that point speaking nothing but English. I tried this "French or the highway scenario", didn't work, tried Spanish and German. I thought I was stupid for not getting it. Then, in college, my friends from other countries were speaking Spanish and German. They would tell me in English what they were saying. I would listen. They would tell me more. I would listen. They would tell me even more. Guess what? I eventually picked up on some of the language because I am a translator.

I am not a passive sponge who can absorb things. I learned that about me. For me to learn, I have to be active. I have to make use of the languages I use, not just listen to the foreign language I want to learn.

Translating gives me an activity to learn the second language. Maybe, when I go to apply what I have experienced and learned, I should perform 100% in that language (role plays for example). However, getting to that stage isn't always best by severing your native language.

[Nierlisse]

For my low level HS students, I highly prefer it when the co-teacher translates what I'm saying. Of course I try to speak slowly and simply, but there have been numerous instances where I say something several times and try to explain it simply, and I'm met with blank stares. A couple words from the co-teacher and they all go "ah!!" and immediately understand.

Most of my co-teachers are very good about this; they never go overboard with the translating either. If I walked into a Korean language class (I am learning Korean, btw) and all the teacher did was speak in Korean, that does not = good learning for me. My kids are already apathetic about English as it is.

[Ilsanman]

If kids really want to learn, they need to learn how to function in an immersive environment. It's natural not to understand 100% of what the teacher says.

Eventually, when that % of understood material reaches 80-90% (if the material is at the proper level, it will), everything's good.

Korean translations are a crutch.