Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Snowkr]

I've never even been inside an elementary school in this country so if you have worked or are currently working in one, I'd like to hear from you.

1. have you ever been allowed to just sit in and observe the Korean teachers? If so, what did you see?

2. what kinds of standards apply for teaching English here in public schools for grades k-6?

3. if your co-teachers are using English, how are the kids responding to it?

4. what kinds of lessons do you create when it's your turn to teach?

5. do you think there is any room for teaching English reading/writing or is it ONLY about listening and speaking in primary grades?

6. what are the K-teachers like... in general... in your school?

7. if you've come from teaching elementary school in your own country, what are some major similarities and differences you've seen or experienced here?

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

[KuroBara]

I am a newbie myself, but I'll help where I can.
1. Yes, I observed my first week before teaching. My co-teacher is a very energetic person and tries to get the students to use English, but usually, she has to revert to Korean to explain complex things, like games.
2. As far as standards, there aren't any that I've seen. You just stick to the teaching guide, but my co-teacher and I look for ways to add on to the curriculum. YouTube has been great for this.
3. Like I said, my co-teacher and I both promote English use, but some kids just don't get it, but then some really do. The students can repeat with no problem, and the majority of them can read and write also, but actual speaking becomes a problem.
4. I've not gotten too creative with the lessons, since it's only been a month, but I'm starting to explore more. The students respond to games, so I'm pretty much in charge of coming up with new games based on the lessons. I'm still trying to swim through the bog that is the Internet, looking for the best sites. Any recommendations would be great.
5. With GEPIK, the students don't begin reading and writing exercises until 5th grade, but I have noticed my 3rd and 4th graders can read English already. My co-teacher does not want to expand into writing for them, but I wish she would. If the students already know something, it's a shame to not expand on it just because they are not in the right grade according to the textbook.
6. My teachers seem fairly nice. I really don't see them much, except my co-teacher. Apparently, there has been some concern about me because I'm not smiling enough. I'm just not a smiley person, but my co-teacher sat me down and told me to smile when I greet my teachers so they won't think anything is wrong. Sparkling.
7. N/A

[KYC]

1. I've never asked, but I saw a few open classes (korean teachers)

2. the curriculum is national...

3. the same way they respond when I speak Engish...

4. I follow the curriculum with the exception of the games. I make my own games.

5. even in 5th and 6th grade, the reading and writing is really, really basic. That's the main problem with the curriculum. R & W doesn't start til 5th grade and even then it's TOO basic (one or two words). Then they jump right into reading sentences in MS.

6. Outside of my office, I don't really know. My co workers are great. I have 2 excellent coteachers. 1 passable one..and an incompetent one. Even though she sucks in the classroom, she's still a nice person.

[egrog1717]

[Snowkr]

thanks guys and/or gals

I may pm some of you at some point!
Cheers

[katepult]

1. When the teacher is teaching, the students are usually sitting and listening, like when you were in elementary. When they are unsupervised, there is is complete chaos in the classrooms and halls.

2. There is a curriculum. In Gyeonggi-do it's pretty poor quality. The books are the worst I've used in Korea and I've taught a good half a dozen different textbooks.

3. My new co-teacher and I teach class almost entirely in English, except for explanations of tests, schedules and different English programs. It works out fine, though there is a lot of miming.

4. We follow the teacher's guide for the curriculum. I usually create my own games because the games in the curriculum are usually badly designed, not fun, and require a lot of cutting out of pieces.

5. Readning and writing can be worked in, depending on the school and co-teacher. Usually there isn't enough time in a 35 student, once a week class to properly teach reading.

6. The Korean teachers are pretty friendly at my school, even the ones who don't speak English. If you learn a little bit of Korean, the teachers really appreciate it.

7. N/A

[tomato]

I've been on the job for about a month.
I teach in three small country schools where anything in the double digits is considered a large class.
My setting is a little atypical, so some of my answers might not be very representative.

1. have you ever been allowed to just sit in and observe the Korean teachers? If so, what did you see?
I have never requested.

2. what kinds of standards apply for teaching English here in public schools for grades k-6?
I've never been instructed.

3. if your co-teachers are using English, how are the kids responding to it?
They're not, so they're not.
I recently sent out a letter to all my co-teachers, asking them to speak English only.
Some of the co-teachers are attempting to comply with my request, some of them are merely ignoring it.

I never could understand why Korean people speak Korean to people who need to practice English and speak English to people who need to practice Korean.

4. what kinds of lessons do you create when it's your turn to teach?
I throw in a few appropriate picture books, songs, and games which I accumulated during my years in the 학원.
Some of the co-teachers give me free rein, some of them think they know more than I do so they monopolize the whole class period.
From what Katepult tells us, it sounds like GEPIK and EPIK use the same books.

5. do you think there is any room for teaching English reading/writing or is it ONLY about listening and speaking in primary grades?
So far, I haven't seen much reading and writing.

6. what are the K-teachers like... in general... in your school?
They're not as tyrannical as the sterotypical public school teacher.
This is probably because they are working with smaller classes, so they can afford to lighten up.

7. if you've come from teaching elementary school in your own country, what are some major similarities and differences you've seen or experienced here?
Hard to say.
I never saw a public school in my own country with 4-12 kids in each classroom, so the other factors aren't equal.

[Xuanzang]

[MollyBloom]

[yeremy]

This is my fourth year teaching elementary-aged students. I did three years in GEPIK at the same elementary school teaching grades 3-6 and then a year at an EPIK high school and now I've transferred to two EPIK elementary schools.

1. In GEPIK, I was thrown into the mix right away by my former co-teacher. I did a self-introduction lesson all week with all the classes (26) I co-taught. I did the same with my new EPIK elementary classes, except I made a self-introduction template which I asked as many students as time allowed to fill in and then use to introduce themselves to me in class. So, in GEPIK I did not have the chance to observe a class. In EPIK, I was given a week to observe even when I changed from teaching high school English to elementary English classes and I had three years of GEPIK experience.

2. I am going to assume you are referring to the Korean standards, right? In a nutshell, the Korean standards list 200 to 400 words at most up to the sixth grade. Simple sentences are focused upon except for sixth graders who are taught to use simple conjunctions such as and or but. Sentence length is "restricted" with elementary students. Third and fourth grade student's standard calls for about 5 to 6 words a sentence. Fifth and sixth grade student's standards call for no more than 7 to 8 words a sentence and the older, more experienced Korean co-teachers will try to hold you to those sentence length standards.

In GEPIK, a couple of years ago the NET was expected to provide 70 to 80 percent of the English language input, but that is unrealistic when you consider when a Korean teacher has to deal with in-class problems and issues, then the percentage plummets really fast.

Grammar: Third grade students are taught the simple present only according to the standards. Fourth grade students continue to study the simple present but they expand that to the present progressive. Fifth graders will learn the simple past and sixth graders will learn the simple future, simple comparatives plus some more i cannot remember right now.

3. I have seen my students act differently towards the different Korean co-teachers I have worked with. If one of my co-teachers' pronunciation in English was poor, I have seen and heard our students make fun of them. Overall, the response to my co-teachers speaking in English has been good.

4. You've got the wrong idea about this question. You are supposed to co-teach, which simply means to plan, prepare and do the class together with your Korean co-teacher. Your question is only relevant if you are teaching alone, which I do not think they will let a newbie do. I am teaching alone for the most part at one of my schools this year, but I am not a new teacher and I am an experienced elementary EFL teacher.

Co-teaching is the official paradigm/methodology which SMOE, GEPIK and EPIK want you and your Korean co-teacher to work cooperatively together to do. Two heads are better than one and it is very true with co-teaching. Your Korean co-teacher is a valuable resource for input, teaching ideas and feedback from what your students are really saying and thinking about you and your classes together.

5. There is plenty of room for teaching reading and writing but you will likely have to clear it first with your Korean co-teacher. You and I are not licensed public school teachers in Korea (correct me if I am wrong, please) so our co-teachers are really in charge and they are responsible for our classes and that the national standards are at least minimally adhered to.

I don't personally agree with all of the standards because they don't address the issue of returnee and advanced students needs, but you can get around that with creative and subtle supplementation. At my circulating elementary school, I was asked specifically to create a writing worksheet a couple of weeks ago by my supervisor and co-teacher there. However, much of what the national curriculum calls writing is really copying except for an activity or two where the students make a booklet about the weather or their family.

6. The Korean teachers at my two schools are fine. You will have to prove yourself to them, so you should be ready for that. The honeymoon will last for a few weeks to a month but after that you will see your co-teacher's real colors. If you're lucky, one of your co-teachers will speak English.
By the way, you may have two types of co-teachers. One is the already mentioned teaching co-teacher and the other may be an administrative co-teacher, who handles your paperwork and takes or accompanies you to Immigration to get your visa. I have both types this year.

7. I do have some experience in the US as a "paid" volunteer in two elementary schools in the Seattle area. Actually, it was a paid work study job I was lucky to get, which helped me get into the classrooms at the two schools I "volunteered" at for two school years. In the US, English as a Second Language is what is taught, usually within ESL classrooms, which are not part of the mainstream. The ESL students I saw and interacted with came for daily ESL lessons, which meant they mainly did worksheets with tutors like myself and then they went back to their classrooms. I was supervised by a licensed ESL teacher who had a MA in TESOL. I was also able to go into the fourth grade classrooms to help a couple of homeroom teachers with their content classes such as science and even a Spanish language class, even though I not a Spanish speaker at all. I was there to help manage the kids. I also helped out in a computer science class where the kids had learned to use Powerpoint and were making PPT presentations. At the other school, I was used at first as a reading tutor but after a while I was reassigned to help first graders with their homework and I helped a sixth grade Hispanic student to complete his classwork so he could graduate and go on to middle school. That was rewarding.

The main differences between what you might do back home if you worked in a public elementary school there is that it would be an ESL context versus an EFL context and the ESL classes would be organized to get the ESL students up to speed for either an immersion elementary education content program or possibly for a bi-lingual track, which I believe is what public schools in Europe do. The other difference is that at home ESL classes are viewed by most students as being far more important for their overall academic sucess in the classroom, even though they usually don't get a grade for it like in Korea, where students are usually not given a formal grade for their elementary English classes.

The other advice you have received is good. I won't duplicate what others have mentioned to you. However, preparation is key to success, even at the elementary level in Korea. I think teaching elementary English classes in Korea requires more energy, daily preparation (to cleverly get around the deficits in the national curriculum) and to tailor each class more for your students and to develop and sustain more of a student-centered approach as much as possible. Hope this helps. DDeubels has a lot to offer on the topic of the student-centered classroom, so i suggest that you check out his website EFLclassroom2.0. Good luck. I hope I was helpful. Cheers.