Korean Job Discussion Forums

[beckett]

Another newbie asking stupid questions!

I am heading off to Seoul in August for a job with SMOE to teach 8-11 year olds (I think , don't know much at the minute!). Getting a bit nervous now . I was wondering if someone could reccomend some good books to buy for learning to read and speak Korean and also some books about the theory of teaching young learners? I assume SMOE are going to provide some text books as a guideline for my lessons(I know I will have to use my own ideas aswell)?

Also any good websites / books for lesson plans / ideas woud be great aswell,or even any tips in general.

thanks in advance !

[climber159]

Don't get too worried yet. You'll be going to the SMOE orientation before you get thrown into the classroom. There you'll have many opportunities to talk with others who have been at the ESL-in-Korea thing for longer than a year. You'll also be able to perform one or two practice lessons and receive critiques from newbies and vets.

As for Korean language books...I'd wait until you arrive in Korea to pick those up. When you get the chance you can go to Kyobo, Bandi & Luni's, or WhatTheBook to rummage through the various titles. You could go to your local bookstore for a common phrase book so you can learn the Hangul alphabet and some key phrases/words.

Here are a couple of ESL websites to get you started. If you're lucky, others will also contribute. But, you'll get plenty of info at the orientation.

http://www.teachitworld.com/
http://bogglesworldesl.com/

[Snake Doctor]

Threads like these remind me of the movie Platoon, when Charlie Sheen gets off the plane in Vietnam and is walking past the group him and his men are replacing. There's a long exchange between Sheen and one of the guys. One of the most telling parts of the movie.

Chris looking at them. They pass, except for the last man who
walks slower than the rest, a slight limp. His eyes fall on
Chris.

They're frightening eyes, starved, hollow, sunken deep in his
face, black and dangerous. The clammy pallor of malaria clings
to him as he looks at Chris through decayed black teeth. Then
the sun flares out on him and he's past. And Chris looks back.
Disturbed. It's as if the man was not real. For a moment there.
As if he were a ghost.


Good luck OP, I wish I hadn't thrown out all those K-language books a few months ago, I'd give them to you.

[dean_burrito]

http://catcode.com/

This will get you started on your Korean.

[kirsi]

[Zulethe]

[Kikomom]

This one is supposed to be good to give you a background in the history, culture, and structure of the language:

Roadmap to Korean

[iggyb]

If you want to learn Korean as a whole - as apposed to key survival phrases and such - the Integrated Korean series is pretty good - especially with internet resources for the audio language lab stuff.

http://languagelab.bh.indiana.edu/korean101.html

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=%22integrated+korean%22&x=0&y=0

The first link is to a good online lab resource for the Korean courses at U. Indiana. You can right click and download all the files.

The 2nd is an Amazon word search for "Integrated Korean"

[laoshihao]

Maybe you'll have 8-11 year olds, but don't count on it. I was prepared for teaching elementary, but since I had two years of high school ESL experience, high school is what I got. With SMOE don't count on anything. You may get textbooks, but a lot of textbooks here are pure shite. You'll want to augment them if you can. Boggelsworld, as previously mentioned, was my best friend this year. They have a lot of very useful stuff. SMOE will give you a lot of websites at orientation that you can also use. I used a lot of stuff from breakingnewsenglish for my winter camp conversation classes. Pay attention to what the veterans in your orientation have to say. They will give you the true low-down on living here. If you're not on facebook, I would recommend getting on it. There may already be a group for the new orientation. There are groups for the past few orienatations. Facebook will be the easiest way to meet up with new SMOE friends before you all get your cell phones.

[laoshihao]

One of the best resources for teacher's books once you are in Seoul is Kim & Johnson at Gangnam Station exit 5. They have a huge selection. Much better, and cheaper, than Kyobo and less crowded than Bandi & Luni's.