Korean Job Discussion Forums

[FredDaSked]

She says today, in paraphrase "here's this new class you never heard about. It starts today, so you have to stay one extra class. I was told two days ago that we'd be starting it, but didn't know the set-up enough to inform you about when, where, how, etc."

No-day notice. I don't implicate the co-teacher. We both work at this PS English Zone for a 'company', and she hears things from our contact and she gets to relay them to me. But this is doubly mystifying, because this new class turns out to be a TOSEL (Test of the Skills in the English Language) class, and we both teach it and share the book for a class of three students from two different comprehension levels. These students are getting this class totally at the whim of their parents, anyway, and that comes from discussion, not speculation.

I can't teach, well, "English", in the classic sense, and the designation sounds fairly new, anyway, so I have (and my co-teacher admits that she has) not enough background to really know how to teach it, either. But we do have an obligation to include homework.

Nice to know that someone puts enough trust in my impromptu teaching and knowledge-acquisition skills to thrust this upon me. Scary to think, however, that what really happened was that the school wanted to jump on the new-English-skills-test bandwagon and wasn't thinking about the teachers being able to teach it well.

My point is, does anyone know enough to tell me how long this TOSEL thing has been around, and what is it and is it really as it seems: a litany of listening comprehension exercises that leave a lot of teaching to be desired?

[FredDaSked]

PS I work at an elementary school.

[balzor]

[AsiaESLbound]

Ah yes, this last minute stuff is the classic difficulty for any one doing business in Asia. They can book a flight to Hawaii 6 months in advance, but can't inform you of a work matter with any advance notice which can result in damaging a working relationship that takes more time and effort to amend if it's to continue. The other major problem is indifference causing a communication breakdown or a lack of communication. It can be that after several months, you get to know each other well enough to learn how to work together without conflict, avoidance, or offense as I experienced. It gets much better after a few months of trying though you will still be challenged with indirect aggression and manufactured minor problems that really shouldn't be problems. As they always say. Fighting!!!

They often go from no communication to saying to you that someone looked through their purse to being super warm and friendly to being indifferently ice cold and back to being friendly. It's a roller coaster with co-teachers though I'm direct and honest where I'm not afraid to tell someone the truth when they are wrong or just plain weird in some way or another. If you don't like something, then talk about it. If they really want to be asses about it as to raise their voice or get a terrible attitude in defense, then look em' in the eye with a firm loud voice of what you know to be right. They probably know what's right and wrong in a situation like that, but not yet willing to back down to the truth. Eventually they stop being morons and stop the nonsense when it's more trouble for them to save face than it's worth.

Remember, a yes answer doesn't mean they said, "yes," or agreed to what you are saying, it just means they may in fact be dodging around something. There's always a next time and if earn some respect by beating these challenges with your, "Fighting!" spirit, then you too might see more good things. Good things like being told in advance of changes and actually told, "good morning." It's kinda like a breaking an animal into respecting you where it requires harsh treatment at the beginning or the animal just takes advantage of the situation and fails to ever listen to you. Students also work on this same principal where they need to be broke down a bit before they will respect you. I recently got 2 weeks notice on my new classes starting after Chuseok. Finally, I win at this cat eat dog game of cat avoiding dog game.

Might this Korea and Asia experience be giving us business skills that can go a long ways long after we leave?

[lprice001]

I know what you mean OP. This week, at the last minute, I am informed that several sections of my classes will not meet for three weeks because they are doing a literature review, and well, I have to read the books and come up with questions for them to answer. It's not like they're horribly long books, but it does require some re-reading in order to better assess the literature and try to approach it from a child's mindset. I do not have to teach the classes, but have spent all of my time reading and writing.

I guess being on your toes is appropos (spelling?).