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iggyb
Joined: 29 Oct 2003
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Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 4:04 pm Post subject: NKLB |
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I haven't taught in a Korean public school yet. So, I don't know if NKLB is a defining element there, but it is definitely the key problem where I currently work and in the hakwons where I previously taught.
It stands for: No Korean Left Behind.
It sums up that nexus of often conflicting streams of influence that deteriorates the ability to teach language in hakwons and other TESOL locations.
Behind NKLB is the adage: Keep the Students Happy.
That means ALL the students. (For a children's hakwon, that means keeping all the adjumas (moms) happy too.)
Of course you can't please every student in the class (or their mothers).
But since pleasing every single one of them is key to your boss' professional satisfaction --- you end up in an impossible, catch-22 situation:
Your classes are either/or (really "and") 1. Not fun enough - 2. Not conducive enough to language learning.
This can be most maddening in children hakwons.
There, unlike with adult education locations I've taught at in Korea, you can use many of the educational games and activities that are both useful in motivating students (fun) + practicing the language (educational).
But, I've heard plenty of Korean adult women, when talking about their children in the hakwons, fret that "I'm afraid all my child does in the hakwons is --- play games. And it's a waste of my money..."
I've heard this from the mothers who are public elementary school teacher's themselves...(who should be able to understand better).
If only a small percentage of the mothers at any given moment were anti-games, it would be no problem --- in a normal teaching situation.
But --- we're in NKLB territory.
Territory where --- even if 90% of the parents (or students) are happy with what is going on in class, the other 10% still counts. In fact, it counts more than the 90% at the very moment it begins complaining. That 10% must be heard:
So, you should change things to make sure that 10% is happy too....
...No Korean Left Behind...
Of course, making changes to fit that 10%'s desires almost always causes discontent somewhere within the 90% that were happy....
...which means a new X% of your class is going to be unhappy....
...which means more changes are sure to be rolling down the pipe....
.....in the never-ending cycle of Keeping the Students Happy - or - No Korean Left Behind.
The situation is most impossible in adult education in Korea - from my experience:
A significant percentage of Korean adults, especially in hakwons where they directly pay much money to "study", will resist doing activities that are common in language classes.
Korean adults want to "learn" a foreign language, they just don't want to do things that result in language learning ---- things that are recommend in TESOL textbooks and teacher-training courses.
(Try to get Korean adults to write. Or try to get them to do extensive reading as part of your "classes.")
Korean adults seem to believe the secret to effective language learning is --- simply listening to a native-speaker talk for an hour.
When that --- and other scaled-down "classes" --- don't lead to a noticeable improvement in their language ability, they are unhappy, and the pressure is on you to change to make them happy ---- but ---- you still can't push them to do things that are more likely to help them increase their ability, because ----- the Customer is Always Right.
-- There must be a way to increase their language ability ----- without their actually having to study.
They might not know what that way is ---- but they sure expect you to find it.
And since every voice/opinion in the classroom is vital ------ it only takes one or two students to behave as I've been describing ---- to make teaching ESL in Korea frequently enough a ---- pain in the a$$.
I like the term No Korean Left Behind because it ties the reality of teaching ESL in Korea (as I've seen it for 5+ years now) to negative situations that are developing back in the US in public schools.
I like the fact that No Child Left Behind has been causing change in American schools ---- where too little attention was given for too long to the high percentage of students who passed through 12 years of education - generation after generation - learning little: an environment in which doing the bare minimum meant you could "get an education" without getting an education.
But, the No Child Left Behind system, with its Annually Yearly Progress where a higher and higher percentage of students have to pass the basic skills test, has reached a point where ---- the only solution is to ---- Dumb Down the tests (and then the classroom experience) to the point of absurdity. To the point the goal of leaving zero children behind makes the overall value of education lower - not higher.
The designers of No Child Left Behind in the United States should have come to Korea to examine the ESL industry - particularly the hakwon system (but college and other adult-education locations too)....
They could have seen firsthand how the quality of the educational product you offer is --------- greatly undermined in an environment in which the teacher must ---- try to please each and every student in the classroom.......
The US will never reach the stated goal of a 100% passing rate for a basic skills test that is anything more than a scam.
And Korean ESL education - at least outside of the public schools - will remain at a low ebb as long the push is to make the students happy. |
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Catfisher
Joined: 10 Nov 2010
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Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 5:39 pm Post subject: |
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Wow. I just wasted minutes of my life reading that nonsense. You've been here 7 years and just now realize that? |
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