Korean Job Discussion Forums

[iggyb]

I've taught ESL for over 8 years - much of it in Korea. All ages and levels - from basic level pre-school to advanced level for Korean teachers.

I just finished my first month in a public elementary school.

My thought so far --- We are a review session for material covered in hakwons...

I've watched a lot of Korean teachers do practice teaching, and now I've worked with them in actual teaching, and one thing that is generally true ---- they stick to the book.

And the book is PAINFULLY slow.

I've taught survival level English. I have an idea of how quickly students, especially children, can pick things up.

But, we don't do go beyond the book, and trying to push more in is becoming a fight and not worth it working environment-wise.

One thing both of my co-teachers say is that - when you add stuff outside the book - the students become less focused and get bored more easily.

By which they mean, ultimately, it is harder to teach students things --- they don't already know...

In the hakwons - of course it depends on the person - do they really want to teach or not - and also on how bad the owners might be...

...But in my time years ago in several hakwons, we actually taught stuff. We taught stuff the students didn't already know when they walked in the door.

Of course, we had the advantage of grouping students by level much of the time, but I've taught large, mixed-level classes before, and you can turn the differences in levels to your advantage and include material that gives something to both high and low level students.

In public elementary school, we start at the low-beginner level in each grade, and we stick to the material, and 95%+ of the stuff we introduce is already known by 95%+ of the students....

Another thing I'm seeing --- Korean elementary school kids are not more respectful and controlable than American students --- at least comparing to when I went to elementary school.

American students where I live would not get away with nearly as much as I see Korean teachers letting Korean students do frequently...
[/u]