Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cle2kor]

*THIS IS NOT A TROLLING THREAD*


Remember the above as you read on. . .

I'm licensed, spent 5 years of my life eating, sleeping and breathing education in college. Did my time in classes, observed hours and hours of classes and watching other teachers, did my student teaching--basically put my due in.

Now, I understand it doesn't take a rocket scientist to teach English, but I can't help to feel my occupation being "tarnished" by basket weavers whose first choice was to solely come here for the "adventure" and get wasted-drunk with their friends on the weekends in Itaewon. How would you business majors like it if I encroached on your field, asking for your jobs with NO experience and NO education in YOUR field? Would you be full of glee?
Not to mention the crappy rep "my kind" brought to "your profession" by the behavior that has been on display for quite some time now in this country.

I have come across more threads than I'd like to have seen stating that "I'm deciding to come to Korea to teach English." Like what? I just spent 5 years out of my life for nothing learning how to be a teacher? You mean I could have been a basket weaver and still came here on a whim to "teach?" I just feel a bit jaded that my "profession" is open to anyone and my years of education has moreorless been invalidated. And furthermore, now I have a difficulty finding a job IN MY FIELD because of these other grads in God-knows-what pouring in like Noah's Flood. Aint right. Yeah, I know it's Korea to blame for the qualifications accepted to teach here, but still.

Now I know this thread will get BASHED by the fragile-minded "teachers" out there, but keep in mind, this is my first love: teaching.
This is your after thought after a failed attempt to get a job in your home country. Show what little empathy you may have when responding. I understand this may even offend the Mods (please look upon this thread with an unbiased, empathetic view), so this thread may not last long anyway...

Teaching isn't for everyone, and I applaud you if you are a good teacher even if you didn't go to college for it, but the ones that come here and make a mockery of my profession I have a particular disdain for.

I will take your comments now with a hasty spirit now knowing that you're all seething after i just inadvertently dismissed your worth as a professional "teacher."

Eh. I'm ready.

[DIsbell]

Trollbait that doesn't try to obscure itself? I like; I'll bite.

I'm not a licensed teacher, and I never want to be.

Licensed teachers are, by the numbers, largely trained to teach in standard K-12 environments, typically in their native tongue and to shared L1 speaking students. Licensed teachers devote much of their studies to meeting local/regional/national standards and/or getting certified to teach subjects such as non-English foreign languages, math, or science. They complete practicum assignments in their native country's public school, and if they teach English it's mostly as L1 literature and composition- not a foreign or even second language.

Unless you're at an international school, may I ask what you're doing in Korea teaching EFL? You aren't trained to do this. You aren't a certified EFL teacher. You're barely more qualified than a basket-weaver by virtue of having your hand held by an experienced public school teacher in a public school back home for a few months... but it sounds like you couldn't score that gig as a full-time job back home.

Get a TEFL/TESL/CELTA with a relevant practicum. Until then, try to refrain from tarnishing my profession.







p.s. non-business majors enter business all the time.

[cle2kor]

[cle2kor]

Sorry, double post.

[DIsbell]

[Pa Jan Jo A Hamnida]

You spent 5 years in college to end up working as an ESL teacher? I can see why you are upset and picking fights

[northway]

[cle2kor]

[cle2kor]

[northway]

[Pa Jan Jo A Hamnida]

I don't think Korea is working out for the OP. Too many enemies preventing him from being a success. Said enemies are also making it hard for him to support dependents. A terrible tragedy indeed

[cle2kor]

[DIsbell]

Gardener's MI: deals with different types of intelligence, related to learning styles, etc. A reaction to generalized IQ conceptions of intelligence.

Differentiation: dealing with various levels of ability and types of students in a classroom

Those are touched on in EFL/ESL courses, but if that's all you've got, you're missing a lot that's considered important to the field:

Second Language Acquisition
Pronunciation (Segmental and Suprasegmental)
Comprehensible Input
Assessment
Task-based Learning
Planning and it's effects
vocabulary: meaningful interactions, layers of knowledge, level necessary for text comprehension
Teaching genre
Corpus (Academic Word List, uses of corpus in a classroom/as a reference, etc)
Register and how it can inform writing instruction
English for Academic Purposes
Teacher focus/Learner focus
Use of graphic organizers
encouraging extensive reading
error correction
World English
etc.....


Anyway, in respect to business majors, one could pretty easily argue that the hagwon industry as a whole is more about sales pitches than good pedagogy, so maybe the business majors are better suited than either of us in that regard.

Glad you admitted to coming off as a dbag; that's why I've been counter trolling on my end. I'm sure you do a fine job (I agree that most gigs here aren't rocket science, especially when the business aspect comes into play), but come down off that high horse because while jobs are a bit tough to secure back home for K-12 teachers, exceptionally talented and seasoned ones do it at home and aren't forced to come here.

At my current workplace, we had a couple licensed teachers from the states show up at the same time as myself and another EFL/ESL certified teacher. One licensed teacher did a midnight run (after getting some complaints and generally not hacking it) that everyone shook their heads at, and the other didn't have a great year and wasn't offered another contract (though he did manage to move on to greener pastures in another job- good on him). Should I start threads bashing licensed teachers?

[cle2kor]

[nikki15]

I'm not sure you can really compare teaching ESL in Korea (or any other non English speaking country) and teaching back home. In my opinion they both take different sets of skills.

I don't think teachers here are ruining the image of a teacher back home, I think it's pretty common knowledge that the standards to teach in Korea aren't very high (in many cases). Although, I do understand where the OP is coming from in some respects. As a teacher, it can be frustrating to see the people who do not take their job seriously here and do as minimal as possible, just regurgitating from a textbook. But of course, this does not pertain to all ESL teachers. There are many who take this seriously and make a life out of it, and are really good at what they do.

I do agree that licensed teachers are sought out more now, and taking the job of the "unlicensed" teachers. My hagwon director only wants to hire licensed teachers as she feels (in her experience) they have generally put in more work (she expects A LOT from her teachers). However, not many licensed teachers come here to teach ESL.