Korean Job Discussion Forums

[chickenpie]

Been out of the school system for quite a while, just got a job offer teaching at a public high school, what should I be expecting........? Just repeating the Co teacher or being able to use communicative activities?

Any experiences and hints would be great.

[YTMND]

That depends on what your previous school experience was. Did you teach high school students before? If so, more of the same. If not, you will have to adjust your lessons to fit the students. Board games and such don't seem to work with high school students. The 11th graders get serious about their studies midway through, so you have about 1.5 years of good classes to prepare for. The other half year is mostly test taking practice. I have never taught seniors (12th grade) in public schools, but I did teach them outside of the public school setting. They worked on essays, SAT or IELTS, and from time to time speeches.

I suggest picking up a high school grammar book, and then make conversation based on it to start with. I have been able to use computers in my classes, so I bring movies to watch also. The quicker they get through the material I planned for the day, the more they get to watch. The good students police the others.

[chickenpie]

Cheers, for that, I have lots of experience teaching IELTS, not sure how that is going to work with classes of 25-30.........

What are the books like for high school students these days? I remeber years ago that the elementary and middle school books were a joke.....have things moved on since then?

[YTMND]

I don't think I would take a job teaching students after 7th grade middle school if I had to use a textbook. By that stage, they are either serious about English or they really don't care. A textbook is not going to do either camp well.

It seems like the school's main concern is actually listening comprehension. Then, speaking.