Korean Job Discussion Forums

[teachingld2004]

Helllo.
I just started SKYPE teaching.
I have a few students who barely speak English. No books, just conversation.
Any one have any ideas on what to do?

Thank you all

[RedKristin]

Might be helpful to give a list of prompts or topics to students before the Skype calls that way they have a chance to pick the right vocabulary and make a few sentences before the chat.

With video chat you can pull off and Show and Tell kind of lesson. My students really got excited to tell me about foods, celebrity knickknacks and traditional Korean stuff.

[Carbon]

[PatrickGHBusan]

Barn door wide open....check

Horses galloping wildly in the plains....check

Person now trying to close the barn door to keep horses in...check



Seriously, while this should have been something you considered before you started skype teaching, its too late now so....

1- Prepare props (vocabulary cards, topic index cards)

2- Record short you tube videos your student can watch just before the lesson and to practice pronounciation

3- Build a lesson plan that covers a few lessons ahead and establish learning objectives that are on par with the student's level and abilities.

[Big Mac]

I've been teaching online with a Chinese website called Kukuspeak.com for a few months now. I wish there was a comparable Korean site out there, but I've never been able to find one. I'm pretty sure Koreans would pay a hell of a lot more than Chinese people!

Most of my students are adults who are looking for conversation practice. They are usually fluent enough to carry on a pretty good conversation. I use this website a lot. I just pick a topic and use some of these questions to fuel a conversation. It works really well.

http://iteslj.org/questions/

My students love it when I record the lesson and send them an MP3 file so they can practice on their own. I use this recorder, which records every call automatically:

http://voipcallrecording.com/

Hope that helps.

[PatrickGHBusan]

Big Mac..

Talkbean may compare to what you are doing for Chinese students. No idea if it still runs however.

[Big Mac]

Thanks Patrick.

I checked it out and the website says that it stopped hosting lessons in 2010. Too bad!

I've often thought of starting a website like Kukuspeak.com for the Korean market. No idea what would be involved in getting something like that up and running though, or how profitable it would be.

[teachingld2004]

Hi all

Big Mac, I have used that web sit many times in the past, and I continue. Just I wondered what anyone else did while SKYPE teaching. I have the students keep paper and pencil by the computer, and I have them write new words down. Next time they share some sentenses. I send them photos from where I live, and have them do the same.
I am just looking for some more ideas.

Thanks,

[JoelMonkarsh]

There are several issues I have regarding Skype teaching and I would like them addressed.

Normally, an expatriate native ESL instructor in Korea arrives with an E1 or E2 visa, which restricts him to only teaching for his sponsoring Korean employer. It might be possible for the instructor to get around this with a F6 or F6 visa, but it still doesn't get around the assumption that teaching outside of one's normal employment situation is illegal in Korea and if caught, the instructor is subject to deportation. If you are teaching via Internet (i.e., Skype) doesn't this present the same problem?

Let's assume that this isn't a major problem, the question is how an instructor would obtain ESL/EFL students willing to be taught via Skype?

Companies, such as Global English used to recruit ESL instructors for teaching over the Internet, but this generally meant getting up a 4 to6 a.m. Obviously, if I am already in Asia, I could teach in local time (7 a.m. to 7 p.m.).

The only time I've used Skype to teach ESL was when I teaching my Korean in-laws about a year ago. Normally, Go to Meeting technology is used when an instructor is unable to the physical classroom and must conduct a teaching session over the Internet.

[young_clinton]

[JoelMonkarsh]

Okay, so you can teach via the Internet on KukuSpeak.

How are you paid and how are you able to trust them? Skype for more than 10 students works in Japan, Korea, but not Taiwan? Is this Chinese or it is Taiwanese?

[Charlie Bourque]

[young_clinton]

[Big Mac]

[young_clinton]

So they don't tell you things like we'll pay you when you make these changes etc. like the scammers like Amazon Mechanical Turk or Textbroker? I guess you basically do the job and get payed. Are you familiar with the internet scams "Amazon Mechanical Turk" and "Textbroker"?