Korean Job Discussion Forums

[donniebrasco]

Just a quick question. Am I complete mug? I work 6.30-8.30am then 3-9 Mon-Fri. I do have a lot of breaks but I get 1.8 a month and its my second year. Thinking I might need a change. Actually while I'm writing this I know I'm definitely a mug. Would you quit?

Also have a freetalking adult class. Might sound easy but it gives me more stress than the rest of my classes put together. Does anyone else have this problem. The freetalking adults have superb english, so I don't really know what I should be teaching them as they already seem to know everything. Everyone seems happy now but I feel like they aren't really learning anything. Don't get me wrong the are lots of discussion books around but getting people to talk isn't always that easy.

Let me know what you guys think.

[johnriley007]

why would you take that schedule in your second year? did they lie to you before you signed the contract?

also, have you quit a job before in korea, and how much time do you have left on your contract? if not, i would say definitely quit. find some easy, even part-time that will give you an e-2 or just come back on a tourist visa or student visa. quitting is a little stressful with immigration and your boss, but i've found my life has improved dramatically here since quitting.

i'm in my second year and i found a hagwon that only has me teachi mornings, and lets me work at another place at night. that's the thing i've found that if you're students are happy, then they don't care what you do outside of the school.

anyway, yes i would quit in your position - you're not a slave, you know

[shawner88]

That schedule and that pay sounds like hell. I agree with the posterooni before that wondered why you you take that for a second year?
I know how you feel about adults...read this for some comfort:


http://www.unipeak.com/gethtml.php?_u_r_l_=aHR0cDovL2tvcmVhbGlmZS5ibG9nc3BvdC5jb20vd2luZHkvaW5kZXguaHRtbA==

(temporary - i think - link to my blog)...

[Grotto]

anyone who signs up for split shifts is a little crazy in my books!

I wouldnt sign that contract for under 2.5!

[some waygug-in]

Freetalking classes aren't there to teach anything, they are there for "practice".

Finding things to talk about is difficult, especially when the students English level is not really ready for a free talking class.

The most frustrating thing for me is when a new student enters a "free-talking" class, who can't even put together a simple sentence and whom I can't understand at all.

It's more a problem of misplaced students than anything you can do as a teacher. The best you can do is keep mixing it up, with lots of different stuff from different sources. Do the odd pop song, some news articles, some entertainment articles etc.
You could also try to ask the students to take some responibility for finding topics to discuss. (yeah I know, it's like asking for moon) but it's worth a try. You might be surprised.

Get each student to prepare a topic to discuss for one day a week, say Friday. Each Friday a different student gets a shot at it. Just a thought.

[Toby]

Free talking - take some articles from the newspaper - topical - and they will always generate conversatio and will also teach vocabulary.

[sparkx]

There are also some good conversation books you can purchase ("50 Korean Issues" or something like that was my fav. which is great for getting the class fired up). I personally LOVED teaching free talking. You learn a hell of a lot about "hidden" korea from things that slip during the heated debates.

My fav. was a discussion on homosexuality. This tough guy who attended the class and always wore his full military uniform, adamantly proclaimed that homosexuality was a sin and should be punishable by death. When i pushed him to elaborate he said, "there was a gay guy in the military who had serious psychological issues -- he was crazy! He let everybody have sex with him"

I asked him, "so what about your fellow officers that were having sex with the gay guy? If they were having sex with another man, doesn't that make them gay too?"

His answer: "No. They were just having fun."

Honest to god true story...

The guy never came back after this class.

[prosodic]

[No L]

Make your students responsible for the class with yourself in more of a moderator role. One student a day picks the topic, prepares in advance, give a small presentation on the topic with new, related vocabulary and students discuss afterwards. Your role would be to make sure everyone has a chance to express themselves and to move along the discussion at any point.

[chronicpride]

[Arthur Fonzerelli]

1.8 million??

Someone's getting rich and it's not you...

[Toby]

[Arthur Fonzerelli]

[inkoreaforgood]

[The Man known as The Man]