Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cdnguy]

So here is my concern and I have a feeling it is a common one. I am a graduate of a University program which required an intense amount of writing as well as reading. I am also an avid reader and have an adequate vocabulary. Basically what I am saying is that I am pretty comfortable with the English language, but like everyone my age (23) coming out of the Canadian education system I was taught to memorize the English language not learn it. So basically I use English on auto pilot, never thinking about it or really understanding it.

So I was wondering whether there were a lot of people in my situation and how easily they "re-learned" the English language to teach it to Korean's.

[crazylemongirl]

My grammar skills were a little rusty before I came here. I didn't have much of a problem last year as I was teaching the littlies so it wasn't much of an issue.

This year I'm teaching middle school kids, so it is. I went out and bought a good grammar textbook which I use for reference. It has some exercises which I will practice before teaching it. However I see my job isn't so much about teaching grammar but more about getting kids to be more comfortable about using english.

[mindmetoo]

It's surprising how much English you just know without thinking of the rule. "When do you use lend vs borrow?" for example. I grew up in Quebec and they totally grilled you on grammar. When I moved to Ontario for Grade 8 people looked at me like I was some kind of freakin' genius because I knew what an adverb was.

Now it depends on what you'll be teaching. I'm purely a speaking teacher. There's a grammar component, of course, but it's mostly just trying to get the kids to talk in full SVO sentences. Most of the text books walk kids through the mechanics. Just stay one lesson ahead in the book, google for stuff you don't know, etc.

[canuckistan]

This post made me smile. I was in the same boat once I plunked myself down into a seat in all the linguistics, grammar, and Esl methodology courses I took in uni. "The future perfect progressive? Deep structure?What?!!!" I too had been used to just speaking English and not actually thinking about it. After a while it all made perfect sense though.

A good English grammar book like Understanding And Using English Grammar by Betty Schrampfer Azar (available in Korea) is useful in explaining the grammar system that governs English, which in turn allows a teacher to recognize and explain the whys and whens of common grammar errors Esl students make. The more a teacher understands these things, the more effectively they can teach it to others.

That's just the grammar end. The many other more subtle things such as modifying the way you speak in class to developing an intuition concerning which learning material is appropriate and which isn't only comes with trial-and-error classroom experience.

Good luck on your Esl teaching journey!

[VanIslander]

cdnguy, the writing skills you demonstrate above are more than good enough for most teaching jobs in Korea. You probably will spend the vast majority of your time on pronunciation, conversation and spelling, as you should. Korean teachers focus way too much on getting students to memorize grammar rules rather than to use them.

[I_Am_Wrong]

Being that my dad is a phd in English I was forced to have perfect English, however, you really don't have to worry because you'll mostly be teaching pronouciation, vocabulary, and conversation. If you're worried about teaching than just pick up a book and read it on the plane over. I was able to pick up a great book in Vancouver called "Teaching English to Asian Children."

[iiicalypso]

I agree wholeheartedly with all the previous posters. I would go far as to say that you might even be doing your students a favor by NOT being a grammar fanatic. Your job is to teach them how to use words, not identify them. The language skills that many of my students have are academic, and they need to be taught how to use them as a tool for communication.

Don't forget that it is important to be a good teacher. You already know the language, so it is more important to be enthusiastic and supportive. Encourage your students instead of browbeating them. A good teacher can teach anything!

Good luck.

[VanIslander]

[canuckistan]

While teaching grammar explicitly isn't much use as it has its very own language, I disagree with an English teacher not knowing basic English grammar. I'm not talking about being able to name the parts of a sentence, but a good teacher knows how to explain, for example, the 12 tenses and the ideas of time they convey. Which tense should be taught first to lower-level students and why?
Knowing the basic underpinnings of the language becomes much more important when teaching intermediate level+ middle/high school and adults, who when making very common mistakes like using the present perfect instead of the simple past invariably ask why it's a mistake--Could you explain this in an understandable way to students if asked?

Knowing grammar also serves to fill in gaps in the students' knowledge:
How many ways are there for a student to express future time? Which is the most commonly used among native speakers? What about the use of "probably?" All of this extends to improving their writing skills as well. It just gives them more options.

It's not just about learning to be a parrot ie: Say what I say, don't ask me why I say it the way I do".... At a certain point students need more in-depth stuff than that. The examples I've cited are a mere fraction of the instances where a good knowledge of the mechanics of the English is invaluable to helping students gain a better understanding of the why and when things are expressed they way they are.

[I_Am_Wrong]

lol...that's rad. sorry...i don't proof-read my posts and, yes, nobody is perfect. Anyways, I would agree that youshould go out and learn things such as the tenses and when it would be prudent to teach something such as present simple etc.

[tommynomad]

I too, cannot say enough good things about Azar. It's clear, well organised, and actually contains interesting exercises. After 20 years in education, it is one of only about 5 books I consider "a teacher's bible." If it were smaller, I'd carry it everywhere. (As it is, I scan the pages of the stuff that still gives
me trouble.)

[canuckistan]

[matthewwoodford]

Hammer the grammar.

[captain kirk]

It's only keener upper year middle schoolers and high schoolers who ask a grammar question, or Korean teachers, in my experience. The students asking seem to want to look 'keen' to the other students. It's usually easy to answer, in a fumbling, roundabout way. The K-teachers, like the students, ask like they're fumbling about in a precise maze, and 'English is so difficult'. I think a student asks them a grammar question and then they ask me. The K-teachers and students know a lot about grammar, they get a lot of it in school. I don't remember a lot of it so they probably know more than I do about grammar. I wouldn't worry about it. These questions occur once every three months

[bosintang]