Korean Job Discussion Forums

[pauly]

Teaching students or basic level adults is one thing, but I've been asked to teach a conversational class for the Korean English teachers at my school. It's kind of intimidating. I taught my first class this morning. I don't think it went very well as there wasn't a whole lot of conversing happening. I used a text book that was given to me to use for the class, but I don't think it is very useful or appopriate for this class. I'm now having to change gears and rethink the whole class. One idea I was thinking about was to prepare a topic of discussion for each day of the class. This way, they will be practicing their conversational skills, not just reciting something out of a textbook or speaking to each other in a contrived setting. Any other ideas or resources out there that may be helpful in this class?

[tommynomad]

Yes.
Join KOTESOL. At every meeting you will pick up several good program ideas.
Current events: pick up The Korea Times and Herald, let the students choose headlines of interest, and then have them work on the related articles.
No re bang: have them each choose a favourite English language pop song. They can download lyrics at bugsmusic. Then they can share their songs (presentations with Q & A) with the group.

Anything beats esl texts: the only one I've seen that was even remotely worthwhile is Andrew Blake's It's Up to You, and it's aimed at beginners (though adaptable)

[peppermint]

Talk to them about what they want to do, and why they want to learn English. Phrases for using with students tend to go over well. Ii['ve got a few good resources I can send if you want, just PM me.

[Derrek]

Have fun.

We had these classes last year, but not this year, since they gave us more hours and we don't have time to teach other classes.

We found that the teachers avoided the classes like the plague, no matter how interesting you make it. To them, it's break time, and the school is forcing them to lose a break to attend.

You will also find that many will not talk, because they don't want to show their poor English in front of other teachers. It's true -- especially of English teachers.

It's not you. It's their fear of others finding out that they really suck.

[pauly]

[Badmojo]

[thorin]

Loosen up, be more social with the young teachers who speak well, ignore the old teachers who don't and then every once and a while ask them a really easy question so they can save face.

[matthewwoodford]

Derrek is dead right that they're afraid the other teachers will find out how much they suck. Stick me in a TEFL class with fellow teachers and I might well feel the same way.

Focus on pronunciation because they can all admit to being bad at that without loss of face, and give them reading texts with easy multiple choice comprehension questions to build their confidence at least to start with.

It'll take a lot of ice-breaking before they're ready for conversation practice, but is that what they primarily want in any case? They're probably interested in finding out how to teach English better so they'll want to talk about why their students don't get this or how they can explain this better or how to answer posers the smart kids give them. That might get them talking at least - better make a no Korean rule. Being tactful, you can try to elicit ideas from them on how to present English lessons and make method of presentation the focus of the lesson - rather than asking 'Do any of you idiots know what this means?' (not that I'm saying you would ever do that of course). Hard to say anything without knowing the class...

Good luck.

[JacktheCat]

[Badmojo]

[hellofaniceguy]

I remember my first class teaching KT's....it was a nightmare for the first week. Had them in my class for 4 hours everyday. The following week...I simply told the KT's..."look..all of you are terrible at speaking English...and I am ashamed to say you are English teachers. Your English is as good as my korean....awful! Now...you all understood what I just said...and if I offended you, I don't care. You are suppose to be middle and high school teachers teaching English...let's get with the program.....having said that...I hope I can help you to be better teachers of English and become a better teacher myself. So, let's cut out this nonsense of not talking and start making mistakes...mistakes are good and we all learn from them and each other. Let's work on your pronunciation, the th's, r, l, z, b, p sounds, etc. and from there. I want some suggestions from you on which direction you would like these lessons to go. I gave them each a piece of paper and told them to write down what they would like to learn, study and or do. Any topic is open as long as it does not offend others."
It worked for me in my class and I taught them for 6 weeks. But...it was HELL! 6 weeks everyday for 4 hours a day! Talk about stress!
You need to have a varity of lessons and change lessons in the middle of the class to keep them interested. Sometimes it does not have to be a lesson....per se....teach them so they don't know they are learning. Make the class fun, get the students laughing, throw in some pop quizes on various subjects, bring in some cold drinks/coffee and cookies, etc. and the students will also start bringing in items.
The idea is to get them talking! Pair up the weak speaker with a stronger speaker. Improvise! Don't drag out the lesson for more than an hour if that depending on how long you have them.
I took the KT's on a number of "hands on lessons" in fixing their cars! We went out into the parking lot and changed "flat" tires, learned how to check the oil, tranny fluid, change the spark plugs, oil changes...all this was done in English and they, the KT's learned new terms and useful phrases. I did a lot of role playing. Some students "were the English speaking cop...I had them drive their own cars...slowly in the parking lot and "pull over" the speeder! They had to write "tickets", ask for the persons drivers license and registration, tell them why they were pulled over, etc... You've got a broken right side tail light, etc.
I also did this...with the class approval...whenever someone spoke korean during the lesson/class...that person had to put 1000 Won into the box on my desk. At the end of the week...or sooner, whom ever did not speak korean...wins the money box! The 2nd week, the money was up to 89,000 Won by Wednesday! Some teachers were putting in 10, 12 thousand Won for the 4 hours! It was funny! Each was trying to get everyone else to speak korean. I remember that well cause everyone was hoping to win! By Friday it was up to 136.000 Won and two of the potential winners were trying to get the other to make a mistake!! They ended up splitting the money.
So many different lessons one can do with KT's. Improvise. Be flexible.

[wild sphere]

your class is probably mixed with some older teachers with a lot of teaching experience but can hardly speak English, some young teachers fresh out of teachers' college that may be at a high intermediate English level and eveybody else in between. firstly, i like to try to connect with them on a professional level, probing them to find out what teaching approaches, methodologies they are familiar with, then, arrange lessons with tasks and activities that play on their professionalism. i.e. put them in groups(a must for these types of students) trying to make sure at least 1 of the better English speakers is in each group. get them to discuss what they think is the best way to teach English to Korean students each giving as an example their very best English lesson. collect the examples of their very best English lessons, if needed improve on the lessons by adding what is missing from the lessons to make them more eclectic and linguistically well rounded, i.e. make it more communicative, needs more explaining, writing practice, reading exercises...

use those lessons to teach them English conversation mentioning before the start of every class which teachers' lesson you're going to try. always say good things about the lesson to make eveybody comfortable while doing it, then explain the pedogogic theory and approach behind the lesson if there's any at all. in groups, get them to constructively critique and suggest how they could make it better - all the teachers usually get a kick out of this part of the lesson! they also appreciate and will use the upgraded lesson in their own English classes.

works well for me.

just an aside, watch out that the director doesn't get pissed when bypassing the assigned coursebook. the coursebook may have been put together by the director or somebody else higher up in the program that think the book is wonderful and necessary to the program. best check with your director before going off and tossing the assigned coursebook in the trashcan replacing it with your own more creative, educationally effective materials and lessons.

[schwa]

Great suggestions above.

Hellofaniceguy's parking lot excursion is hilarious -- exactly the kind of stuff they'll find surprising & fun & keep them coming back. These teachers will have had it up to here with lame-ass "warmers," lists of idioms, Dear Abby columns -- either from former native teachers or mandatory training workshops. If it aint fresh its stale.

Since youre just starting in, a great source of interest will be you. Invite their questions. Be candid & funny in your answers. Establish your personality as leader of the class. Your conversation skill exactly will set the tone of the class.

Disavow the idea that youre there to "teach" them. (You will, but it will happen tangentially.) Think of it in terms that they already know tons of english & its your job to wake that up.

Create a comfortable environment. Tea & coffee & snacks, yes. Encourage small talk & let conversation free-associate. Learn what the teachers talk about among themselves -- they love to gossip about school affairs & you can encourage them to do so in english. Use the art of follow-up questions & urge the teachers to jump in & do the same with their colleagues. Correct their mistakes selectively, they like that.

Allow Korean! At least thats part of my formula. I dont mind bilingual discussion at all to clarify a point.

Give them breaks. I dont know your schedule but I do 3-hour classes & after 45 or 50 minutes they're looking at their watches. Take a breather for 10. Let them go home a few minutes early at the end, you'll be a hero. Unless they're keeners, then you just fill up the time & you also win.

Yeh, you gotta come to class with stuff. Simple open-ended themes can carry the day. A variety of approaches is good, your group will have distinct interests & learning styles. Call out the quiet teachers -- they're slower at formulating their thoughts but they generally have some.

Learn all their names quickly -- it personalizes things. Its normal too to schedule a couple classes a semester outside the classroom. Suggest pizza, a coffeeshop, or a Korean meal somewhere -- they'll jump at planning & arranging it & it seriously helps with bonding.

Have fun. Aim for laughter. Teachers classes can be delightful.

[ajuma]

I agree with hellofaniceguy's tip on teaching pronuciation!!! You can make it fun, but PLEASE do it!!

The pronunciation for island is NOT IS-LAND or ICE-LAND!!

The pronunciation for clothes is NOT CLO-THEZ!!

[wild sphere]