Korean Job Discussion Forums

[noguri]

Hi, I have a question about teaching techniques.

I am hoping to teach ESL in Korea next year. I currently teach social science on a year-to-year contract in the U.S.

I'm reading job advertisements and I see that some Korean employers ask to see a teaching demonstration. Others ask for sample lesson plans. I can provide these things but I should know in advance what kind of resources are used in a classroom.

Currently, I teach with a full multi-media station: a computer with internet access and a computer projector, so I can play any music and show any images I need. I bet I am super-spoiled. What can I expect in Korea, a transparency overhead projector? Or, not even that?

I'm not sure if I will find a job in a hakwan, a university or a high school, so I'm interested in hearing from teachers at any of these so that I can know what kind of pedagogical props I can hope for.

[Col.Brandon]

Some regular schools have multimedia setups. My elementary school has it in every classroom... except mine. I have a rickety whiteboard. Sometimes I get some whiteboard markers to go with it. I also have a little tape player. Love that 20th century technology!

I recommend you plan your lesson for a minimum of multimedia aids. The main quality they'll be looking for is that you're white and you're breathing.

[Ya-ta Boy]

In most situations, you'll have a blackboard and some chalk.

The other extreme also exists and everything in between. But the most common teaching situation is a blackboard and some chalk...and a copy machine that sometimes works.

[Hater Depot]

I had a totally tricked out classroom, and I longed to have just a marker and a whiteboard. Perhaps if I get my wish I will long for my overhead projector connected to the computer with a high-speed internet connection being displayed on one of two big-ass flat panel TV screens, which I could draw on with my fake marker (in four colors).

But I don't think I will.

[crazylemongirl]

I got a copier chalk and a blackboard. But in my area two schools have an interactive whiteboard with computer projecters and every table has a computer which shows the same images for the students when the teacher is lecturing. Another gets a notebook that plugs into the large screen TVs and another gets a computer with a projector.

I just can't understand for all this talk of equality, why there is such an uneven distribution of resources.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

At most middle / high schools there are computers hooked up to video monitors in every classroom, but when the technology doesn't work it really sucks. My high school also has a fully equiped mulitimedia room with computers at every desk, but if I teach there I have to teach from the back to make sure they don't start playing Kartrider or chat on the net.

At most hogwans you'll have a whiteboard and marker pens if you're lucky.

If you're being hired from the US, you probably won't have to provide anything but a photo, docs, and CV. Of these the photo is the most important.

If you're thinking already ahead to demonstration lessons save your energy for when you're here and get to see what your situation is like.

[joe_doufu]

My hagwon has a huge sign that says MULTIMEDIA COMPUTER ASSISTED ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING but of course, we have chalkboards, tape players (one plays CDs), a copy machine that you have to feed paper into manually a sheet at a time, and a water machine that u can use to make coffee. at least we have plenty of space heaters, that's what i'm thankful for!

[noguri]

Thanks to all of you for your honest and terse [and humorous] comments. I appreciate Yu Bum Suk's suggestion that I save my energy for when I get there and see what the set up is like.

Well, I HAVE taught ESL with just a rickety whiteboard [as an unpaid volunteer in Nicaragua] but I found this made the pace of the class slow down to the speed of my hand writing on the board. I ended up writing lessons in advance on big posters so that I could whip out the posters in a jiffy, and not lose the students' attention...

What about photocopying which some of you mentioned? DOes the public school or hakwan permit enough photocopying for it to be a useful resource? Or is the photocopier not even working often enough to be worth counting on?

[noguri]

Thanks to all of you for your honest and terse [and humorous] comments. I appreciate Yu Bum Suk's suggestion that I save my energy for when I get there and see what the set up is like.

Well, I HAVE taught ESL with just a rickety whiteboard [as an unpaid volunteer in Nicaragua] but I found this made the pace of the class slow down to the speed of my hand writing on the board. I ended up writing lessons in advance on big posters so that I could whip out the posters in a jiffy, and not lose the students' attention...

What about photocopying which some of you mentioned? DOes the public school or hakwan permit enough photocopying for it to be a useful resource? Or is the photocopier not even working often enough to be worth counting on?

[Yu_Bum_suk]

At my high school I have unlimited photocopying, though I really wish I had a colour printer.

At my old hogwan the photocopier always broke down and there was only one computer / printer, which didn't always work and had to be shared between 8.

The larger the institution, the more resources you're likely to have, as one might expect. The one thing Koreans aren't really used to using that would be nice are OHPs.

[OiGirl]