Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jurassic82]

Right now I am in the process of getting my paperwork processed and how it looks I'll be in Korea and teaching on the 27th of this month. In my contract it says that I'll have a day of orietation and then I'll begin teaching the next day. I was wondering if many of you have been in this same situation and what I could do to possibly prepare for my first week of teaching considering it doesn't look like I have much training and time to prepare. I greatly appreciate any feedback!

[schwa]

Welcome to the land of winging it.

Trust your instincts, speak clearly & simply, & smile.

You'll likely do fine.

[Kimchieluver]

Bring photos of your friends, family, house and cool places you have been. The photos make for a good ice breaker. Relax and be yourself. As stated above speak slowly and clearly. Smile and let the Korean teachers help you.

Don't lose sleep over this. You will likely be a celebrity your first few weeks (months)!

[alabamaman]

[poet13]

...make sure they pay you for "orientation-training".

[sheba]

Be prepared..... my orientation day was the day I arrived. They picked me up from the airport and took me straight to the school where I met the teachers. Then they showed me how to get from the school to my apartment, where the local amenities were and took me out for lunch.

The next day I started "teaching", no one showed me around the school (ok its not big, but I didnt know which class I was in, where the toilets were etc), and I didnt know what books to use or anything! My first week consisted of introductions and showing pictures of home (they loved hearing about how many animals we have - we are dairy and beef farmers with a lot of pets too).

It didnt take long to get everything sorted, but it was a shock to the system being kinda dumped in the deep end! I did a lot of prep for my classes because I didnt have any teaching experience, and I didnt know the books, but you find a routine for that too.

[cruisemonkey]

After travelling for almost 24 hrs., I arrived at 11:30 PM on a Monday night and was 'teaching' at 9:00 AM the next morning (with 7 minutes notice... 2 minutes more than is normal in Korea). LOL Welcome to K-land!

[wylies99]

Yep- training at my hogwan was pretty much this-"You just got off the plane after 18 hours? There's a room with lots of kids, go in there and teach."

Nothing about books, kids, or anything else that might have helped. You can expect much of the same- unless you are VERY lucky.

[Hotpants]

Yep, only the lucky few will be given any time to rest after a longhaul flight. Always best to try and arrive on a weekend or holiday!

As you probably have no idea of what curriculum you're in for, I would agree about bringing photos from home. Get the students to formulate lots of WH questions about the photos. Also, use the first week as a getting to know you period. Get the students to bring in their own photos and write about themselves - this way you can also assess their actual English abilities. Spend a lesson drawing up classroom rules with your students. Give them a welcome party with some of those really cheap rice cake snacks found on many street corners and some juice - throw in some karaoke songs to boot. You only need to bide yourself a few days to suss out what you're going to teach in the long term. Hopefully you'll have other foreign teachers at your school who can give you some guidance through your initiation period.

[wylies99]

This is better advice than I've ever gotten at my school-from foreign teachers or Korean teachers. The OP should be in decent shape and better prepared for what waits.

[semphoon]

I was lucky to arrive at Chusuk.

I arrived at 2 am on Monday morning. Meet the boss at 11 am and got a few hours sleep before eatting dinner with the boss at 7 pm. That night we did the 3 rounds - meal (with soju), hof (with soju) and norebang (with soju and dancing strange women). I remember screaming into the mic and doing knee slides while my boss and maths teacher were passed out on the couch. I got home and 4 am. I work up at 2pm the next day with a crazy soju hangover and had to teach. I had bought any groceries yet, so a co-worker took me to Lotteria.

Fun introduction to Korea. Everything seemed so new and a challenge.

The land of winging it. Just have confidence in what you know. And do good introductions - lots of photos, and talk about family. Ask questions about Korea. Mention that you watched 2002 and cheered Korea. I was also able to talk about Tan-Goon (the legendary first king of Korea whose mother was a bear...and I thought UK chicks were hairy ).