Korean Job Discussion Forums

Kiwi Tart · Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Location: Seoul

I'll be going in next week for my new job. Currently I teach 1st grade Autistic children here in the US, so I'm not sure what to expect from 10 little normal Korean kids Smile

Anyone teach/taught Kindergarden classes before? What was it like? What was the course material like?

Thanks Smile

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

Welcome to...

kat2 · Joined: 25 Oct 2005 Location: Busan, South Korea

It totally depends on your school and the support they give. I have taught kindy at 2 different schools. One I hated with a passion no one should hate little kids with. The other I totally loved and miss my kids so much now that I am at another job. Having a good Korean assistant in the classroom really helps.

dulouz · Joined: 04 Feb 2003 Location: Uranus

ksonnen, very true comments.

bobohawke · Joined: 16 Jul 2006 Location: Seoul

I teach kindy at the moment every day and also middle school. The kindy can be a bit rough sometimes especially if your tired etc... loads kids screaming but you get used to it after a while, thank god i have a korean teacher with me otherwise i dont think it would be as good. Make sure you have a korean teacher.... it is a big help Smile

heydelores · Joined: 24 Apr 2006

I've taught kindergarten in two different schools. One I loved; one I hated. Tell us more about your situation and maybe we can give some more specific advice. Do you have the same class all day, several classes in a day, or some other set-up? Will you have an assistant? What's the class size? I think the key is to have lots of activities planned. It's better to have too many than too few. You can always decide to scrap some if you're short on time, but if you run out of things to do, even 10 minutes can seem like a long time with a kindergarten class. Do a search for "kindergarten" or "kindy" and you'll find some helpful posts here.

JennyJJ · Joined: 01 Mar 2003

I was fortunate to teach every age and level for a few years, and what became the easiest and most enjoyable was my morning kindy class. I had no co teacher and no decent books. I did however have flashcards, songs, color pencils and a collection of simple games that I devised and used over and over again. There is a wealth of info out there on the web as well as free printable material and song and game ideas. A little time doing some research is a great investment for such an undertaking and really helped me.
Good luck !
J

John Henry · Joined: 24 Sep 2004

How are Korean kindy kids compared to autistic western first graders.....

...must...not...make...joke....

only...use...post ...button....

Merlyn · Joined: 08 Dec 2004 Location: Korea

tomato · Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 11:48 pm Post subject:

Cerriowen · Joined: 03 Jun 2006 Location: Pocheon

I taught kindergarten at a hakwan for 2 months.

Something important to keep in mind!!!

KOREAN AGE IS NOT THE SAME AS INTERNATIONAL AGE.

It can be as much as 2 years off. I had a class of "four year olds", where one of them was actually just 2 years old.

Their birthdays are different here. They day you're born you're "1". Everyone gains one year on new years day. So if you're born January 1st, and new years falls on the 25th... by the time you're 3 weeks old, you're 2 in Korean age.

I had probably 10 different classes of kids. 7 were great, fabulous, can't say enough good things about them. I loved them to death and was sad to leave. 3 of the classes were demons. It was mostly the time of day though. We were all tired, and it was their last class of the day. They just wanted to go home.

It requires a lot of energy.

I taught pre-school back in the states. I also tutored kindergarten kids with A.D.D. Some classes here were a lot like the pre-school. Some of them were a bit more advanced.

The "kindergarten" kids ranged from 2 to 7 years old. Thankfully not all in the same class.

I thought there would be a huge difference between here and the states. Honestly there wasn't. The kids were pretty much the same.

Dan The Chainsawman · Joined: 05 May 2005

If you have the piles your kindies will help you with them here in Korea.

RedRob · Joined: 07 Jul 2003 Location: Narnia

Best done when slightly under the influence.

ChopChaeJoe · Joined: 05 Mar 2006 Location: Seoul

If it's a daily class, you can make incredibly fast progress and the children will love you. But you'll have to make it fun.

If it's 3 times a week and the class is small (< 7), you'll still make great progress, but there will be frustrating times with no learning or even regression.

Anything else is pretty much babysitting with occasional spurts of learning.

sentient_squirrel · Joined: 17 Jul 2006

I teach 5 classes of kindergarten kids in 2 different kindergartens in 2 and a half hours.

How do I feel?

Within the space of that 2 1/2 hours, here are some of the thoughts I have:

1. F|u|c|k, this sucks. Now I know why some ads for teachers boast "Not Kindergarten!"

2. I gotta get outta here. I want to teach english to people who WANT to f|u|c|k|i|n|g learn english.

3. Oh my God you guys are soooo cute! You all gotta come home with me and I'll teach you 24/7!

4. F|u|c|k is my 20 minutes up already? Bugger! You guys are so much fun!

5. Oh s|h|i|t, I must be running over time..... oh my God, I've been here 4 minutes... God Help me.

6. God this is better than being a rock star!! It's so easy to make these 20 people laugh! They love me! I love you guys!

And what do I think about before the class, up to 1 minute before it starts, and after the class starting 30 seconds after it ends?

Listen....