Korean Job Discussion Forums

[chopsticks]

This Saturday I have to give a presentation in support of co-teaching using the same text-books. The company I work for offer's after school English classes and up until now each teacher has used separate books. My Korean teacher has decided that at our new school we'll do things more cooperatively and our boss really likes the idea.

So my question is.... how would you sell this idea to other teacher's who may prefer the old system and now have to switch over.

Thank you for all your ideas, insights and comments!

[Missile Command Kid]

1) If a teacher gets sick, it'll be easier for another teacher to fill in if they've been using the same textbook all along

2) If kids switch classes, then they'll be able to fit into the curriculum quicker

3) Teachers can share curriculum development responsibilities

[Lizara]

It really depends on your partner teacher, and how the system works at your school. As long as you're both clear about who's teaching/taught what, I think it's beneficial; there are some things I can teach more effectively than my partner, and vice versa, especially with higher-level classes where I have a hard time explaining all the vocabulary, but my Korean co-teacher can help them out a lot more, but I can do the conversation/writing which is beyond any Korean co-teacher I've yet worked with.

[tzechuk]

We do this and I object to it.

The kids get a bit confused. The teachers get annoyed because while we have separated the pages... the Korean teacher inevitably teaches the same thing, claiming *well, some students don't understand you because you don't speak to them in Korean, so I have to explain to them in Korean*.

But the other three points about fitting in the curriculum is true.

[Smee]

For lower-level students it works great. My perspective is the opposite of Tzechuk's message: Because you don't speak English, I have to explain the English lesson in English. This is especially true when you have kids studying grammar like crazy, but who have no listening, reading, speaking, or writing skills. My old coteacher would teach things like modals and present progressive, and the kids became good at "filling in the blanks" type stuff, but they had no idea what they were reading. So for a while I just taught the lesson again in English, and focused more on reading comprehension, answering questions, and building complete sentences. The students get more out of the lesson, and it cuts down on prep time significantly, which is an important issue if you've got a heavy course load.