Korean Job Discussion Forums

[CBP]

I've been encouraged to purchase one of the following books. I can only afford to purchase one and can't decide which would be more useful for a new teacher. They are:

"Learning Teaching," by Jim Scrivener

and

"How to Teach English," by Jeremy Harmer

Two classics -- both would be great, I'm sure -- but for good, practical learning, which would you recommend? (Scrivener's seems to have two formats; I can't tell the difference ... "New Tds Learning Teaching" and "Learning Teaching."

Thanks!

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Teaching English to Koreans by Oak, Martin, et al. is more applicable, but I doubt you'll find it if you're not already here. However, nothing will prepare you better than talking to people who have experience teaching in Korea. Each type of institution (kindergarten, good hogwan, bad hogwan, elementary, middle and high school, uni, tech. college, adult academy, etc.) requires a completely different approach, so it's very hard to know how best to prepare oneself ahead of time. Do you know if you'll be their only English teacher, if you'll teach half-and-half with a Korean, or if you'll just be supplementing the Korean teachers?

I'd save my money for the EFL bookshop in Korea after you've been on the job a few weeks and have a better idea what kind of programme you're actually teaching.

[CBP]

I'll be teaching elementary and middle school students (some high school, I think) in a hogwan. There are no more than ten kids in each class, and I'm the only teacher for each class. One day the kids see me, the next they see one of the Korean teachers. It alternates like that. There are two foreigners teaching and four or so Korean teachers.

[ilovebdt]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[badfish]

dude he asked for a recommendation on choosing a book not a dissertation on the theory of the ins and outs of a hagwon


id take the first one i like the title better

[CBP]

It's dudette, Scales. And I rather enjoy dissertations.

All good points, lots to look forward to (I'm going to eat those words one of these days, so allow me my naivite (and misspelled words)). In my months of hanging out around here, I've gleaned a fair bit of information, and one thing's for sure: those kids will respect me or they're out of my class. One rule I'll have is NO Korean, even for the little ones. If they have something to say, then everyone should be privy to understanding it, especially me.

My experience has been that the toughest of the toughies respond fairly well to me, including a drug addicted kid from Harlem who was always in serious trouble. But I'm trying not to have too many preconceived ideas about kids in Korea. I want to be surprised, pleasantly or otherwise.

Back to the books, I've heard more about "Learning Teaching" than Harmer's book, although both are on the CELTA recommended list. Harmer's is less expensive, so I'll go with that. I'm also going to get Five Minute Activities, which has had good reviews.

Everything else I'll learn on the fly.

Thanks for the input.

[SuperHero]

read them both, second book is more practical.