Korean Job Discussion Forums

[adventureman]

I have several questions for any current or past EPIK participants....
Just curious, aside from all the administrative bullcrap one must put up with on the EPIK program, how difficult is the actual day-to-day TEACHING aspect of the job and treatment by fellow teachers and staff at your school? Surprisingly, this seems like an area were fewer people raise complaints on this board....

How are the students in public schools different from hagwons, aside from larger classes? Less spoiled I'm sure, but I also imagine the whole public school environment in itself creats a whole new set of problems...How do you conduct your classes in a typical fashion? Do you use many handouts? Group discussions? Pairwork? Written work? Games? Free speaking? Homework? How are the students in their courage to communicate freely and not be afraid of making mistakes, as this is one of the most important aspects of learning a new language? How much of emphasis to your schools place on you teaching grammer? What about vocab? How much time do you spend every night planning lessons? Do you repeat the same lessons often? Did you bring your own ESL resource books or did the school you work at provide them for you? Did the school you work at set any sort of guidelines for you in terms of what they wanted you to teach or did they just 'throw you to the wolves' and say "here, you teach English..." (similar to a hagwon environment) from day one? How much to your Korean co-teachers contribute to your lessons and your power over the class in general? What about discipline issues? How often do they arise in your class and how do you handle them?How difficult of a time do you have controlling the class? Do you find the students hold very little respect for you because of your 'foreigner' status? ...By the way, can you recommend any good books that have worked well for you specifically for public school teaching in Korea? Have any of you taught public in the U.S./Canada (I did last year -7th grade -very trying) ? If so, can you make a comparison between Korean and N. American students? How do you think a relatively inexperienced (less than a full year) ESL teacher would fare in a typical public class? I have taught ESL in the past but never in Korea public school, mainly with more boisterous students from Italy and Venezula who were not afriad to speak their minds and sometimes got very rowdy and disrespectful in class (sleeping, name calling, etc.) That coupled with my Jr. High experience makes me feel a little more prepared than some for teaching in EPIK

The EPIK recruitment is being very vague on these issues and am not sure of the best way to prepare for my first Korean public school classroom (I have been accepted to this year's program)....

Thank you

[Mody Ba]

You are worrying 'way.'way too much.Although,I am happy to see you are at least concerned.Some of their'teachers' do not even pretend to care.
The EPIK admin is being vague because a. they really do not know themselves.and(b) conditions can vary widely from POE to POE.
This is why they should have more (or some,even)standardization in the program.I will not get off on that one..not now,anyway

It is really difficult to tell you how you will be treated by your fellow employees(Korean teachers,etc)...because of course they are people and like anywhere else,there are all kinds of people.
Personally(I can only give my personal experience) ,I have never had problems with the teachers,etc.at my school.Most of my problems have arisen with provincial bureaucrats.But then again,not even some of them are too bad.
Again,you are worrying way too much.Nobody can really tell you whatt to expect at your specific POE,because nobody knows.You will have to find out for yourself.But I would not worry too much about that one.Most of the problems are definitely administrative(not all of them,of course) and most of them can be laid directly at KNUE's door,the provincial doors,etc.

Again,do not worry so much.Like any other job,there will be bad days and good days.And you will be very confused at first.Just like everybody else.But after awhile,you get used to the confusion(well, more used to it,anyway). Chill out.

[adventureman]

Yeah I'm probably worrying a tad bit too much. I'm just a little paranoid of walking in the first day at my school and somebody ushering my into a classroom with forty students and saying "here, teach them something for the next two hours..." In fact I already went out a bought a lot of ESL grammar books/activity idea books and have started formulating lesson plans in my mind...

I just really want to do a good job for them and not be caught off-guard....

[Mody Ba]

You are supposed to always have a Korean teacher in the classroom with you.If there are discipline problems,etc. let the Korean teacher take care of it.
Some people some places might try to BS you and get you to teach on your own...do not fall for it.If something happens while you are in there alone,you may very well take the fall.EPIK specifies that a Korean teacher should be in the classroom.If there is not one,walk out until they get you one or one appears.Do not be flexible on this one.

[CanEducator]

Here are a couple tips:
When I was an EPIK, I used communicative games a lot. I used overheads a lot. With the high number of students it's difficult to make a lot of handouts, but you can do this in a class set and re-collect the class set at the end of each class.
Korean students love to sing. Find folk pop songs that have pronunciation sounds or expressions you want to emphasize. Write out the words on an overhead for the students to sing along with.
For one lesson, you can plan several things- some pronunciation or an overhead picture for descriptions to begin with, then a structured communicative activity, then a song for the last 10-15 minutes to finish up.
The Korean co-teachers may try to tell you to focus on grammar- however, go easy on grammar and focus on communication. To collaborate with your Korean co-teachers you can take a grammar point they think is important, and then incorporate it into a drama activity or communicative game.
I developed my own set of materials. There are good bookstores with EFL materials in Seoul, such as Kim and Johnson's. This is over a period of time. Relax and prepare your curriculum over time as well- first you will be settling in to your school and meeting the students and teachers.
Korean students are usually more disciplined in the schools than N.A. schools (yes I am a North American teacher and speak from experience). You probably won't have the discipline problems in Korea that you did in the States.
When you first meet your students you can talk about people in your family, and then do some lesson work with them about their families/family vocabulary. They are curious about you. If they ask overly personal questions, just calmly say that in your culture that's not something usually asked and go on to the next point.
Above all, relax and enjoy the things you find positive in your school and community. Look for the positive. Take things one step at a time.

[Anda]

I write short conversation scripts of two pages. I have students read after me and then pairwork with it. Where I'm currently working pair work doesn't work.

I also write sentence patterns where students can finish off. I give sample endings. Where I currently work I have my students copy the sample endings as they are too lazy to try making their own.

Before I started where I'm currently working I worked at two high schools in Gwang-ju in Chollanamdo. There my students loved pair work and exercisers that required them to think. So if you prepare material that allows for both lazy students plus good students then you are in front no matter where they stick you. But remember that you can be teaching elementary, middle or high school kids so content has to change to suit their age group.

Sample short story.

Computer Playboy. Story by Andrew / Anda.
Jim: Hi Ted! Well are you going to invite me in?
Ted: Sure come on in!
Jim: What have you been doing today Ted?
Ted: Mainly chatting with some of my girlfriends!
Jim: Some! How many have you got?
Ted: About twenty at last count!
Jim: Twenty! A whole twenty girlfriends, you�re a playboy!
Ted: Yeah kind of, well at least on the computer I am!
Jim: You�re not exactly handsome Ted. How come you�ve got so many?
Ted: I lie a lot and I send them photos of my head stuck on bodies of
handsome men. If one tells me that she likes tall men then I stick
my tall bloke�s body and if head on aanther wants a bloke about
five foot high then I stick my head on a short bloke�s body, it�s easy!
Jim: Why are you doing that for?
Ted: For fun of course!
Jim: I suppose it would be kinda fun!
Ted: Yeah it�s great fun having girls tell you that you�re so handsome and
how much they�d like to marry you and all that kind of stuff!
Jim: It just goes to show how much they judge you by your appearance,
ah Ted?
Ted: Yeah but were the same. I�d like to have a beautiful girlfriend but I�ll
probably end up having to settle for Miss Average that is if I can�t
find out a way to become rich. Even beautiful girls will marry you
when you�re ordinary if you�re rich!
Jim: Yeah but it�s not easy to become rich! Tom married a beautiful Filipino
girl last year. Pretty Filipino girls will marry you so they can get out
of poverty in their home country.
Ted: Yeah but they generally leave you after a couple of years after they
get local citizenship.
Jim: Yeah that�s what I hear too but then you can always go and get
another one

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Sample sentence starters:

1
1. After crossing the river:

2. So to be in the:

3. After the Journey we:

4. Next morning I had:

5. The occasional snake:

6. As Koreans are very:

7. We sat down and:

8. Even the young children:

9. We all piled into the:

10. After having dinner we:

11. The work wasn�t very:

12. Something looked similar to:

13. The original car that I had couldn�t:

14. We arrived at our:

15. A yell came from:

16. Four hours passed and we started:

17. The town was very quite plus:

18. Then the owner of the:

19. We walked over to:

20. After I had tried to:

21. It didn�t take me long to:

22. I was out of my room when:

23. The other three girls:

Here are two examples of endings for each begining. I call it Pizza English. I think you should be able to work out why


1. we sat down and had the pizza that we had bought.
we sat down and played cards for an hour.
2. pizza eating contest, you must be a high school student.
live octopus eating contest, you must be really crazy.
3. we went and had dinner at a pizza restaurant.
we went home, and cooked the fish we had caught.
4. the leftover pizza for breakfast.
a terrible hangover from drinking soju.
5. gets sliced up, and used to add taste to mom�s pizzas.
we catch; we use to scare girls at our school.
6. hungry people, we always cook lots of pizza for them.
big drinkers, we always have lots of beer ready for them.
7. rolled the pizza dough for making the pizzas.
and talked about what we would do in the holidays.
8. liked helping to make the pizzas for the party.
liked helping to pick the tomatoes on the farm.
9. car to go to the pizza shop after school.
Tom�s bedroom to listen to his great sound system.
10. gave the leftover pizza to our dog to eat.
watched a horror movie on the TV.
11. easy at the pizza restaurant.
hard to do at the factory.
12. the way that mom cooks pizza.
the way that my sister makes a cake.
13. even get me too the pizza shop without breaking down.
even climb up the road that goes up over the local mountain.
14. house just as the pizza delivery arrived with the pizza.
school just as the police arrived to take the mad teacher to jail.
15. within the pizza shop kitchen when the cook cut his finger off.
our teacher when he saw us painting his car pink.
16. to worry that our pizza order had been forgotten.
to worry that the rain wasn�t going to stop.
17. the pizza shop was closed.
all the street lights were out.
18. pizza shop caught SARS and gave it to all his customers.
lost his best cook last week after he died from SARS.
19. to look at the new pizza shop that had just opened up.
to watch the men fishing off the bridge over the river.
20. cook a pizza and failed I rang up to for a pizza delivery.
learn English for a year I gave up and studied Russian instead.
21. cook the cheese pizza for the party.
cook the dog meat that I�d bought.
22. my brother stole my share of the pizza.
when the thief stole my money.
23. don�t like eating pizza.
didn�t come to the party.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The above is half of what I use for one 50 minute lesson. They get two pages of script and 46 sentence starters.

[Mosley]

Wow, Anda, what grade of kids do you teach? They must be quite gifted if you're using material like that! I agree w/the poster who said to focus on the communicative-that's why they brought us over here, although w/EPIK one never knows. That doesn't mean you can't build a lesson around a grammar point- I certainly have. Find out what they are taking(or have taken) in their regular lessons, and then see if you can create a lesson around that that will give kids a chance to LISTEN and SPEAK. Don't swamp them w/ long dialogues and extensive vocabulary- that's the domain of the Korean teachers. Yes, you can have games, etc. but try to have ones that reinforce the lesson's main teaching point. Keep it simple and use examples(that's where the Korean teacher can help you as a partner). Don't be afraid to REPEAT examples often in the lesson-many of them need the reinforcement. In an ideal world, you'd have plenty of time to plan the lesson w/ your co-teacher. Forget it- this is Korea, so you'll have to take the initiative. And Mody Ba is spot on about having the Korean teacher w/ you-hopefully you can get them to stop translating everything you say!!!
Then there's teacher training. You likely won't hear diddly about this at orientation, despite the fact that this might be your most important duty w/ your employer!!! You will be given no curriculum to follow, materials, guidance, etc.!! It's all up to you baby! Until EPIK gets its act together(I ain't holding my breath) and develops different modules at different levels so teachers can "progress" up the ladder, remember one cardinal virtue: YOU AREN'T GOING TO PLEASE EVERYBODY!! In fact, a few won't ever be pleased. Some love lessons on esoteric grammar, vocab., idioms and so on. Others want games and teaching tips. Others just want to chat or listen to you. Others would just as soon go to a temple & drink soju. Try to mix different kinds of things in the workshops, do your best but at the end of the day if they're bored or POed, let it be on their heads, not yours. One last thing: when you're new they'll ask your frank opinions on different subjects, some quite controversial. My policy is this: if THEY bring up the topic, I'll give my polite but frank opinion. If you don't want to venture an opinion, that's YOUR choice.
One other thing, going back to the students: I teach mostly middle-school girls. The classes are rather large, but I've had almost no discipline problems to speak of. Bit of a contrast from JET, where I did have the odd problem. A lot depends on your co-teacher. If you do have a problem in class, a)don't overreact or get angry b) talk to your co-teacher AFTER class if you think a situation was not handled well.
For those who are completely new to the whole game, and don't have a clue, don't expect help/support from EPIK. Check out links on teaching from the Japanese Exchange and Teaching Programme website.