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Cerebroden
Joined: 27 Dec 2006
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 Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:26 pm Post subject: help? |
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Ok so let me start by saying that I'm not really a teacher, but I'm going to act like one for the next year or so. That being said...
I currently work at a hagwon that is about to open (march 5) I am currently the only foreigner but supposedly another is coming on the 20th of Feb.
It looks like I'll be teaching mostly Kindy classes (Yes I've read the threads and thanx tomato you're posts have been a help) but the problem is.....
1.The book ChildU, I mean even I could tell this thing sucks
2. It looks like I won't have any A/V stuff in my classroom except for the CCTV for the parents
3. I have yet to find any crafts material, I.E. stuff to actually prepare material on
4. It looks like I'm going to be making all my own lesson plans. With no real help from the staff
Do I need to bring in all my own material or should I start asking that they provide it? Is a Computer too much to ask? I'd love to do powerpoint presentations but right now I fear I might be pushing it asking for a projector.
Class hasn't started yet so I'm basically getting paid to hand out flyers and "lesson plan" (I'm typing this from work) so I'm still mildly positive but I'd like to know of a few ideas to save myself from grieve. I've heard the there are no bad students/hagwons only bad teachers comments and I'm determined to not be one. But I still wanna try and stay ahead of the curve. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:33 pm Post subject: Re: help? |
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| Cerebroden wrote: |
| 2. It looks like I won't have any A/V stuff in my classroom except for the CCTV for the parents |
That's classic - you know you're at a crap hagwon when there's no A/V stuff in the classroom but CCTV for the parents. |
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Cerebroden
Joined: 27 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:36 pm Post subject: |
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| i mean don't get me wrong the flat screen for the parents is like a 40 inch and the quality of the cameras appears to be top notch!! |
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kat2
Joined: 25 Oct 2005
Location: Busan, South Korea
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| Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:39 pm Post subject: |
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| They should definitly provide you with a computer (or at least a faculty comp for all teachers to share), any materials you need for lesson plans, and at the very least a TV in your classroom (or a classroom you an go to). Its also quite easy to hook a comp to a tV for presentations. ALthough for kindy, I don't think powerpoint would be that great. More hands-on, physical activities are a better bet. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Yeah, basically it comes down to how much you like your school. At my first job I purchased and brought in a whole bunch of stuff. While some of the students deserved it the hagwan certainly didn't and now I'm sorry I did a thing to try to improve the quality of (the generally pitiful) education there. The novelty factor will be prety high the first two weeks. After that you'll have a much better idea what you could use, and could plan a big shopping trip. If you do turn out to like the school, a few hundred dollars on supplies won't seem like a bad investiment if it makes life much smoother, and you might even be able to get some funds from the boss for it. |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
| Yeah, basically it comes down to how much you like your school. At my first job I purchased and brought in a whole bunch of stuff. While some of the students deserved it the hagwan certainly didn't and now I'm sorry I did a thing to try to improve the quality of (the generally pitiful) education there. The novelty factor will be prety high the first two weeks. After that you'll have a much better idea what you could use, and could plan a big shopping trip. If you do turn out to like the school, a few hundred dollars on supplies won't seem like a bad investiment if it makes life much smoother, and you might even be able to get some funds from the boss for it. |
Give the boss a shopping list:
Glue,
Scissors (round tipped for kindy),
colored paper,
color pencils or crayons,
sheets of different colored felt,
modelling clay for making stuff,
save the yogurt drink bottles from the lunches and seriously look at some arts and crafts web sights.
Cardboard tubes from toilet paper, cans of assorted sizes, milk jugs, butter tubs, get the picture.
Working with little kids is a real hands on thing. See, do and say. Watch, listen and do, repeat.
Songs, chants, dances....story time. Skip the powerpoint but a CD/tape player is a great thing to have.
Daily routine. Get into a pattern and away you go. |
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bixlerscott
Joined: 27 Sep 2006
Location: Near Wonju, South Korea
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| Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:56 am Post subject: |
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Yea, overhead projectors and other advanced technologies do not seem to be the norm in kindy. Just old fashioned facilities. As for supplies, Korean staff sure are conservative and stingy on that which frustrates me. I do have scissors, glue, pencils, erasors, but no other stuff like for hands on art projects. It's tough to get a computer printer and photocopier to print as it always seems to be set up to be nonfunctional by the Korean staff intentionally just to make it inconvenient in ensuring that you really want to produce something like a lesson or assignment which is frustrating in producing anything in a time efficient manner as a full schedule is the norm. (we do elementary in the afternoons which do require more preparation such as lined paper for writing and supplements as the books are inadequate frought with errors)
The kids want to go play often, but recess is only allowed one time per class (you shuffle from class to class all day and have about 80 students names to remember) on Fridays even though we have 2 nice big playgrounds and the kids know other nations' kids play more than Korean kids on account of internet so they rebel about it. How counterproductive as they will block you out and fantisize about computer games and R-robot and "Maria" music. I like these things too, but cannot do it all the ubiquitiously. Playgrounds are really not used much here, not like in America so they just daydream while blocking you out.
Since we spend alot more time in school than American kids(some kids go 5 hours a day while others go 12 hours a day), I only wish they had air purification and good ventilation and hot water as kindy school is a cess pool of germs that makes for alot of runny noses, sore throats, and general daily fatigue when in heavy contact as in teaching. I get sick every week so far and then on the weekends, I get better by Sunday. I feel the best on Mondays, but terrible by Thursdays on account of the deluge of germs in the generally unsanitary school environment. Well, it's not a sterile office or store or university. I sure hope my body gets intune with this soon. |
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Fresh Prince
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: The glorious nation of Korea
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| Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:34 am Post subject: |
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| bixlerscott wrote: |
Yea, overhead projectors and other advanced technologies do not seem to be the norm in kindy. Just old fashioned facilities. As for supplies, Korean staff sure are conservative and stingy on that which frustrates me. I do have scissors, glue, pencils, erasors, but no other stuff like for hands on art projects. It's tough to get a computer printer and photocopier to print as it always seems to be set up to be nonfunctional by the Korean staff intentionally just to make it inconvenient in ensuring that you really want to produce something like a lesson or assignment which is frustrating in producing anything in a time efficient manner as a full schedule is the norm. (we do elementary in the afternoons which do require more preparation such as lined paper for writing and supplements as the books are inadequate frought with errors)
The kids want to go play often, but recess is only allowed one time per class (you shuffle from class to class all day and have about 80 students names to remember) on Fridays even though we have 2 nice big playgrounds and the kids know other nations' kids play more than Korean kids on account of internet so they rebel about it. How counterproductive as they will block you out and fantisize about computer games and R-robot and "Maria" music. I like these things too, but cannot do it all the ubiquitiously. Playgrounds are really not used much here, not like in America so they just daydream while blocking you out.
Since we spend alot more time in school than American kids(some kids go 5 hours a day while others go 12 hours a day), I only wish they had air purification and good ventilation and hot water as kindy school is a cess pool of germs that makes for alot of runny noses, sore throats, and general daily fatigue when in heavy contact as in teaching. I get sick every week so far and then on the weekends, I get better by Sunday. I feel the best on Mondays, but terrible by Thursdays on account of the deluge of germs in the generally unsanitary school environment. Well, it's not a sterile office or store or university. I sure hope my body gets intune with this soon. |
Don't worry, you'll get used to it after awhile. As long as your living a healthy lifestyle( eating properly and exercising regularly) you'll adapt and be fine.
For the kids, I suggest that you search net for ideas. "Teaching Kindergarten," would be a good search term but there are many others.
It's a different culture but really is the hygeine all that different from kids back home? Probably not. Kids are kids everywhere. |
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Cerebroden
Joined: 27 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 3:11 pm Post subject: |
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| I gotta give it to my director though, our school is directly beneath a wonderland and it seems like half the kids I give an eval to are sporting one of their backpacks. |
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hari seldon
Joined: 05 Dec 2004
Location: Incheon
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| Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 4:32 pm Post subject: |
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| bixlerscott wrote: |
| ...Since we spend alot more time in school than American kids(some kids go 5 hours a day while others go 12 hours a day), I only wish they had air purification and good ventilation and hot water as kindy school is a cess pool of germs that makes for alot of runny noses, sore throats, and general daily fatigue when in heavy contact as in teaching. I get sick every week so far and then on the weekends, I get better by Sunday. I feel the best on Mondays, but terrible by Thursdays on account of the deluge of germs in the generally unsanitary school environment. Well, it's not a sterile office or store or university. I sure hope my body gets intune with this soon. |
I was as sick as a dog my first winter here. Apparently your body needs to adjust to a whole different set of germs.
I suggest washing your hands frequently. I got into the habit of washing mine between every kindy class and it helped immensely. |
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