Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jajdude]

My boss or his wife often come in during class. They speak English well and are just trying to help keep the kids in order or explain things to beginners. It's a very small school so they are always near. I don't mind it most of the time. It does help the students and me. Still, I have a little uneasiness about it sometimes. I guess I don't like feeling observed or judged, though I realize it can be helpful. At least the students do behave better around them. I suppose kids associate more playing with the foreign teacher and more serious classes with a Korean. Anyway, no big complaint, just remarking on a situation that is unfamiliar to me. At least the boss and wife care about the kids learning some English (and keeping parent complaints and students quitting to a minimum).

[oneofthesarahs]

My boss rarely comes into the classroom, although occasionally she'll scream at them to be good for me before class starts, despite the fact that I really don't have any discipline problems whether she yells at them or not.

But I do have one kindy class that gets a little loud and unruly sometimes. Sometimes she'll come in during class and scream at them, but never when they are truly misbehaving. If they are running around, climbing under desks, whatever, she won't come in. But it seems like the second they are getting loud while playing a game or shouting out suggestions (controlled loudness), that's when she comes in. It's frustrating sometimes.

[newintown]

be grateful you don't have cameras tracking your every move, including the corridors. BB is watching you!

[yingwenlaoshi]

[richardlang]

My principal opened up the curtains on the windows, so he can see if my co-teachers are actually showing up. I like my co-teachers. They hang out and help with translation.

[wylies99]

OP- yes, and it's a pain in the butt, too. No matter what we're doing, they want everyone to sing a song. Shows you how much they know about teaching English.

[b_canadian_eh]

My boss likes to come into classes, just to check up or help a teacher with discipline or to join in a song. But she does not come into my class. She knows I would not put up with her crap so the most she does is look in the window. Seriously though, there's one K teacher who's class she's in almost every day for some reason. So disruptive.

[mnhnhyouh]

Never into my class, though he will knock on the door to say something to me. This has happened about once a month or so.

We do have cameras, I just ignore them and carry on in the same way I would without them there.

h

[faster]

Never.

[philogirl81]

My boss comes into my class at least once or twice a week. Last week, she decided to come into my third year kindy class and started to loudly talk about the "slow girl who just leveled up. You know the one I'm talking about. The SLOW one" Unfortunatly, they are third year kindys' and know how to listen to English, and they figured out who the slow kid was. They waited until break to start pulling her hair and calling her "babo".
Note: my boss is retarded.

[bixlerscott]

[poet13]

My principal or vice-principal sits in on my classes sometimes. They come in, sit in the back or an empty desk at the front, follow along with the lesson, including doing repetitions with the students. They don't interfere, or offer advice or suggestions. They don't make a scene about coming into the classroom. I have had kids go the whole lesson and not realize the principal was in the back of the room.

I had a student try and sneak in about five minutes after class started one day. I told him to stand at the front of the room with his hands up. He was behind me as I lectured. Then the vice-principal came in maybe two minutes later. I didn't hear him sit down. The class got REAL quiet. Then the giggles started. I turned around. The vice-principal had his hands up too.

[yingwenlaoshi]

[poet13]

Nah, he's a good guy. Duck walk with water buckets would be better.

[Sophocles]

At my first job, my foreign head teacher would watch a class about once a month and we would always know at least a week beforehand and we would get all kinds of feedback afterwards. Very constructive.

At this job, the bosses wander in unannounced, watch for 10 or 20 minutes and leaves without a word before or after the observation. It's disruptive and annoying to me. However, the kids are usually better behaved when they're in there, if they were even bad to start with - which is rare these days.