Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mnhnhyouh]

I work in a hagwon in Mokdong. Last week I asked all the kids I have from elementary schools what their English teachers are like, what the classes are like, and what the English they learn there is like.

It seems to me that they learn little English there, as the lessons are very basic, offering "What is this?" and "What is that?" and "My name is....."

The older students I was asking, grade 4, say that all but one or two of their classmates go to hagwons, and they use the class as a rest. One group of 4 boys are learning ABC in school. They sit in my class conjugating verbs, and putting them into sentences, minimum 6 words long. I am about to move them from that to doing the same, but making questions. One girl, in grade 3, has very good English, and is the best in her class, the rest being in grade 6. She goes to Math, Science, Social, Korean, Piano and English hagwons. Her aunty told her to look at school as socialisation and the hagwons as her learning environment.

I understand that you mostly dont see the kids on a daily basis, as I do, and have class sizes in the 40+ area, whereas I see 6 or less at a time.

So my questions:

How do you guys in the elementary school system deal with kids whose elementary school lessons are something they are well beyond?

Do you get a chance to find out which are going to hagwons?

How restricted are you in shoving some of those hagwon kids into separate groups so they can maybe do their hagwon homework in your English class? This would reduce the amount of afterschool time they need to do the punishing homework load they have. (I typically give about 1 - 1.5 hours worth per day).

Just trying to understand the system I am working in a little better.

h

[shantaram]

Hi,

I teach at an elementary school five days a week and have done for eight months now. I will try to answer your questions from my experience.

Firstly, grade 1 and 2 elementary do not learn English. As a special exception to this rule, I taught these grade English last year, and was working on phonics and teaching them to read when the school pulled me back and told me "Little children like a song and a game". The games were hopeless as I could not communicate instructions to them or the teachers. They could not sit still for long enough to learn a song. Meanwhile the one thing I could use to keep them attentive- teaching them to read and write- was closed off from me. Can you tell I'm bitter about it?

This year I don't take Grade 1 and 2. The kids learn "How are you", "How's the weather", "Can you swim" and "Happy birthday" in Grade 3. They learn the alphabet at this stage but are not encouraged to write until Grade 4. Things gradually become more difficult up to Grade 6, when longer sentences are used and different verb tenses are learned.

Now for the kids who go to a hagwon. Not all of them benefit from it but the ones who do usually answer all my questions. So I let them answer the questions sometimes but not all the time. It is very easy and actually quite lazy to let the intelligent children dominate the class. It doesn't help the twenty five other children who still do not understand.

Separating the children to do other work is not a good idea in my opinion. Hearing these children talk benefits other children in class. Having the opportunity to talk with their peers in English is important for the children who already know the speech. There are plenty of opportunities for me to answer their questions, which develops their knowledge further.

[willneverteachagain]

im not sure they are learning much in hagwons

[The_Conservative]

[VirginIslander]

[ddeubel]

I would have hoped this would have got mentioned very quickly. So I am a bit disappointed.

A teacher teaches all students, not just a "level" and each is a responsibility. I don't think as teachers we just, present material and pray the students are at the right stage to learn from it.........we should also be aware of the large area of English which is outside of "knowledge" and more in the realm of "understanding" and "doing/speaking", internalizing......

Okay, I'm getting too fuzzy. What I really mean is that a teacher should use these higher level kids in class. Give them leadership roles in their groups. Use them as examples and yes, if you've prepared the class properly, have them present/explain material and lessons and lead the class......great inspiration to others and a way to give those kids confidence and help them with their own struggles in expressing themselves in English.

To the OP -- I hope that those kids who are conjugating verbs are doing it in a communicative fashion and not just completing exercises.....this happens in hagwons too and this "worksheetitis" is a big contributor to Korean's problems learning English along with the dreadful memorization and translating viruses....

DD

[mnhnhyouh]

[patongpanda]

I'm an elementary teacher. The curriculum is just so incredibly sloowww!
It aims so ridiculously low. They aren't supposed to read and write until Grade 4! If I introduce any reading or writing in my Grade 3 classes I get told off by my co-teacher "They don't know that yet!".

It's a shame 'cos the materials are really well thought and it's very kid friendly just the bar is set so low.