Korean Job Discussion Forums

[therooster]

Just spoke to the school i'm set to teach in next month and was offered the following "warning" ...

"The students here are generally a lower level in english than most other high schools ."

When I asked about materials, I was told " You have textbooks and will have to help develop the materials" .

This set of serious warning bells to me , but the school does offer a decent salary , is a public high school and those all meet my criteria. It has been honest enough to provide me with this information over the phone and I'll be working with a fellow South African .

The "cons" are obvious enough . Pro's might be that expectation might be very low and lead to a generally stress free working environment , full of songs and general "piss take". On the other hand I think I'm a very good teacher and would hate to waste my "talent" and enthusiasm on a hopeless bunch of cretins .

Anyone have some advice to offer ?


Hold out for another job ? I have 2 years experience in thaland ,a B.A and token tefl certificate , but that about sums up my "qualifications" . Take it as a challenge ? Run ? Run like the wind ?

[therooster]

Also take into consideration they already have my documents and want to go ahead and sort the visa . A decent single furnished apartment . Pay 25 000 overtime (is this crap?) and are paying for my ticket upfront .

Basically , how "picky" does a person have the luxury of being ?

[cbclark4]

You'll do fine. take your ideas into class.
I've been doing pronumciation drills for three months.
I just started my first conversation project.
Developing a chain story, this will probaly go one into two months.
Every class gets the same lesson regardless they take it to their level.

Good luck, use vocab from the books, drill pronunciation.
Focus on p-f, b-v, l-r, th-s, j-ch-sh sounds.
Use the fly swatter game, see DDeubel's posts.

When they are ready for challenge introduce chain story drills.

cbc

[Rapacious Mr. Batstove]

I didn't hear any warning bells when reading the details of your post.

I work in a middle school where I was 'warned' that the level of the student's English was below average. It's really no big deal. You are there to teach English to kids, so go ahead and teach. Because they are lower, you might have to be a bit more creative with your lesson material and firmer on classroom management but take the challenge.

As for the textbook, they will most likely have a run of the mill high school English textbook where you are probably expected to teach the dialogue section; there a lots of ways to make this interesting for the kids.

These jobs can be the most rewarding as you will see immediate improvement in the students. 'Hi' will become 'Hello' and will soon be 'Good Morning'. This job sounds sweet IMHO, take it.

[therooster]

Firstly , thanks for your feedback .

I suppose It just brought up connotations of a bunch of hopeless misfits , rubbing their hands in glee waiting to give me hell. I don't demand they be excellent , I just want them to be somewhat enthusiastic in general .

The fact that they are "lower than other high schools" , says to me that they don't value english or are motivated to speak it .Either that or this is a below par school with a bad attitude and budget . I don't pretend to understand how things work in Korea , but these are some assumptions I don't think are entirely unfair .

With that said , the job sounds fine . I just can't grind through a year if I'm getting nothing from the students . With my "qualifications" is it reasnonable to hold out for something "better" ? Will these students be as terrible as my imagination is telling me ?

I also have experience in Educational Drama and theatre , which I think lends itself to a higher level .

[Rapacious Mr. Batstove]

[passport220]

[therooster]

Brilliant to hear such a positive perspective . That really makes me relax somewhat .

I've just emailed them and at their suggestion I'll be speaking to the other native teacher tomorrow . This also puts me more at ease .

In my own mind I thought it a huge bonus they offered me these warnings as it displayed perhaps a level of honesty I've been told can be missing in Korea .

One more question...the school is in yongin and called Yongin high school ....anyone familiar with the area ? Any good ?