Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Mosley]

I've taught high school kids and adults in my ESL teaching ...ahem... ''career" in Japan, S.Korea and China and have virtually never taught little kids. So imagine my joy about a month ago when my school board told me I'd have a week of special lessons w/elementary kids. Great, I thought...I have a W.C. Fields poster on my wall & they want me to teach these *beeps*. For one thing, I figured I'd be exhausted in this weather and annoyed all to ratshyte.

So...the week has come & gone. Exhausted I was but here's the funny thing: I kind of enjoyed teaching the rug rat set. And I never even got a dong chim. With the kids you can tell right away if what you're trying to teach them is getting through & see immediate "results". Whether they could reproduce a target sentence or even word two days later is another thing but....

Bottom line? Without getting mawkish about it I enjoyed teaching the little buggers. Granted, if I did a year contract I might change my tune but there ya go....

Never taught the young 'uns before? Hell, give it a try...at least for a short time. If W. C. reincarnated can do it....

[trubadour]

I must admit that I find myself respecting my elementary school students more than I do my middle school or high school students. Even though they are obstensivley less mature they are actually more honorable and much more open-minded. Yes, you do feel like you are able to make more progress but they are also just more enjoyable to be around, to communicate with.

The older people get the more dumb they become, if you ask me to generalise from experience. Where as a well trained group of elementary stu's can re-awken my joi de la vie, adult students suck the life out of me 'cos they are almost dead already (unless they have some kind of intellectual ability, or some kind of spirit, or a sense of humor, or something..).

[rvintage]

I've taught ESL to all ages, from kindy to adults and I must say that I love kindy like nothing else. I've had good experiences with students of all ages, but for the same amount of work that you put into different age groups, the kindy are the most rewarding I find. Maybe not in the way that they learn a ton of English. But the amount of love and trust and respect you get from kindy is unmatched by any other age group I have found. Love those little ones, soooooo cute!!!