Correcting Co-Teachers

[constantinople]

Does anyone else feel that correcting their co-teachers seems rude, particularly in front of students? Sometimes my co-teacher pronounces words incorrectly, or spells something incorrectly. I make mistakes, as well, and she doesn't have a problem correcting them, and I don't either. Whenever she pronounces something wrong, I tend to repeat it correctly, without necessarily pointing out her mistake. But in terms of writing something on the board, it just doesn't feel right to erase something and correct it. How do I approach this?

[elzoog]

The most ingenious way I handled that was to sort of take over the class and say "The coteacher is testing you so I will test you too."  then write "twosday" on the board.  "Does anyone see what I did wrong here?"

This accomplishes the following:
1) Makes your coteacher still seem smart to the students even though he/she made a mistake.
2) Gets the students to think independently.
3) Doesn't make the coteacher feel bad.

[sheila]

I use the same technique as elzoog does when writing sentences on the board because I find that some of my students are unable to correct their own English writing and it also shows them different options of how to write a particular sentence.

However, when working with one of my co-teachers, he zones out a lot when I'm explaining something important or instructions.  When I ask him to explain, he has no idea what I'm talking about. So I have to restate what I had just said. Sometimes when he is translating what I'm saying, it doesn't really relate to what I've said at all and I call him out on it right away.  I understand enough Korean to know when he's BS'ing his way through an explanation. My students know it too. The others who don't shouldn't have the wrong information just because their teacher doesn't focus.  My other co-teachers are great and do their job professionally.  If they are unsure, I know by the next class that they will look something up. 

I also am not afraid to call him out for being late to class in front of the students.  It's rude to do, yes but the other teachers and students know it is a super common occurrence. I've locked him out of my classroom many times before for being over five minutes late. He's embarrassed and I don't care. It's his job to be there on time. 

I think it depends on the level of professionalism and respect that the other teacher gives to you to determine whether or not to correct them.  With my other co-teachers, I'm 100% polite about correcting them if I even need to.  They do the same.  I would always correct a co-teacher but with caution.  However, if they can't do their job appropriately when it is within their abilities, of course I am going to call them out.

(Sounds a bit b!ㅌ치 but I'm crabby even more now because he didn't even show up for the last class, and with no notice.  On a good note, the class when extraordinarily well without him.)

[JulieS]

My coteacher tells me she really appreciates when I correct her. I always do it in a polite way....such as: "Another way to say that is ________"

[mamaujeni]

I'm in a same set-up as Julie.  My co-teachers are very gracious and actually seem genuinely pleased to be corrected.

I also frame it by reminding them to correct my rubbish Korean :)

[teacher_del]

I respectfully correct my coteachers after class.  Very often, they will then go out of their way to explain and correct the error (if it was significant) in their next class with those students, when I am not there.  Of course, my coteachers are all professionals.  With all these experienced English teachers assigned to teaching English this year, I feel redundant a lot of the time! 

[makeshiftb0y]

Why don't you ask her, politely and after class, how she would like you to approach the subject? Ask her if she'd feel embarrassed or insulted if you corrected her in class.

[elzoog]

I use the same technique as elzoog does when writing sentences on the board because I find that some of my students are unable to correct their own English writing and it also shows them different options of how to write a particular sentence.

However, when working with one of my co-teachers, he zones out a lot when I'm explaining something important or instructions.  When I ask him to explain, he has no idea what I'm talking about. So I have to restate what I had just said. Sometimes when he is translating what I'm saying, it doesn't really relate to what I've said at all and I call him out on it right away.  I understand enough Korean to know when he's BS'ing his way through an explanation. My students know it too. The others who don't shouldn't have the wrong information just because their teacher doesn't focus.  My other co-teachers are great and do their job professionally.  If they are unsure, I know by the next class that they will look something up. 

I am very upfront and tell them that in real life, if a foreigner comes into your store and you don't listen to him, the foreigner will simply leave and go elsewhere.

In fact if you stay long enough in Korea you will see this.   Foreigners who are good teachers will get frustrated enough with the way Koreans ignore them that they simply go elsewhere.

[notinKS]

Sheila, your spelling of a certain word absolutely made my day. Thanks for the chuckle!!

[greg052]

I wouldn't do it in front of the students, just quietly pull them aside after class and let them know.

[Damien]

I asked my Co-teachers outside of class what they wanted done. One of them asked for me to correct her, two said correct them privately, and the other one gave me a nasty look. I even mentioned I make mistakes and to correct me. It depends on their attitude(s). My favorite teacher has no trouble correcting me infront (in front - I made this mistake two weeks ago and she told me) of the students and I do the same for her. Some teachers are the Korean devil though. I refer to one of mine as "Robot," because she is so set in her cranky ways. She is "never" wrong, but she is hardly ever actually right lol.

[youna]

Sometimes they don't know what their mistakes are.
I think you should tell them after class.
They would thank for it. :)

[zissou55]

When I first started teaching I wondered about what to do in these situations, but then a few of my co-teachers wouldjust stop class for a moment and ask me if what they're saying is correct. So I helped explain some phrases or rules to them and since then I haven't really been shy about it. I'm always polite about it but they're never annoyed or ashamed, thankfully.

[littlebopeep]

I have decided that I will not go out of my way just to make the co-teacher feel comfortable. We have different styles.  Dare I say she goes out of her way to see if she can make me feel uncomfortable.
To be honest honest, I hate co-teaching. I feel like my role as an English teacher is reduced to a showgirl. I just do what I want during the class now. Unhappy foreigners make you sad? Well, suck it up.

[littlebopeep]

I feel bad for the kids though!!

[gini1825]

you had better talk about it to her  first very politly  after class.
please not to get rude(Sometimes Korean  take  it so personally !! the relationship between co -teacher here is very important~~
Good luck !!

[ironopolis]

However, when working with one of my co-teachers, he zones out a lot when I'm explaining something important or instructions.  When I ask him to explain, he has no idea what I'm talking about.

Not questioning at all how you deal with this guy because (a) first & foremost, I'm not there to be able to make such a judgment; and (b) he does sound pretty unprofessional generally from what you say.

But are you sure him having no idea is due per se to him zoning out and not paying sufficient attention? Or could it be that the problem is that he just doesn't have particularly good comprehension ability in English, irrespective of whether he listens properly or not?

Maybe he has shown signs that he's pretty damn good at English and could understand if he made a better effort. But I'm wondering because what you describe sounds a little bit like a couple of teachers I've come across who frequently would quite clearly have not understood what I'd said in similar situations. In both cases, they wouldn't admit it - due to pride/embarrassment/whatever - but the real reason was simply that their English ability was way below what it was thought to be, or what they wanted people to think it was.

[globetrotter]

I have decided that I will not go out of my way just to make the co-teacher feel comfortable. We have different styles.  Dare I say she goes out of her way to see if she can make me feel uncomfortable.
To be honest honest, I hate co-teaching. I feel like my role as an English teacher is reduced to a showgirl. I just do what I want during the class now. Unhappy foreigners make you sad? Well, suck it up.

haha I agree with you.  Over time, my patience to deal with incompetent coteachers seems to get shorter.  I teach at a center and sometimes the CTs seem upset at the structure of the center and how the waygooks are the lead.  The thing is they should have done the research before choosing to leave their PS to go the centers.  The coteaching/foreigner system has been around for almost 2 decades so some of them need to get over the disparities between KETs and NETs.

One of them (usually the young type A female CT) had a bad habit of trying to correct my teaching in front of the kids.  I had a talk with her to let her know that western and Korean style of teaching have some differences.  Also I mentioned that any corrections should be made in private.  If she continues to do it I may start correcting her broken English in front of all the students so she can see how it feels to be on the other end of an ego trip.

Anyway she's gotten better over time but I can still tell she misses being the center of attention in the classroom . . . not my problem.

[sweet_potato]

I haven't had coteachers blatantly spell anything wrong, just make errors because they're rushing. For example, my coteacher wrote "easer" on the board today, instead of "eraser". She definitely knows how to spell this word, it just was a quick mistake. I stay near the board when she's writing, so I can just whisper it to her so that the kids don't see.

This same coteacher told me that she likes talking to me in English because I don't correct her all the time (like her last native teacher did). I feel like there is no need to correct people speaking when you can understand what they're saying (unless they want you to!) Sometimes they just want to talk to you, and not practice their English.