Is your Korean Co-teacher a Waygook member?

[teacherchris]

I started this new year with a new co-teacher. Young and on a contract. He wants to know where I get all my powerpoints and games. He doesn't seem to use the CD, but wants to do powerpoints and games like me.

My only hesitation was then the kids will be seeing a lot of the same games and activities from the two of us. Unless there's more communication between the two of us, of course.

But I do understand that a lot of the powerpoints and games on here have come from Korean teachers. So I'm torn.

Just wondering...has any other teachers told their coteachers about Waygook?

[ganstar]

I told mine, I have two, and they couldn't have cared. I also told my old co at my old school, she wasnt interested in looking at the site either. I told one of the contract conversational teachers at my old school and she was the only one that joined. Though i dont think she ever used it, as her English was not the best and believe it would be all too much to navigate.

[Koenji]

nope....I will tell them about the site if they ever "tell me" about Indischool/I-scream (so far they like to keep it secret)

[Tayteacher]

I agree with "Koenji"

I will tell them about the site.... only if they tell me about theirs. They all have a Korean site(s) that they use.

[tyl6r]

one of my 4 does... it's her first year teaching. she's fresh out of college and is all into "new-wave" teaching... it didn't bother me until i started a ppt game and the whole class shouted, "Teacher! We did this!"  a good excuse to open fresh channels of communication, at least...

[Jas]

I doubt my CT's know about this site.... I'd rather they don't know about it... haha..

[korr]

I've had one coteacher use it and the others at least know about it. We constantly pass around ppts and resources anyway, so if there's any overlap we notice it pretty quickly. I don't see the problem telling them about it either, since I always change everything I download.

As for the Korean websites, a lot of them are somehow linked to whether or not the coteacher is registered as an official 교사, as my coteacher and I discovered when we spent an hour trying to sign me up for Indischool. I know a couple of Korean English teaching assistants have had the same problem: they're not officially teachers, so the sites won't let them register.

[Janitor]

nope....I will tell them about the site if they ever "tell me" about Indischool/I-scream (so far they like to keep it secret)

It is not that they keep them secret but it is the fact that in order to get registered you have to be a "real" Korean teacher. Not even the conversation teachers can use those sites.

[dancesonhertoes]

My coteacher gave me her idname and password for iscream :)

[minamteacher]

We have already had a topic about this issue. This whole 'they don't tell me about indischool, so I won't tell them about waygook' opinion is selfish. Your job in Korea is to improve the English of your students, so providing co-workers with more materials can help achieve this goal. PLUS, indischool is Korean only so your point is moot.

[cruisemonkey]

PLUS, indischool is Korean only so your point is moot.

Do you think all NETs can't read Korean?

[AC_in_Korea]

I found out my new coteacher uses this site when she played a Mario game with the kids, instead of doing the one from the book.  I am glad she knows about it, but I do run into the problem of the students seeing the same type of games too often.

[pyeager]

But I do understand that a lot of the powerpoints and games on here have come from Korean teachers.

I have bee wondering about the extent of this since people started suggesting not allowing Korean teachers on this site. I've seen a lot of posts by people who are obviously second language speakers who seem to be posting just to get up to five, so it makes me wonder how much they're contributing to the lessons pages as a group. I'm not in favor of banning them just for their nationality, but I wouldn't mind seeing (all) people forced to contribute lessons or pay.

[gookie]

By letting our CTs know about this site, there would only be conflicts with the ppts we use in class as someone mentioned above. Anyways, I don't really see why Korean teachers would use this site as it is mostly catered to those teaching listening and speaking. Korean teachers focus on grammar, writing and reading and i'm sure as they are 'real' teachers, they should have a lot more resources than us NETs. I did let one of my co-teachers know about this site but I think they all know about this as I heard that this site was introduced in a Korean teacher training program.

[Seoulteacher]

I told my co-teachers about waygook. They said a lot of Korean teachers use this site as well. As with other NETs there have been times when I've wanted to use a song or ppt from waygook only to find out that my co-teachers have used it already. Oh well, it forces me to be more creative and think outside the box...

[NicoleC]

Yes one of my co-teachers with better english skills uses this site.  We have clashed with ppts and games on occasion.

[Venus]

I gave both my new co's my username and password and they've been using this site. My co last year gave me her username and password for Indischool. It's been working well for all of us.

[gookie]

I can see how this can be a problem for us NETs. I see this forum as a sanctuary or haven were we can share our ideas, vent our angers, or even do some gossiping. By letting Korean teachers into our 'sanctuary', they are meddling in our affairs and this could be a problem - maybe even being banned from our school's servers. You never know.

I'm not the person that doesn't like to share but I can see how theres an underlining message by the OP that s/he doesn't like outsiders to meddle in his/her affairs.

[minamteacher]

PLUS, indischool is Korean only so your point is moot.

Do you think all NETs can't read Korean?

I meant Korean as a nationality not a language. I should have specified 'Korean teachers'

[gyopo]

We have already had a topic about this issue. This whole 'they don't tell me about indischool, so I won't tell them about waygook' opinion is selfish. Your job in Korea is to improve the English of your students, so providing co-workers with more materials can help achieve this goal. PLUS, indischool is Korean only so your point is moot.

I could go on forever about the selfishness of some native South Koreans.

Providing co-workers with more materials is good in theory, but there should be give and take..."You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours."

If we give too many co-teachers access to Waygook, our jobs may get harder. Just my humble opinion