Author Topic: What's Your Role In Classes This Semester? (Read 5779 times)

FalseFace · « **on:** March 05, 2013, 10:50:47 AM »

--For the last two years, even though my contract has read "Assistant Language Teacher", like all of you, I'm sure, I designed and taught most to all of the lessons. My "co-teachers" usually sat to the side, translating whenever they felt like it, usually against my wishes. At the end of last semester, along with putting all 30 or so kids together (It used to be split in half), I was forced into being more of the "assistant" - I had to speak less than the coteacher. I still helped plan half to most of the lessons though.

I'll be the last native language teacher after this month, due to the budget cuts. Until then, however, the new co-teacher is forcing me into an even smaller role: she doesn't really want me involved in planning or teaching at all; she just wants me to walk around and monitor. Moreover, even though she initiated this idea, she told me to my face that she's uncomfortable with me just standing around and "doesn't want me to look at her". WTF?

As a CELTA-Certified teacher who's taught for four years, I feel pretty insulted, especially when I can already see that her way of going about things isn't going to work well in practice. But I'm just gonna tough it out for this month and build with my kids during the breaks and whatnot.

Anyway, has anything changed for you at your school this semester? How do you feel about it?

cutieturtle07 · « **Reply #1 on:** March 05, 2013, 11:37:26 AM »

Wow. Does your school not trust you with teaching the kids? That seems a little strange. I've always planned every aspect of my classes and my role has not changed this semester.

We got a new English co-teacher and she has yet to introduce herself to me. Apparently, she was talking to my head co behind me for about 20min. Of course I had no idea it was her. Geez, some people.

cutieturtle07 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 05, 2013, 11:44:08 AM »

Speak of the devil, she just came up to me and seems really nice. Guess I shouldn't judge people so fast.

FalseFace · « **Reply #3 on:** March 05, 2013, 12:05:06 PM »

Quote from: cutieturtle07 on March 05, 2013, 11:37:26 AM

Wow. Does your school not trust you with teaching the kids? That seems a little strange. I've always planned every aspect of my classes and my role has not changed this semester.

We got a new English co-teacher and she has yet to introduce herself to me. Apparently, she was talking to my head co behind me for about 20min. Of course I had no idea it was her. Geez, some people.

They don't like or trust me, but that's because I'm the only one who makes decisions and asks the questions about what's good for the students and not myself/the staff. As soon as I started making noise about the teachers not doing what they should be doing - i.e. sitting to the side of the room, reading novels or whatever in class - they started these kind of measures. They've only gotten worse over time.

WestMeetsEast · « **Reply #4 on:** March 05, 2013, 12:09:57 PM »

Quote from: FalseFace on March 05, 2013, 12:05:06 PM

Quote from: cutieturtle07 on March 05, 2013, 11:37:26 AM
Wow. Does your school not trust you with teaching the kids? That seems a little strange. I've always planned every aspect of my classes and my role has not changed this semester.

We got a new English co-teacher and she has yet to introduce herself to me. Apparently, she was talking to my head co behind me for about 20min. Of course I had no idea it was her. Geez, some people.

They don't like or trust me, but that's because I'm the only one who makes decisions and asks the questions about what's good for the students and not myself/the staff. As soon as I started making noise about the teachers not doing what they should be doing - i.e. sitting to the side of the room, reading novels or whatever in class - they started these kind of measures. They've only gotten worse over time.

So essentially although I support what you did they don't like you because you broke the hierarchy.

korea20122012 · « **Reply #5 on:** March 05, 2013, 12:32:51 PM »

I just got a bit worried about my role too. My previous co-teacher always came to class and helped when I needed it ---extra explanation, translation etc.

I had heard the returning co-teacher was not great but she seemed nice yesterday---and then I just asked her if she would like me to explain the game I would be doing in class and she was totally rude and said that she would consider it in class while she was observing. I puched back and said---this game requires 2 teachers --are you helping or not otehrwise I will change my lesson--This is not going to be fun!!!

FalseFace · « **Reply #6 on:** March 05, 2013, 12:33:22 PM »

Quote from: WestMeetsEast on March 05, 2013, 12:09:57 PM

Quote from: FalseFace on March 05, 2013, 12:05:06 PM
Quote from: cutieturtle07 on March 05, 2013, 11:37:26 AM
Wow. Does your school not trust you with teaching the kids? That seems a little strange. I've always planned every aspect of my classes and my role has not changed this semester.

We got a new English co-teacher and she has yet to introduce herself to me. Apparently, she was talking to my head co behind me for about 20min. Of course I had no idea it was her. Geez, some people.

They don't like or trust me, but that's because I'm the only one who makes decisions and asks the questions about what's good for the students and not myself/the staff. As soon as I started making noise about the teachers not doing what they should be doing - i.e. sitting to the side of the room, reading novels or whatever in class - they started these kind of measures. They've only gotten worse over time.

So essentially although I support what you did they don't like you because you broke the hierarchy.

Yeah, you could say I shook things up a bit. Honestly, though, as soon as they started criticizing my lessons from the comfort of their chairs, I pointed the fingers back at them for what they were/weren't doing. It just got worse from there, culminating into what I have here.

It's Korea: the most progressive voice would naturally get hammered down.

FalseFace · « **Reply #7 on:** March 05, 2013, 12:41:55 PM »

Quote from: korea20122012 on March 05, 2013, 12:32:51 PM

I just got a bit worried about my role too. My previous co-teacher always came to class and helped when I needed it ---extra explanation, translation etc.

I had heard the returning co-teacher was not great but she seemed nice yesterday---and then I just asked her if she would like me to explain the game I would be doing in class and she was totally rude and said that she would consider it in class while she was observing. I puched back and said---this game requires 2 teachers --are you helping or not otehrwise I will change my lesson--This is not going to be fun!!!

That sucks. My first class is today and I thought it'd be a run of the mill "Gettin to Know Each Other" kind of thing - something fun. However, my co-teacher is not only opposed to that - and in turn we WON'T do it - but she wants to be super dry about explaining rules, the textbook, class evaluation procedures, etc., leaving only a brief introduction to herself and me.

I wanted to do something interesting to grab the classes immediately - so that they would like us better and get more excited for the class - but she's totally shut me out of the decision-making and teaching process. Here's a quote from the last email:

I want you to stick to this [Power Point] and your position (originally spelled 'posion') in the back. After my introduction.(FalseFace: yes, I know there's a period here) I'll introduce you to my students for a brief self introduction. See you at classroom 1-13! <--- Gotta love her enthusiasm...

cutieturtle07 · « **Reply #8 on:** March 05, 2013, 01:08:38 PM »

Quote from: FalseFace on March 05, 2013, 12:05:06 PM

Quote from: cutieturtle07 on March 05, 2013, 11:37:26 AM
Wow. Does your school not trust you with teaching the kids? That seems a little strange. I've always planned every aspect of my classes and my role has not changed this semester.

We got a new English co-teacher and she has yet to introduce herself to me. Apparently, she was talking to my head co behind me for about 20min. Of course I had no idea it was her. Geez, some people.

They don't like or trust me, but that's because I'm the only one who makes decisions and asks the questions about what's good for the students and not myself/the staff. As soon as I started making noise about the teachers not doing what they should be doing - i.e. sitting to the side of the room, reading novels or whatever in class - they started these kind of measures. They've only gotten worse over time.

Well, how were you asking them? Did you cause embarrassment? Use sarcasm and snide remarks?

Or did you pull them aside, outside of class, and politely tell them that you would really appreciate more of their help in the class. If they said no, well at least you tried. No need to be going back and forth. You could also do lesson plans that call for two teachers.

Sometimes if you talk to them on their level, they get the point. If you start calling out your co teachers and telling them they arn't doing a good job, they won't like you.

FalseFace · « **Reply #9 on:** March 05, 2013, 03:41:57 PM »

Quote from: cutieturtle07 on March 05, 2013, 01:08:38 PM

Quote from: FalseFace on March 05, 2013, 12:05:06 PM
Quote from: cutieturtle07 on March 05, 2013, 11:37:26 AM
Wow. Does your school not trust you with teaching the kids? That seems a little strange. I've always planned every aspect of my classes and my role has not changed this semester.

We got a new English co-teacher and she has yet to introduce herself to me. Apparently, she was talking to my head co behind me for about 20min. Of course I had no idea it was her. Geez, some people.

They don't like or trust me, but that's because I'm the only one who makes decisions and asks the questions about what's good for the students and not myself/the staff. As soon as I started making noise about the teachers not doing what they should be doing - i.e. sitting to the side of the room, reading novels or whatever in class - they started these kind of measures. They've only gotten worse over time.

Well, how were you asking them? Did you cause embarrassment? Use sarcasm and snide remarks?

Or did you pull them aside, outside of class, and politely tell them that you would really appreciate more of their help in the class. If they said no, well at least you tried. No need to be going back and forth. You could also do lesson plans that call for two teachers.

Sometimes if you talk to them on their level

It started out that way, as you said. I actually held a meeting and detailed a 3-point plan of why me being alone in the class was better for the students, co-teachers and staff overall. Everyone agreed. They just said that it was policy for a foreigner not to be alone in a classroom with a native English teacher. I got that, and everyone remained cool at that time.

However, as time when on and they started picking at my lessons needlessly and at times said I was wrong when I wasn't. For example, one of my teachers told me and the class that "No, I've never done that before" was grammatically incorrect because you "can't have two negatives in a sentence" She's still never apologized for her mistake. That kind of friction and more just built up and exploded.

cutieturtle07 · « **Reply #10 on:** March 05, 2013, 04:23:31 PM »

Honestly, I still feel like you could have avoided problems. You calling a full meeting to discuss why you teaching alone is better and that you don't need the help of the Korean teachers could have started the fire. They probably felt offended. It is illegal for foreigners to teach alone in the classes. If something happens to a student, you are liable. I know having them in class in sometimes a pain, but I would rather have a Korean teacher with me just incase a student has a heart attack or gets seriously injured somehow. Besides, if you didn't want them in there in the first place, and they decided to sit down and read a book, what's it to you?

My co-teachers don't comment on my lessons often, but when they do, they always say it's good or well prepared. When I first arrived, I made terrible lessons and they told me what I should fix or do more of. I didn't get upset. I took their advice and got better. More times than not, they are just trying to help you. Even if you feel they are wrong, just listen to their opinion, smile, and simply say you don't agree because xyz. If your head co wants you to change a few things up a bit, why not?

If they were putting you down on purpose because of some reason, then that's different. Though, it sounds like you didn't like them criticizing you and you acted in a defensive way. Now you have conflict.

muffin85 · « **Reply #11 on:** March 05, 2013, 10:53:52 PM »

My role is the same as last year, and that is I do everything. I got a couple of co-teachers who help with explanation and making sure students are keeping up with the lesson. The other co-teachers take role and sit in the back and do nothing. It doesn't bother me because they don't complain about what I do.

FalseFace · « **Reply #12 on:** March 06, 2013, 09:35:53 AM »

Quote from: cutieturtle07 on March 05, 2013, 04:23:31 PM

Honestly, I still feel like you could have avoided problems. You calling a full meeting to discuss why you teaching alone is better and that you don't need the help of the Korean teachers could have started the fire. They probably felt offended. It is illegal for foreigners to teach alone in the classes. If something happens to a student, you are liable. I know having them in class in sometimes a pain, but I would rather have a Korean teacher with me just incase a student has a heart attack or gets seriously injured somehow. Besides, if you didn't want them in there in the first place, and they decided to sit down and read a book, what's it to you?

My co-teachers don't comment on my lessons often, but when they do, they always say it's good or well prepared. When I first arrived, I made terrible lessons and they told me what I should fix or do more of. I didn't get upset. I took their advice and got better. More times than not, they are just trying to help you. Even if you feel they are wrong, just listen to their opinion, smile, and simply say you don't agree because xyz. If your head co wants you to change a few things up a bit, why not?

If they were putting you down on purpose because of some reason, then that's different. Though, it sounds like you didn't like them criticizing you and you acted in a defensive way. Now you have conflict.

The THREE POINT plan was this (1) The students are less willing to listen harder if they think they can just turn and ask the teacher the translate. I've seen students do better when they had no choice, when the teacher had to leave to take a phone call or something. (2) I was giving the co-teachers a break to do other things, like grading and whatnot. (3) I wanted a better way to gauge my own effectiveness and not have to rely on a translator. It did matter to me.

You're telling me all this stuff - legal issues and how to act - but I learned it all last year and the year before - the hard way. If you checked my aforementioned example of a teacher trying to teach the wrong grammar to my class (and ME), you would see that they were wrong. It wasn't about me just not liking them to criticize, because there were a number of things that I did change for them. But because I didn't do some things, they got offended and overemotional and started to actually say things just to hurt.

Anyway, this isn't really the focus of the thread. I just want to know what everyone's roles are.

JL5205 · « **Reply #13 on:** March 06, 2013, 10:14:58 AM »

Dude who cares? You've only got a month. Deal with it and move on after this month. Besides you've supposedly had 4 decent years so why complain about 1 month of awkwardness?

dachiza727 · « **Reply #14 on:** March 06, 2013, 10:26:19 AM »

i run the show in my classroom, i bring the hammer down (brown stick hits table) when the kids are to loud.

i let my coteachers know: if they are ever busy they need not attend our shared class. I think they like that option. It's also kinda nice when they don't come. it's hard to dance around like a monkey when another adult is watching.

FalseFace · « **Reply #15 on:** March 06, 2013, 12:01:30 PM »

Quote from: JL5205 on March 06, 2013, 10:14:58 AM

Dude who cares? You've only got a month. Deal with it and move on after this month. Besides you've supposedly had 4 decent years so why complain about 1 month of awkwardness?

I care because I'm a teacher. If someone does something against me, that's one thing. But to do things that hinder the kids' education, happiness and excitement for learning - I have a problem with that. Sure, it's insulting - not simply awkward - to be cut out from something you've given most of your adult life to. But to have to stand and watch someone fail every day - especially given the lesson repetition for that given week - it's mad frustrating. Ya gotta understand that.

I've had 2 GREAT years, 1 decent and 1 terrible (at this current school), by the way.

skjosh · « **Reply #16 on:** March 06, 2013, 12:51:37 PM »

I stand in the front give an introduction to the day, do a ppt, have kids do an activity, walk around n moderate, have them put desks back, done. The only thing that's changed from this are my powerpoints and activities... lol I only have a month before I leave so it's not a lot of time to do a whole lot. I was going to teach Latin/Greek roots as learning a few roots can help you understand a lot of other words or something, but my cteacher asked me to do fun lessons instead of academic ones. Honestly, I don't mind. The kids are more eager to speak when I'm talking about stuff they're interested in.

But to answer your question, my role is pretty much the same. I do my own lessons and they chill in the back usually working on something else. I just ask them discipline because I don't have the tools to reprimand well. They translate sometimes, it depends on the teacher. I slow down by 80% in class now.

There's a lot of stuff that can change to make the environment better for the kids to learn in but it won't happen. I guess I'm lucky, most of my cteachers are pretty good this year and use English at least 50% in class (from what I've seen).

cutieturtle07 · « **Reply #17 on:** March 06, 2013, 02:12:44 PM »

Quote from: FalseFace on March 06, 2013, 12:01:30 PM

Quote from: JL5205 on March 06, 2013, 10:14:58 AM
Dude who cares? You've only got a month. Deal with it and move on after this month. Besides you've supposedly had 4 decent years so why complain about 1 month of awkwardness?

I care because I'm a teacher. If someone does something against me, that's one thing. But to do things that hinder the kids' education, happiness and excitement for learning - I have a problem with that. Sure, it's insulting - not simply awkward - to be cut out from something you've given most of your adult life to. But to have to stand and watch someone fail every day - especially given the lesson repetition for that given week - it's mad frustrating. Ya gotta understand that.

I've had 2 GREAT years, 1 decent and 1 terrible (at this current school), by the way.

What was so outlandish that they asked you to do regarding your lessons? No more games? Only text book activities? No extra interesting power point lessons?

It's not hard to prove a grammar point. Pull it up online and give them a sample sentence. Done. No need to argue about it or get upset that they were trying to teach you the wrong thing.

I have passion for these kids too, but we can't change everything that works best for the kids. Korea does rote memorization and lecture based lessons. If anyone knows anything about teaching, this is the worst format to choose. To have these kids learn more, we'd have to wipe out all of the teachers and replace them with ones that know effective teaching styles. Not gonna happen. Why fight a battle that's so hard to win. Just go with the flow and try your best.

FalseFace · « **Reply #18 on:** March 06, 2013, 02:40:26 PM »

Quote from: cutieturtle07 on March 06, 2013, 02:12:44 PM

What was so outlandish that they asked you to do regarding your lessons? No more games? Only text book activities? No extra interesting power point lessons?

It's not hard to prove a grammar point. Pull it up online and give them a sample sentence. Done. No need to argue about it or get upset that they were trying to teach you the wrong thing.

I have passion for these kids too, but we can't change everything that works best for the kids. Korea does rote memorization and lecture based lessons. If anyone knows anything about teaching, this is the worst format to choose. To have these kids learn more, we'd have to wipe out all of the teachers and replace them with ones that know effective teaching styles. Not gonna happen. Why fight a battle that's so hard to win. Just go with the flow and try your best.

Thanks for the advice ^^

FalseFace · « **Reply #19 on:** March 06, 2013, 02:46:01 PM »

Quote from: skjosh on March 06, 2013, 12:51:37 PM

I stand in the front give an introduction to the day, do a ppt, have kids do an activity, walk around n moderate, have them put desks back, done. The only thing that's changed from this are my powerpoints and activities... lol I only have a month before I leave so it's not a lot of time to do a whole lot. I was going to teach Latin/Greek roots as learning a few roots can help you understand a lot of other words or something, but my cteacher asked me to do fun lessons instead of academic ones. Honestly, I don't mind. The kids are more eager to speak when I'm talking about stuff they're interested in.

But to answer your question, my role is pretty much the same. I do my own lessons and they chill in the back usually working on something else. I just ask them discipline because I don't have the tools to reprimand well. They translate sometimes, it depends on the teacher. I slow down by 80% in class now.

There's a lot of stuff that can change to make the environment better for the kids to learn in but it won't happen. I guess I'm lucky, most of my cteachers are pretty good this year and use English at least 50% in class (from what I've seen).

What do you mean by slow down 80% in class? You mean you only need translation 20% of the time?

My current co-teacher speaks in English rather quickly to the class with a moderate accent - and uses some unnecessarily hard words...but then she translates what she says right after. I'm really afraid that in a class of 30+ students that kind of teacher talk time is not going to leave much left for the students.

I'm gonna try and respectfully bring this stuff. We'll see what happens...

Author Topic: What's Your Role In Classes This Semester? (Read 5779 times)

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