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.

I think you're fully aware that what we do here is not considered teaching - but I'm not going to go on a spiel about that and open up a can of worms that's already been plastered elsewhere on this site.  I only say it because I think you're over-reacting to this.  I seriously doubt you've taught these kids any life-changing lessons that they'll carry with them long after their school days are over.  Sure you might be inspiring but Korea's mentality of school and job placement has no room for you and your western individualistic ideas.   Just roll with the program and get over it.  It's not worth having a brain hemorrhage over.

Also, to whoever said rote memorization is a horrible way to learn a language and that learning anything SHOULD be fun - I would say you're completely wrong.  Dead wrong. How do I know?  Well first of all I speak fluenty Spanish (used to be a medical interpreter) and I have a cool link you can check out:

http://askakorean.blogspot.kr/2010/01/koreans-english-acquisition-and-best.html

Rote memorization, motivation and constant practice ARE the only ways to learn a language properly.  Don't believe me?  Just click the link OR check out Dr. Steven Pinker's book The Language Instinct (also mentioned in that link).

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I think you're fully aware that what we do here is not considered teaching - but I'm not going to go on a spiel about that and open up a can of worms that's already been plastered elsewhere on this site.  I only say it because I think you're over-reacting to this.  I seriously doubt you've taught these kids any life-changing lessons that they'll carry with them long after their school days are over.  Sure you might be inspiring but Korea's mentality of school and job placement has no room for you and your western individualistic ideas.   Just roll with the program and get over it.  It's not worth having a brain hemorrhage over.

Also, to whoever said rote memorization is a horrible way to learn a language and that learning anything SHOULD be fun - I would say you're completely wrong.  Dead wrong. How do I know?  Well first of all I speak fluenty Spanish (used to be a medical interpreter) and I have a cool link you can check out:

http://askakorean.blogspot.kr/2010/01/koreans-english-acquisition-and-best.html

Rote memorization, motivation and constant practice ARE the only ways to learn a language properly.  Don't believe me?  Just click the link OR check out Dr. Steven Pinker's book The Language Instinct (also mentioned in that link).

I think what the original writer meant was that Korea only focuses on the memorization/translation part.  I think what you suggest - all three points together - would make for an excellent learning style.  However, I forget where I read it, but Korea's simple translation style has been outdated for quite some time.  The only other country, at least in the OCED, who still does it is Japan.

To your other points, though, you and the other writer don't know me or what I do in my class, and consequently your assumptions of me are off.  I could explain my situation more, but again, that's not what I want to focus on.  I WILL say that I find it unfortunate that you don't think I, and possibly yourself and the rest of us ESL teachers, haven't taught anything life-changing.  I firmly believe I have, but again, you don't know me.

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.

I think you're fully aware that what we do here is not considered teaching - but I'm not going to go on a spiel about that and open up a can of worms that's already been plastered elsewhere on this site.  I only say it because I think you're over-reacting to this.  I seriously doubt you've taught these kids any life-changing lessons that they'll carry with them long after their school days are over.  Sure you might be inspiring but Korea's mentality of school and job placement has no room for you and your western individualistic ideas.   Just roll with the program and get over it.  It's not worth having a brain hemorrhage over.

Also, to whoever said rote memorization is a horrible way to learn a language and that learning anything SHOULD be fun - I would say you're completely wrong.  Dead wrong. How do I know?  Well first of all I speak fluenty Spanish (used to be a medical interpreter) and I have a cool link you can check out:

http://askakorean.blogspot.kr/2010/01/koreans-english-acquisition-and-best.html

Rote memorization, motivation and constant practice ARE the only ways to learn a language properly.  Don't believe me?  Just click the link OR check out Dr. Steven Pinker's book The Language Instinct (also mentioned in that link).

As someone who studied applied linguistics for a bit, I can tell you right now that rote memorization is not the only way to learn a language. It is difficult to sound native-like that way. It will always be apparent that you are using your L2. You may know all the grammar by the book, but no one actually speaks that way. You will sound unnatural and strange. You will notice that AAK often sounds a bit off.

In fact, the rote method that is used here might reflect great on standardized testing, but on tests with open-ended questions students often do poorly.

Also, it has also been decided by many linguists that the way children learn language and how adults learn language is different. Language theories centered on language being innate have often been contested by the fact that without proper outside stimulus the L1 will never develop in the first place. Look at children that were raised by animals for some interesting takes on this.

Honestly though, everything is just a theory. Nothing it set in stone. It is what works best for you and your students. While rote memorization might be great for some, that doesn't mean that having GET classes is a complete waste of time like you are implying.

My role as such hasn't changed I still take and prepare 100% of all my classes. Co-teachers still either come or they don't, I even make my own teaching schedule and set the speaking tests.

The one thing that has changed this year is the curriculum has been changed....so that I have my own book to teach. The Korean teachers will teach one book and I will teach practical conversational English. IMO this is a much better situation than last year, where the parts I had to teach were horrible to teach and unhelpful to the students.

So my role is the same, just what I have to teach is much better.

My co-teachers have all been very hands-off with my teaching so far, though all I've been doing is introduction lessons. All they gave me was a schedule telling me when to show up and at which classroom, though, so I usually don't know who I'm about to co-teach with until I show up at the classroom. Out of all my co-teachers (and I think I have 10....but I'm not sure), one has expressed interest in going over my lesson plans before I show up to class. Most don't seem to care much as long as I kind-of-sort-of base the lessons off the textbooks, which are terrible, and as long as I keep the kids active and interested.

This could either be awesome or catastrophic for me, and I'm super excited to find out which one it is.

For me, the co-teacher really determines what roll I can play in the classroom. I have three co-teachers this year, two of which I would say are really good and effective teachers.

One is a little strong though and puts me in the Korean roll of her inferior. She has me plan all the lessons and make all the materials and then she okays what she likes and has me change what she doesn't. I think she feels comfortable being in charge and that's where she likes to be. She does do an excellent job of keeping the class in line, though.

My other effective teacher plans the lesson with me and takes it upon herself to make, or help me make, materials for class. She prefers that I teach and she monitors. She is probably one of the hardest working teachers I know and I know she wants me to teach our class entirely because it's a good exposure for the kids. Major kudos to her.

My third teacher is a contract teacher and every year I've taught with her has given me a headache. She says it's not her style to meet and talk about a lesson plan. I don't even know what we're teaching unless I ask her. She doesn't try to understand the majority of what I say and cuts me off in the middle of sentences. And quite often she won't give me time at the end of class to do my activities. She'll give the students a worksheet and have them do it until the end. When I tell her she skipped my part of the class, she'll give me five or ten minutes the next class to do a fifteen or twenty minute activity, so I still can't do it even then. If I try to tell her I need more time she just laughs and ignores me. I can't win and I hate watching the kids get a crappy English class. It makes them not like English and if I do get time with the kids, they're pretty bad for me and she does nothing to discipline them.

So, it's definitely ups and downs!

I have 3 new coteachers out of 4 this year and I teach college as well as high school, both co-ed.

I think my school likes me because the previous native teacher's have caused problems (one got married to a college student  , one was just very shy/reserved and possibly depressed by the sounds of it, the other was a layer/law student that complained about technicalities in her contract). I say hello to all the teacher's in Korean, am always smiling and sometimes gift most of the office with home-baked cookies from my grandma.  Also, I work at a vocational school, so English isn't exactly that pinnacle of the school's focus.

Two of my new coteachers are females, one is my age and one is slightly older. They both asked me what I wanted from them, and I told them that I basically run the class and they can come to monitor/interpret when needed, if they wanted. They're absolutely fine with this and the kids love me, so its all good. There has been a lot of suggestions from them in these first two weeks, but they're always constructive and I actually solicit their opinions from them. They've really helped me improve my own style. One is actively involved in the class and the other mainly sits there; fine by me.

The other two are a male and a female, both 15-20 years older than I. The female frequently talks about how she hates her job (because the students don't care about English). She doesn't really care what I do and she comes to class, does her own thing and helps if I ask for it. We do yoga together and she's training hard to be a yoga instructor so she can quit her job as an English teacher lol.
The male is also very friendly, but I've had to adapt a bit to him. Like with all my other coteachers (he's in charge of college) I make all the lessons myself and am given complete freedom. But sometimes he'll take, say, a worksheet I designed (stole) to be done in class and instead give it as homework, which leads to me having to fill more time  . This is frustrating, but in the grand scheme of things.. meh.

As a previous post mentioned, I don't really consider myself a teacher per say, but I do think I have an impact on the kids. But in my mind, knowing the life of a Korean student, I make it my job to simply try and brighten up their day (through English) instead of actually focusing on any hardcore lessons. Maybe I'll be remembered in the future as that handsome English teacher that was always smiling and laughing for some strange reason.   

this is what i'm doing this year:

1st high school: Teach whatever i want, do all lesson plans etc. myself. co-teacher is a brand new teacher who doesn't seem to have a clue what she's doing and knows nothing about classroom management/discipline. she is nice though, so that's a bonus.

2nd high school (my main school): co-teacher doesn't come to class at all, which i actually like as i don't feel like i have someone watching over my shoulder all the time. because she doesn't come to class she is very amenable to giving me time off when i need to go to the bank or something like that, that can only be done during working hours. extremely nice person. again, do all lesson planning etc. myself. the kids at this school are very well-behaved so no problems with discipline.

Middle school: again, i plan all the materials etc. myself. co-teacher is a middle-aged man who is hardly proficient in english at all. all he really does is a bit of translating. but he is extremely good at class discipline. he has the students sitting quietly, tells them to stand to attention, and thank me after class. although he has made me jump a few times when he has banged his big stick down on the tables.

1st elementary school: run through the textbook with my co-teacher who leads the class and i assist. then the last 10-15 mins we do some activity and game that i have come up with for that lesson (i.e., some game that i have downloaded from waygook  )

2nd elementary school: teach whatever i want. no co-teachers at all, only homeroom teachers who do a bit of translating. except for the grade 5 homeroom teacher who just pisses off as soon as i walk in the room.