Hey all,

I'm returning to Korea soon to teach in a public high school.

Is there usually a textbook to teach from?, and if there is, how closely is one expected to follow it?

It seems from a quick perusal of the lesson plans that powerpoint presentations are very popular. Do all teachers do this? Several lesson plans seem merely like someone giving a presentation, with zero eliciting of vocab and zero modelling and drilling in the lesson plan.

Not to criticize, but is this how people teach in Korea? It doesn't seem very student focused.

In regards to the desk warming thing, yes, it is BS but moaning and whining isn't going to help.

Hello!  I was in a similar situation about 2 years ago.  In my high school I wasn't given a textbook to follow.  I remember during my first lesson, I gave the students an assignment to survey their tablemates about their likes and dislikes.  It bombed horribly, Korean high school students tend to be more comfortable with the teacher taking the lead.  Don't just lecture for 50 minutes though.  Give them a worksheet and some sort of written task every class.  They are far more comfortable speaking after they have written something down first.  If you decide to do presentations make their classmates take notes so they focus rather than talk to their friends.  Good luck!  I personally loved my time at my high school, be patient and understanding and you should be fine.   

Quote from: CJ on April 04, 2017, 02:04:43 PM

Hey all,

I'm returning to Korea soon to teach in a public high school.

Is there usually a textbook to teach from?, and if there is, how closely is one expected to follow it?

It seems from a quick perusal of the lesson plans that powerpoint presentations are very popular. Do all teachers do this? Several lesson plans seem merely like someone giving a presentation, with zero eliciting of vocab and zero modelling and drilling in the lesson plan.

Not to criticize, but is this how people teach in Korea? It doesn't seem very student focused.

In regards to the desk warming thing, yes, it is BS but moaning and whining isn't going to help.

Hello!  I was in a similar situation about 2 years ago.  In my high school I wasn't given a textbook to follow.  I remember during my first lesson, I gave the students an assignment to survey their tablemates about their likes and dislikes.  It bombed horribly, Korean high school students tend to be more comfortable with the teacher taking the lead.  Don't just lecture for 50 minutes though.  Give them a worksheet and some sort of written task every class.  They are far more comfortable speaking after they have written something down first.  If you decide to do presentations make their classmates take notes so they focus rather than talk to their friends.  Good luck!  I personally loved my time at my high school, be patient and understanding and you should be fine.   

OK, cheers for that. I guess I'll have to lower my expectations drastically. I've worked with low-level students in the past and you're right; the classes do work better when they have time to write things down and read from the paper; freer-practice might be beyond most of them.
Did you do much pronunciation work? Phonetic table?
Did you get them out of their seats and come to the board?

I wasn't hoping to reinvent the wheel, but I was hoping to bring some new ideas and learning styles and actually try and make a difference rather than dazzle them with a powerpoint presentation and wait for pay day.

Quote from: NG85 on April 05, 2017, 07:48:35 AM

Quote from: CJ on April 04, 2017, 02:04:43 PM

Hey all,

I'm returning to Korea soon to teach in a public high school.

Is there usually a textbook to teach from?, and if there is, how closely is one expected to follow it?

It seems from a quick perusal of the lesson plans that powerpoint presentations are very popular. Do all teachers do this? Several lesson plans seem merely like someone giving a presentation, with zero eliciting of vocab and zero modelling and drilling in the lesson plan.

Not to criticize, but is this how people teach in Korea? It doesn't seem very student focused.

In regards to the desk warming thing, yes, it is BS but moaning and whining isn't going to help.

Hello!  I was in a similar situation about 2 years ago.  In my high school I wasn't given a textbook to follow.  I remember during my first lesson, I gave the students an assignment to survey their tablemates about their likes and dislikes.  It bombed horribly, Korean high school students tend to be more comfortable with the teacher taking the lead.  Don't just lecture for 50 minutes though.  Give them a worksheet and some sort of written task every class.  They are far more comfortable speaking after they have written something down first.  If you decide to do presentations make their classmates take notes so they focus rather than talk to their friends.  Good luck!  I personally loved my time at my high school, be patient and understanding and you should be fine.   

OK, cheers for that. I guess I'll have to lower my expectations drastically. I've worked with low-level students in the past and you're right; the classes do work better when they have time to write things down and read from the paper; freer-practice might be beyond most of them.
Did you do much pronunciation work? Phonetic table?
Did you get them out of their seats and come to the board?

I wasn't hoping to reinvent the wheel, but I was hoping to bring some new ideas and learning styles and actually try and make a difference rather than dazzle them with a powerpoint presentation and wait for pay day.

You sound perfect for high school then!  A lot more freedom means you can try different things.  I usually introduced a topic with a PPT or a brainstorming session with the class.  I personally didn't use bomb games for the high schoolers, I made my class more of a presentation class.  Introduce a topic or sentence and have them write about it.  Afterwards I would do presentations or speaking activities related to what they wrote.  I didn't work on pronunciation, the ones that need the most help will most likely not participate, sadly. 

Giving each table points for participation is a good motivator.  Koreans are very competitive so make sure to display the points.  I had each student make an English notebook that they handed in after every class.  I made a show of grading it, even if the records didn't really matter.  High schoolers care a lot about their grade, so seeing a 8/8 score on the notebook matters.  I was able to get people to write on the board and even play charades.  Using whiteboards was a big hit as well.  I had them make posters as a class project, making their own country was a hit with the 2nd graders, but 1st graders hated my make your own sport project.

I am very new to teaching High School. I just got hired for the 2nd semester. I will teach high level 1st and 2nd graders once a week (except for 4 classes of 2nd graders, that I will see twice a week.) They have the Advanced English Conversation 1 and 2 books. I was told I do not need to teach out of the books and that I can do whatever I want with them. I could get news articles online (I was thinking of getting some from breakingnewsenglish.com), or buy my own resources. My question is, what resources, if any, would you recommend buying? Thanks in advance!