My Life! Teaching in a Korean University

Newbie looking for a public school job in Korea?

2012-01-24T15:20:00.000-08:00

Think again...a lot of districts are cutting Native English Speaker positions, especially at the high school level so even experienced teachers will be scrambling around trying to find ~~anything~~ something.

Read here for the report from Gusts of Popular Feeling. And as he points out: One such district to be cutting these positions is Gangwon-Do. And yes, the Pyeongchon Olympics are scheduled to be held there is 2018. Hmmm. This is most definitely one case in Korea where conversational English would be much more beneficial than teaching to the test.

Make a list of games/activities

2012-01-22T17:28:00.000-08:00

One of the best things I've done to help myself in lesson planning is to make a list of games/activities that I've used in class. I actually started doing this my first year teaching at a hagwon and I've been adding onto it every year since. Usually, I can look at a topic in the book and come up with a few activities or games that will work with the material. But, if I'm at a loss, I just open up the document (in Google Docs) and quickly scan down the list to see what will work. Often, I find something perfect that has been long forgotten.

If you don't already make a list like this, I suggest starting! It's perfect for things like camps where you see the same group for an outrageous amount of time (like 40 hours over 2 weeks!) and don't want to repeat things.

Rewarding your Top Students

2012-01-18T16:01:00.000-08:00

I try to do this every semester, but sometimes I forget and then I kick myself later!

Anyway, you can reward your top students for a long semester of hard work by excusing them from the final exam and giving them an "A+" (which they would have gotten on the final exam anyway). I usually choose 1 or 2 students for the classes under 20 and maybe 2 or 3 in the classes bigger than 20.

I base it on the following criteria:

1. Grades (must be the highest in the class).
2. Attendance (must be perfect).
3. Homework (must have done all of it).
4. Attitude (must be cooperative and enthusiastic in class).

I don't tell my classes of this possibility during the semester, they only find out on the last day of class when I tell the one or two students. I do this as a way to reward the students who are just good students without any obvious motivation. And it's also easier on me, as I have about 15 less students (9 classes x 1 or 2) that I need to administer tests to and these students would get an A+ anyway. Works for me, works for them!

Is teaching ESL Abroad for you?

2012-01-16T15:49:00.000-08:00

I get so many people visiting this site that are considering moving overseas to teach English. They often have a lot of questions and concerns and want my opinion as to whether it is a good idea or not. Since I don't know them, it's almost impossible for me to give them a good answer. However, I've made a site with a few questions that people can ask themselves when they're making the big decision to teach ESL Abroad. I hope it's helpful!

Is Teaching ESL Abroad Right for You?

2012-01-15T00:32:00.000-08:00

A while back, I posted an entry called, "Ten Tips for Newbies to the Korean University Teaching Experience."

#2 on that list was:

"University is a party-time for Korean students, between Sooneung Hell and selling their souls to Samsung or Hyundai or Kia. Adjust your classes accordingly. If you make them too hard with too much homework, the students will be unhappy. Give a little bit or homework and a few tests so you can have some self-respect but don't stress too much about making it like a university class is "back home."

And this was a reader comment:

"#2 is insightful, but why do you feel you have to worry about making your students happy? I agree, it might make you a more popular teacher, but is it the best way to teach?"

And my response:

No, of course it's not the best way to teach! That much is obvious. And actually, it kinds of wears on my soul, in a disturbing, maybe I need to leave Korea kind of way. But the reality at my uni (but not all unis in Korea) is that student evaluations are huge. Like the top three foreign teachers get special recognition each semester and the one or two that come out on the bottom seem to get fired. And those in the middle stress out if they're below average, worrying that they'll be on the bottom in the near future. At my uni, it seems to be almost exclusively what contract renewals are based on. When this is the reality, keeping students happy is the first priority, and actual education kind of falls by the wayside at times. Anyone who is on a yearly contract and works as a uni where student evaluations are closely scrutinized would just be naive to think they don't have to worry about keeping students happy.

It's camp time!

2012-01-11T02:30:00.000-08:00

My uni has a 2-week kids camp every summer and winter, and I've managed to avoid it for the past couple years, but this year: it was time. I have a homeroom class for 4.5 hours/day and a special Content-Based Learning Class for 1.5 hours/day, which is with different groups each day.

For that special session, I chose "Arts + Crafts" and have been making paper masks, complete with sparkles, glitter and straws and anything else fun that I could find in the teacher's room. I highly recommend it, as it is quite easy to organize, requires minimal "teacher-talk-time," and it keeps the kids entertained for at least an hour.

For the homeroom morning session (3 hours), there are no books, materials or anything else prepared by the camp, but it's entirely up to me. I do some study time, with a variety of speaking/listening/reading/writing activities. I try to do one worksheet or puzzle and then a game of some sort. I try to alternate the games between whole class ones and ones that they can play with a partner or small group. I chose a few themes such as animals, numbers from 0-1000, body parts, and months/days of the week/seasons And then I have about 30 minutes of "free-time" before lunch. I have a variety of card and board games that they can choose from.

In the 1.5 hour afternoon session, I read an Internet story with them (I like www.bedtime-story.com), which takes about 20 minutes or so. I go around the class and have them each read a couple of lines until the story is finished. Then, we have a bit of practice time for the final performance. And to finish it off, about 30 minutes of movie time.

The best tip I can give for a camp like this is to have a "stack." I had my TA do a massive amount of photocopying for me on the second day of camp and now in the morning, I just pick a few things that I want to do that day. It makes life much easier, instead of scrambling around trying to figure stuff out 20 minutes before class and having a line-up at the photocopier.

Little things that actually matter

2012-01-06T15:49:00.000-08:00

Back in 2004, over the course of 4 months, in what seems like an entirely different lifetime, I hiked (most of!) the Appalachian Trail (or trial as perhaps it should be known as). There are 2 ways to do it:

1. The ultra-light way. These people are extremely focused on reducing the amount of weight in their packs in order to reduce the wear and tear on their bodies and are able to go faster and further, with less effort. They are known to cut off tags, modify packs or even sew their own, spend huge amounts of money on the lightest sleeping bag, sleep under a mini-tarp and other things like that. Often, they get mistaken for day-hikers, even though they are carrying everything they need for 4 or 5 days on the trail.

2. The everything but the kitchen sink style. This needs no explanation.

I fell into camp one. And I never regretted it for a second. My mantra was: "ounces = pounds." It means that while you may think that an extra t-shirt at 7 ounces, a few caribiners at 3 ounces, rain paints at 12 ounces, or a bear bell as 2 ounces, a novel at 9 ounces and a pot at 8 ounces doesn't really matter. And actually, it doesn't really if you choose only one of these things. The problem is when you choose them all, you have almost 4 pounds of extra weight.

I think that teaching is kind of the same thing. Little things add up. You can do the little things right and have the end result of happy students, progress made, smiling faces all around, and ultimately good evaluations at the end. Or you can do all the little things wrong and have a pretty bad semester with non-participating students, frowning faces, and bad evaluations.

Here is my list of a few of the little things that you can do right:

1. Be in class before the students. Nothing looks less professional than someone who rushes around after the students are there, struggling to get the powerpoint up and all their papers out. Contrast this to someone who is prepared by the time most of the students are there and is able to personally greet each one as they walk in the door, in a relaxed kind of way.

2. Where are you going? People like to know what's happening. Write up a little schedule for the day on one side of the board, and leave it there for the entire class. Check off stuff as you do it, so everyone knows where they're at. This can help you stay organized as well and not forget stuff. Of course this assumes that you have a lesson plan (some uni teachers I know do not).

3. Avoid dead-time. This requires some organization. I will never, ever write more than a few words on the board while the students are waiting. I come early and try to write most of the text I'm using for that class before they get there. This means I usually do the grammar/vocab lesson first or second in my lesson plan. Or, if I do it in the middle, I'll get the students working on something and then do my writing on the board. Dead-time can be hard to recover from, because your students lose their focus.

4. Don't hide behind the powerpoint. Teaching is about relationship. It's not about flashy powerpoints. Students just want to make a connection with you and with each other and have a place where they feel safe and welcomed.

5. Names are important. If you can't memorize all the student's names, get them to use name-tags on their desks. It's better than saying, "Hey...you...what is the answer."

6. Eye contact. Try to scan the entire class within a 20 second period of talking. Every single student. So you'll make eye contact with each student 3 times in one minute. Most teachers have a dead-spot that they just don't look at for some reason. For me, it's usually the first and second rows on the right. I fight against this every class.

7. Never put students on the spot. This is a big no-no in Korea. No ones like to feel shame because they didn't know the answer. To avoid this, I'll always give the students some pre-practice before I elicit an answer, either by doing some writing in their books, or speaking with their partner or in a small group.

8. Smile. This is important. I actually get a surprising amount of comments from the students on my evaluations about how they like my big smile.

Another blogger's take on Getting that Uni Job in Korea

2012-01-06T15:14:00.000-08:00

This article from Ted's Tefl Newbie. And actually, you should check out the rest of his site too, it's generally pretty good stuff. However, there are a few points from his article that I don't really entirely agree with.

He says to find a good list of schools (but doesn't link to one!) and then just apply to them all. This can be extremely tedious, expensive and time-consuming, especially if done from outside of Korea. And it's not particularly effective, if my own experience is any indication. A much better bet would be to cruise the Korean Job Boards on ESL Cafe during prime-time hiring season (Nov/Dec +May/June) and apply to any and all uni ads that you see (usually 3-5/day during that period).

He does make the point that it's very difficult to get a uni job without a face-face meeting, or an introduction of some sort. I agree entirely. Probably 95% of people get their uni jobs in Korea through in-person interviews. The other 5% are just lucky. And a lot (maybe 50%?!) get their job through a friend, or friend of a friend. I guess it's kind of like anywhere in the world: networks and connections really do matter.

Reader Question...Uni Job without a Masters

2012-01-02T13:19:00.000-08:00

These ones from Dain:

"I've been teaching in Korea for 2 years at hagwons but now I'm looking to get a university job for March. I know that its difficult to get one, especially since I don't have a masters degree and I don't have any friends who work at a university. I am currently working on an online TEFL certificate and I do have an F4 visa. I was wondering if there is anything else I could do to make me a more competitive candidate for a university job? I also was wondering what is the best job board to find posted university jobs. I know of worknplay and eslcafe, but I haven't seen a lot of uni jobs posted there."

Let me address your questions in a few parts:

1. If you don't have a Masters Degree, it is very difficult to get a uni job in Korea. Not impossible, just very difficult. If you want to make yourself more competitive, don't waste your time with on online TEFL certificate, which isn't worth the paper it's printed on, but get a Masters degree in a TESL/Education related field, or do the Celta Course.

2. You've been here for 2 years, but don't know anyone working at a uni? If you knew this was your plan, you should have been networking for the past 2 years at places like Kotesol.

3. An F4 visa means that you're of Korean descent, but grew up elsewhere. Can you speak fluent Korean? If yes, this is a positive for you and I've actually seen some uni ads that request this. If no, being Korean-American or whatever is actually a strike against you since most places prefer the "whitey." This will make it more difficult for you to get a uni job, even if you do have a masters degree.

4. Maybe it's a matter of perspective, but I actually think there are a lot of uni jobs on ESL Cafe. In prime hiring seasons, there are like 4 or 5 ads a day! Now, prime-time is finished and that's why there isn't that many.

To sum it up, I'd be very surprised if you were able to find a uni position for March. Most unis have already done their hiring and you really have nothing going for you that will distinguish you from any other candidate out there. For example, my uni (way out in the countryside) hired everyone in December already. They got over a hundred applications for just a few positions. They didn't even look at people without a Masters Degree, but just threw them in the trash. I think a lot of unis are the same. And my uni isn't even considered one of the "prime" jobs that the top candidates would want.

Camp time!

2011-12-31T10:23:00.000-08:00

I'm on my way home from a quick visit to Canada for Christmas. 2 week Kids camp starts tomorrow. Although I am no kids teaching superstar, I will admit that they are pretty cute, and usually eager to participate in class, which is a welcome change from my uni students. More updates soon, I promise.

Reader Question...Masters degree but no experience

2011-12-19T14:39:00.000-08:00

Hey there readers. 3 cheers for the semester ending! I decided on a spur of the moment trip to Canada to visit the family but one long layover, a cancelled flight and no more flights for 24 hours to Edmonton has= an outrageous amount of sleepy hours hanging around the San Francisco Airport drinking coffee. The good news is that is sure is cheap and you get a full cup! Anyway, only 12 more hours or so and I should be in the Great White North, relaxing at the parent's house eating Christmas Baking and fighting the crowds at Wal-Mart.

Here is a reader question from Natalie. She has a Masters Degree (I'm assuming it's unrelated) but very little in the way of Esl teaching experience and has not been to Korea. She wonders if she can get a Uni job in Korea and how to apply.

It is very difficult to get a Uni job for your first job in Korea. Most people get their start at a public school or hagwon and then work their way up to a uni in their second or third year.
Most unis will want in person interviews but will not offer any compensation for coming from overseas for them. However, if you still want to try your luck, check out www.eslcafe.com. They have lots of uni job ads on there.

Reader Question...OT

2011-12-15T16:31:00.000-08:00

Another one from Neil:

"Is it generally frowned upon to say no to OT when asked or offered?"

At my uni, it's totally up to you whether you want to work OT or not (besides the mandatory credit-classes that just appear on your schedule...most people get 1 or 3 OT hours and have no say about it). That said, most people want to do OT and there's generally enough to go around that everyone gets at least 4 or 5 hours/semester. And there are always plenty of classes during the vacation periods, and again, these are optional but it seems like a lot of people want to do it.

At my good friend's uni it's a similar kind of thing. Except there actually isn't that much OT floating around, and it's actually quite difficult to get.

It's definitely something to ask about at your interview since it can vary wildly between unis.

Reader Question: Shifts/Hours

2011-12-14T17:15:00.000-08:00

This one from Neil:

"Please forgive me if you have been asked this before, as you seem to have been asked everything, but what is your weekly schedule like, and how different is it from your colleagues/foreign friends? How many hours per week do you need to actually work to perform well? What kind of "shifts" do you have, even if they are self-imposed?"

Let me start with a basic overview of the jobs in Korea and the hours they require:

1. Public Schools. The easiest to define, it's generally from 9-5-ish. Add on a bit less, or a bit more to either side and you have it.

2. Hagwons. Kindy/elementary Hagwons generally require morning/afternoon shift. Think 10-2, and 3-6. Or, you could find one that is only kindy and work something like 9-3. Non-Kindy Hagwons generally require 6-8 hours, starting at around 2 or 3 and going until 8 or 9. Adults hagwons have terrible split shifts, like say from 6-9am and 6-9pm.

3. Unis. Hard to define a set-schedule. Most places schedule classes only 4 days/week, but that's not always the case. Some days, I'm busy and on the go from 9:30-6:30 with only brief breaks in between but then on other days, I only have 1, 1.5 hour class. It's just kind of luck of the draw in terms of schedules and it changes from semester to semester. Last semester, I worked night classes 2 nights a week, which was kind of annoying, but that's life. And, if you do only the basic hours set by your uni (12-18), your life will be pretty relaxed. It's the OT that brings in the real money, but also the stress of dealing with a million classes and more prep, and different expectations, etc. Some semesters, I've done up to 15 hours of OT/week and my life was insanely busy.

By way of example, here was my schedule this semester (15 regular hours +8 OT hours).

Monday: 10:30-12, 2:10-5:30

Tuesday: 9:30-3:40 (no breaks!)

Wednesday: 10:30-1:40, 2:55-4:35

Thursday: no classes

Friday:10-2 (Usually prep +paperwork time), 2:10-5:30

I spent minimal time on prep this semester, say 2 hours/week. That's only because I've taught all the books a few times before and saved all the lesson plans. If I was using a book for the first time, I would spend around 8 hours/week or more on prep. Admin paperwork generally takes me an hour/week.

As for grading, some people spend days on in, for me it takes about 10 minutes/class since I do only speaking tests and I've been inputting grades all semester and have it on Google Spreadsheets. Same with admin I guess. It seems like some of my coworkers are always outrageously busy doing busywork and various things for their classes, reinventing the wheel or something like that. Others, like myself prefer to work smarter, not harder.

As you can see, this question is kind of complicated! And there really is no definite answer.

Response to my last post "Ten Tips"

2011-12-13T20:26:00.000-08:00

Joe Seoulman has typed up his response to my lastest blog post. You can check it out here.

Here is Point #4 from my original post:

"Don't accept Kyeol-gung-wons (absence excuse papers) for minor things like colds. Reserve it for the serious such as a car accident/brain trauma/close family member's death."

And Joe's Response:

"This one is complicated. Unlike North American universities, Korean colleges check attendance, and if a student misses too many classes they fail. Part of the system is that they get a note from the doctor. After my own experience with getting a doctor’s note (for an extension on an assignment for my doctoral studies), I now treat these all with a grain of salt. In my case, I sat down with the doctor and told him what I needed it to say. I told him the dates and he wrote what I asked him to write. I paid a fee for the document and that was it.) I’ve had students come in at the end of the semester with one of these notes for each day they had missed throughout the whole semester. Now I know what she did......"

Please go to the link and read the rest of his response. I actually should have made myself clearer. At my uni, 5 unexcused absences = "F." 4 absences is no problem. I very openly tell the students this at the beginning of the semester. They can miss a few classes and I don't care, which is why I don't accept excuse papers for minor things They have 4 "free-passes" already. If they have a serious problem and are going to miss more than 4 classes, then I deal with them on an individual basis. Anyway, I find that the students who miss more than 4 classes because they are sleeping in, or are hungover, or playing with their friends are the ones that will fail the class anyway based on their test and homework scores, so it kind of doesn't matter in the end.

Ten Tips for Newbies to the Korean University Teaching Experience

2011-12-12T16:42:00.000-08:00

Semester 9 of my time teaching ESL at a Korean University is coming to a close, with only 5 more classes of speaking tests to administer and some spreadsheet grading magic to make happen. And when I compare my first shaky semester as a naive newbie to now, it's almost astounding the differences in my teaching and management style. Anyway, here are my tips for Newbies to Teaching in a Korean University. I hope they're helpful to you. I wish someone had told them to me when I first started.

1. Your students will not be as high of level as you think. While they may have an impressive range of vocabulary, they're often extremely weak in actually using it. And basic grammar points will need to be reviewed.

2. University is a party-time for Korean students, between Sooneung Hell and selling their souls to Samsung or Hyundai or Kia. Adjust your classes accordingly. If you make them too hard with too much homework, the students will be unhappy. Give a little bit or homework and a few tests so you can have some self-respect but don't stress too much about making it like a university class is "back home."

3. Don't trust the students to "check" the box for their own attendance. They will lie and cheat for their friends. You need to personally do it. And carefully. It's the only fair way.

4. Don't accept Kyeol-gung-wons (absence excuse papers) for minor things like colds. Reserve it for the serious such as a car accident/brain trauma/close family member's death.

5. Chill out. Korea is a Bali-Bali (fast-fast) last minute kind of culture. Lots of decisions will happen just in time with regard to classes and schedules and housing. Don't worry about it and just go with the flow. If you stress out about it, something terrible might happen to you by the end of your year, like all your hair falling out. I guarantee it.

6. Cheating (cunning) is not such a serious offense in Korea as it is in the Western World. Most students think nothing of plagiarizing something off the Internet for a written assignment. Or copying off their friend in the few minutes before class starts. Or bringing a cheating paper to the test. So give assignments and tests that minimize this and you won't have to deal with it. I do exclusively speaking tests, with groups of 2-4 students in my office. There is no possible way for them to cheat. And I simply don't assign the "workbook" as homework.

7. Class sizes really do matter. Before accepting a job, perhaps the most important question to ask would be, "What are the class sizes?" I'm not sure I would ever take a job with more than 40. This was the reality in my first semester and it was extremely difficult. Now, some of my classes are down to 10 students and the difference is astounding. I can actually get to know my students as individuals and see them actually improve their English skills. It's far more rewarding.

8. Simple is better. Syllabi, tests, activities, grammar points. Everything really.

9. Keep on top of the paperwork. Input attendance into the computer each week. Enter grades into your spreadsheets as you get them. Have at least a couple of weeks lessons planned ahead of time.

10. Your teaching impact does not equal your self-worth. You'll have some bad classes and students that don't like you. It doesn't mean that you're a bad person, or a terrible teacher. Get some hobbies and friends and learn to leave your teaching behind you at the end of the day.

Friends Forever, I guess

2011-12-12T16:14:00.000-08:00

A Blog Post from Stupid Ugly Foreigner that is well worth a read. One of the things I like best about living in Korea is the bizarre friendships with people wildly different from myself that I've had over the years. Back home in Canada, we'd never have given each other a second glance. It makes life interesting, or something like that.

Top Notch 2 Speaking Test

2011-12-07T19:30:00.000-08:00

This is the Speaking Test that I'll be giving my students for the second half of the book "Top Notch 2."

-30%, 1-1 speaking with the teacher (3-4 minutes)

-Grammar (10%), Fluency (10%), Interesting, detailed answers (5%), Comprehension (5%)

1. Picture: “There is(n’t)/are(n’t)______ (a lot of, some, etc) ________. Pages 50/53

2. Page 62. Are you healthy or unhealthy? Why? Give 3 reasons +1 more question: Who/what/when/why/where/how (often).

3. Did you use to _________ in High School/Middle School/Elementary School? +1 more question.

4. Page 75: “What about you?”

5. What would you do if__________? (Page 110/119)

6. My problem is: ____.Give me some advice. (You’d better (not) ____, You should (n’t)_____)

No more Native Speakers in Korea?

2011-12-07T19:23:00.000-08:00

A news report that Seoul plans to gradually reduce the number of Native Speakers in their Public Schools to zero by 2014. Apparently parents would rather have Koreans who are fluent in English teach their kids. My only question is where all these fluent Koreans will come from?

Anyway, I'm interested to see if this all pans out since the obsession with/hatred of Native English Speakers in Korea seems to change month by month.

Perhaps China is looking better and better all the time?

Keeping your Cool

2011-11-24T18:30:00.000-08:00

In Asia, "Losing Face" is a big no-no. An easy way to do this is to publicly express your anger in a loud/confrontational kind of way. This causes either you, or the group/person that your anger is directed at to lose face and cause embarrassment and shame.

Teachers, anywhere in the world are tempted to lose their cool, become angry and start shouting at their students. In Korean Universities, this is even more tempting because we often teach students in required classes who are apathetic, lazy and just don't care about our class. Their highest goal is often not failing and having to take the class again. Of course, there are good students mixed in and even certain majors (fashion/nursing/ international business, etc) that see the value of English to their lives who are a joy to teach.

And so when you're in a class, and students are sleeping, texting, talking to their friends, don't have books or pencils and generally not paying attention, it can be extremely hard to not get angry. I've been there. And done the yelling thing. And it NEVER produces the result that you want. It just sets up this antagonistic kind of relationship where it's teacher vs students, instead of the students getting on the same page as the teacher and working together with them to improve their English skills. My coworkers that lose their cool never seem to get that great of evaluations.

What's the alternative to losing your cool? My tips:

1. I try to avoid the situation in the first place by shifting my attitude. I get that many of the students don't really want to be in my class in the first place and don't take it personally when they don't seem to care. It's not that they don't like me, it's just that they don't like English.

2. I set up my class in a way that gives me the power. If a student doesn't have their book or pencil, I kick them out of class from the start (They have one free chance). I don't allow late students (after 10 minutes). I don't accept excuse slips for absences for minor things.

3. I have a variety of fun, and interesting activities and games so that the students on the edge of caring/not-caring will be engaged and get on the same page.

4. If one student is fraying my nerves, I use 3 strikes and you're out (2 verbal warnings and then on the third I ask them to leave). And I'll do it all with a smile, and in a very calm way.

5. If the entire class is getting to me and I feel on the verge of losing my cool, I'll step out into the hallway for a couple minutes to collect and calm myself. I rarely get to this point but about once a year, it's necessary. The students can sense my annoyance and stepping out for a minute often has the effect that teachers think yelling will have, but it does so in a way that nobody loses face.

6. Remind yourself that it's just a job and not worth sacrificing your mental health over. Of course, with the better classes and the good students it's often more than a job and there is the potential for actually having a positive impact on student's lives. But for the poor students and the terrible classes? Don't stress out about it and know that all semesters eventually come to an end.

7. Be kind to your students and treat them respectfully. Students will not respect you if you don't offer it back. Students will not be kind to you if you're not kind to them. Students won't follow you and accept your leadership if you're not a person that they want to be around.

Tips on How to Get Good Evaluations

2011-11-24T15:35:00.000-08:00

There's a thread on ESL Cafe with plenty of excellent advice. Lots of things seem just like basic teacher things to me:

-being in class before the students arrive

-maintaining your "game face" at all times and not losing your cool

-being careful what you say

-the importance of being seen as being "fair" and "nice"

-a transparent grading system

-preparing a wide variety of games and activities

Some days, it just works

2011-11-22T22:46:00.000-08:00

I'm currently working on my bi-annual chest cold of death, so I've been trying to minimize my "talk-time" in class in order to conserve my energy and my voice. In my extra non-credit 45 minute classes today, there was basically nothing worthwhile to do in the book, so I improvised with my own conversation activity.

First, I wrote on the board:

What are 5 things you're an expert in?

I then filled in the blanks with my own answers: Cooking/ Canada/ Teaching English/ Scuba Diving/ Reality TV

I gave the students about 3 minutes to do the same. Then, I narrowed my list down to the 3 that I thought were the most interesting to other people and wrote them on a folded over paper that can stand up on the desk. Once the students had done the same, we all broke off into groups of 2 and had 5 minute conversations about the topics on the papers. After 5 minutes, we all switched partners.

This is a beginner (ish) class but they were all asking and answering questions in a relevant, understandable kind of way *(in English!). It made my heart feel happy.

3 Cheers for Korea!

2011-11-19T16:28:00.000-08:00

So over on ESL Cafe, there is a thread on the Korea Forums from a Canadian guy who is leaving Korea after 7 years. He basically craps all over Korean Culture and thinks his own is far superior. Being from Canada, I can empathize with him to a degree, but every civilization has their high and low points and I find it quite helpful to periodically list things that I love about Korea. Here they are, just in time for my adopted holiday: American Thanksgiving (my school has a big dinner for American Thanksgiving, but nothing for the lowly Canadians).

1. Health Care. I have a bad cold, so I went to the doctor. The visit cost me under $3. The doctor speaks English, and is obviously very well-trained and knows her stuff. No appointment. Just walk in, but the wait is rarely more than 10 minutes. 4 days of meds cost me under $2. Want anything besides the basics? She refers you in a jiffy and you again just walk in, no appointment necessary.

Also, I've had some back pain recently. A trip to the oriental doctor for acupuncture, heat massage, electrical impulse treatment and suction cup things costs $5.

Thank you Korean National Health Insurance!

2. Efficiency. Everything in Korea is freakishly efficient. Hungry? Make a call and 20 minutes later you'll have reasonably priced, delicious food at your door, delivered by scooter.

Want internet? They'll be there the next day to set it up.

Air-Conditioner installed? 1 hour after the phone call, they were at my house.

A package delivered in Korea? 1 day and about $3 later, anywhere in the country.

3. Public Transport. Not that I make very much use of it these days now that I'm riding in style with my own wheels, but for 5 years I lived in Korea without my own transport. And it was ridiculously easy and cheap to get anywhere you wanted, efficiently.

4. My financial situation. I generally live off my Overtime money and save my monthly salary each month. For this I'm very thankful. Most English teachers can save at least $1000/month quite easily.

5. Travel opportunities. It's cheap (ish) and easy (ish) to get anywhere in Asia. I've been to about 25 countries during my 7 years in Korea. And one more (Bali, Indonesia) coming up this winter break!

What's your list?

Sample Lesson Plan for "Top Notch 1"

2011-11-16T21:16:00.000-08:00

I get a lot of people requesting that I post some sample lesson plans. Of course, lesson plans are often not really transferable because we all have different goals for our classes, as well as use different books. But, here is the lesson I taught this week for my Freshman English Classes at the Uni Level. I use the book, "Top Notch 1." My class is 90 minutes long, with no break.

1. "What's up?" Banter/going over the plan for the day/nagging about homework :) (5 minutes)

1. Warm-up review game (20 minutes). In this case, I used the "Rock/Scissor/Paper" game. The previous 2 weeks, we've been studying about advice (had better (not)/should (n't) and countable/uncountable nouns. So I made up some strips of paper with matching problems/advice and questions such as, "Do you have any water?" "Yes, I have some."

I cut them up and give each students 5 papers. Then, I give them 10-15 minutes to stand up, walk around and find their corresponding partner. Once they do, they play R/S/P and the winner takes both papers and gets one point. At the end, the students with the most points get a small prize.

2. Grammar Lesson Presentation/book practice (15 minutes). "I used to......But now I......." I put 4 examples on the board and then the students did some practice in the book for 10 minutes. We went over the answers together.

3. Conversation based on the grammar point (20 minutes). I had students write 3 questions in their books..."Did you used to ________in high school/middle school/elementary school." Then, I asked for volunteers to ask me these three questions. Each one was followed with a follow-up question (example: Why didn't you smoke in high school? or "Who did you steal money from in middle school?")

Then, I turned the students loose to ask these 3 questions +3 follow-ups to their partner.

4. A group activity based on the grammar point (30 minutes). In this case, each group of 3-4 had to choose 1 important invention (I elicited a few examples first and wrote them on the board to get them started). They had to make 4-5 sentences and at least 2 had to use "....used to.... But now..." ".....didn't use to.... But now...." After about 15 minutes, the whole class listened to each group and I gave a small prize to the group that was the easiest to understand, interesting and had big-pictures ideas.

Do you like this site?

2011-11-11T20:36:00.000-08:00

Have you ever used one of my ideas for your lesson plans? Got some inspiration for your speaking test or group project? Learned how to keep your job at a Korean uni or improve your student evaluations? Found the insider information before your Korean University Interview? Well, consider giving me a donation! I've added a Paypal Donation Button in the top right corner of the Sidebar. Any amount will do! Kamsamnida!

Student Evaluations

2011-11-11T16:27:00.000-08:00

My uni seems to take student evaluations (of foreign teachers) very seriously. Like the top 3 people get recognized each semester and the bottom 1 or 2 seem to get fired.

My coworkers express a lot of frustration over this system because it seems like some students just randomly fill the evaluation out and don't take it that seriously. Like just marking, 8,8,8,8 and not even reading each thing. For example, one of the criteria is "never cancels class" or something to that effect. I've maybe canceled 2 classes in my 5 years here (due to cold of death...I should have canceled 2 weeks!) and I still don't get 100% scores on that.

But the thing is, since my uni recognizes the top teachers, you can always see who's in the Top 3. And the top 3 each semester have always been people that I thought were pretty decent/good/excellent teachers. And there truly has never been someone in there that I couldn't figure out why.

So if you want to get high evaluations from your students, just do an excellent job of teaching and don't worry about the rest. Prepare. Dress professionally. Be kind and respectful of your students (they can tell, despite the language barrier). Don't look down on those who are poor at English. Don't cancel classes. Make your tests fair and easy to understand. Be creative. Prepare some more. Grade their tests and homework with helpful feedback. Maintain appropriate boundaries. Help the slow ones to the best of your ability. Be generous with your time. Relax and have a joke and a laugh with your students once in a while.

That's it. Pretty simple.

Reader Question: Demand for English Teachers in South Korea

2011-11-08T16:37:00.000-08:00

This one from Dave:

"I'm probably going to be applying to a public school for a job starting in september. Can you tell me if the demand is still high over there considering the new protection measures (blood tests, etc) enacted a few years ago?"

Any time unemployment is high (now!) in North America, there is a flood of people that seem to come to Korea, as well as don't go home if they're already here. Who wants to try to find a job back in the States these days? Korea seems like a pretty good option: a job, housing, money saving potential when compared to living in your parent's basement, applying for 10 jobs/day and not getting any phone calls back. I've heard stories from old friends.

Anyway, that means that it's not that easy to get a job in Korea these days, especially at public schools or unis. I have no idea what your qualifications are, but with a BA/no teaching experience/no overseas experience you might find it a bit challenging to get a public school job. Experience and a Celta or something of the sort will definitely put you in a better position.

You do however have time in your favor. By applying early for the public schools jobs, your chances improve considerably. I've seen many recruiters says in their public school ads, "First come, first served" and they don't even seem to process the late appliers.

If you're looking at a Hagwon job, the basic requirement still seems to be a BA/clean criminal background check and a pulse.

Tuition Costs at Korean Unis

2011-11-08T15:34:00.000-08:00

An interesting article from ROK Drop.

"You get what you pay for." Yes, that pretty much sums it up.

Making a Terrible Book Work

2011-11-08T15:30:00.000-08:00

Those who have been around the ESL Teaching world for a while have all had the experience of admins (who often have never set foot in a classroom as the teacher) choosing books for classes. Once in a while it can work. Often, it doesn't. They tell you that it's a "Conversation Class" and that the students wants "free-talking" but hand you a book that is a grammar/vocab book or something of the sort. This actually happened to me in one of the extra classes that I taught at my uni a couple of years ago. Here is a Geek in Korea's story of a terrible textbook.

And actually, this reality has become my life these days. This semester my uni is using "Top Notch" as our Freshman English Book. While initially it looked promising, it gets worse and worse the more I dig into it and try to plan lessons. It's a perfect storm of uninteresting topics/extremely confusing grammar practice/terrible supplementary activities/screwed up, unintuitive online homework/bizarre, useless vocab. So what do you do in this situation?

Take something from the book and make it work. The students will be angry if they have been required to buy the book and bring it to class (which I do require) and then you don't use it that day. So, I choose a grammar point, or a topic, or a sample conversation, or some vocab and build my lesson around that, aiming to do at least a few minutes of something from the book. If the grammar is too confusing (which it most often is), I'll prepare a handout with my own simplified version of it. And the class works. If I stuck with the book for more than about 10 minutes, it wouldn't. .

Contrast this to the last book I used, "World Link." It's a breezy tropical-island beach hut dream compared to "Top Notch." Easy to understand grammar/useful vocab presented well/superstar supplemental activities/fun surveys and interactive activities/easy to use conversation starters. I would use the book, or supplementary activities from the teacher's resource book for almost the entire class.

So, what I'm saying is: be flexible! You have a good book? Use it. Your life will be easier and you won't have to spend horrendous amounts of time on lesson planning. A terrible book? Make a "token" effort to use it. Besides that, get your serious lesson planning on and make an interesting lesson for your students. Yes, it will be more work than just slaving away from the book but your efforts will be appreciated (hopefully) by your students.

Did you know......

2011-11-05T16:28:00.000-07:00

....that Korea has 4 seasons? Joking! Of course we all know that.

Anyway, did you know that English Grammar has 8 basic parts of speech? Despite being an English Teacher, I didn't know this for the first couple of years I was teaching. Here is a little site for Grammar Newbies:

Basic Grammar for ESL Teachers

And did you know that Flashcard games and activities are where it's at! Here are my Top 5 Flashcard Games honed from my years at the Hagwon and teaching kids camps here at my uni.

Reader Question...Contact with Unis

2011-11-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

This one from Dan:

"My wife and I just moved to City X last month to teach in a Hagwon. I have a Masters in Social Work, and my wife has an MBA and a Law degree. We live right next to the university here and wondered how to make contacts there for possible work next year.

Is there a way to introduce ourselves directly to department heads? Or do we need to find some kind of contact that will introduce us? Any suggestions for how to make contact?"

My answer:

I hope you guys make it through the year at a hagwon. It can be a tough time, especially for those that have had real jobs in the real world back home. My top tip for you is to remember that it's a business and don't get stressed out about decisions made from this standpoint, as opposed to actual educational goals.

Anyway, to the question. Making contact with those in charge of hiring at that specific uni can be quite difficult. You probably won't even be able to figure out who these people are until you see a job ad posted somewhere like ESL Cafe. Your best hope is to make friends with the foreigners at that uni. Hang out in the local expat bar in town and you're sure to meet a few of them. Or, attend a local chapter meeting of Kotesol and you'll meet lots of uni teachers there.

Become friends with these people and they will probably be happy to introduce you to their bosses, or drop off a resume when it comes time. By the way, the new uni semesters start in September and March, so you have to time it right.

And of course, keep your eyes on the job ads, especially ESL Cafe.

Thoughts on keeping your Korean Uni job

2011-11-03T02:16:00.000-07:00

At my uni, it seems like one or two people bite the dust each contract renewal time, for various reasons. However, all these reasons can be boiled down to "professionalism," or lack thereof. Anyway, here are my top tips for being a professonal and keeping your job at a uni in Korea.

1. Look the part. I have coworkers who wear jeans or cargo-shorts, a t-shirt, and a baseball cap to class. In a land where appearance is everything, this is the fastest way to not be respected by your students, or your bosses.

2. Lay low. Don't stir up trouble and just spend your time flying under the radar. Try to have no negative contact with your bosses. The fastest way to get fired at my uni is to start accusing the other foreigners of things, so that the Koreans have to deal with stuff they'd rather not get involved with.

3. The other fastest way to get fired at my uni is to cancel classes. Yes, people do check!

4. Plan for your classes and make them interesting, helpful and fun. Student evaluations really do matter.

5. Watch what you do online on sites like Facebook with regard to saying bad things about your students, uni or coworkers. Yes, people really do check.

6. Have appropriate boundaries with your students. You are their teacher, not their friend. Never have physical contact and even avoid being alone in your private office with a student.

Review: an under-rated "Time-Filler"

2011-10-26T17:39:00.000-07:00

In the regular classes that I teach, I have freedom to teach whatever I want based on "Top Notch 2." However, in of the extra programs that I teach in, we use "Smart Choice" and are assigned 1-4 pages for each 50 minute lesson. For anyone who has taught Smart Choice before, you know it can be a little hit and miss in terms of quality pages (although I generally like the book).

And what to do when you have only 2 pages assigned for that day, 1 takes about 7 minutes and the other one is complete crap? My coworkers seem to bring in random puzzles and activities unrelated to what the students are studying, based on the worksheets I see left in the classrooms when I go in there. Others, youtube videos, or something of the sort.

Me: Review. And lots of it. Students need to hear things like 37 times (my scientifically based guess!) before they remember it for good. Why don't you help them reach this number? My goal is to have the students groaning "WE KNOW IT ALRIGHT! NO MORE!" when I start to go over the grammar concept or vocab "one more time." If you know it, you know it and you've walked away from my class with something solid to take with you for the rest of your life. A little random puzzle or youtube video? Will the students remember anything (helpful!) from that 2 minutes after class ends?

Need some Inspiration for Teaching ESL Abroad?

2011-10-21T17:06:00.000-07:00

Some more stuff from me:

Top 5 Reasons to Teach ESL in Korea

Top 5 Reasons to Teach ESL Abroad

Top 10 Teaching ESL Myths

2011-10-19T20:46:00.000-07:00

Top 10 Teaching ESL Abroad Myths. My thoughts on the topic.

Do you test and tell?

2011-10-18T23:50:00.000-07:00

I was talking with my colleague the other day about doing speaking tests and whether to give students immediate feedback or not. He's at one end of the extreme and doesn't tell his students a single grade (including their speaking tests) they receive the whole semester until they see it on the University Intranet system. I'm at the other end and my students know what grade they're going to get before the semester ends. And, they always know their test grade immediately after it's finished.

Since my uni bases renewals almost solely on student evaluations, I like to factor that into what I do in class. One of the things we're evaluated on is "Fair and impartial grading." When I tell them (and actually write down) every single mistake they made on the speaking test and tell them immediately after it's finished, it's quite obvious why they got the score they did. However, if I was a student and did a test and got no feedback, I would think that it's annoying. I would be even more pissed off if I got a low final grade but had no idea what my scores were or the breakdown of the grade even was. And so I have a feeling that my colleague has extremely low scores in this category. How could he not?

What do you do? Tell or not tell? I thought everyone did the same as me until I heard this yesterday.

Kotesol 2011 International Conference...the Good and the Bad

2011-10-16T01:57:00.000-07:00

I've just returned home from a couple of days at the Kotesol Conference in Seoul this past weekend. As is usually the case, it was a mix of good and bad. Here are my thoughts:

The Good:

1. As always, the venue is fabulous. It's convenient transport-wise, has plenty of restaurant choices outside the main gate, and is big enough to not feel too crowded.

2. I enjoyed some of the presentations I went to and picked up a few practical things for the classroom. Even the not-so-helpful ones weren't horrendous, as was the case last year. The emphasis on "101" workshops seemed popular and I noticed on the schedule that there weren't that many presentations on purely researchy, non-applied stuff. This was my main complaint from last year.

3. It was nice to see some people from way back in my early days in Korea. Plus, I got to meet a member of the Seoul Podcast (did you know I was on the Podcast once?!) in person, where previously we'd only talked on the Podcast. I also met a few people who follow the blog, which is always nice. If you want to make contacts or see random people you haven't seen in years, this is the place to do it.

The Bad:

1. Pre-Registration always seems to be a nightmare on the website. It was perhaps different for me, since I was a presenter, but I got what seemed like 6 million emails from many different people about registration. It was quite unprofessional and in my experience from organizing similar things, having one contact person is a very good thing. Any attendees with reports about pre-registration on the website?

2. Presenters had to pay more in conference fees. This is totally ridiculous in my opinion. After all, without presenters, there is no conference. One of my friends decided not to do her presentation as a protest against this. I will be joining her next year if things stay the same.

And what did I get for my extra fees?

A. Being changed to a new classroom that wasn't even on the map. I was amazed that anyone even came. I would have just thought it was annoying and given up.

B. A 9:00 Sunday Morning presentation time. I'm not from Seoul so it forced me to stay overnight, adding to the expense of my weekend. Perhaps the Seoul-ites could be given these early-morning slots?

C. No "room monitor" until about 1/2 way through my presentation. A Tech-guy interrupting my presentation 2/3 of the way through to make sure I had no tech problems. It was purely sink or swim on my own for getting the computer and projector and powerpoint set up.

Anyway, I'm kind of neutral on the whole thing. In the future, I'll be sticking to the conferences where I don't pay more in fees, or get to go for free for presenting as a matter of principle.

Speaking English at home

2011-10-11T18:18:00.000-07:00

Koreans are all about education. Everything I read talks about how Koreans spend the most per capita on education, and in my experience here, it feels true. Huge numbers of high school kids attend University, even the ones who are not academically inclined and would perhaps be better off just getting a job or attending a technical college to equip them with a practical career. Children as young as 3 years old attend English and Music hagwons. Older children do the circuit from English hagwon, to math hagwon, to science hagwon to music hagwon and finish it off with a dose of Chinese. This is a daily affair, and ON TOP OF the regular day of school at the local elementary or middle school.

I get approached by Koreans every couple of months, wondering if I will teach private English lessons to their kids ( I don't do it because it's illegal and I get enough legal OT at my uni to keep me busy). The thing is, these people that approach me are fluent enough to have this entire conversation with me, in English. In many cases, they work as translators or English Teachers, or are in some field like International Business.

And so my answer to them is always the same: just speak English to your kids. They'll pick it up, even if they answer you only in Korean. Read English books to them when they're young, instead of Korean ones. Watch English TV or cartoons and cover up the Korean subtitles with paper. The bonus is that these kids won't need to sit through some English lesson with me, or go to a hagwon. Plus, it's free! And they'll be far better at English than their peers who attend hagwon or private English classes.

For most of these people that approach me, speaking English isn't that difficult for them because they've mastered the basics and could speak it in their sleep. Many of them have lived overseas. I wonder why they don't speak it at home? Is it laziness? A non English-speaking spouse? Lack of knowledge about language aquisition? They are obviously not apathetic if they are willing to shell out money so their kids learn English. Bizarre.

Anyone with insight into this phenomenon?

Reader Question...Can I get a Uni Job?

2011-10-10T16:06:00.000-07:00

"I'm 42, black, female and have a BA in Business and a MS in Organizational Development. I just got a TEFL certification and I want to work at a University in Korea.

I applied to EPIK out of desperation but I would love to work at a college instead. Ewha's Womans University doesn't take online applications and wants my degree apostilled in the mail but I can't do it since it's the only one I have and won't send it without an actually offer.

I put my age and race in because one recruiter said he and others don't like working with blacks because companies don't think of us as Westerners and don't want us to have "Black Talk"."

My answer:

1. Black people have an EXTREMELY HARD time finding a job in Korea. And now that there are so many economic refugees from North America, it's even more competitive. I've heard stories lately of blond haired and blue eyed ladies having a hard time finding a prime job. My uni has hired a couple black people over the years, so there is some hope.

2. Not that I'm really in the know about immigration policies, etc, but I'm pretty sure that you have to Apostillise (how do you spell that anyway?!) a COPY of your diploma, not the actual thing. It's something to check out. I personally would never get some stamps on my University Diploma.

You have a lot of things going against you and will probably not find a uni job. You are black, a bit older than desired, not in the country for interviews, seem to have no prior ESL or teaching experience, haven't lived in Korea before, and don't seem that well-informed about what is required for the visa.

You never know though, some people have gotten uni jobs where I never would have thought it was possible. A more realistic scenario would be to come to Korea and work at a hagwon or public school for a year, make connections and then be in country to interview for uni jobs the following year.

It's that time of year Again!

2011-10-07T17:39:00.000-07:00

Midterm Exams are just around the corner and I've just made my exam/evaluation criteria. They are for the book "Top Notch 2." Maybe they're helpful to you. I give much of the credit to my coworker David for his helpful Evaluation Rubric that he generously shared with me.

Midterm Exam Speaking Test Evaluation Rubric

Top Notch 2 Midterm Exam Speaking Test

My Upcoming Presentation at the Kotesol International Conference 2011

2011-10-06T19:19:00.000-07:00

As you might have read already, I'll be presenting on the topic of Motivation on Oct. 16th at the Kotesol Conference in Seoul.

Here is a preview of my Powerpoint presentation and a copy of the handout I plan on giving out. But, perhaps you should just come check out the presentation? I promise fun interaction and no Death by Powerpoint. I hope that everyone will walk away with some new ideas for the classroom. And, I'd love to meet some of the people that read this blog.

Kotesol Presentation Handout

Robo-Teacher

2011-10-04T16:39:00.000-07:00

On Tuesdays, in addition to the regular credit class that I teach, I also teach 5 OT classes. These are smaller classes of about 10 students who sign-up for extra English. The classes are 45-50 minutes long and I have to cover 2-3 pages of the "Smart Choice" Textbook.

My style of teaching is totally interactive. I will NEVER stand up at the front of the class and lecture with the exceptions of the first day syllabus explanation and when I talk about the tests or homework assignments. Even with the grammar lessons, I will always leave lots of gaps on the board and work together with their students to get them to help me fill it in. And I will ALWAYS do an example of what I expect for when I set up a conversation activity. In this instance, the students usually have to ask me 3-4 who/what/when/why/where/how questions beyond the initial question (such as, "What's your favorite movie?")

The first 4 classes on Tuesday seem to love this style. They are all participating, giving me some answers and feedback. And the class just works, with everyone seeming to be happy and not sleeping and learning something. However, the last class is a nightmare. Dead silence. It's a perfect storm of quiet, low-level, unmotivated students with not a single bright light mixed in. I soldiered on with my normal style for a couple classes but yesterday, I switched it up. I went into Robo-Teacher mode. No interaction, just lecture, kind of like the standard Korean style. I would ask my normal questions but then just answer them myself. Leave the blanks on the board but just fill them in myself. Then I handed out worksheets based on the lecture. And they seemed to love it. Like all smiles and thank-you's at the end of class. Back into their comfort zone of what they've had their whole lives.

Anyway, what I'm saying is this: do whatever it takes. If you have a "dead-class" don't stress yourself out trying to force interaction. It's just not worth it. Just lecture, as per the standard Korean way. I know it's not ideal for actually learning, but it's only the second time I've had to do it in over 4 years at my uni, so my track record for interactive is still intact.

Homework, and not doing it

2011-10-01T00:31:00.000-07:00

So here in Korea, standards at unis are pretty lax. As in almost everybody, as long as their mommy and daddy pay tuition will get the degree. The result is that in my classes, expectations have to be ridiculously low in order to not fail the majority of the class. And speaking English is not even really a requirement. Showing up for class and putting forth a very, very minimal effort with studying and doing homework is.

My school has this new online homework thing in the classes that I teach (using Top Notch) because they want to transition to "Blended Learning" (online +classroom). It's worth 20% of the student's final grade. In general, I like it and I think the students don't mind it either. But, there is usually about 1/4 of the class who just straight refuses to do it. I'm not sure why. I hold their hand and show them how to sign-in and open the homework and do it and submit it for grading. And, if you get it wrong, you just have to go back and change the answers to the right ones (it's ridiculously hard to not get 100%). And I remind them each week in class when the next 2 weeks homework is due. It's actually a source of major frustration. 15 minutes a week for 10 weeks in order to get 20/100 points in a class? It's almost too easy and unbelievable to me that students don't do it.

I've become a naggy old crank, hassling my students about homework. Aish. Is there a better way?

Oldies but Goodies, Round 3

2011-09-29T16:46:00.000-07:00

Some more posts from way back that you might enjoy.

Here is my policy for how to stay in the good graces of the powers that be at your uni.

A quick, easy ESL review game for just about anything.

And one on ESL Teacher Further Education.

Kotesol International Conference 2011 Presentation

2011-09-29T16:29:00.000-07:00

It's official...I'll be presenting during the ~~terrible~~ most coveted 9am on Sunday morning slot at the upcoming Kotesol International Conference in Seoul Oct. 15/16. I guess my blogging fame has not spread to the masses yet.

Anyway, I'm presenting on Motivation. Book your rooms and set those alarms early!

A writing activity for beginners

2011-09-26T21:04:00.000-07:00

In one of the extra classes that I teach, "Writing" was on the schedule for today. The only problem is that they are beginners, so it can be kind of difficult to make it happen in an interesting, easy-to-understand kind of way. So, this is what I often do in this situation:

Take whatever you're studying in the unit. In this case, it was free time leisure activities. Then, make a fill in the blank paragraph on the board or Powerpoint.

I live in ______. In _________, people like to __________, _____________, ______________, and _____________in their free time. Young people think ____________is __________because ______________.

First I fill in the blanks using the city where my uni is (and where I happen to live). Then, I turn the students loose to do their own hometown. It takes about 5 minutes. My hope it that the students can get the hang of making some interesting, grammatically correct sentences and still use some of their own creativity and thinking power.

A fun game to review "P.P."

2011-09-26T15:32:00.000-07:00

Have your students write four "I've....." sentences. 3 are true, 1 is false. Then, if you have a small class (under 8), have the students read out their sentences and the other students guess which one is false. For more advanced (or just really small) classes, they can ask some questions to try to figure out the false one. Once the students guess (individually), they get a point for a correct guess. If you have a bigger class, put the students in groups of 5 or 6 and let them play together while you supervise.
teaching esl grammar

An Activity/Hobby Game

2011-09-22T16:57:00.000-07:00

From a Geek in Korea...it sounds like something I would do in my class, with the higher-level students.

Some Oldies (Classroom Activities), Round 2

2011-09-19T19:49:00.000-07:00

A few practical things for the classroom from waaaay back in 2009:

An Interesting Writing Activity for ESL Students

An English Grammar Review Game

A Couple ESL Vocab Games

1, 2, 3 strikes...and you're out

2011-09-19T19:46:00.000-07:00

In my classroom, I try to only deal in positive behavior because I think that 98% of my attention should be given to the people who are genuinely trying to learn. And of course the challenge is to engage everyone, so that 100% of the class wants to be there and learn English in a productive, cooperative kind of way. I do this mainly through my reward/motivational system that I use. However, there are times that this fails and I'm forced to pay attention to disruptive people, as was the case yesterday. Here is what happened:

Strike 1: When I start class, I expect everyone to stop talking. These 4 boys continued their conversation despite me looking clearly at them and waiting for them to stop. I foresaw further problems, so I split them up by moving 2 boys to the front of the class. The 2 boys remaining at the back improved their behavior so there were no further problems. The 2 boys at the front were a different story.

Strike 2: The lesson continues and I'm doing a short grammar lesson. I expect silence when I'm doing this except when I'm asking for some feedback. Of course, if someone is confused they can ask their partner for help, but it's usually obvious when it's not idle chit-chat. These 2 boys at the front were chit-chatting away, quite loudly so that is was enough to distract other students.

I said to them, "This is #2. #1 was moving to the front. If #3, goodbye and I will mark you absent." The lesson continues.

Strike #3: We were playing a game that involved each team giving an answer. I don't mind a little banter back and forth between the teams as long as I can hear the answers clearly. These 2 boys were being obnoxiously loud so I told them to be quiet because I couldn't hear the answers from the other teams. This was strike 2.9. A minute later, they are being way louder than is appropriate in a classroom (yelling), so I asked them to leave.

I like the 3 strikes because almost nobody gets to 3, even kids. In fact, most people calm down and act appropriately after the first warning. After the second one, students get the seriousness of it and usually feel quite bad about it and most of them apologize to me after class. Anyway, if you're struggling with discipline, try it out and see if it works for you.

Readers: what do you do for discipline in your class?

7 Reasons to Teach ESL at Home

2011-09-15T15:30:00.000-07:00

Most of the readers of this blog teach ESL outside of their home country. However, here is a nice article about teaching ESL at home. I'm almost convinced...if only the pay for Canadian ESL Teachers was better.

Your students are not morons

2011-09-14T15:08:00.000-07:00

I was having an interesting conversation with a couple of my coworkers the other day about how the teachers at our uni think about the students. Obviously some of them (I hope me!) treat them with kindness, and respect. Others think that the students are total idiots because their English ability is so low. The thing is, we work at a science and engineering school so most of our students are in these fields and obviously languages are not their strong suit, science and math is. Just because someone is bad at English doesn't mean that they're a moron. My coworker mentioned that if people judged his intelligence based on his Korean ability he'd rank somewhere in the 3-year old toddler range.

So what I'm saying is this: treat your students with respect, even if they don't know a word of English. They are probably very good at something else. Or, have just had a hard few years but life will get better for them later. Or, they just want to be a taxi driver, so who really cares if they speak English or not. As a teacher, you have a chance to show kindness and love, and have a positive influence in people's lives. Starting with the basic premise that your students are stupid idiots is not a good way to do this.

Some oldies

2011-09-14T14:57:00.000-07:00

I can't believe this blog has been around since 2008, and I also can't believe that I haven't updated in 10 days. My excuse is the recent Chuseok holiday, where I took a road trip to Gangwon-Do and checked out the DMZ, beaches and Seoraksan.

Anyway, here are some of my original posts on the blog which you might enjoy. Most readers probably haven't read waaaaay back in the archives.

Formulating Questions for ESL Students

Student Evaluations (and getting a good score)

Physical Activity in the ESL Classroom

On why I don't speak Korean in front of the class

2011-09-05T15:40:00.000-07:00

My Korean language ability is at an extremely high beginner level (venturing into intermediate?) but I will never, ever speak it in front of the class. It's often better than the English ability of many of the students that I teach. Check out A Geek In Korea's story for why speaking Korean is not such a good idea (unless you're really good). It just seems like a testing ground frought with mine-fields and potholes where the potential for me to make mistake after mistake is just too high, which makes me look ridiculous and stupid, which is something I ALWAYS try to avoid when teaching. And after all, it's not a Korean class.

However, I will use my Korean for speaking 1-1 with students who genuinely don't know English well. Like they ask me for a translation of a word, or need to talk about why they won't be in class next or something like that. Sometimes with Chinese students, it's the only way to communicate because sometimes they literally can't even read English. And, if we're learning new vocabulary that I think the students don't know already, I'll look it up on Google translate and write the Korean on the board for them. And I'll use the Korean for things like absences, attendance, future verb, etc that the students really don't know usually.

Reader Question...which city to live in (besides Seoul)

2011-09-02T18:03:00.000-07:00

These ones from Kristy:

1. Are you still in Korea?
2. Also, I'm trying to decide which city to live in (not Seoul).

1. Yes, I am still living in Korea, despite always saying that this will be my last year :) When you've been here 6 years, and have a car and a cat, and friends, and a life, and an excellent job with good salary, it's hard to make the break.

2. As for which city to live in, the choices are plenty. There are a few basic options:

A. The big cities like Seoul, Daegu, Daejeon and Busan. These places will have everything foreign available and plenty of expat clubs and cultural experiences to partake in. While Busan is a bit of an exception, since it's at the ocean, the others are concrete jungles for the most part so if you like your "green" then they might not be for you.

B. A satellite city of Seoul like Bundang, Incheon or Suwon. They are similar to "A" in terms of opportunities and concrete jungle-ness.

C. Jeju Island. This can be a very isolating place but it's perfect for the outdoor lover who likes scuba diving, hiking, biking, surfing, etc. I would move to Jeju in a heartbeat, if I could find a comparable job to what I have now (it doesn't exist: I've looked!) But think about it: anytime you want to leave Jeju, you'll need to take a short plane ride, or a long-ish boat ride.

D. A smaller city, such as Cheonan (where I live), Chungju, Sokcho, Changwon etc. They have between 200 000- 1 000 000 people. There are enough expats to get your fill of all things foreign, and will even have a few foreign restaurants but the pace of life will be much slower and it will be easier to escape the concrete. I find that I spend outrageous amounts of money in the big cities because I'm tempted by foreign food and bookstores, but in Cheonan not much is happening so it's easier to save. And I also spend a lot of time at home, playing board games with friends and drinking my homebrew, or having a BBQ with coworkers. So, it's just different than Seoul.

E. The countryside. This can be a nightmare if you're a newbie to Korea. Think about how life will look in a small town with only 3 foreigners (who you maybe loathe) and no Koreans who speak English well enough to hold a decent conversation. It will be a long, long year unless you come with a partner and you can help keep each other sane. I would personally never do it.

Is Korea Worth it? You be the Judge, Part 2

2011-09-01T20:28:00.000-07:00

An update to my previous post about the new visa regulations and the hassle it was.

Is Korea Worth it? You be the Judge, Part 1

About 6 months after starting the whole process to get my diploma certified (I'm Canadian so no Apostille, instead my process is different) and my Criminal Background Check certified, I received the package yesterday from my mother.

And the EXTREME annoyance that I felt at the start of the process has greatly dissapated and the moderate annoyance I felt part-way through when I wrote that last blog entry has fizzled out into a buzzing mosquito amount of annoyance.

So it's probably time to re-visit the question of whether Korea is worth it or not. My answer is that it depends. The paperwork is a huge hassle, but much less so if you're actually in your home country doing it. Like say you've finished uni and have your degree and transcripts and want to go to Korea 4 months later. It would definitely not be too annoying and I would say to go for it.

However, if you're in another country besides your home one and are looking for the basic level ESL Job at a hagwon, then no, it would not be worth it in my eyes. Hagwon jobs are notoriously bad and salaries have been stagnant for the past few years while the cost of living keeps increasing. And does anyone know whether interviews at the consulate in your home country are still happening these days? If yes, I wouldn't fly back home just for that rigamarole.

If you have your eye on the prize though (a Korean Uni Job), then jump through all the hoops and get it done, because once you get one of these jobs, life is pretty good here in the ROK in terms of salary, teaching conditions, vacation, and OT opportunities. However, it's hard to find one of these jobs without a Masters and experience, so don't get your hopes up, newbies to the ESL Teaching world with only a BA!

I'm been blathering on. To sum it up, is Korea worth it? Yes, in some situations. In others, probably not and look at some other countries first (Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, Middle East).

Efficiency

2011-09-01T20:12:00.000-07:00

As the years go by, I'm learning more and more about how to do things efficiently. For example, thanks to the genius of Google Documents and having done the work already, (refer to this previous post I did about it: Lesson Planning in the Cloud) I'm able to do 4 weeks worth of lesson prep in about 1 hour. With all the holidays at the beginning of semester, it basically brings me up to midterm exam review.

And the online homework thing for the main book I use: Top Notch. Here is an old post about Top Notch Online Homework The question that nobody could answer last semester (the first time my uni used this book/online program) was if you could assign the homework once and get it to filter down to all of our 8 or 9 sections, or whether we had to assign the same homework 8 or 9 times. I ended up assigning the same homework 8 or 9 times, as did almost all of my coworkers. However, this year we all learned the secret to assigning it only once. As a result, time spent assigning homework dropped to about 2 hours (for the entire semester). I'll just have to check the final grade at the end.

I feel good about start of the semester efficiency and wanted to share my happiness with you.

10 Tips for Getting ( and Keeping ) a Teaching Job Overseas

2011-08-28T23:32:00.000-07:00

I see that I'm featured in this article on Footprints Recruiting. It's actually written by someone who used to live in Cheonan and she asked some people for help for an assignment she had to do for her journalism course. Anyway, it's good stuff so check it out.

It's Amazing...the stuff my coworkers do!

2011-08-28T21:17:00.000-07:00

When the new semester starts, I always ask the students who their previous teacher was. And I write it down on my attendance sheet. As the semester goes on, I hear more and more little tidbits about what the previous teacher did, or didn't do. Like they never spoke English in class, or did some crazy thing for the test.

Something that I'm finding out immediately on the first day is whether the previous teacher did the mandatory online homework thing. We were supposed to do online homework that corresponded to our textbook and make it worth 20% (or more) of the student's final grade. Pearson Longman has a whole system set up to use with "Top Notch" or "North Star" that is quite easy to use.

As I pull up the website to remind students to sign-up, I ask, "Did you do this last year?" "No!" is the response I keep getting. Which I find shocking. My uni made it mandatory and some teachers just didn't do it.

My general rule about life at my uni (and perhaps why I'm still here 5 years later) is to follow the rules. As with any job, if you follow the rules, you can probably keep your job. If you don't, well, not so much. The secret to success in working at a Korean uni!

First Day of Class

2011-08-28T17:10:00.000-07:00

And so it begins...another semester, my 9th at this same university. After 8 semesters, I'm still nervous for the first day of class. Anyway, here is my plan for today:

1. Teacher Introduction. I basically give my name, and how they can contact me.

2. Attendance, and I pass around an information sheet so I can get their names, phone numbers and email addresses.

3. Textbook stuff.

4. Rules and attendance policy.

5. Grades and assignments this semester.

6. Online Homework: I will show a short video and do a demo for how they can sign up.

7. Homework for next week: sign up for online homework thing and buy book.

Then I let them go early. I'm all business on the first day and for the first couple weeks. Then, once I get to know the students better and they know me and we have a kind of respect thing going, I loosen up and have more fun with them.

Reader Question...uni job with a partially completed Master's Degree

2011-08-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

More reader questions:

"I've been in Korea over two years teaching English at the elementary level. I've noticed most (or maybe all) of the job postings require minimum of a master's degree. Do you believe it's possible to get a position with a partially finished masters in education?"

My short answer: YES!

My uni has hired plenty of people in your position over the years. And yours being in education gives you a leg up on a lot of people who have a masters degree in basket weaving, or something of the sort. Just be sure to have proof that you have actually started (such as a transcript of completed courses so far) and include this in your application package.

I have a feeling that you wouldn't get a job at a top tier uni in a big city, but the ones in the countryside would likely be happy to have you.

Reader Question...only a 2 year associates degree

2011-08-23T16:34:00.000-07:00

These ones from Jenniffer:

" I was intested in joining JET/ EPIK but was concerned it might be a problem as I am still in college and only have my two year associates degree currently. I was more interested in the public schools or universities rather than the hagwans and what have you's
I'm also still trying to decide between countries, I thought China would be a big no no for me seeing how our countries have a delicate relationship right now."

To answer your questions in two parts:

1. You will have an extremely hard time finding a job in Korea with only a 2 year "degree" (I would hesitate to even use that name for it). I have heard of some people working for peanuts out in the countryside in some sort of special program or something, but perhaps the best option is to just get a 4-year degree if you're serious about teaching ESL.

As for a uni job? Impossible, even with a 4-year degree. You have no experience or connections. Public school jobs? They are very competitive, and even with a 4-year degree not that easy to procure these days.

2. China. The average person on the street won't care that you're an American. Just don't sport your flag proudly on your t-shirts or whatever and try to blend in and act chilled out (a good rule for any time you travel abroad). And, this is the one country in Asia where you might actually have a slim glimmer of hope for getting a job with a 2-year thing.

Back to work!

2011-08-23T16:13:00.000-07:00

Hello my readers...I hope you're still lingering around, after my extended absence. Jeju got quite busy with diving, and friends, and going away dinners and other good stuff like that.

It was back to reality yesterday with the orientation meeting my uni has every year before the semester starts. It's essentially the only mandatory meeting we have, and it's only twice a year, so it's another reason why I appreciate my uni.

Anyway, the meetings usually feature the top 3 teachers (based on student's evaluations) out of the 26 of us doing a short presentation. And yes, for the first time, I was in the top 3. I presented on my reward/motivation system. It was essentially what I did for my previous Kotesol presentation and what I will do for the Kotesol International Conference 2011 in Seoul Oct. 15/16.

Now, time to get that syllabus in order and organize my online homework thing, and print off attendance sheets and perhaps do a lesson plan or two, or three, or five. It's my style to plan at least a few weeks ahead to avoid the mid-semester crunch.

Yobasayo?

2011-08-08T06:15:00.000-07:00

Hello, thanks for persevering through my lack of updates. The weather has been terrible here in Jeju and I'm passing the time watching "Spiral," a French Crime Drama that is subtitled in English, if you find the BBC version of it. It's like CSI, but way more interesting.

Anyway, I'm trying not to think about the new semester, approaching like a freight train. In that light, I've not had any inspiration to update this blog. However, I plan to update my syllabus soon, so good stuff is coming! Stay tuned.

Is Korea worth it? You be the judge

2011-07-28T17:42:00.000-07:00

Despite having lived in Korea for 6 years and having no run-ins with the powers that be (with the exception of a minor kerfuffle with one horribly sketchy hagwon owner in my first year), this is what I had to do to renew my E2 teaching visa for the upcoming year.

1. Get a fingerprint form from the Canadian embassy in Seoul. This was after a trip to the CSI police station in my city where they told me, "We don't have fingerprint forms." Hmmm.

2. Get the form in the mail. Go back to the police station. Get my fingerprints done. Courier to my mother in Canada, along with my diploma and photocopies of passport and other such things. She got a bank order and sent the form away to get my check done. It can take up to 6 months. It took about 6 weeks for me.

3. Order an up to date transcript from my uni in Canada to get sent to my mother.

4. Thankfully, my mother works at a law office so this next step was free and simple. Photocopy the diploma and criminal record check and get them notarized by a lawyer.

5. Gather up the transcript, originals, notarized copies, photocopies of stuff, more money orders and send it to the Korean consulate in Vancouver via courier. They do a little something and send it back to my mom.

6. She sends all this crap to me, in Korea, via courier.

I estimate it cost me (okay, well mostly my mother!) over $300. It would have cost more if my mom didn't work at a law office. And what if I didn't have someone in Canada I could ask to do this for me? Impossible. I still need to get a health check done as well. And keep in mind, this wasn't for my first-time visa application. I've lived in Korea for 6 years.

Is Korea worth the hassle? I'm getting weary.

A few other sites of mine that may be of interest to you

2011-07-23T04:28:00.000-07:00

Easy to find exactly what you're looking for.

Lesson Planning:

Speaking Activities for ESL Students
ESL Warm-Up Games
ESL Vocab Activities
ESL Writing Activities

Getting an ESL Job in South Korea:

Teaching ESL in Korea
How to get a University Teaching Job in Korea

ESL Book stuff:

Books that ESL Teachers Should Read
ESL Textbook Reviews

Professional Development:

Technology in the ESL Classroom
Websites for ESL Teachers
ESL Teacher Professional Development

If you want to, you will

2011-07-22T16:11:00.000-07:00

So there always seems to be lots of talk about natural talent. As in someone either has "the language ability" to be a good second-language speaker or not. I totally get this concept in areas like elite sports or orchestra-level music, because hard-work can only get you so far and you definitely need the genetic edge to make it to the top. But, there are plenty of people out there who have no natural talent in music, or sports, or language ability that can become competent in their chosen area through time and effort.

This summer, I'm working as a guide for scuba divers who already have their certification cards. In theory, they are totally competent to look after themselves, and just need a guide for navigation, and to organize tanks, and lunch, and the boat trip. And there really are some excellent divers, who are more experienced in the water than I am! And these people are a joy to guide, and it becomes just a fun, non-stressful dive for me. I relax, and spend my time looking for the small, interesting little things that these people seem to appreciate. And they point out cool stuff to me. And we have a good time.

And then there are those totally ridiculous divers who essentially need me to hold their hand. Some of these people even have 10 or 15 dives, so really should have a handle on the basic things like how to get under water, and stay there. I need to be vigilant almost every second of the dive in order to make sure everyone gets back on land, alive. On the breaks (and in the water), I give these people hints and tips in order to help them become better divers. I make what I do outrageously obvious, so that it's almost impossible not to notice and emulate. Except, they just don't care and the second dive will go the same (or worse!) than the first.

So, what am I saying in this long-winded kind of way? If someone wants to be good at something, they will be. If you want to be a good scuba-diver, you'll take a tip from an instructor and put it to use on the next dive. You'll pay attention in the water and see what your guide is doing and imitate them. You'll ask questions and focus your mind before the dive.

Those that want to be good English speakers, will be. They will study outside of class and ask questions in class. They will talk to the teacher after class, just for a bit of conversation practice. They will email the teacher to say hello. They will find foreign friends or penpals. They will watch English movies or TV or read English books, just for fun. They will find an extra class they can take to practice what they're weak at.

As time goes by, I think that maybe the teacher doesn't actually matter beyond the very, very basics? Like teaching someone how to set up a scuba tank. Or, teaching someone the alphabet and the basics of how to read. Thoughts, comments?

Making Grading Easier

2011-07-17T14:52:00.000-07:00

This is one of those things that I thought everybody did, but I've recently been discovering it to be not the case. I use Google Documents to do my grading. Of course, a lot of people use some sort of gradebook online that is set up to keep track of everything. If you do use something of this sort, this will not be applicable to you. But for those that use spreadsheets or just paper, this will make your life much simpler.

My rule is to never, ever write down a grade on my grade sheet that is not in the form it should be. What I mean by that is that if the test is worth 20% of the student's final grade, I will always make the test out of 20 points. Projects or paper homework are easy to do this way as well.

Some things are more difficult to do this way. For example, the online homework that I did this year gave me a final grade out of 100%, but it was worth only 20% of the final grade. So, before I entered the grade, I quickly multiplied it by 0.2 and then wrote in on my paper. And for my reward system, each stamp is worth 2% of the final grade, so I would multiply by 2 when I was checking stamp counts.

Doing this will make your life easier, come final grade time.

Kotesol International Conference 2011

2011-07-17T14:44:00.000-07:00

I've just received notice that I'll be one of the presenters at the Kotesol International Conference 2011 in Seoul on October 15/16. It will be along the lines of motivation/reward systems. If you saw the last presentation I did, some things will be changed so come again! Anyway, mark your calendars. I'd be happy to meet some of my readers.

Some things to avoid when looking for a uni job in South Korea

2011-07-15T15:33:00.000-07:00

These days, some uni jobs in Korea that previously used to be good jobs are going downhill. Some things to look for (and ask questions about) and avoid:

1. Camps during summer/winter vacation. If they're paid at a reasonable rate (20 000 Won +/hour) then no problem. If not, I'd look elsewhere.

2. No housing or housing allowance. If this is the case, your salary should be at least 3 million Won. If not, you're getting ripped off. Alternatively, living in a student dormitory is a recipe for disaster.

3. Teaching kids/uni students. Some unis are going uniwon (Uni+hagwon) style. Chances are, you'll spend most of the day teaching kids and have very strange hours, like in the early morning and late at night.

4. Mandatory weekly meetings or "English cafe" or "free-talking hours" work. This will get annoying fast. A small amount goes with the job but hours of it every week will make you hate your life.

5. A massive turnover. If the uni is hiring 10+people, there is likely a reason why so many people left the previous year. Ask some questions on a place like www.eslcafe to find out why. There is perhaps a good explanation, such as the uni is just expanding their programs. Most good unis will have very low turnover and hire only a handful of people each year

Avoiding the end of the semester chaos

2011-07-05T16:54:00.000-07:00

When I compare my end of the semester to that of some of my colleagues, I see a huge divergence in styles.

All that remains for me to do during final exam week is to enter the final exam grade (which are speaking tests that I evaluate as the students are speaking) on my spreadsheet (which has the formulas already set-up), which takes about 5 minutes/class. Then, I just have to enter the final grade into the computer system, which also takes about 5 minutes/class. Basically, 10 minutes after each class leaves my office from the test, their final grades are in the computer.

Some of my colleagues seem to pull all-nighters on the day before grades are due. It seems stressful and a little bit outrageous to me (and perhaps prone to errors). Anyway, some tips to reduce grading stress in your life:

1. Keep up with attendance, if you have to enter into a computer system. I spend about 10 minutes doing it Monday morning before my first class, for the previous week. Doing a whole semester's worth during final exam week is far too tedious and time-consuming.

2. Use a spreadsheet system to keep track of your grades. You won't make mistakes in adding and it will save time later. Just cut and paste the student's names and ID numbers from your computer system into Google Docs or Excel. And of course, enter grades as you get them. I generally did it the same day I had a new grade in a class.

3. I like the spreadsheet as well because it gives me a backup. Some people have all their information on a single piece of paper that they carry around with them from class to class. This seems risky. What if they lost it? I don't think they make copies of it.

4. Don't leave your office until the final grades are in. For example, if you have 2 Monday classes, don't leave your office that Monday night until the grades are in the computer. Same with Tuesday, etc. Procrastination leads to stress!

5. Double-check your grades to avoid mistakes and problems later. After I've inputted all my grades, I go back and make sure my spreadsheet grades match what I have on paper. Then, I go into the computer system and double-check that the final grade matches what I have on my spreadsheet.

Basic Thoughts on Getting an ESL Job

2011-07-04T14:58:00.001-07:00

I'm sure that at least 50% of the resumes/pics get thrown in the garbage for the following reasons:

1. The picture is totally unprofessional. Wear business attire and have a head shot done against a plain background.

2. Tripel chek you're resume+cover leter for grammer/spelling error. (Haha!)

3. If the job ad states that they want scans of your diploma, send them! Ditto with reference letters, etc. Incomplete applications just get thrown out.

4. Don't say that you "just want to make money" or "I want to travel to Asia." Instead, maybe you could say, "I'm considering teaching as a future career, and I'd like to get some experience in this field" or "I'm very interested in ________culture and language and I'd like an opportunity live in _________ and work closely with some students."

If you do these things, you'll have beaten out most of your competition.

ESL teacher burnout

2011-06-29T22:55:00.000-07:00

Well not much to report from Jeju, just a lot of rain. It kind of crimps my usually active lifestyle. Anyway, I've had lots of time to read and think and relax. Teaching makes me feel tired and by the end of the semester I feel like I couldn't possibly do another week. Along that theme, here are my tips for avoiding burnout when teaching Esl:

1. Most importantly, look after your health. Get enough sleep, exercise and eat well. If you're tired and hungover, and have a full day of teaching, it will be the biggest nightmare imaginable.

2. Don't reinvent the wheel. Most Esl textbooks have at least a few good things you can use. Use them for at least half your class. Then, if you need to, put your time and effort into making up one superstar supplemental activity. But doing 2 or 3 of these extra activities for each class? Burnout!

3. Make testing easy. I have a colleague who records all his speaking tests and doesn't grade while the students are speaking but goes back and listens to his recording. That's double the amount of work I want to do! I listen and grade at the same time with 2 students speaking to each other and find it easy enough to do. The students never complain that the grading is unfair either.

4. Unless you're truly strapped for cash, just say no. At my uni, there is so much OT that I could probably work every minute of the vacations if I wanted to. Except I don't want to because if I did, I would return to my job in September hating my job and my life. Everyone needs a vacation if you want to be able to do the job for more than just a year or two.

5. Get along with your colleagues. Drama is exhausting. If you don't like someone, just avoid them.

6. If you have a shared office, try to avoid it. It's gossipy, drama central. And who can actually do work there efficiently? It's better to find a spot where you can put in a couple quality lesson planning hours rather than 5 distracted hours.

Some Summer Fun

2011-06-18T17:51:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again, when classes have ended and grades are officially in the computer system. Time to relax, and rejuvenate. I'll be heading down to Jeju Island in a few days for a summer of scuba diving. If you're on the island, stop by and say hello. I'll be hanging around Big Blue 33 Diving Shop in Seogwipo-City. Or, come for a dive. I can take you out, even if you're never been before (the advantages of being a scuba instructor). It's a beautiful place, with lots of interesting marine life. Kind of a weird mix of tropical and cold water.

If you need some reading, or viewing this summer, here are my takes on that. 10 Books Worth Reading. 10 Movies Worth Watching.

Prepare yourselves for infrequent posts. I'll be busy with other stuff. But, I'll be back in September with regular updates, and hopefully presenting at the International Kotesol Conference in Seoul in October.

I know the plan, do you know the plan?

2011-06-18T16:54:00.000-07:00

A simple thing that you can do to make your classes run more smoothly is to write the lesson plan up on one side of the board. I never used to do this, but when I started doing it, I noticed a big difference in terms of keeping things organized and on track.

It's very easy to do. For example, I'll write:

1. Review Game "Big/Bigger"

2. Page 32-Family Vocab + Conversation.

3. Grammar: simple past. Page 35
Partner conversation +class activity.

4. Homework: June 12 +19

5. Next week: Unit 7 +talk about final test

At the beginning of class, after the "Hello, the weather is terrible, how are you today?" spiel, I'll walk over to the edge of the board and go over the plan for the day. And at the end of the class, I'll go over it again quickly, highlighting the homework and what's happening next week.

I think the thing I like most about it is that it keeps students motivated until the end of class. Sometimes, when there is no end in sight, it's tough to keep going. But, each time I move to a new activity, I point it out and it's easy for the students to see where we're at. If we're on the last thing, the students know they are almost done and will put in a final little bit of effort.

Review: Active English Discussion

2011-06-18T16:45:00.000-07:00

I recently used this book by Andrew Finch for the aviation class that I previously talked about, and I've also used it for a more intensive conversation class that met 4 times/week over the course of a semester. I've used other books in the series for kids classes as well.

I think the book is okay, but not great and I'll probably not use it again, if I have a choice about it. I'll review some things I like and some things I don't like:

Like:

1. It's Korea-based, which makes for more interesting topics of interest to my students.

2. There are a variety of activities to do.

Don't like:

1. The readings are way too long for a discussion book. You could spend a whole 50 minute class on the reading, and never get into the discussion. You could actually use the readings for a reading comprehension class.

2. A lot of the topics are old-news. Family, school life, etc have all been covered by every basic textbook the students have previously studied.

3. For a discussion class, I like short, concise units. Like 2 pages. This book used about 8 pages/unit. It's almost impossible to cover it one class, but to continue the topic into the next class is kind of weird too. Just awkward.

Motivation, at Kotesol 2011

2011-06-18T16:39:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, an oldie that somehow stayed in draft form but never got published. Anyway, here it is:

I attended a presentation on Motivation by Ralph Cousins at the recent Kotesol Conference. I had to see who my competition was. Haha! Joking. It's actually just an area that I've really interested in I guess.

He had a few good things to say that I already incorporate into my lessons.

1. Get everyone organized before class starts. Make sure everyone is on the same page (literally!).

2. Less is better. I usually pick a single grammar point or vocab set and I'll build a whole lesson on it.

3. Make contact with all the students. Those who aren't engaged are the ones who act up.

4. Don't assume students know even the simplest things. You'd be surprised at how many Korean Uni students don't even know the most basic, simple grammar (ex: she walkS/ He is goING). I think mastering the basics is better than kind of knowing the more difficult.

5. Make a short list of what you're going to do in class and write it on the board. This helps people stay focused.

6. Always model things first. I will never turn students loose without them seeing me do it first. NEVER! It just doesn't work that well.

And some things that I'm going to try to do:

1. Focus more on my body language. Point your ear towards someone to show that you're listening. Hold your hands above your waist and facing up to show that you're open to what the person has to say.

2. Give students a one or two minute break every 20 minutes. It will help them learn.

3. Don't look down on the poor students. They are good at something else and are maybe late-bloomers that will succeed later in life. Who knows.

What's the goal?

2011-06-14T20:19:00.000-07:00

This past semester, I was one of the unlucky ones that got chosen to teach in the new aviation services program that my uni is starting up. I haven't talked about it yet because it was so stressful and to blog about it would perhaps push me over the edge. It's done now though, and I've gotten out of the program for next year so I can write a few posts about it without letting it get the best of me.

Why was it so frustrating? Because no one was in charge. The English department at my uni wanted nothing to do with it, nor did the Aviation services department really when it came down to the nuts and bolts of books, and things to teach, and what the students actually needed.

Anyway, the other 3 teachers and I pressed various people for what we were actually supposed to teach and this is what we heard over the course of the semester:

1. Anything! Just general conversation. Whatever!

2. In-flight announcements

3. Aviation interview English

4. The student's TOEIC scores are so low! Help them with grammar!

5. Speaking practice.

6. Self-introduction. SELF-INTRODUCTION!!!

Does that seem confusing? It sure was. It made my head spin in circle, after circle, after circle as each week went on. What did I end up doing? Just using ~~teaching~~ a general conversation book. I was too stressed about by the whole thing to try to make any more sense of it.

And to add to the chaos, it was a non-credit night-class, but we were supposed to trick the students and give them tests and pretend that the class actually mattered, even though it really didn't. Attendance? Of course they had to come each night! Were there any consequences for not coming? No.

What's my point of this little rant? Having clear goals is essential. Even general ones, such as "work on conversation ability" or "speaking practice" or "interview English" or "make English fun!" I can work with. In retrospect I should have just chosen one of those goals I was given, ignored all the other ones and worked from there. I tried to cover a little of everything, which didn't really work for me, or for the students and it made it the most stressful class I've ever taught.

How much do your students pay in tuition?

2011-06-14T16:03:00.000-07:00

An interesting article from the Joongang Daily about how much Korean uni students are paying in tuition, and the backlash against it. The numbers thrown around are 6-7 million/year ($5500-6500 US) for tuition. And this is for one of the top 3 unis in Korea (Korea University). I know it's similar at my uni.

Anyway, I find the number extremely reasonable, especially when considering South Korea's feet are now stuck firmly in the first world, with one of the top 10 economies in the world. I remember about 10 years ago, when I was going to uni in Canada, tuition was about that amount, or even more. And why don't you try going to one of the Ivy Leaguers? I'm sure the tuition would be 5-10 times (or even more) than students in Korea pay. Kind of ridiculous. But, protesting high tuition seems to a right of passage for students from all around the world!

8 Games to play with your students from Chris

2011-06-14T15:55:00.000-07:00

Here is Chris in South Korea's list. There are a few good ones, but also a couple of dubious learning value (such as Hangman), so use with caution.

It's that time of year again

2011-06-10T17:08:00.000-07:00

It seems like I just did this same topic only a couple of weeks ago for midterm exams! Time flies when you're having fun, or something like that. Anyway, if anyone is interested, the 2 speaking tests that I'll be administering this semester can be found below. Basically, the students have to memorize the questions and will ask their randomly chosen partner one question from each set (there are 5 sets so 5 questions on the test). They can't ask their partner the same question that they were asked, but must choose a new question. I grade on various things such as grammar, fluency, pronunciation, and answer appropriate for question.

Top Notch Level 2 Exam
Top Notch Level 1 Exam

Lesson Planning....in the cloud

2011-06-09T19:21:00.000-07:00

If your uni is like mine, you'll end up teaching the same books for at least a couple of years. Instead of reinventing the wheel each year with new lesson plans, an easy way to keep track of your lesson plans is with Google Documents. It takes only a little more effort to write out my plan on the computer and print it out than if I do it by hand. And then at the end of the week, I just throw out the plan because I have it online. No more collecting papers for me. The next year, I'll do a quick search in Google Documents, find the lesson plan and do a few quick modifications. Usually, I'm pretty good at remembering what worked and what didn't from the year before.

A few tips:

1. Label things clearly. For example, I'll use, "Top Notch 2, Unit 1B" or, "Level 1, Midterm Exam Review Game" so as not to get confused the next year and waste time searching for stuff.

2. Plan things ahead of time. If you're the kind of teacher who scribbles something on a piece of paper 5 minutes before class, this won't work. Printers break, and run out of ink. The Internet is sometimes down. I usually plan 2 or 3 weeks ahead of time.

3. Don't be afraid to scribble all over your lesson plan after your first class. I teach the same class 5-9 times each semester. The first class is kind of like a testing ground and I almost always make modifications based on how things went.

4. Collaborate with your colleagues. We don't do this at my uni, but I wish we did. Imagine the possibilities if everyone used Google Docs and shared their lesson plans?

Game Day...a good one for bigger groups

2011-06-07T02:06:00.000-07:00

In one of the extra programs that I teach in at my uni, we have an "activity day" periodically. For groups of less than 8, it's very easy to come up with something to do. However, what about those groups of 8-15? A bit more of a challenge. Something that works really well is "Spoons" or "Board-Marker." Bring enough spoons or markers so that you'll have the same amount as people, minus 1. Then, you need a deck of cards. Sort them so that you have 1 set of 4/person, plus 2 extra for smaller groups or 3 extra for the bigger ones.

Have the students sit around a table in a circle. Put the spoons spread out in the center of the table. Deal each student 4 cards. You'll have a few extra cards in your hand. Give one more card to the person on the left. They look at it, and either keep it or pass it on to the left. And so it goes around the circle. You keep dealing out all the extra cards and it's a speed game. When a student has a matching set of 4, they pick up a spoon. Then, all the students try to get a spoon. The student that doesn't have one is out. Keep reducing the number of spoons and cards as more people are out. You'll eventually have 2 winners. Give them a point and play another round.

Hints:

1. Make sure students only have 4 cards in their hand at a time.

2. If you have a bigger group of say 12 people, reduce the spoons by 2 or 3 each time to speed the game up. That way, if you're out in the first round, you only have to wait a few minutes until you can play again.

Reader Question...a move from Japan to Korea

2011-05-30T18:56:00.000-07:00

These ones from Jeff:

"I wanted to ask if there were any job possibilities in Korea as things in Japan are drying up and working at better Uni's is hard to come by. We have 30 weeks a year for teaching, 15 per semester but the Ministry of Education and the Work Laws have changed and forced those of us who depend on part-time positions to run like crazy from uni to uni to make ends meet. My guess is the work year is longer there but the pay and housing is better according to what I've seen on your page. Is there a common board where jobs are posted by Korean uni's or is it word of mouth. I have heard that working 3 days a week can actually save a load of money and live well. I'm working 6 days a week at the moment and teaching 20 classes at the moment."

You paint a very rosy picture of Korea Jeff! Lessen that by about 50% and it will much more accurate. Let me answer your questions in list form:

1. There are uni jobs in Korea to be had, but simple demographics (the lowest birthrate in the world) shows that the jobs will be drying up here as well in the next few years. Also, Chinese is becoming the language to learn these days it seems. I wonder how long it will be before students have the choice whether to study Chinese or English as their mandatory language class in uni.

2. Most unis here have 15-16 week semesters. But, a lot of places have mandatory camps or other work during the summer, sometimes paid, sometimes not. A realistic vacation is 4-6 weeks in summer and the same in winter. A standard work-week is about 15 hours.

3. Many jobs are posted on ESL Cafe. But, my guess is that the majority never get advertised and are filled through word of mouth. It can be tough to break into a uni job, without being in Korea doing another job first. 99% of unis require in-person interviews.

4. 3 days/week jobs are very rare. It's usually 4 days/week at unis. However, most people work 5-6 days/week to make more money. Unis will pay a standard salary of 2-2.5 million/month, with free housing. Then, you can make more if you work overtime. The rate is around 30 000 Won/hour.

Hope that helps!

A little introduction goes a long way

2011-05-27T16:25:00.000-07:00

This week in my Top Notch 1 book, we've been talking about appropriate clothes that you'd wear when traveling. There was an excellent reading about what to wear in Holland, Thailand and Egypt. It is actual information taken from real guide-books, which I always like. Real-life stuff.

The only problem was that the reading was a little difficult, probably bordering right on the edge of most student's abilities. However, doing an introduction of the concepts can help overcome this.

To start, I wrote on the board conservative and liberal. The students usually didn't know what they meant, so I had them look them up in their cell-phone dictionaries. I then had a short class discussion about some examples of conservative clothing (long-skirt/ dark suit) and liberal clothing (tight jeans/mini-skirts). Once they did that, I added some more words under each category that could be found in the reading, such as "modest" "anything goes" "long-sleeved" "open-toed shoes." I then left this on the board for the students to refer to throughout the activity.

Finally, I pointed out the pictures in the reading. Students usually fail to notice them. In this case, the pictures introduced 2 vocab points that were central. A Thai Temple, and an Egyptian Mosque.

I gave them a few minutes to do the reading, and encouraged them to use their cell-phones to look up words they didn't know. I wandered around the class answering questions. At the end, they closed their books and I did a mini-quiz, asking them 10 questions. Most groups got 80-100%. Success!

Smart Choice 2 Sample Lesson Plan

2011-05-19T21:21:00.000-07:00

One of my readers has requested some sample lesson plans from the "Smart Choice" series. She teaches the book in her Uni English classes and has been having a hard time making interesting lessons.

I've been teaching Smart Choice for the past 3 years in one of the extra programs I teach in at my school, so have plenty of experience with making this book work in the real world. And actually, I really like this book, even more so when I compare it to what else is out there. In this program that uses this book, it replaced the terrible "Touchstone" series, which was a nightmare to teach.

So, last week in class, I was given pages 59 (listening) and 61 (enjoying English) in Smart Choice 2. My classes are 50 minutes long. This was my lesson plan:

1. I always start each class with a review. So, I reviewed the vocab on page 56. I had the students close the books and gave hints such as, "This can happen if I fall off my bike." Answer=you broke your arm or sprained your ankle. This takes about 5 minutes.

2. Then I reviewed some of the grammar from page 58. I got the students to give me 3 examples of "I_________while I was______ing________." And then 3 examples of "While I was _____ing, I __________." This took about 5 minutes.

3. Then I did the listening on page 59. After part 1, I got the students to have a conversation with each other, after I got them to ask me the questions by way of example. Then, I got each group to tell me quickly what they talked about with their partner. Then, I did part 2. This took 15 minutes or so.

4. Then, I covered page 61. I gave the students 4 minutes to choose A/B/C/D and think of a story that they could tell the class. The had to put their pencils down and not write anything, but just speak, instead of reading off their paper. For under 10 students, we went around the class and everyone listened to their stories. I would ask a few more questions to each student. For bigger classes, I put them in groups of 4 or 5 and they told their group. Then, they picked the best story in their group and they told the whole class. This took 20-25 minutes.

The 4 Stages of Teaching

2011-05-18T16:49:00.000-07:00

In his Kotesol presentation, Ralph Cousins talked about the 4 stages of teaching.

1. Fantasy. You think you can teach English by playing hangman and just talking to the students all class.

2. Survival. You have some strategies for teaching, but they are ineffective. You write on the board too much or use too many videos. You add up your hours and money and worry about all that stuff.

3. Mastery. You use effective strategies and engage in professional development.

4. Impact. Students actually want to learn English because of you.

When I first came to Korea, and started teaching I was clueless and stuck in Stage 1 for the first year or so. My second year, I progressed into stage 2, as I stopped playing so many games and "filling-time" and got more into the student-based thing. Like getting them talking and practicing the grammar point in a variety of ways. And the class not being all about me. And I did see a lot of improvement in my students, because (or in spite of?!) me.

Finally, it was when I got a job at a university, which entailed much more responsibility that I moved into stage 3. I started reading and blogging and talking to colleagues about how to teach ESL. I went to conferences and watched videos and learned the major schools of thought for how to do it. I started keeping a list of games and activities and things that I could do in class. I kept track of my lessons and would evaluate how they went and what I could improve on.

And stage 4? I've seen in some classes when I see the students on a more frequent basis (like 4 days a week, or everyday for 3 weeks in a camp setting) that I have impacted some students on a deeper level. But, those times are minimal. However, I don't see myself falling back into stage 2 very often and I never go back to stage 1. But how to spend more time in stage 4? That's the challenge I guess.

Task Based Language Teaching

2011-05-16T16:33:00.000-07:00

I attended a presentation by Joanne McCuaig on Task-Based Teaching at the recent Kotesol Conference. I liked the ideas that I heard, which included: photo-essays, advertisements, and a Buy Nothing Day thing. However, I walked away feeling a bit confused and unclear as to how to actually set it up and go about it. It's a little overwhelming. And I wished she had expanded upon it a bit more and given me some of the practicalities, instead of letting us talk amongst ourselves for 25 of the 50 minutes. Like a grading grid, or examples of post-task activities.

And, in most of my classes, I have this gargantuan book with what feels like 1000 pages to cover in a single semester, so I wonder how spending so much class time on a task would really fit into this. One day I would like to do a class that is all task-based. It would be a good challenge and a new direction for me in how I teach ESL. Maybe one day!

Kotesol Conference Presentation

2011-05-15T16:30:00.000-07:00

My first Kotesol presentation is finished and done. I was somewhat worried about being able to fill the whole 50 minutes, but as it turns out, Motivation and Reward Systems are topics that everyone seems to have an opinion about, so the 20 or so people added in lots of good thoughts and comments to make for an interactive (and hopefully interesting/helpful) presentation. There was even a wee bit of drama, with an attender that was somewhat hostile and confrontational. It all happened right before my time was up so it fizzled out before it even really got started. Anyway, who knew reward systems could be so controversial?

Here is the power point link that you can check out. Leave a comment with questions or thoughts (particularly if you were at the presentation).

The super-handout

2011-05-10T18:13:00.000-07:00

...of 10 fun ESL games and 10 exciting ESL activities that can be used within your reward system to help increase student motivation. I've made it in preparation for my upcoming KOTESOL presentation.

Just Wandering: Kotesol National Conference

2011-05-08T18:28:00.000-07:00

Just Wandering: Kotesol National Conference: "The schedule is officially out. I'll be presenting at 4:30 next Saturday at the Kotesol Conference in Daejeon. You can come, but don't e..."

Daily Schedule Activity

2011-05-08T18:21:00.000-07:00

It seems that in most beginner ESL textbooks (I'm using Top Notch 1 now), that there is a unit on daily schedules, such as "what time do you get up?" or "what do you do in the afternoon?" A fun (!?) activity that you can do is to have students interview their partner. You can pre-select questions for lower-level classes or let the students choose their own questions for higher levels. Make sure you specify a minimum number of questions if you let the students choose their own. Have the students jot down a few notes as they go. Then, they have to close their notebooks, and in a group of 4, they have to explain their partner's daily schedule.

Reader Question about What Country to Teach In

2011-05-03T16:43:00.000-07:00

These ones from Britton:

"The places we have looked at primarily are: Taiwan, Thailand, and China. How are the job markets for teaching English in the various countries? Is there still high demand? Is there anything we should seriously take into consideration concerning any specific countries before we go (neither of us have ever been to Asia)"

Britton is coming with his brother. He is interested in the experience of living in Asia, while his brother is most interested in saving money and not working horribly long hours.

I've never taught in these countries before, but I have followed the job boards for a few years now and have talked to lots of people who have taught in these places. And, I've traveled to these countries during my time here in Korea, so hopefully my thoughts are helpful!

Taiwan: you'll work harder for the money that you make. Think $15/hour as compared to $30-50 in Korea. Plus, you'll be responsible for your own housing. I've heard that the crappy jobs like Hess are plentiful but to get a decent job in a public school or something can be quite hard to do if you're not a qualified teacher without substantial experience. However, in my brief travels there, I enjoyed it a lot. The people are friendly and relaxed, the food is excellent and cheap and there is no "winter!"

Thailand: I wouldn't really consider this as a place to teach ESL because the pay is so little. You're competing with hordes of backpackers willing to work for almost free in exchange for housing. If you want a paid vacation of sorts, then this is the ultimate place to teach ESL for sure.

China: there is a huge demand for teachers. You should be able to find a decent job there in days. Salaries have increased greatly over the past few years and you should be able to save a reasonable amount of money working here. However, while China does have an interesting history/culture, I didn't really enjoy my time there. The government seems to exert way too much control for my liking. Facebook censorship, regulations about how much money you can send home, red-tape to do almost anything, questionable human rights. It's not for me.

Oh technology, I just can't count on you

2011-05-02T21:03:00.000-07:00

Today, in one of the extra programs I teach in it's an activity day. We can play a game, watch a video, go for a walk or whatever we want. I brought in a Friends DVD and was going to play an episode for the class. The first classroom has a computer that doesn't work. Okay, change classrooms with another teacher. The next classroom won't play my DVD for some reason, even though it worked on the office computer. The computer science student couldn't get it working either, so it wasn't just my lack of computer or Korean skills.

Anyway, I'm happy I had Pictionary as a back-up. I always have a back-up when planning anything like this. Sometimes, it just seems not worth it to use technology when I have to make a back-up lesson plan in case it doesn't work.

I feel annoyed.

Come see me...live and in person at the Kotesol National Conference

2011-04-30T18:10:00.000-07:00

I will be presenting at the Kotesol Conference on Saturday May 14th, at Kaist in Daejeon. I'll be extremely happy if some readers of the blog come to see me (and please introduce yourselves).

My topic is: Motivation: Reward Systems that Actually Work. I'll be talking about how I run my classes, and what I've found has worked in the uniquely Korean context with regard to motivation. It focuses mainly on uni students but can easily be applied to younger learners. I promise no death by powerpoint, or zero interaction. You can register for the conference here. It's only 15 000 if you're a Kotesol member.

Don't be this guy at the office

2011-04-29T17:32:00.000-07:00

A hater story from a Geek in Korea. One of his co-workers is bringing the whole office down due to his constant complaining. It makes me thankful that I have a private office. It's definitely one of the things to ask about when you're comparing your uni job offers. To me, I'd take a 100 000/month pay hit just to not deal with all the gossip, negativity and inane conversation that happens when a bunch of foreigners in Korea get together.

Anyway, some advice for you. Don't be that person. When you come to Korea for the first time, or start a new uni job just chill out for the first few months. Things are going to be chaotic. Korea style is bali bali (fast/fast), last minute. It usually works itself out in the end. Try to never complain. Just tell yourself things are different. And in your first semester at a uni, you probably won't get that much overtime. All the vets who know the ropes will snap it up before you. Don't complain or stress about it. Just make some connections and figure out how things work for next semester. Drop your name around as willing to work OT. And if you have a bad schedule your first semester? Well, things change in 16 weeks so don't stress.

A new site added to my sidebar

2011-04-26T16:40:00.000-07:00

I've added a site that I hope will be helpful for you in your lesson planning. It's called eslwriting.org and it's made by a uni teacher in Busan. He also happens to be a writer for the Lonely Planet. The site has plenty of activities to keep your students engaged and learning, covering not only writing but speaking and listening as well. His link list also has lots of good stuff that I'm going to check out further.

Pod English

2011-04-26T03:09:00.001-07:00

I've just recently discovered these Pod English Videos on Youtube, covering a wide array of topics. They're a perfect way to introduce a unit.

Reader Question about Testing

2011-04-24T18:05:00.000-07:00

These ones from Caroline:

"Are your exams strictly oral, or do you also administer a written component? Is the final designed in a group by all the instructors together, or does each instructor do his/her own thing? Do you do one on one interviews, or do you have them come up in groups of two or more and do situation cards with roleplaying? Do you have the resources to videotape the interviews? What about audio recording resources?"

Lots of questions! I will do my best to answer them. At my university, the instructors are left up to their own devices as to how to test the students. The only requirement is that there is some sort of "oral component," since it's a conversational English class. Some of my colleagues interpret this strictly to mean 1-1 conversation with the teacher, while other are a bit looser and do things like presentations or role-play cards.

I do different things every semester with regard to written evaluation, since I like experimenting and keeping it interesting for myself. I have done written tests and quizzes in the past, but I'm not doing it this semester. 20% of their final grade is online homework (as mandated by my uni), which is all of the "written" variety, mostly vocab, grammar and reading.

I have done 1-1 interviews in the past, but I find it way too tedious and stressful so I prefer not to do it this way anymore. I have some classes with up to 30 students, so 1.5 hours is just not enough time to do it fairly and accurately. I've never tried the situation card thing before. I'm not so sure how to set it up, to be honest. I just can't make the logistics of it all work out in my head. Perhaps the readers could give me some advice?

In recent semesters, I've started doing partner testing, with random partners. This semester so far, we've studied 5 units. I gave them a list of questions from each of the units. About 4 questions/unit. So around 20 questions in total. Then, I bring them into my office in groups of 6. I pick 2 of the people to ask each other questions, one from each unit. I just listen and evaluate. They can't use a paper and have to memorize their questions. I give them a grid by which I evaluate.

I could probably get a Video Camera, or audio record, except I don't. I test 150-200 students each semester, so it would be incredibly time-consuming to go back and re-evaluate each student. Students generally seem to be happy with their grades and feel it's fair.

And...it's that time of year again

2011-04-24T16:52:00.000-07:00

The yellow-dust season in Korea (otherwise known as Spring in Canada), also known as Mid-term Exams! They usually bring joy to my heart, since it's a week where I'm not on center stage, doing my little teaching thing. I'm not a person who loves being the center of attention, I've just learned to adapt to it because of my job. Instead this week, I just take a back-seat role and let the students do their thing.

Coming up to this week (and the morning of my first test-now!) I always have the little debate in my head about how exactly to do it. 1-1, which is exhausting for me. And I actually try to avoid the situation where I'm in my office (I have a private one), alone, with a student. 2/3-1, which is a good mix but can take a long time for a class of 25 students. Or, just do it with the whole class together, but that can amp up the stress, as students are worried about embarrassing themselves in front of their peers.

So, I usually settle on taking students into my office in groups of 4-6, depending on the class size. A smaller class: groups of 4, larger: groups of 6. It is big enough to have some witnesses, should a student bomb miserably and I give them an "F." They can't really argue with me when it was clear to 5 other people how truly terrible they were. Yet it is small enough that the atmosphere is kind of friendly and not so high stress. And in a big class, it goes fast enough. Just 4 groups of 6.