Vacation!

...until the last week of August, so there may be sparse updates on here.  I'm usually inspired to write by things that happen in the classroom.  In the meantime, check out my personal blog, Just Wandering for my travels and happenings this summer.

Teaching writing at a uni in Korea, part 2

Thank you Gord Sellar.

Another take on teaching writing at a uni in Korea

This is from Gord Sellar's blog

You'll find me here

50 Terrific Teaching Abroad Blogs.  "This Enthusiastic blogger."  I'm blushing a little.

It's a choice

So I was talking recently to one of my friends who is teaching here in Korea about the dilemma of failing students at a uni.  It seems that not many of the Korean professors will do it, and will almost never do it to a senior.  You pay the money, come to 11/16 classes, and you get the degree is generally how it works around here.

Now, my class standards are low.  Shockingly low compared to what I went through in Canada.  They are in completely different stratospheres actually.  You'll pass my class if you come to *most* of the classes, show up for the 2 written, and 2 speaking tests (having studied for an hour or two before-and I give them the questions beforehand), and do 2 homework assignments that take about an hour each.  That's it.  But, at least 10% of each class can't quite manage this and end up with astoundingly low grades of like 24%.  So, I fail them.

Then, they will inevitably come to my office with the, "I'm sorry teacher, my father is very angry, please help me, sorry, sorry, sorry."  It used to pull at my heart strings until my friend helped me shift my thinking.  Now, I use the, "It was your choice."  It was your choice, my student whether to come to class or play with your friend,  or sleep in.  It was your choice whether to leave early enough to allow for a busy shuttle bus or to cut it too close so you missed the class.   It was your choice to pick a school that was 3 hours away from your house.   It was your choice to do the homework or not.  I'm not your mother to be chasing after you for it.  It was your choice to cheat on the exam, so that I had to give you a zero.  It was your choice to just skip the exam and lose the 15% that went along with it.  It was your choice to not study for the test, even when I give you the questions ahead of time.  It was your choice to not try hard to speak English in class so that you had no participation points. It was all just your choice and now, once it's too late, and you have an "F," it's not my problem, it's yours, my students.  See you next year perhaps.  

What is easy is not always the best

I had an interesting conversation with a co-worker today about how to work the communicative approach but still get good student evaluations. He said (and I'd agree) that most Korean students just like to show up, get their grade for attendance, let you tell them the answers and pages to study for the test, memorize a few key things and be done with it. Actually learning English through engaging with it in a real kind of way is secondary. And I can understand, because for most of them learning English isn't really necessary at all. And so if you give in and appease them with this teaching style that essentially demands nothing of them, you'll probably get very good evaluations, which get looked at pretty closely during contract renewal time.

But I think other styles can work, although they are a bit harder to implement at the beginning. Basically, in a 90 minute class, I will talk in front of the class for about 5-10 minutes. Usually about 5 minutes explaining grammar, and about 5 more minutes on admin stuff and explaining activities. Although this style is not what Korean students are used to, in the end I think it puts the responsibility for learning English back into the student's hands. I'm more or a guide than a guru, which Koreans don't really understand at first. But by the end of the semester, most of my students say that my class is their favorite one out of all their uni classes or the best English class they've ever taken.

Another take on teaching at a uni in Korea

This from Chris in South Korea.

It explains a lot

Let's just say this: That when you're teaching at a middle of the road or low end uni in Korea, you're not exactly teaching the brightest and the best as you might be back home.  A shockingly high 82 % of high school graduates go to uni in Korea.

Wow. I thought it was high but I had no idea it was this high.  No wonder college eduated people are working at cell-phone shops, driving taxis, arranging flowers and cutting hair. 

A fun activity about travel

This week, in World Link Book 1 we were learning about travel and places to go on vacation.  For a fun activity, I put them in groups of four and gave them a little assignment:

Choose a place your group wants to go on vacation (outside Korea).  Why do you want to go there?  What season do you want to go and why?  What are you doing to do there (3 or 4 things)?  Are there any special clothes or things you need to bring? 

I gave the groups 15 minutes and then I had one person in each group report their answers to the class and I wrote a quick summary on the board.  I gave a small prize to the groups with the most interesting answers.

English teachers from India

An interesting new development from K-land.  I'm not so sure this will really pan out.  Moms seem to love the white face, blond hair and blue eyes here in Korea and black/Asians have generally had a hard time finding jobs here, even if they are from North America.  Indians, generally equated with migrant workers and therefore lower on the social totem pole (in Korean thinking...not mine!), might have an even tougher go at it.