Public school jobs now require some actual credentials?

Check out this post from Joy about her recent public school job, job search.  Despite having 2 years of experience, she's having a hard time because schools seem to want to hire someone with a teaching or English degree or something similar. 

My thoughts?  Good for you Korea!  It's about time you stopped giving jobs to people with a BA in computer science (or something of the sort) and a pulse.  Not that I'm qualified as a "real teacher" but at least my degrees are in the social sciences, I had to write papers and take English classes.

Chinese students in English class

I've had a few Chinese students in my classes over the years here in Korea, and from my experience, they are either far better than most of the Korean students or far worse.  By far worse, I mean don't know their numbers, colors, and day of the week and don't know what sounds the letters make.  What makes it tricky at my uni is that I teach mostly required classes.  The students have to pass 2 semesters of English to get their degree.  Anyway, how do I deal with these students who really can't read?  I get them to come to my office for some private tutoring once or twice a week for an hour or so and teach them how to read.  This improves the situation considerably and they can at least try to participate in class.  And I give them special, extremely simple tests on the stuff I've worked with them in my office about.  If they do okay, I give them a "D" in the class and they're on their way to bigger and better things.  If they are unwilling to work with me, I'll give them an "F."

Anyway, here is a story from A Geek in Korea about a particularly bad Chinese Student.  My main question would be whether this class is a mandatory one.  If yes, well, then, I can't believe that the Geek didn't show a lot more compassion.  The student hasn't made it his "goal...to fail a class so completely."  He is simply unable to perform to the same abilities as the other students, which is probably no fault of his own.  Maybe this is his first English class ever?

If this class is an optional class and the student signed up for it voluntarily, this changes the situation a bit.  But, the Geek mentioned that the student doesn't really speak Korean either.  So, the uni has to register him in something, and this class was probably one of the only ones even remotely possible.  So, again, a little compassion perhaps?  Have some private sessions with him in your office?  Work with him on his presentation, so he can do it in class without making a total fool of himself in front of his classmates. 

Anyway, poor guy.   And I don't mean the teacher.  I mean the student.  I just hope the teacher isn't as cruel in class to the student as he is in writing about him.

Reader Question...how old is too old?

This one from Blair, wondering if 61 years old is too old.  He's tried EPIK, as well as some recruiters so far and has had, "You're too old," or no response at all. His question is whether it is worth it to apply to unis in Korea and China, and if yes, how to go about this.  He wants to work for 6 months-1 year.

I'd deal with the age thing first.  I've had a couple coworkers who were in their 50's or 60's.  And I've met some foreigners teaching in various kinds of jobs that were that old as well.  So, it certainly is possible.  However, in most places, it's the younger and the more handsome/beautiful, the better teacher you must surely be.   If you're willing to work in the countryside, then you would have a much better chance at getting a job.  But, being the only foreigner within 50 square kilometers is not so appealing to everyone. 

As for China?  Well, it's a much bigger place so I'd say your chances are certainly higher of getting a job there.  And  I would venture a guess and say that there is probably not a lot of demand for those 4000-6000 RMB jobs.  But, I don't have any information on the age thing.  

And the 6 month thing.  NEVER say this on your application to Korea.  All places want a minimum 1 year contract. 

As for how to apply?  Blair is wondering if he should just send a package to every uni in Korea and China (there are lists out there somewhere).  This is kind of a waste of your time I would think.  For one thing, unis in Korea generally don't hire out of country applicants.  Secondly, unsolicited applications don't get any attention (I've been there and done that in Korea!).  Based solely on my perusing the China job boards, it seems that unis there will hire from out of country. 

So my final piece of advice!  Peruse the Chinese job boards at ESL Cafe and ESL Teachers Board.  Follow the directions precisely for what they want in your application package.  Get a professional picture taken wearing a suit and tie.  And not that I'm the grammar police or anything, but your email to me had many typos and grammar mistakes.  Get someone to proofread your resume and cover letter.  If your resume was the same quality as the email, a native speaker (and fluent-ish Koreans or Chinese) would just throw it in the garbage.  Be concise.  You are quite possibly dealing with people who don't know English that well.  They just need the highlights of any teaching related experience you have.  That's it. 

Good luck.

Can/can't...a fun game

This week, my classes are learning about can/can't.  A fun game you can play is the following:

Put the students in teams of 2, 3, or 4 depending on how big your classes are.  They have to pick 1 animal, and 1 thing, but must keep it a secret from their classmates.  My 2 examples were:

Animal: Giraffe

1. It can eat leaves
2. It can't live in Korea
3. It can see easily over tall things

Thing: Air Conditioner

1. I can see it now
2. It can be bad for the environment
3.It can help me in the summer but not winter.

The students write their 2 secret words, as well as their 3 hints for each one.  Then you collect the papers and use them to play a game.  There are various ways you can do it, but I will go in a circle based on where the teams are sitting.   The team whose paper I'm reading has to be quiet and can't give hints.  The first team get the first hint and then they can have a guess.  If no answer, the next team gets hint #2 and a guess.  And so on.  If the three hints don't do it, I'll give additional hints so make sure your students write the answers on the papers.

Public school jobs in Korea

A decent summary of the Gepik/Smoe/Epik programs in Korea.  However, there is one inaccuracy.  These three do not encompass all the programs.  Gangnam, Chungnam, and Busan hire people apart from these programs.  There are probably more, but I don't know them off-hand.

A simple game to review vocab

I'll use this game once or twice a semester to either review vocab that we've studied in class that day, or to start off a new class to review stuff from the previous week.  I make a grid on my computer.  Maybe 4x5.  Then, I fill in the chart with half words and half definitions.  Examples from this week:
Exhausted/very tired. It's between my head and shoulders/neck. If I drink too much soju/stomachache.

Make a few copies and cut them out. Put the students in groups of 4 or 5 and have them put them face down on the desk.  They go around, one at a time trying to make a match.  If you make a match, you get to go again. 

Student Evaluations

Another helpful thread on ESL Cafe, this time about contract renewals being based solely/heavily on student evaluations.  And, I've talked about this topic numerous times.  Anyway, check these two things out for some "pro tips" for happy success at renewal time.

An update/summary on the Aids test for English teachers

Thanks to Gusts of Popular Feeling for compiling all the info into one place.

Grade Inflation

There is a thread going on, on ESL Cafe, talking about "integrity in university grading."  If you've never taught at a Korean uni, you probably won't have any idea of what it's like and assume it's kind of the same as it was when you went to uni back in the Western world somewhere  Well, it's not. 

Standards here are extremely lax and getting into uni is basically a guarantee of getting your certificate 4 (for the girls) or 6 (for the boys) years later.  Homework, studying, reports: they all seem optional. 

Anyway...some of my coworkers stress continually about this.  Talk, talk, talk endlessly and compare it all to how it is back home.  In fact, it's often these same people that compare daily life kind of stuff to how it is back home and they find that Korea can never measure up.  This is not really a good way to live, because it just causes too much stress and your life becomes this weird warped reality.

So what should you do?  Just chill out.  Take a few deep breaths.  Go with the flow.  Yes, we all know that academic standards are non-existent in Korea, and that cheating/plagiarism is rampant but you can't change the system, you know?   What you can change is how you run your classes.

How does this work out in my classes?  They are easy.  Far easier than any uni-level (or even high school!) language class back home would be.  I have such low expectations that it would be almost impossible for students not to meet them.  It's a win-win for everyone.  I freely give out A/B's for moderate efforts and C/D's for minimal effort.  Only the truly terrible students get "F."  Seniors will always get at least a "D" for showing up/doing a little homework, no matter how bad their test scores.  This reduces my stress considerably.

Testing?  Of course students will cheat, which is why I do speaking tests 1-1 with me, where it's impossible to cheat.  Written kind of tests?  I spell it out to them before.  If I see a cellphone-fail!  Writing on desk/arm-fail!  Talking to their friend-fail!  And of course I make multiple tests with slightly different questions and in a random order.  Assignments?  If you copy off the internet-fail!  Copy off your friend-you both fail!  I essentially have no late policy for assignments.  I always give them 2 weeks to do it, and after that, it's a "0."  It's actually quite simple and doesn't cause me any stress.  If you spell it to the students beforehand, who can really complain to you when you give them an "F."

Steal the Eraser

Thanks to one of coworkers, Danielle for the basic idea of this game.

Divide the students into 2 teams.  Have 2 desks at the front of the class, facing each other, with an eraser in the middle of the 2 desks.  One student from each team comes and sits in the hot seat.  Rotate through so that all the students get a chance to play.  You then ask a question of some sort.  The first person that grabs the eraser can try to answer the question.  My rule is that you can take the eraser whenever you want, but I"ll only say the question once.  I then count 10 seconds down on my fingers.  Their team can help them with the answer, but only in English.  If correct, they get 1 point.  If not, the other team gets a chance to answer the question.

This week in class, we're studying "When I _________, I ______/ I __________when I ________.

So, I would say something like, "When I feel happy, I _________." Or "I'm late for school when __________"

And of course, to make it even more exciting or if one team is behind by a lot of points, have a "Bonus Round," where the teams pick their best 3 players and each question is worth 2 or 3 points, or something like that.