Teaching - Fact vs Fiction

Before you come to Korea you will have many pre-conceived notions, or concepts, of how to teach, or of how teaching will be in Korea. Here are a few possible things you might be thinking:

You think:

The co-teacher is there to discipline the students. (nope, this will be disputed with some teachers, and some won’t lift a finger, even if you manage to tell the right people about the situation)

The students will want to learn English. (nope, the skill levels are very mixed within every class the majority of your classes will not want to learn, this creates havoc in your classroom discipline because there are many students that don’t care about your class.)

I’ll get to teach advanced students. (nope, most of the time, you’ll teach low level, even at university, you’ll probably still be required to teach freshmen who are required to take your class whether they are English majors or not.)

I’m there to teach English. (nope, you’re there to fill a need to satisfy the needs of parents who what to see that there is a western-looking person at their child’s school. The reason why people were spending so much money on hagwons, or private after-schools, was because the government was slow to respond to the growing need of parents to see their child get taught by a western figurehead.)

I’ll have a co-teachers help. (nope, they will try as much as possible to not help you, they have no reason whatsoever to help you – no evaluation, no standards for teaching with you, they aren’t affected by anything you do unless you don’t go along with trying to babysit the masses.)

They’ll have resources to help me teach. (nope, if you teach at an elementary school then there should be a book that you have to follow most of the time, if you work at a middle or high school, you are most likely screwed. There are many horror stories about people buying books and not being reimbursed.)

They’ll train me. (nope, more like throw you in cold-turkey, you’ll get no real training ever; Korean co-teachers don’t know a thing about teaching English, hence why they erroneously think you are their savior.)

I’m a teacher. (nope, this is only on your contract, which in Korea is worthless, no one will treat you like a real teacher, you are pretending to be one in Korea, and the Korean teachers are there to help you pretend.)

Teaching can’t be that bad. (nope, most native English teachers that go home after a workday aren’t pleased with their jobs, facebook becomes a daily Alcohol Anonymous meeting. There’s a reason why most people can’t wait to leave Korea.)

There will be someone to help me if I have any problems. (nope, even though every school designates a Korean teacher (not necessarily English teacher) to help you, and they are paid additionally to do it the whole year long, they are usually not very helpful. Back to no checks and balances; all they have to do is make sure you don’t screw up, they will be slow to do anything you ask and will often ‘forget’ you even asked for something. To them you aren’t important, don’t forget that).

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What a co-teacher thinks before you arrive at their school:

I need to pretend to be nice when I first meet them so the native teacher will do stuff for me later, even though for the rest of the year I’ll won’t do anything for them in return.

I won’t have to do a thing because they’re my subordinate.

I wish I didn’t have to pretend to work with native English teachers.

Maybe I can get them to do some of my work.

Maybe I can make them make me look better at my school.

Is there a competition where I can pretend I’m the best Korean co-teacher and look better than other Korean teachers?

How can I manipulate them to do my bidding?

What is the minimum amount of work I can do, always?