Monday, March 2, 2009

First Day At School For New Native English Teachers in Korean Public Schools -- Checklist

The check list below is part of a series of check lists I made for the orientation program I put together.

There are probably items that need to be added, but I think that most of the big things are here.

And again, if you copy this and use it please cite the source: Jason Ryan.

Thanks,
J


First Day At School For New Native English Teachers -- Checklist


1. Meet the principal.

2. Meet the vice-principal.

3. Meet the administration office manager.

PRIORITY: Go as soon as possible to the Immigration Office to apply for your alien registration card. Set up a time and date with your co-teacher before you do any other task.

4. Ask your co-teacher to show you where your desk is located.

5. If there is not a computer set up at your desk, ask your co-teacher to organize getting one set up for you.

6. a) Make an appointment with the school computer technician. Ask your co-teacher to ask the technician if it is possible to remove the Hangul Windows and install and set up English Windows, MS Word, and Power Point. Also, make sure that your Internet connection is working, and that your hard drive is networked to a printer.

b) Make a second appointment with the school computer technician to learn how to operate any teaching technology devices that you might want to use in the English classroom, English Zone, etc.

7. Ask your co-teacher to give you a tour of the school building, and explain where different rooms are like the cafeteria, bathrooms, and other relevant information you need to know.

8. Check out the school library to see what English resources are available like dictionaries, etc.

9. Ask for basic office supplies like pens, pencils, paper, etc, for your desk.

10. Ask for a calendar. Go over the calendar with your co-teacher and a copy of the school calendar of special festival and trip dates, test dates, and exams. Mark these down on your calendar.

11. Learn how to do the basic functions with the office photocopier.

12. Ask your co-teacher, and other Korean English teachers at your school if they have any summer or winter English camp books that you can look at for ideas for lesson plans.

13. Find out if there was a native teacher at your school before you and look for old files, lesson plans, and other materials that you might be able to use.

14. Ask your co-teacher for a copy of the school's daily class schedule.

15. Ask your co-teacher to make a copy of the school schedule with your classes clearly marked on it. The names of Korean English co-teachers should also be put on the schedule next to the Class number. For example, Park Ha Na, 103, Wednesday 6th Period

2 comments:

Swiss James said...

Found you from here

http://www.koreasparkle.com/2009/03/kimchi-ice-cream-on-how-to-make-it-as-a-teacher-in-korea/

This whole series looks like it's going to help a lot of people. I've started referring new teachers to it already.

Props.

Brian said...

I think you should also point out about getting paid. I mean, getting reimbursed for the flight over here and getting a settlement allowance that's included in a lot of contracts nowadays.

Make sure your schools know about these things and that they're supposed to be paying you these.

The rub is, they can't pay you cash and have to put it in your bank account. You can't get a bank account without your passport, and you won't have your passport back until you get your ARC. So it can take a few weeks to over a month (in my case) to get this money. Teachers coming here expecting to live off that money will find themselves out of luck. So make sure schools know about this compensation, and make sure the coteacher finds time ASAP to get a bank account set up.