EFL/ESL Native English Teacher Speaking Tests in a Korean Public High School — Planning and giving speaking tests Part 1

At the beginning of the spring/summer semester at my high school I found out that I was going to be allowed to give speaking tests for my 12 ‘second’ grade classes. Last semester I dropped several comments every once and a while about how student motivation and classroom behavior are heavily influenced by whether or not there are test points assigned to the lesson content they are learning in my co-teachers ears . . . and apparently during a pre-semester meeting it was decided that I could have 10% of the English grade. For my 10 ‘first’ grade classes, though, at first I was told there weren’t any test points that I could get assigned to my classes . . . and then later, about six weeks or so, I was told I could write 3 questions of the 33 questions on the mid-term and final exams for the English section of the test . . . this just goes to show one of many examples of how hard it is for native English teachers to design a semester syllabus, choose the curriculum, and how testing points are all too often not assigned to their classes and/or they’re told about the testing points weeks after they have already prepared and designed their lessons . . . but I digress, and should get back to writing about the process I went through designing my speaking tests.

I have a lot of experience designing speaking tests and administering them with different kinds of EFL language learners (from middle school and high school to pre-service student teachers and in-service Korean English teachers). But I decided to do some research and re-read materials I have in my EFL/ESL library (see the list of relevant books at the bottom of this post) cause I hadn’t looked at them in a long time. While doing my research and writing up my speaking test design I thought to myself, “What do you do when researching “EFL/ESL speaking test +Korea +public school +high school” and your own writing is the only thing you find that is relevant? HAS NOBODY who teaches high school in Korea designed speaking tests, and then written about it online? Wow.”

Actually, there are bloggers who have written about speaking tests in Korean public high schools but they are a minority. Also, due to the nature of blogging as an informal genre most of them haven’t really gone into much detail about their test design process, why they chose the test format they did, and other details that I would have really liked to read about the experiences of other native teachers in Korean public schools doing speaking tests . . .

One teacher I did find, and I posted about, wrote this series by Supplanter‘s blog which I found pretty interesting–and which reinforced my decision to record all the speaking tests with my mp3 player (something I usually do anyways–Korean university students are notorious for trying to get their test scores raised if they don’t like them, so when they do come to ask for an increase I suggest we review their recordings and look at my notes for their test . . . this usually dissuades most of the complainers, lol).

The Grade Changing Fiasco Part 1

The Grade Changing Fiasco Part 2

The Grade Changing Fiasco – part 3

Finally, I come across something related to my search parameters, Evaluation of The Foreign Language High School Programme in South Koreaby Yvvette Denise Murdoch, a master’s dissertation submitted to the School of Humanities, University of Birmingham to fulfill requirements in the Master of Arts in Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language”, 2002. Unfortunately, while it’s an interesting read, Murdoch doesn’t really provide much in the way of how she tested and what process she went through while designing her tests. But that being said it’s still a good read.

Anyways, I decided to give myself a research and writing project to kill time when I had no classes at school. I loosely based my writing goals on Chapter Six: Developing Test Specifications of “Assessing Speaking” by Sari Luoma, Cambridge Language Assessment Series, Cambridge University Press 2004.

Here is a list of things a teacher should be considering, at least some of them anyways, when designing a language test,

“the test’s purpose; description of the examinees; test level; definition of construct (theoretical framework for the test); description of suitable language course or textbook; number of sections/papers; time for each section of paper; target language situation; text-types; text length; language skills to be tested; test tasks; test methods; rubrics; criteria for marking; descriptions of typical performances at each level; description of what candidates at each level can do in the real world; sample papers; samples of students’ performances on task” from “Assessing Speaking,” Chapter 6, page 114.

The problem is the logistics (I’m going to use this word a lot) of designing and giving speakings tests in Korean public school English native speaker classes is that there are so many unforeseeable, unplannable, and unbelievable (from a native teacher’s perspective anyways) issues and challenges that come up throughout the whole process that trying to do a truly professional EFL/ESL speaking test is nearly impossible–in my opinion . . . but I’ll get into that in more detail in part 2 of this post.

I also found “Chapter Eight: Ensuring a reliable and valid speaking assessment” to be an extremely helpful unit to help me refresh on what I needed to be thinking about as I designed the speaking tests for the high school boys.

While reading Chapter 6 I came across three examples of how to do test specification write-ups: Example 1: An end-of-course classroom test, Example 2: A language test at university entrance, and Example 3: A general purpose proficiency test . . . after reading this chapter I decided to do my own test specifications write up . . . although I was unable to follow the models exactly due to the realities of planning lessons and tests that Korean public schools present.

Alright, that’s enough about why I decided to write this blog post . . . time to wade into the nitty-gritty of what I did while going the process of making speaking tests for a Korean public high school.

Before class/semester begins language learner assessment: There were no opportunities for me to assess the actual language learner levels of the students in each class. The only thing available was the students test scores from the previous semester which in terms of communicative ability and fluency really had no validity or relevance. The only thing I found useful about the test scores that I asked my Korean English co-teachers to show me was being able to see which classes might have a majority of low level students, or average to higher level students so that I could alter my teaching methods accordingly (or ‘differentiate’ them).

Test #1 format (of 4 over the course of the school year, 2 in the spring semester, 2 in the fall/winter semester) : one on one interview, teacher and student

Test #2: one on one interview, teacher and student

Test #3: Unfortunately I won’t be teaching as my contract finishes August 24th, 2010. I am, however, leaving all testing and lesson materials from the book I was using for the next native teacher. I hope that they will continue to teach from the same book . . . my original plans for the four tests were that in speaking tests 3 and 4 that the tests would shift from focusing on accuracy with a low degree of fluency to a higher focus on fluency in balance with the test point values for accuracy. The book I was using focuses on developing fluency and learning, practicing, and mastering speaking strategies so it will be interesting to hear from the new native teacher how the students progress throughout the fall/winter semester.

Test #4: fluency and accuracy have equal values on the rubric.

Class hours before Test #1: two fifty-minute classes.

NOTE: The logistical realities of teaching EFL speaking and conversation in a Korean public high school often necessitate the instructor exhibiting a degree of “flexibility” when it comes to following EFL methodology the way it “should” be practiced versus adapting to and dealing with the chaotic and extremely unstable school schedule and teaching/learning conditions. I scheduled the first speaking test with only 2 weeks of instruction due to several reasons: 1) My classes were not assigned time slots during the school’s official midterm exam and final exam periods (thus necessitating me having to schedule testing during regular classes). 2) The students do not understand fully (perhaps even not at all) how they will be tested (my test will be the first ever speaking test done at the school in its entire history), and this diminishes their ability to develop effective learning styles and habits specific to my classes (I made a “How to” study guide for speaking tests handout (look at the bottom of this post) and gave tips and strategies during my classes). 3) I fully expect motivation and attention levels to dramatically spike after Test #1 has been completed as students will have a much clearer idea based on first-hand speaking test experience with a native speaker/teacher in a public school setting.

Test #1 focus: pronunciation, intonation, grammar, and demonstrating/performing cultural rules for speaking and interactions during the test (for example, how to shake hands)

Test Duration: 2 minutes

Type of school: 2nd grade classes at an all boys trade/sports school transitioning into an academic high school, Seoul–the 2nd grade students were enrolled during the trade school standards for acceptance. The overall English abilities are lower. On average each class has 25% false-beginner, 50% low-intermediate to intermediate, and 25% high-intermediate to advanced levels of English language ability.

Class size: 30-40 multi-level high school boys

Language learners: mixed levels, on average each class has 25% false-beginner, 50% low-intermediate to intermediate, and 25% high-intermediate to advanced levels of English language ability.

Test location: in the native English teacher’s classroom, no other students are permitted to be in the room; also, no Korean English co-teachers (they’re presence would inhibit student speaking performance and test conditions), all other students will be waiting in their homeroom, and in groups of 5 come to the hallway outside, line up and wait for their turn.

General Conditions: each class of 30-40 boys will be divided into two groups, A and B. Boys will do a lottery that places them in one of the two groups, and also determine order of testing. This is to avoid the ‘not fair’ criticism that is a very big concern for Korean students in testing situations (whether or not what they’re saying has anything to do with ‘fairness’).

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Click on the link below to read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

EFL/ESL Native English Teacher Speaking Tests in a Korean Public High School — Planning and giving speaking tests Part 1

J

What do Korean English co-teachers do when the native English teacher is sick and absent from the classroom?

For the past 10 days or so I've been battling the cough/fever/fatigue/body ache virus that's been making the rounds at my school (and probably all of Korea).

Last week I was supposed to begin the first round of speaking tests for my 2nd grade classes but Sunday night I felt so crappy, and had lost so much of my voice from coughing, that I decided there was no way I could force myself to do the speaking tests for the 2nd graders and teach my 1st grade classes too (that's a LOT of speaking!). I text messaged my co-teacher Sunday night saying that if I still felt the same way Monday morning at 6:45 I'd be taking a sick day.

Monday morning rolls around and I feel like death warmed over, and my voice was down to around 50% power . . . I text messaged my co-teacher and took a sick day.

Tuesday I forced myself to suck it up and soldier on into the school where I did two second grade classes (about 18 guys out of 38-40) worth of speaking tests, and taught my three 1st grade classes . . . it was a LONG day.

Wednesday, I pumped myself full of cough and cold meds and again soldiered on trying to ignore how crappy I felt, and did the tests and classes. On top of that I stayed at the school for my after school program gifted class that runs from 6:30 to 7:30pm. Oh my god was that a mistake. A twelve hour day when you're sick is NOT a good idea.

I text messaged my co-teacher Wednesday night, again saying that if I felt as crappy as I was and if my voice was as terrible as it was that I'd be taking another sick day. Thursday morning at 6:45am I texted her to say I wouldn't be coming in.

I have been very happy with how my school, and my co-teacher, doesn't harass me when I take a sick day. They generally accept and trust my judgement about whether or not I am able to work when I'm sick, and they accept that I'm not Korean (meaning that Korean teachers usually go into school no matter what their condition is). Also, I haven't heard a single "You should go to the hospital." from any of the co-teachers I work with--actually, I got a few text messages from the older ones after I sent them an apology text message saying I was sick and staying home where they suggested, and didn't demand/command me (wow, impressive), that I should go to the hospital. I now see this as a normal expression of concern in Korean culture but when I first got to Korea it used to bug me.

I ended up staying home on Friday too. It was a little amusing to me Friday morning when I texted my co-teacher at 6:45am to say I wouldn't be coming in again to see the first hints of alarm at my absence because there were now 3 days of speaking tests that would have to be made up, and the school schedule is already insanely full and figuring out when and how to make up the time was going to be difficult to figure out . . . but my throat felt like I'd sucked back a shaved-glass smoothie from hell, and my voice sounded like it too. My co-teacher texted me her concerns, and I decided to actually call her so she could hear what I sounded like--if there had been even a glimmer of doubt as to why I couldn't administer the speaking tests, and why I was staying home, it disappeared pretty fast! She told me to get better soon, and that on Monday we'd figure out how to reschedule the tests.

Anyways, to get to my post about what Korean English co-teachers do when the native teacher is sick and not in class . . .

I really don't understand why 99.9% of the co-teachers I've worked with, and 99.9% of the stories I've heard from other native teachers about their co-teachers, don't use the lesson plan and materials that the native teacher makes if the native teacher is sick.

Actually, I do know the reasons but it still frustrates me.

Here are some of the many reasons,

1) The KET's English language ability is "poor" (by "poor" I mean the literal performance ability, not the Korean cultural practice of being 'humble' about your abilities) and they cannot teach English in English.

2) The KET's degree of participation while co-teaching a class is little to none, so they don't know how to teach the lesson plan alone (even after having observed it several times).

3) The KET is shy and/or insecure about their English speaking ability and afraid/nervous about how students might react if they make a mistake, or say/do something wrong.

4) The KET often learns the language goals and content of the lesson DURING class along with the students, and has not mastered the content enough to teach it independently.

And the list goes on. Some of the reasons are very legitimate and understandable, and others are not.

The thing that motivated me to write this blog is that the native teacher/Korean teacher Thursday and Friday classes are at the end of the week, so in terms of my co-teachers not having learned and mastered the lesson goals and content of the week's lesson . . . that shouldn't have been an issue because they'd already co-taught/observed the lesson at least twice with me. The power point for the lesson was on the English classroom computer; there were copies of the lesson worksheets on the desk ready for the classes; the co-teachers had taught the lesson with me at least a couple times already, and had had a chance to listen to me teach and explain the lesson content, and go over the worksheet exercises; the co-teachers had heard the classroom English expressions and procedure language, and observed how I taught each stage of the lesson and how much time it took . . . simply put, the co-teachers had pretty much gotten their 'practice' co-teaching sessions done with me, had had time to observe me teaching the lesson and voluntarily choose what they want to do in terms of specific co-teaching tasks, and had had time to learn, practice, and master the lesson content . . . so you would think that if the native teacher had to take a sick day that the co-teachers might be able to teach the class alone using the lesson plan for that week--but that's not what happened.

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Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

What do Korean English co-teachers do when the native English teacher is sick and absent from the classroom?

Bugs and Apartment Life in South Korea - A giant cockroach visited my girlfriend today . . . no, really.

A giant cockroach visited Julianne in her apartment this afternoon . . . no, really.

I've had several different apartments in Korea over the years and never really had a major problem with bugs. I'm not saying there haven't been bugs, but the number and type haven't been anything like a serious infestation or problem.

I don't know what the actual percentage is of foreign English teachers who are placed in apartments that have bug problems. I'd have to say based on how many teachers I've heard talk about it as a problem that it'd be something like 25% or so. The majority of apartments in Korea will from time to time have ants, cockroaches, and other critters appear to one degree or another--but in terms of them being a chronic presence and problem relative to apartment life in Korea I'd say 25% sounds accurate in my experience of hearing stories from teachers.

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Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

Bugs and Apartment Life in South Korea - A giant cockroach visited my girlfriend today . . . no, really.
J

Winter English Camp Konglish: "shampoo and rinse" and "wash towel"

I'm way behind on writing up the seven of nine days of winter camp I've taught so far . . . I have pictures of the guys doing stuff, and stories galore . . . but for now a small story will have to do.

Oh, before I get to the story there's one other interesting thing that happened today at camp. The students I'm working with are NEW freshman--technically they're still middle school students right now--and the Korean education cultural organization of the winter break period threw me a curve ball today. Let me explain.

The winter break is not a consecutive block of time off from school. Korean students go on winter break and then after about 5-6 weeks they come back to school for 2-5 five days, and then they go on 'spring break' . . . yes, that's how it works. Don't ask me why they don't just finish up EVERYTHING school related before they break at the end of December so that they can have an uninterrupted vacation--err, cough! cough! I mean winter classes time--they just don't do it that way. The students and teachers all come back to the school for a few days to do whatever it is they do, and of course have a graduation ceremony. (In fact, one might say that there is no such thing as a 'vacation' in Korea for students. The teachers give the students winter and summer homework assignments--yes, I just said they give them HOMEWORK during the 'breaks!')

What does all this have to do with my winter camp? Well, today I had SIX students in my class, SIX! Originally 25 had supposedly signed up but I have only been getting 16 or 17 every day. I altered my lesson plans accordingly and things had been going well up till now. The thing is I had been told (yes, shocking, I was told this would happen a week ago by my co-teacher--yes, she is that AWESOME!) that some students might not be in my classes this week because of graduation ceremonies but for some reason it didn't register in my head that this would actually happen . . . but it did.

Anyways, losing 10 students is not actually that big a deal. It's especially not a big deal cause the remaining six are actually the ones with the best attitudes and who have been trying the hardest. Yes, I pretty much won a kind of teacher lottery! Woohoo!

Alright . . . . let me tell you my story about winter English camp Konglish . . .

Today the guys brainstormed topics for the demonstration speech they're going to have to perform on video tomorrow. Before setting them loose to choose their own topics we did a group brainstorming of possible topics to help them get a sense of what I wanted them to think of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Click on the link below to see pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

Winter English Camp Konglish: "shampoo and rinse" and "wash towel"

J

Moving Sale – A friend of mine is leaving Korea and she has lots of stuff to sell…

A friend and former co-worker of mine is leaving Korea and she has a lot of stuff to sell.

"Everything in like new condition unless otherwise noted. There’s more stuff…even some freebies. Come visit and see for yourself.

All prices negotiable – especially if you’re buying more than one thing!"

If you're interested click this link to find out more information. I copied and pasted the list of items and prices below. If you go to the link you can see pictures of each item too. As of Friday, January 29th the items below were not sold.

I wish her all the best and hope she finds success after life in Korea.

J

Car:

1998 Hyundai Sonata 4-door sedan. Green/grey color, AC, AM/FM/Cassette, Automatic transmission. 155,000kms. Runs well. All maintenance records available. I’m the second owner. The original owner was a professor I work with. Transfer of ownership date negotiable but I’d like to use it until the end of February if possible. Asking 1,000,000 won.

Furniture:

Bed – wood, strong frame, super-single bed & mattress. Asking 180,000 won.
Wardrobe – wood, 2 drawers plus clothes bar. Measurements: 32L x 23W x 74H / 81L x 59W x 188H cm. Asking 80,000 won.
Desk – wood, low computer desk (I used it as a makeup table). Measurements: 43.5L x 17W x 17H / 110L x 43W x 43H cm. Asking 50,000 won.
Mirror – large, circular (23in/59cm) mirror on wood base (sitting on top of desk). Asking 20,000 won.
Sofa – brick red, vinyl, 3 seater sofa. Seat covers could use recovering. Center seat sits lower than side seats. Asking 50,000 won.
TV stand – wood, on wheels, 2 shelves (one lower & top for TV). Measurements: 23.5W x 16L x 15H inches / 60W x 41L x 39H cm. Asking 10,000.
3 drawer chests – wood, one chest has 3 drawers (right of TV), the matching chest has 2 drawers and one door with glass front (left of TV). Chests each measure 25H x 23L x 16.5W inches / 64H x 59L x 42W cm. Asking 25,000 each.
Table – wood, folding legs. Top in good shape but a couple faint marks. Seats 4 to 6. Measurements: 35L x 23.5W x 11.5H inches / 89L x 60W x 29H cm. Asking 10,000 won.
Table – wood, folding legs, traditional Korean design. Seats 6 to 8. Measurements: 48L x 31.5W x 13H inches / 122L x 80W x 33H cm. Asking 35,000.
Stool – brick red seat, black metal legs. Height: 18 in/46 cm. Asking 5,000 won.
Full length mirror – white.	SOLD
Chest of drawers – 5 deep drawers, plastic. Excellent for storage. Asking 10,000 won.
Coat tree – wood.	SOLD
Office chair – black cloth seat. Very comfortable. Originally 250,000 won. Asking 100,000 won.

Electrical:

Air conditioner – Whisen, tower style air conditioner, programmable, including external exhaust unit & remote. Asking 600,000 won.
Oven – Lotte oven. Has 4 stovetop burners, oven bakes & broils, 2 oven racks. Top folds down over stovetop to create more countertop space. Oven is older but works perfectly. Includes valves for LNG & LPG gas hookups. Asking 200,000 won.
TV – Samsung 20” color TV with remote. (Delivery Feb. 19th). Asking 70,000 won.
Slow cooker – Bought from Costco. Very new.	SOLD
Steam Iron – Asking 30,000 won.
Fan – light blue, 3 speed, oscillating fan.	SOLD
Rice cooker – Smaller size. Asking 20,000 won.
Toaster – 2 slices.	SOLD
Microwave oven – White & black, Samsung microwave. Turn table.	SOLD
Braun Hand Blender – whip, blend, chop, puree – whatever you like. Asking 25,000.
Space Heater – 2 heat settings, pivots on its base. Radiating style heat. Asking 20,000 won.
Refridgerator – bar fridge, no freezer. Perfect for office.	SOLD
Speaker set – 1 base speaker, 2 tweeters, has own volume control. Solid black. Sits on table/desk top. Perfect as attachment to computer for stereo sound.	SOLD
Vacuum – bagless, dustbuster style with crevice & floor heads.	SOLD
Lamp – silver color, 2 bulbs, dimmer switch. Measures:16.5H x 6L x 6W inches / 42H x 15L x 15W cm.	SOLD
CD/Cassette/Radio player – with remote. Asking 50,000 won.

Shelving/Clothes Bars:

		Floor to ceiling clothes organizer/bars – 3 floor to ceiling poles, 3 cross bars, 2 baskets that attach to poles, front curtains. Height & length of bars are adjustable. Asking 80,000 won.
		Clothes bar – free standing (on wheels) beige, single bar with full length basket below. Asking 5,000 won.
		Bookcase – wood, 4 shelf bookcase. Asking 30,000 won.
		Bookcase – wood, 3 shelf bookcase. Asking 25,000 won.
		Bookcase – wood, looks like one box from above bookcase (works great as a bedside table). Asking 5,000 won.
		2 sets Kitchen shelves – wood. Each has 4 shelves (2nd shelf pulls out). Measurements (to top shelf): 47.5H x 23.5L x 15W inches / 121H x 60L x 38W cm. (I hope you can see the shelving - they hold a lot of stuff!) Asking 20,000 won each.
		Metal storage shelves – 3 shelves, on wheels. Measurements: 33H x 21.5L x 13.5W inches / 84H x 55L x 35W cm. Asking 5,000 won.	SOLD
		2 Shoe racks – one is black plastic with 6 shelves (one pr of shoes/shelf), the other is black wire with 3 shelves (3 prs of shoes/shelf)	SOLD

Miscellaneous: (Some prices not listed. – Make me an offer.)

Clothes drying rack – white bars, green metal frame. (Picture shows arms folded down – but arms open big enough to hold a blanket.) (Delivery on Feb. 20th) Asking 8,000 won.
Luggage dolly – folds up, sturdy.
Ironing board – full size, regular height ironing board.	SOLD
Bedding – 2 sets of mat, blanket & pillow. Another pillow & blanket available too.
Telephone – beige, basic house phone. (Available March 5th)
Dishes, dishes & more dishes – Corelle dish set, platters, Pyrex mixing/serving bowls, metal mixing bowls, baking pans (cake, muffin, bread), Pyrex pie plates, cutlery (knives, forks, chopsticks & spoon set for 10), all kinds of cooking utensils, pots & pans – you name it, I probably have it.
Plastic storage containers – from very small (kitchen use) to very large (clothing, etc).
Weights – two 2 pound weights, wrap around ankles or wrists.
Small 3 drawer set – plastic. Good size for pens & stationery storage.
Garbage cans – variety of sizes & colors.
And LOTS MORE……Towels, bathmat, small cushion, baskets (small to medium sizes), hangers, books (not textbooks), small plastic sewing machine (not hand-held), herbs & spices, wrapping paper, Baduk (Go) board…..

English Camps in South Korea - A Guideline for Foreign English Teachers

I decided to do some new writing about topics foreign English teachers in Korea need info about during their first year teaching in Korea, and there is info in this post that some experienced teachers might appreciate too (like book titles that are useful for different types of English camps).

I've also been working on some posts about co-teaching because I'm back in the public school system and co-teaching in Korea lacks an organized and well designed training program for the different levels of schools. I'll try to post those in the coming weeks.

If it's your first time reading this blog please take a look at a series of posts called,

A Guide For New EFL/ESL Foreign English Teachers/Instructors in South Korea - Public Schools, Hogwans, Universities, and Training Center/Institutes

At the beginning of each post I write, 'If any of the following materials are used as a part of an orientation or new foreign teacher training manual I would appreciate being cited as the author (if it's something that I wrote, some materials are from other sources and should be cited appropriately) and or as a source from which the materials were taken from (if it's something I found and arranged and posted on the Net). I've spent a lot of time and energy writing and blogging and would appreciate the citation. Thanks.' Please cite me as the author for my English winter camp post if you use any of the materials too.

Anyways, many new foreign teachers right about now are being asked to prep for winter English camps. Getting explicit instructions on how to do this, and what to be aware of, is often not what happens. Foreign teachers should keep in mind that some Korean English co-teachers have done English camps with a foreign teacher before, but that others have never planned a camp involving a foreign teacher and likely don't know what to tell you to plan, or how to plan it (so it might be a good idea to print out this guideline and give a copy to your co-teacher!). There are a lot of things to consider when planning and designing an English camp in Korea, and I've tried to cover as much as I can here.

1. Pre-Camp Checklist

a) How many students per class?

Camps tend to have 20 students per class, but this number can be higher or lower so make sure you ask.

I think that if the number is higher than 20 you should politely but firmly suggest that the number is too high--especially when you're not likely to have a Korean co-teacher in the room to help with classroom behavior management. All too often if the KET''s (Korean English teacher) away the mice are going to torture you with bad behavior . . . the unfortunate truth about too many (but luckily not all) students in Korea is that once they realize you won't use corporal punishment to enforce the rules they often see time alone with you in a classroom as 'do whatever they want to time' cause they know you won't hit them . . .

This is not true for all foreign teachers. I think personality type, confidence levels, teacher training and experience, and other variables come into play with how students behave when there's no co-teacher but I've also heard too many stories about foreign teachers pretty much giving up and making their camp into watching movies and/or students doing whatever they want while the foreign teacher goes on facebook to chat with friends, play games, or whatever while they complete their class hours but don't do any actual teaching . . . with some planning and preparation an English camp can be a fantastic experience for both the teacher and the students. Often a lack of planning and prep are the REAL source of students bad behavior . . . and also the stress and hair pulling frustration that a teacher experiences. This camp guide, I hope, will help pre-emptively kill a lot of the problems that first time camp teachers experience.

b) Who is screening the levels of students? How are they doing it? c) Will there be mixed grade classes? Or mixed level classes?

This is a vital question to ask because in the past, before I had experience teaching camps, I didn't think it was necessary to micro-manage my co-teacher while the students are being selected, or signing up, for a camp. During my first camp experience in 2005 on Ganghwa Island I was given a class mixed with 1st grade false-beginner students, intermediate students, and advanced students, 2nd grade false-beginner students, intermediate students, and advanced students, and 3rd grade false-beginner students, intermediate students, and advanced students--ALL IN THE SAME CLASS!!! The complete and utter lack of any kind of educational criteria being used to put this class together made it an impossible class to teach--especially for a first time teacher in his first semester of teaching in Korea. Simply put, no teaching or learning principles were used in the formation of the class rather it was more about pleasing parents, the principal, and about getting the most students possible in the foreign teacher's class.

While the example I just used is an extreme case there also milder versions of this that happen. Putting SAME GRADE but radically different language ability students in the SAME class often happens too. For example low level 2nd grade students combined with high level 2nd grade students. This then forces the native teacher to choose which group of students they orient their lesson materials towards. It is possible to teach this kind of class but it generally can only be done by teachers with a lot of training and experience. One solution is to pair up weak and strong students and turn the strong students into teaching-assistants, begin with low level vocabulary and language and then work your way up to higher level content so that the high level students get some learning too . . . but designing lesson plans in this manner is not easy, and teaching it is difficult too. In addition, you also have to consider that Korean language learners will often have social/friendship behaviors that sabotage a teacher's desire to pair weak/strong students together whether it's about an age difference, being separated from their friends in the class, or whatever this can often be a major obstacle that gets in the way of the best teaching strategies.

Probably the easiest method for a Korean English co-teacher to create class lists by learner ability, i.e. a class with all advanced students, is by looking at student English test scores. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for many Korean English co-teachers to actually do a proper language learner ability assessment (whether it's for reasons of time and number of students, or a matter of the KETs language ability and teacher training). It's also hard for many native English teachers to assess learner levels especially when they're new to the EFL/ESL teaching job. Simply put, try to get student test scores involved in how they are assigned to English camp classes so there is at least some degree of educational reasoning being used in which student goes into which class. Otherwise you're in for some really hard teaching experiences.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Click on the link below to read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

English Camps in South Korea - A Guideline for Foreign English Teachers

I hope it helps new foreign teachers and make sure to check out the book list as it has titles that can be used for speaking/conversation camps, writing camps, listening (if you're asked to focus on that), reading, culture, games and activities, and the list goes on . . . I organized the book titles by type of camp so if you're hunting for a good book to use for your camp you may find what you're looking for in the list.

Good luck,
J

EFL Teaching and Curriculum Design in Korea – Tried to make a 2 month syllabus and in the first week it’s already been destroyed…

About a week ago I sat down to plan out the lessons I would do over the course of November and December at the boys high school where I teach. I looked over all the lessons I’ve designed and chose my ‘Greatest Hits’ . . .

I also sat down with my co-teacher and went over all the dates on which I’d have no classes due to tests, field trips, and any other of the myriad reasons that classes get canceled. I thought that my semi-long term planning would not be screwed up and that I’d anticipated everything I could that might effect my lesson planning . . . boy was I wrong.

But the Halloween lesson was sabotaged by the H1N1/Swine Flu situation in Korea. On the last Wednesday of October, around 11am, I found out that ALL first grade classes would be sent home Wednesday afternoon and that they wouldn’t be returning until Monday of the next week . . . . . . . . . .

Click on the link below to read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

EFL Teaching and Curriculum Design in Korea – Tried to make a 2 month syllabus and in the first week it’s already been destroyed…

J

It’s class time . . . and yep, no students (again).

This past Wednesday morning I go to my classroom to set up for my introduction lesson a few minutes early. This is the first week for me teaching the second grade high school boys classes (I’d been teaching the senior grades in a Suneung (“Korean SATs”) listening prep class for September and October).

I turn on the computer, the touch-screen TV, and set up my power point presentation that I use in my introduction lesson. I put on some Hip Hop music (to wake up the guys as they walk in), and write a few things on the white board like “Classroom Rules” and the 10 Xs system (I erase one X each time a rule is broken, all 10 get erased and there’s a consequence for the whole class) that I use for classroom behavior management.

I finish setting up, check my watch, and have a minute or so to wait before the boys should begin arriving . . .

No early arrivals . . . okay. Usually at least a few guys show up early to get first pick of where they want to sit, check out the alien teacher–err, foreign English teacher, and chill out while waiting for the class to begin.

The class bell goes off, and I’m standing in the doorway. I see another young Korean English teacher, and he asks me, “Are you teaching now?” I respond, “Yes, but I have no students” and begin laughing.

He seems astounded by this, and I tell him that it’s a pretty common experience for native English teachers that an entire class just doesn’t show up, and nobody tells you anything about why . . . sometimes this happens for legitimate reasons and other times it’s just plain poor communication and a lack of professional courtesy to make sure the native English teacher is informed about a schedule change, cancellation, or whatever the case may be.

I wait two more minutes, and then decide I’m going to do something I rarely do anymore . . . . . . . . . .

Click on the link below to read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

It’s class time . . . and yep, no students (again).

J

EFL Classroom Halloween Culture Lesson Craft Activity and Display Part II

Earlier I wrote 3 posts about my Halloween culture lesson and my experiences decorating classrooms in Korea. Here are the links . . .

Halloween Classroom Decorations — Looking back at 2005 and my first Halloween lesson in Korea

Shopping For Halloween Decorations at Lotte Mart, Seoul Station

Carving jack-o-lanterns with my co-teacher — Co-teaching . . . it ain’t just in the classroom.

The high school boys have been responding pretty positively to the Halloween culture lesson and craft activity. We’ve been putting up the different vocabulary craft items they make in class. Creative, imaginative, artsy type activities are NOT a common classroom language learning experience, let alone a common learner experience in other subjects as well, in South Korea. This is an unfortunate side-effect of the exam/test-myopia that plagues the entire education system in Korea, and it severely impacts that teaching and learning styles that are practiced. Fortunately for most native English teachers one of the positive aspects of our classes not being tested is that we have a lot more freedom to do things that are not in direct support of the extreme tests-are-the-only-thing-that-matters-therefore-we-only-do-test-related-things-in-class . . .

In this picture you can see the yarn spider web that the boys helped me put up and attach to the four ceiling fans. At the front are the results of the craft activity with scissors and color paper . . .

Click on the link below to see the pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

EFL Classroom Halloween Culture Lesson Craft Activity and Display Part II

J

Carving jack-o-lanterns with my co-teacher -- Co-teaching . . . it ain't just in the classroom.

My primary co-teacher and I finally got around to carving our pumpkins. It was her first time carving so she was very excited, and I have to admit I was too. We set up in a room adjacent to the teachers office . . .

Click on the link below to see the pictures and read more at Kimchi Icecream: The Second Serving . . . . I've moved over to wordpress.com and will be blogging there from now on.

Carving jack-o-lanters with my co-teacher -- Co-teaching . . . it ain't just in the classroom.

J

My first Halloween in Korea was back in 2005. I was living and teaching on Ganghwa Island, and was one of just 6 foreign English teachers on the whole island. My home middle school (I taught at 3, and lived next to one of them) was in a two-street village next to a mountain–needless to say the kids and teachers had never been exposed to anything resembling a western cultural Halloween event so I decided to do a culture lesson and decorate my English classroom.

I spent my own money on the decorations because the middle school was small (98 students) and they didn’t have any kind of budget (especially after spending 40,000 on building a new English Zone). I went to Walmart in Incheon (back in the day when Walmart was still in Korea) and picked up supplies and some decorations . . .

Click on the following link to read the rest of this post and see the pictures.

Halloween Classroom Decorations — Looking back at 2005 and my first Halloween lesson in Korea

J

Being sick and actually having a sympathetic and understanding co-teacher . . . somebody pinch me!!!

I decided to stay home yesterday and today cause my cough was still pretty bad, and my voice was at maybe 40% of its natural power--when you lose your voice teaching English in Korea pretty much becomes mission impossible . . .

My co-teacher was amazingly understanding and sympathetic when I called her to say I was taking a sick day--and then again when I called to take another, wow! I think part of this was due to my coming to do the school promotional video on Saturday for no overtime pay and doing a good job when I was coughing and hacking and obviously not feeling well . . . the Brownie points, or should I say Scout points?, that I earned from this probably helped to a degree but I think it boils down to she's just an awesome co-teacher in general--and I'm freaking lucky to be paired up with her because not all the co-teachers I teach with would be as understanding. When I consider all the co-teachers I've taught with during the 3+ years of experience I've had, and am doing now, in the public system I am in awe of how lucky I am . . . seriously, it's like winning a lotto ticket.

On Saturday while my co-teacher and I were waiting for the camera crew to set up we chatted a bit about the cultural differences in work culture and staying home when you're sick; she sees the 'common sense' (according to western cultural logic and norms) in staying home, resting, and recovering faster when you're sick with the added bonus of not infecting co-workers and thereby reducing productivity even more . . . but she also understands and practices the Korean cultural norm of going to work when you're sick because that's 'common sense' from the Korean point of view.

Going to work when you're sick does make sense if you unpack some of the reasons behind it for school work culture in Korea. If you don't go to work in a school someone has to cover your classes. In a culure that doesn't seem to have a pool of substitute teachers to cover the sick teacher's classes the absence of the teacher is a major problem for the school and staff.

Add to the mix that test preparation and test points are more important than anything else (for the most part) and not coming in to teach and prep students for tests and to cover material is seen as shirking your duties--abandoning your post so to speak. And in a culture where the vast majority of men do military service I'm sure that this has to be embedded within the school work culture too.

Another thing is that the lesson plans foreign English teachers use generally require an understanding of communicative style language teaching that unfortunately the majority of Korean English teachers do not possess (though this is slowly changing). They might have a copy of the lesson plan, and may even have seen you teach it a few times already during the week's classes . . . but this doesn't mean they feel confident in knowing all of the classroom English commands/instructions/questions/expressions needed to teach the lesson IN ENGLISH, and when you add to this that many Korean Engish teachers lack the native teacher's innate awareness of how to run the lesson and each stage of it you can begin to see why they get upset. I think this is a big part of why Korean co-teachers generally get upset when the native teacher takes a sick day--native teachers think, "What's the problem? We've taught this lesson together 3 times already this week, and you have a copy of the lesson plan and materials...."--while the Korean teacher might be thinking, "Oh god! My English is poor and the students will be comparing my English speaking and teaching style to the native English teachers . . . and I don't understand why the native teacher does this and says that . .. " etc etc etc. There's a lot more going on with this particular situation and the multiple points of view but that's all I'm going to write about it for now.

I'm sure I could go on to unpack even more reasons but I'm going to let it rest with those. I'm still not feeling well and would like to take a 3rd sick day but I'm going to go in and see how it goes. If my voice disappears after teaching 2 or 3 classes then I'll reassess that decision, and because I showed up I think if I decide to go home due to losing my voice and still feeling crappy my co-teachers will 'understand my situation' (wow, how fun is it to use that expression and not be hearing it said to me, lol) and not be upset with me.

Being sick in Korea with no cable TV or Internet in my apartment (immigration is still processing my new alien registration card) has really sucked. I've been watching season 4 of "The Unit" to pass the time but miss being able to surf the Net, and blog if I have the energy. I'm hoping that I'll get my new alien card this week and soon after that Internet . . .

Anyways, as fun as being in a PC Bang (Internet Cafe) is it's time to head back to my apartment and rest . . . oh, and watch more episodes of The Unit--hoo-ah!

J

Funny moments while teaching in the 6 Month Intensive English Training Program in South Korea #2 -

A student sent me their assignment with the self-evaluation "lubric"---oh god, I can't stop laughing!

Just tried to go to Woori Bank to do a money transfer--and they're closed--uhm, why?

Update: Oh . . . it's "May Day"

Anyways, back at my desk I open my email and see something from a student. Inside the email is an attachment labeled "lubric"--and I start laughing . . . and I can't stop.

OH MY GOD I'M SO TIRED!

I love it when my students give their lubric--is that wrong?

LOL,
J

2009 6 Month Intensive English Training Program -- Halfway through Session 1 of the program

Well, it's week 6 of session 1 (each session is 10 weeks) in the 6 Month Intensive English Training Program I'm teaching in and a lot has been going on.

I've been drawing materials from several sources to use in combination with the primary textbook I chose for the "Cross Cultural Communications: Understanding English Cultures" course I had to design with less than a week before the course/program began. I went to the 3 book stores in Seoul (Yongpoon, Bandi & Lunis, and Kyobo) and found some stuff I thought I could make work.

The first book is called "A First Look At The USA: A Cultural Reader" by Milada Broukal, published by Longman, 1997 and costs W13, 000. It has 7 sections with 21 lessons that are high-beginner to low-intermediate level in content. Due to the other materials I've been using in the course we are only doing about half of the lessons, and the trainees seem to be fine with this.

The second book is called "More About The USA: A Cultural Reader" by Milada Broukal and Janet Milhomme, published by Longman, and was published in 1996 and costs W13, 500. We're going to start using this book next week after the trainees do a mid-term exam this Friday on content from the first book. It will be interesting to see how the high-beginner/low-intermediate trainees (about half of the 20 in my class) deal with the jump in level of textbook. The other half are intermediate to low-advanced in terms of language learner level and should actually be really happy that we're moving up to something that will challenge them more, and hopefully improve their reading and writing skills too.

The two books I just listed are what I consider the 'primary texts' for the course. There is, however, a third book that I've been using fairly frequently too. It's called "Dangerous English, 3rd Edition" by Elizabeth Claire (What the book? has it listed at W20,000). The trainees LOVE this book. The introduction of the book points out that 99% of ESL/EFL adult language learner texts avoid a lot of language the learners run into when they travel to English countries, when they read English materials, listen to songs, watch movies, and talk to native speakers of English in real life situations outside of the sterile institutionalized conservative language classroom. It's a good point, and was part of how I prepared the more conservative in-service trainees in the course to be open-minded to the content--needless to say I really had nothing to worry about. The trainees motivation and interest in the content of the book that I've done so far in class has been awesome.

For example, there's a section about "Dangerous Pronunciation" and words that commonly get mispronounced by Korean language learners. Things like "six/sex" and "fork/fuck" are on the list, and if you've ever wanted to find a motivating force for language learners to finally get that problem pronunciation issue fixed give them language content like this and watch the smoke come out of their ears as their minds burn with the fear and titillating excitement of knowing that they MUST fix this problem or they'll commit some kind of linguistic blasphemy while they visit the 'holy land of English' during their one month in America.

The book has a huge range of topics and covers everything from slang words to pronunciation to political correctness and language to English at the doctors to dating and sex English to taboos and more . . .

If you decide to use this book for your own adult language learner classes/courses I strongly advise you to consider how the administration, colleagues, and the trainees/learners will react to the materials, and also to consider how your teacher-student dynamics generally work in the classroom. If any one of these things gives you some doubt I would not recommend using this book. Every time I teach material from this book I spend a great deal of time considering how to frame the beginning of each class so that the more conservative trainees, and especially the Christian trainees, don't find a reason to become offended or upset by the content of each lesson. So far everything has been going very well, but I know that if I wasn't spending the time to figure out how to prepare the trainees minds to be open to the material and help them to see there are valid reasons for learning it that I'd be stepping on one of the many mines that lie hidden beneath the Korean ESL/EFL landscape . ..

One of the secondary sources I've been pulling things from is called "Conversation Gambits: Real English Conversation Practices" by Eric Keller and Sylvia T. Warner, published by Thomson Heinle 2002. For W29,000 it seemed a bit pricey the first time I picked it up to look at it. But it's one of gems in my teaching library. It has a great range of situation-based topics that focus on the functional language you need to know and the cultural knowledge to use the expressions is, while not explicitly laid out, embedded in such a manner as to be easy for the teacher to draw out and illuminate for students. Some examples include 'how to interrupt,' 'listing excuses,' and 'thinking ahead' (something desperately needed in Korea, lol, sigh).

Another secondary source that I've been using is called "101 American Customs" by Harry Collis and Joe Kohl, published by Compass Publishing, 2004. This is a tiny book that you can photocopy the two small pages of each topic, and then cut and glue them onto one A4 page to make a nice handout. I usually do 4 topics so that means 8 pages in small size cut and pasted onto A4 paper to make a double-sided handout. I use topics from this book for 'culture warm-ups' at the beginning of classes, and I have used them as material for an entire lesson before too. There are other titles in this series: "101 American English Riddles," "101 American Englsih Proverbs," and "101 American English Superstitions." Each of them costs W7,500 so they're not too pricey. They have the English on one page, and the Korean on the next. This is nice because if you have mixed level classes, or are working with a low level class, you don't have to worry too much about low level students falling behind or struggling with the primary cultural idea/fact that you want them to learn.

Two other books that I picked up but haven't used yet in the course are "All About The USA: A Cultural Reader, 2nd Edition" by Milada Broukal and Peter Murphy, published by Longman 1999 (W13,000), and "Contact USA : A Reading and Vocabulary Text, 3rd Edition" by Paul Abraham and Daphne Mackey, published by Longman, 1997 (W14,000). Both have excellent content in terms of everything from race, class, gender, famous American people (Bill Gates, Oprah, etc), and things like fast food culture, culture shock, equality, the role of women in the US, sports, music, etc. I don't know if I'll be able to work a lot of the content from these two books into the course, but even if I don't I know that at some point in the future I'll use content from these books so they were worth adding to my personal teaching library.

The final text that I've used material from twice now is called "Conversation Strategies" by David Kehe and Peggy Dustin Kehe, published by Pro Lingua Associates, 2004 (W29,000). This book is similar in content to "Conversation Gambits" but different enough that I decided to buy it. It is designed for pair and small group work, and has vocabulary/expression pages, writing exercises that support the content of the lesson, and model scripts for language learners to use if they need them. The really nice thing about this book is that it takes the conversation strategies and combines them with interesting topics and content--this is not always the case with many books I've found in Korea. This is a book that I know I will use a lot in the future when I teach conversation classes that are intermediate level or higher.

Lastly, while looking for reading books that I will use in session 2 of the 6 month course (it begins in less than 5 weeks) I found this, "Crossing Cultures in the Language Classroom" by Andrea DeCapua, Ed.D, and Ann C. Wintergeist, Ed.D. (W45,000). If I was teaching a cross cultural course with high-intermediate to advanced trainees I'd use this as my course textbook. Unfortunately, my class of 20 trainees is half and half, and the lower half would not be able to deal with the language level of the book. All this being said, I have already used some of the content on the four stages of culture shock in my course, and plan to try and use a few more of the amazing activities I've skimmed over so far during the rare bits of free time I've had to look at some of my newer acquisitions in my teaching library.

I think this book also has content in it that would be useful for new foreign teachers entering Korea for the first time. Especially the four stages of culture shock information. I've read about it before, but the book does a really good job of breaking the stages down, and offering suggestions for how to deal with them too.

I haven't been blogging about how the last five and a half weeks have been going during the 6 month course cause I've just been too busy and tired. I also don't like to blog when I'm tired/stressed out cause I don't want to be a ranting and raving blogger during those moments when I get frustrated or infuriated by something that's happened during the day. I think it's better to get that off my chest with my girlfriend and close friends, and then later after I've calmed down and had time to process things I might blog about it. But blogging in the moment tends to lead to bad places . . .

One thing that is interesting about this program is that the 20 trainees have 'mentors.' The English Korean professors have 5 trainees each that they meet with for one hour a week. During this time trainees can talk about the courses they are taking (and of course, about the foreign instructors teaching said courses, hmmmm), and if they need help or something they can ask for it then. From feedback I've gotten from the Korean professors it seems as though my teaching style and methods, and course content, are being well received.

I'll finish with a quick story from last week. I asked the trainees to read 6 pages from "What's so good about Korea, Maarten?" by Maarten Meijer, published by Hyeonamsa 2005 (W12,000). The topic was about Confucianism in Korea. I wanted the trainees to practice explaining what Confucianism is, and what it's role is today in Korean culture. I thought that with the pre-reading task they'd be exposed to Maarten's way of explaining Confucianism in the book, and also be exposed to the English vocabulary and expressions they need to talk about Confucianism in English.

Later I heard about half of the class complain that the reading level was 'too difficult' and that they had to 'look up almost every word' . . . this surprised me a little because I've used this book before when I was teaching Korean public school teachers in a one hour a week conversation class. These teachers did not have to look up 'almost every word' though they would have to check 3-5 words per paragraph. (I am teaching the trainees "Advanced Reading" next session--one thing we're going to work on is severing the umbilical cords they all have to their damn electronic dictionaries!!!)

I asked them to limit their explanation to 3 major ideas, and to less than 5 minutes in length as I imagined some of them going to America and inflicting a 3 hour lecture about the virtues of the Confucian way of life in Korea on their home stay families . . .

At the beginning of the lecture I went over the basic ideas and principles of Confucianism in English to provide a second modeling of vocabulary and a review of the belief system itself. I (foolishly) thought that this simple speaking task would not be a huge challenge for the trainees. I told them to focus on answering two questions: 1. What is Confucianism? 2. Why is Confucianism important in Korea today?

Needless to say I failed to consider that your average person in any culture around the world has usually not spent a great deal of quality time reflecting on the definitions, social functions, and meanings of their socio-cultural environment. After moving from group to group, and hearing what was being said, I was satisfied though that the trainees were making some progress towards helping each other explain the basic ideas of Confucianism in simple English.

Anyways, by the end of the class each group had come up with the English to explain the basic idea of Confucianism, and a few of the fundamentals of the belief system--so I had to be happy with that. In terms of teaching tasks and goals I'd given myself a very difficult goal and hadn't really realized it due to a lack of my usual prep time wherein I usually try to catch the blind spots I have with regards to whatever I'm teaching . . . regardless of all that I'm happy with the end result.

I was even happier when I closed the lecture by asking the trainees to think about how they would explain the basics of the Korean flag to Americans. I drew the flag on the white board, and then began asking them for a few of the meanings. When I added that each of the four symbols in the corners also refer to north, south, east and west one of the trainees put up her hand and told me that I was not correct . . .

What made this really 'interesting' was that this was the trainee who had been acknowledged by the class as the Confucian expert during discussions we had in the lecture.

I looked at her, smiled, and said politely, "I made a lesson about the Korean flag for public school three years ago, and did a lot of research. I'm pretty sure that the four cardinal directions are a part of the meanings in the flag. But let me look it up on my computer before we leave for the day, okay?" The trainee agreed, and I wrapped up the class.

I printed off a copy of wikipedia's entry on the Korean flag, and brought it to the classroom where the trainee was waiting with a few of the other trainees.

I handed her the copy, pointed at the appropriate spot, and she looked at me and said, "Wow, you know Korea!"

Zing! Lol!

J