I was over 6 year old kindergarten classes in the morning and
elementary kids and other kindergarten classes in the afternoon. Teaching
kids that young is a challenge because they perceive native English teachers as
a chance to play around, cut up, not listen, be rude...I even had a girl kick
and hit me. Awesome, right?
Teaching here was different than Thailand. Instead of just teaching basic
speaking and listening, you teach normal classes (reading, math, art,
etc...). To help aid in student's understanding and use of the language,
the subjects are taught in English. However, this is still a
challenge. Being so young, the students aren't fluent. Though some
are much better, others who aren't as advanced can struggle with
understanding. The rule in the classroom is to speak English only...that
rule doesn't seem to actually exist to the students. They love to
speak in Korean...mostly because I can't understand them.
I've been meaning to ask you....
ReplyDeleteBefore you moved overseas, did you go to school to become a teacher or have to get specialized to teach in a foreign country? If not, how did you come to get the position?
No I didn't go to school. You can take what's called a TEFL course. I didn't take it though. Anyway...as long as you have a bachelor's degree (and lots of extra paperwork each country requires), you can teach. (Ex: South Korea required an apostilled FBI background check and degree, etc...) I had a recruiter that I worked with that helped get me both positions. There are also several websites that help in the process (eslcafe.com is the best one). Any questions you have, just let me know!!
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