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Teaching
Experiences
Ben Volker
putnamseth@yahoo.com
In 2004 I completed the TESOL program at
Western to add to my English composition major. Through that TESOL
program I became involved in a fledgling private institute (Hagwon)
being opened in the Republic of Korea. It was a rough first year of
teaching. I don¡¯t
want to go into it too much, but it was a generally disappointing
introduction to teaching. This time in my life was very stressful but
it did teach me how to bring theory into the classroom and plan
curriculum effectively, and more importantly; play the political
¡°game¡±
of teaching in a way that University classes could never replicate.
Anyway, nearly two years ago I finished up with my Hagwon and decided
to get out of the
¡°business¡±
side of education. At first I went into the job market very picky
about what I applied for: trying to win a job by merit of my TESOL and
degree rather than drop into a job just because they were looking for
a foreign face. I focused on university teaching, but after being
told that I was "too young looking" a couple times I believed it (not
such a bad reason for not getting hired, and I can see how respect
would be an issue when teaching in any society ageist enough to bar
young people from applying.) So then I looked for public school
positions. Unfortunately, it was already the middle of the school
year and the only people hiring were unconventional after school
programs and experimental co-teaching positions. I ended up with the
latter.
I was
hired by a rural nuclear power plant as a sort of community outreach
type of guy. Originally, my workweek was spread over 3 different
schools (1 middle, 2 elementary) and a bunch of bus rides. Basically,
my role was to teach the speaking and listening portions of an
existing curriculum. At some schools I worked closely with a Korean
co-teacher, at others I taught alone. It was nice for me to be all
over the place and have so many different classroom situations to
experiment in; it really helped me hone my personal teaching style.
Over the
course of that first year my company hired another foreigner to teach
at 4 more schools. Then 2 more teachers for 3 more schools. More and
more local schools became interested in the handouts the power-plant
was making. When it came time to renew my contract, we were in the
process of hiring 7 new teachers and I was compelled to choose one
school to teach at 100% of the week. For my new contract year I chose
to stay at an elementary school where I had formed a close bond with
my co-teacher. I now teach 3rd - 6th grade Monday - Friday, ~5
classes per day. We teach together in the classroom, following a set
curriculum, though I hope to be able to work some changes in for the
coming school year. I have freedom to design my own after school
programs, and though some have been real busts, others have been a lot
of fun; I will just keep on trying new things until I run out of
ideas! I am also tasked with designing and implementing Summer and
Winter intensive camps, with a principal-mandated focus on "fun and
games." These camps are hectic but rewarding because they focus on
activities which are able to interest the less "academically inclined"
kids. Kids who would not normally be interested in interacting with
me or speaking English at all are suddenly jumping all over the place
trying to find the verb or sing a song the loudest. This next school
year is shaping up nicely and I'm hoping to gain even more autonomy in
my classroom. We'll see!
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