Official Announcements RE Delayed Semester Schedules

Middle school here: My school's tentative plan (my co-teacher says it's likely to change) is to have each grade come in for a full week of in-person classes, then two weeks of online class (cycling through which grade is in the school at any given time). This would continue until the end of the first semester, which they've extended until a few
weeks after summer vacation now. Students would stay in their homerooms, and subject teachers would go to them. This plan doesn't sound too bad to me (same level of lesson planning), but we'll see what happens in the next week...

Students would stay in their homerooms, and subject teachers would go to them.

Isn't this pretty much normal for most subject, except for maybe PE, art, and music, and occasionally science?

Isn't this pretty much normal for most subject, except for maybe PE, art, and music, and occasionally science?

You've never had your own English room?

I'm wondering how this is going to work at my new school. I have my own room, and as far as I can tell, the students typically move between classes, for all subjects. My new co-teacher described it as a 'university style' system. If I have to lug all my materials between classes I'm going to be so pissed at China.

You've never had your own English room?

I'm wondering how this is going to work at my new school. I have my own room, and as far as I can tell, the students typically move between classes, for all subjects. My new co-teacher described it as a 'university style' system. If I have to lug all my materials between classes I'm going to be so pissed at China.

Depends on the school. Some schools they have some English room, other schools no room, and even other they have an English room but nobody has used it since like 2009. Currently I lug around a laptop and go into the classrooms. It pretty much eats up like 3 minutes at the beginning, on top of the walk to the class after the bell rings.

Anyways traditionally in Korea subject teachers go to the classrooms.

Isn't this pretty much normal for most subject, except for maybe PE, art, and music, and occasionally science?

I have my own English room in my current school, which I quite like, because the computer is reliable and I can set up beforehand for any activities. I have been the roving English teacher before, so I appreciate having the room, but I guess I'll go back to my old ways now.

I have been the roving English teacher before, so I appreciate having the room, but I guess I'll go back to my old ways now.

I don't know how this will be possible at my new school, because, as far as I know, the teachers pretty much stay in their classrooms and don't have communal offices with workstations to retreat to between classes. I wonder how strictly the governmental guidelines will be enforced.

I don't know how this will be possible at my new school, because, as far as I know, the teachers pretty much stay in their classrooms and don't have communal offices with workstations to retreat to between classes. I wonder how strictly the governmental guidelines will be enforced.

You're in an elementary? Elementary traditionally works that way, while middle, and high, schools generally teachers don't have their desks in the classrooms.

wow, good luck to all. Stay away from your students as far as you can because I am sure they won't.

Some of the suggestions for social distancing at my middle school are absolutely ridiculous. I give it till next friday before they are slung out. Either come back to school, or don't. 20 mins of A/B classes. No turning around in class. No groups in or out of class. Break times in class observed by teachers. Temp checks 4 times per day. Lunch divided between classes spread through the day (Including first lunch at 9:30am - Think how starving those poor guys are gonna be who get the late shift) Numerous others... What a mess. But gotta look like we are doing something! Right? 

Time to print out one of these:

Some of the suggestions for social distancing at my middle school are absolutely ridiculous. I give it till next friday before they are slung out. Either come back to school, or don't. 20 mins of A/B classes. No turning around in class. No groups in or out of class. Break times in class observed by teachers. Temp checks 4 times per day. Lunch divided between classes spread through the day (Including first lunch at 9:30am - Think how starving those poor guys are gonna be who get the late shift) Numerous others... What a mess. But gotta look like we are doing something! Right?

At my school, the first day back during the welcoming ceremony. The last thing that was done, was talking about the covid-19 safety guidelines and everything we have to do, while at school, to not spread it.
The final thing that was said was: maintain a metre distance away from each other.
Within 60 seconds of saying that, the teachers got a bunch of students to group up and got them to stand side by side, so that their arms were touching while grouped up hahaha.

Some of the suggestions for social distancing at my middle school are absolutely ridiculous. I give it till next friday before they are slung out. Either come back to school, or don't. 20 mins of A/B classes. No turning around in class. No groups in or out of class. Break times in class observed by teachers. Temp checks 4 times per day. Lunch divided between classes spread through the day (Including first lunch at 9:30am - Think how starving those poor guys are gonna be who get the late shift) Numerous others... What a mess. But gotta look like we are doing something! Right? 

we have a temperature station set up.......in the middle of the school. so students have to cluster together in the small hallway - in the middle of the school - and take their temperature. i suppose if they have a high temperature, they have to walk around the other way through school...and i dunno. then go home?

surely put the temperature stations at the front/back gates so they get checked BEFORE they walk past a million students in the school..?

Anyways traditionally in Korea subject teachers go to the classrooms.

Really?  My experience at four different elementary schools and one middle school in Gyeonggi has been that students move to the subject teacher's classroom.  Other than the odd scheduling issue I've rarely got to the students' homerooms.  I also can't think of any school that I visited back when open classes were a thing that didn't have a dedicated English class.  Some were rundown and some were budget blowing English wings, but there was always an English class.  And, science obviously doesn't go to the homerooms.  They only thing I can think of is where some schools didn't have a gym and in inclement weather the P.E. teacher went to class to class.  And the poor teacher saddled with the ethics class moves around. 

That would suck to be at a school where you had to lug around a laptop class to class but I think that's pretty unusual. 

Really?  My experience at four different elementary schools and one middle school in Gyeonggi has been that students move to the subject teacher's classroom.  Other than the odd scheduling issue I've rarely got to the students' homerooms.  I also can't think of any school that I visited back when open classes were a thing that didn't have a dedicated English class.  Some were rundown and some were budget blowing English wings, but there was always an English class.  And, science obviously doesn't go to the homerooms.  They only thing I can think of is where some schools didn't have a gym and in inclement weather the P.E. teacher went to class to class.  And the poor teacher saddled with the ethics class moves around. 

That would suck to be at a school where you had to lug around a laptop class to class but I think that's pretty unusual. 

Yes, traditionally in middle, and high, schools teachers will go to the student's homerooms. And mostly the still do. As do I, if the school doesn't have a English lab in use. There are exceptions when they have maybe a science laboratory, or an art room, and sometimes an English 'lab', or for music, and PE. But even for science, art, and music, often classes are in the homerooms.

But elementary schools are different, traditionally the homeroom teacher will teach virtually all the subjects. That's why NETs often encounter teachers that don't know a thing about English in elementary schools.

I wonder if the recent outbreak will have any bearing on schools reopening. Seems like the gov't is too embarrassed to change their mind lol.

I wonder if the recent outbreak will have any bearing on schools reopening. Seems like the gov't is too embarrassed to change their mind lol.

I believe Bucheon has shut down all of their schools. Except for the high school 3rd graders.

Probably makes sense at least just letting the high school seniors continue going to school, since so much importance is attached to the suneung exam.

Yes, traditionally in middle, and high, schools teachers will go to the student's homerooms. And mostly the still do. As do I, if the school doesn't have a English lab in use. There are exceptions when they have maybe a science laboratory, or an art room, and sometimes an English 'lab', or for music, and PE. But even for science, art, and music, often classes are in the homerooms.

But elementary schools are different, traditionally the homeroom teacher will teach virtually all the subjects. That's why NETs often encounter teachers that don't know a thing about English in elementary schools.

In my experiences and in the cities I've taught in in Gyeonggi your situation would be the exception.  My middle school was the first one in Gunpo still around and they had  loads of different rooms for the kids to head off to.  Never heard of an elementary where the English teacher moves around but obviously you do.  Are you out in the sticks?  Traditionally people went and sh*t in their fields for fertilizer so traditionally what they did doesn't mean too much.  Again, I've heard of very few English (zero)  teachers in this neck of the woods that move from class to class. I can't imagine the hassle. 

I believe Bucheon has shut down all of their schools. Except for the high school 3rd graders.

Probably makes sense at least just letting the high school seniors continue going to school, since so much importance is attached to the suneung exam.

It really should not be so important that students barely sleep, stress, and right now have to go to school when the rest of the students are at home or alternating between online and in person class. It shouldn't be so important that they go to school during a pandemic, even though it has calmed down I'm sure parents are still worried. What should they worry more about, a test or corona? Do parents really have to make choices like that? Do they really have to consider about the fairness of every action to the students who need to sit for this exam? Why does it have to define their future success?

In my experiences and in the cities I've taught in in Gyeonggi your situation would be the exception.  My middle school was the first one in Gunpo still around and they had  loads of different rooms for the kids to head off to.  Never heard of an elementary where the English teacher moves around but obviously you do.  Are you out in the sticks?  Traditionally people went and sh*t in their fields for fertilizer so traditionally what they did doesn't mean too much.  Again, I've heard of very few English (zero)  teachers in this neck of the woods that move from class to class. I can't imagine the hassle. 

In most of my schools, I have moved around. I am in Gangwon, in a larger school, but it was the same for the smaller schools to. The schools all had English rooms, but we didn't use them or they were used by the Korean contract conversation teacher, and not the net classes.

In my experiences and in the cities I've taught in in Gyeonggi your situation would be the exception.  My middle school was the first one in Gunpo still around and they had  loads of different rooms for the kids to head off to.  Never heard of an elementary where the English teacher moves around but obviously you do.  Are you out in the sticks?  Traditionally people went and sh*t in their fields for fertilizer so traditionally what they did doesn't mean too much.  Again, I've heard of very few English (zero)  teachers in this neck of the woods that move from class to class. I can't imagine the hassle. 

I've taught mostly in Seoul, and Daegu, middle schools. And if an English 'lab' was absent, I was going into the homerooms. Where do you think the other English teachers in a middle/high school would teach? It's not like they have 5 separate English rooms for each English teacher. As for the few years I did in an elementary, there was no specialized English teacher, so I had to go into all the Elementary homerooms too.

Before they ramped up NET hiring pre-2010-ish virtually no school had English 'lab'. Heck, most schools didn't even have science labs, probably the only specialized room was for Home Ec. You staying in your own specialized room is a pretty recent development, like the last 10 years if your school decided to 'convert' a room into an English 'lab'.