RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

^ haha. well, i just had 2 days of open classes for my after school program. a grand total of 0 parents and 0 teachers showed up, which shows just how little anyone cares about any of it

This year, my open class was cancelled. And my co-teacher said, it's pointless to change it to another date, because at our school, parents never show up for the foreign teachers class.

Ohhhh man.... OHHH MAN you would not belieeeve what I just found out.

My second school told me I won't be doing speaking tests... at all.

Instead, they've opted to have the students memorize and recite dialogue.

WHY AM I HERE!?!? 

This literally means that everything I've taught this semester won't even be put to the test. WHAT THE ACTUAL @#$%!?!?

This is pretty standard. I mean, it's annoying. But it's not really surprising.

Ohhhh man.... OHHH MAN you would not belieeeve what I just found out.

My second school told me I won't be doing speaking tests... at all.

Instead, they've opted to have the students memorize and recite dialogue.

WHY AM I HERE!?!? 

This literally means that everything I've taught this semester won't even be put to the test. WHAT THE ACTUAL @#$%!?!?

How is memorize and recite dialogue any different from your standard Korean "speaking test"?

^ haha. well, i just had 2 days of open classes for my after school program. a grand total of 0 parents and 0 teachers showed up, which shows just how little anyone cares about any of it

Or they know you're the boss! 

Ohhhh man.... OHHH MAN you would not belieeeve what I just found out.

My second school told me I won't be doing speaking tests... at all.

Instead, they've opted to have the students memorize and recite dialogue.

WHY AM I HERE!?!? 

This literally means that everything I've taught this semester won't even be put to the test. WHAT THE ACTUAL @#$%!?!?

How is memorize and recite dialogue any different from your standard Korean "speaking test"?

It's not about them being different, it's the fact that I'm not even grading them. My CTs are doing everything. I thought the whole point of us NETs was to teach and evaluate listening and speaking skills. When you relegate that to the CTs, it really reinforces the fact that we're all just here for show.

Ohhhh man.... OHHH MAN you would not belieeeve what I just found out.

My second school told me I won't be doing speaking tests... at all.

Instead, they've opted to have the students memorize and recite dialogue.

WHY AM I HERE!?!? 

This literally means that everything I've taught this semester won't even be put to the test. WHAT THE ACTUAL @#$%!?!?

How is memorize and recite dialogue any different from your standard Korean "speaking test"?

It's not about them being different, it's the fact that I'm not even grading them. My CTs are doing everything. I thought the whole point of us NETs was to teach and evaluate listening and speaking skills. When you relegate that to the CTs, it really reinforces the fact that we're all just here for show.

I hear you and realized after my 1st year that ESL teachers are pretty much just here for show (I still think you can make a positive impact on students)... after my 2nd year, I stopped feeling guilty and useless when I realized that Korean teachers are also here for show (they really have no authority and their grades mean nothing). My 3rd year, I realized that pretty much the entirety of Korean culture revolves around one giant show or farce.

Ohhhh man.... OHHH MAN you would not belieeeve what I just found out.

My second school told me I won't be doing speaking tests... at all.

Instead, they've opted to have the students memorize and recite dialogue.

WHY AM I HERE!?!? 

This literally means that everything I've taught this semester won't even be put to the test. WHAT THE ACTUAL @#$%!?!?

How is memorize and recite dialogue any different from your standard Korean "speaking test"?

It's not about them being different, it's the fact that I'm not even grading them. My CTs are doing everything. I thought the whole point of us NETs was to teach and evaluate listening and speaking skills. When you relegate that to the CTs, it really reinforces the fact that we're all just here for show.

I hear you and realized after my 1st year that ESL teachers are pretty much just here for show (I still think you can make a positive impact on students)... after my 2nd year, I stopped feeling guilty and useless when I realized that Korean teachers are also here for show (they really have no authority and their grades mean nothing). My 3rd year, I realized that pretty much the entirety of Korean culture revolves around one giant show or farce.

I use the word "fiction", as a lawyer (not a librarian) would use it.

Just as everybody knows that the dead person's name is not "John Doe", everybody knows that you did not really learn enough to get an A in that class; just like everybody else!

I have now learned that they do the same thing in Canada now that Korea does (Ontario at least). Not fail a kid for any reason ( At elementary I know. Not sure about mid/high ). Instead of keeping them behind to get the building blocks they need at their own pace. Why not to send them up to the next level and it will all just fix itself.

The only reason I could come to terms with it here is the hierarchy of age and parents "saving face".

Guess this is something relatively new but I have no idea why it would be implemented and who it is supposed to help.

I have now learned that they do the same thing in Canada now that Korea does (Ontario at least). Not fail a kid for any reason ( At elementary I know. Not sure about mid/high ). Instead of keeping them behind to get the building blocks they need at their own pace. Why not to send them up to the next level and it will all just fix itself.

The only reason I could come to terms with it here is the hierarchy of age and parents "saving face".

Guess this is something relatively new but I have no idea why it would be implemented and who it is supposed to help.

Interesting! I didn't know that about Canada. You can fail every year in USA including kindergarten (unless that's changed since I was a kid).

Ohhhh man.... OHHH MAN you would not belieeeve what I just found out.

My second school told me I won't be doing speaking tests... at all.

Instead, they've opted to have the students memorize and recite dialogue.

WHY AM I HERE!?!? 

This literally means that everything I've taught this semester won't even be put to the test. WHAT THE ACTUAL @#$%!?!?

As terrible as this sounds, I would love to be rid of the speaking test responsibility. The system here is too flawed to make them beneficial outside of teachers' personal use and assessment. I'd rather they eliminate them altogether and replace them with projects that require speaking, something that the students can work on in teams.

Like I remember reading somewhere that someone was lucky enough to have students conduct skits and plays using the dialogue that they've learned during the semester in lieu of the speaking exams. Students had to write their own scripts and use them in some kind of scenario that everyone should be able to follow. I'd totally be up for that if my school would let me... but they won't, lmao.

^ haha. well, i just had 2 days of open classes for my after school program. a grand total of 0 parents and 0 teachers showed up, which shows just how little anyone cares about any of it

Can also depend on the local community mindset about it, and on how much curiosity they have over how the students interact with the NET (or about the NET in general). In the ONE open class that I had ever, there were so many parents who came to watch my class that there was basically no standing room. We were essentially boxed in by all of the parents. Some of the KTs said that they could relax more during their open classes because I apparently stole everyone, lol.

I have now learned that they do the same thing in Canada now that Korea does (Ontario at least). Not fail a kid for any reason ( At elementary I know. Not sure about mid/high ). Instead of keeping them behind to get the building blocks they need at their own pace. Why not to send them up to the next level and it will all just fix itself.

The only reason I could come to terms with it here is the hierarchy of age and parents "saving face".

Guess this is something relatively new but I have no idea why it would be implemented and who it is supposed to help.

Interesting! I didn't know that about Canada. You can fail every year in USA including kindergarten (unless that's changed since I was a kid).

It also used to be like that till recently from what I have heard. When I was young I knew a bunch of kids who had failed grades and then did really well after they had repeated. I just don't see the benefit for the child. But what do I know... Just in a system that does that and see how unmotivated some students can be with no consequences for their actions.

I have now learned that they do the same thing in Canada now that Korea does (Ontario at least). Not fail a kid for any reason ( At elementary I know. Not sure about mid/high ). Instead of keeping them behind to get the building blocks they need at their own pace. Why not to send them up to the next level and it will all just fix itself.

The only reason I could come to terms with it here is the hierarchy of age and parents "saving face".

Guess this is something relatively new but I have no idea why it would be implemented and who it is supposed to help.

Interesting! I didn't know that about Canada. You can fail every year in USA including kindergarten (unless that's changed since I was a kid).

It also used to be like that till recently from what I have heard. When I was young I knew a bunch of kids who had failed grades and then did really well after they had repeated. I just don't see the benefit for the child. But what do I know... Just in a system that does that and see how unmotivated some students can be with no consequences for their actions.

In elementary school, they called it "social promotion".
Every few years it goes in or out of vouge depending on the latest (irreproducable) research.
One of daughters repeated a year. It was good for her.

I have now learned that they do the same thing in Canada now that Korea does (Ontario at least). Not fail a kid for any reason ( At elementary I know. Not sure about mid/high ). Instead of keeping them behind to get the building blocks they need at their own pace. Why not to send them up to the next level and it will all just fix itself.

The only reason I could come to terms with it here is the hierarchy of age and parents "saving face".

Guess this is something relatively new but I have no idea why it would be implemented and who it is supposed to help.

Interesting! I didn't know that about Canada. You can fail every year in USA including kindergarten (unless that's changed since I was a kid).

In NZ, you can't fail kindergarten, but you can be held back at ele, middle, and high school. But, it's not very common.

I have now learned that they do the same thing in Canada now that Korea does (Ontario at least). Not fail a kid for any reason ( At elementary I know. Not sure about mid/high ). Instead of keeping them behind to get the building blocks they need at their own pace. Why not to send them up to the next level and it will all just fix itself.

The only reason I could come to terms with it here is the hierarchy of age and parents "saving face".

Guess this is something relatively new but I have no idea why it would be implemented and who it is supposed to help.

It's called "social promotion" and the idea is peer relations and social functioning are very important, particularly during childhood and adolescence.  There's some truth to the idea that it damages the psyche to be a 13 year old around a bunch of 11 year olds when all your friends have gone off to middle school.

This was a popular idea in the US/West particularly in the 60s and 70s, though it has fallen out of favor in most places.   Now we have streaming, where you can function at the fifth grade level academically while in the seventh grade, and presumably have able teachers to catch you up without slowing down the other kids.

In Korea, as you probably know, the idea of your age cohort is almost the primary element of social life.  You have to immediately find out someone's age so you know whether to talk up or down to them.  It would be absolutely crushing to be held back.

Teaching here in elementary, I haven't seen much need for streaming: mostly, my classes might have one student who really, really struggles in English and could benefit from a different school placement.  A few struggle because of laziness or attention issues (and in English at least, they could pick up just fine with effort) but mostly students do pretty well to very well.

When I taught in high school, the English dept always talked about streaming but never did.  It would have looked like this: 15 classes total in a grade, 4 high ability, 8-9 average level, 2 or 3 low level. 

I have now learned that they do the same thing in Canada now that Korea does (Ontario at least). Not fail a kid for any reason ( At elementary I know. Not sure about mid/high ). Instead of keeping them behind to get the building blocks they need at their own pace. Why not to send them up to the next level and it will all just fix itself.

The only reason I could come to terms with it here is the hierarchy of age and parents "saving face".

Guess this is something relatively new but I have no idea why it would be implemented and who it is supposed to help.

Interesting! I didn't know that about Canada. You can fail every year in USA including kindergarten (unless that's changed since I was a kid).

It also used to be like that till recently from what I have heard. When I was young I knew a bunch of kids who had failed grades and then did really well after they had repeated. I just don't see the benefit for the child. But what do I know... Just in a system that does that and see how unmotivated some students can be with no consequences for their actions.

In elementary school, they called it "social promotion".
Every few years it goes in or out of vouge depending on the latest (irreproducable) research.
One of daughters repeated a year. It was good for her.

A recent variation on repeating is a new "grade" called Primary.  It goes between kindergarten and first grade.  They swore by it in the elementary of my old school back home.

A recent variation on repeating is a new "grade" called Primary.  It goes between kindergarten and first grade.  They swore by it in the elementary of my old school back home.

My youngest sister went through a similar thing, but it was called "Pre-First" at her school. It was honestly the best thing that could've happened for her at the time. She wasn't developmentally disabled or anything, she was just slow enough that she was struggling more than a student should at that age. The extra year of preparation for grade school did wonders for her. This was back in... Christ, it was in 1992. HOW DID I GET SO OLD.

'The Coddling of the American Mind' by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff

The original article- https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/

Interview by Nick Gillespie of 'Reason'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=686&v=Z7venlDja6s

Bubblewrapping at the schools means kids can't be held back because it will traumatize them or something. The schools in America at least (and it seems to be spreading to the rest of the Anglosphere) are a total shambles. They are utterly failing at preparing kids for work in the global marketplace. Either send them to some religious school or send them to go learn in like, Singapore or heck, I'd say Korea might be better at this point. At least kids in Korea are still allowed to walk around unsupervised, left to themselves to sort out social disputes, and aren't spending 40% of their time talking about 'diversity'. Although at the rate helicopter parenting and kid spoiling is going, I wouldn't be surprised if things fall apart here too. There's already signs of it which we all know. 

someone change the bladdy format back to what it was like before on the front page please

I liked it better when I didn't see a million threads about American politics on the front page 

I liked it better when I didn't see a million threads about American politics on the front page 

migook.org  but in all fairness, I guess we could flood the front page with [insert political drama] from our own countries if we wanted to.