As a westerner, interacting with Korean students is not always easy and can present its own challenges. Teaching for the first time can be nerve-wracking on its own, but teaching in a foreign country for the first time brings about anxieties you never knew you harbored.
Why teach abroad you may ask? There are many reasons why you should teach abroad, you know it sounds like an awesome, life-changing adventure. But sometimes we get cold feet. Sometimes we spend a lot of time sitting on the fence weighing the pros and cons of something.
Creativity in class is a tricky thing. You can’t simply tell your students to be more creative, or to come up with a new idea. The harder you push someone to be creative, the more likely they are to shut down and resort to familiar and safe thoughts.
One of the big perks of living abroad is the chance to study and fully immerse yourself in a foreign language. And while you probably won’t directly use your new knowledge of your students’ language in ESL class, there are a lot of reasons why learning a language improves teaching, they are as follows
Balancing your time as an overseas English teacher is more difficult that it may seem. Being given the opportunity to live in a foreign country will be a pivotal experience in anyone’s life. Making sure to take advantage of the opportunity while still being able to perform your duties as a teacher can be a challenging task.
Talking about Valentines and White day in the ESL classroom can be met with a number of reactions. Depending on the age of your students, talk of love and romance may be met with “Awww,” “Ewww.” Either way, Valentine’s Day is a huge part of our culture, and your students will love setting aside some time to have fun with it.
Playing ESL games in your Korean classroom is important, it helps to deliver the material in a really engaging way and also helps to connect more with your students whilst also teaching them.
Knowing about all the different ways that your students learn can help identify which learning styles your students have, and figure out how to reach those students who might not respond to auditory and visual teaching.