the students have spoken!

First, a word about student attendance.

For those of you who teach in typical Korean hagwons (e.g., Pagoda), you know what it's like to begin the term with a full class and to end it with only a few scattered students left over. Like me, you doubtless shake your head in perpetual disbelief at students' willingness to waste all the money they've paid to enroll in English classes. Attendance tends to drop off steadily over the course of a single term (in hagwons, a term can be a month long or longer; universities usually follow a semester format, but many language programs will be only 8-10 weeks long instead of three months).

Part of the reason for this is that you're probably teaching courses-- like the ones I teach-- that feature no testing, no final grade, and no true attendance policy. Homework is often optional, and because the people running your department are concerned about money, they don't want their teachers to push the students too hard, because dropouts are unlikely to reregister (cue tympani). College students in particular, whether American or Korean, are notorious for wasting their parents' money by doing silly things like skipping out of a course toward the end of term.

Occasionally, you'll get lucky and have a class with nearly perfect attendance. At the first hagwon I ever worked at, I enjoyed a glorious month of this. The students were great; class moved along at a healthy clip, and we were all sad when the month was over. Not one person was absent the whole month. I never had a term like that again.

Unless you're Mr. Charisma, it's doubtful the combined force of your personal charm and awesome teaching skills will convince your Korean students (especially the ones who haven't paid their own way) to attend every single one of your classes. Students like me on the whole, but I'm no miracle-worker. Here are the approximate attendance stats for this, my first term at Smoo:

MWF CLASSES

7:50AM low-level conversation:
Started with about twelve students; ended the term with only three in class.

9:00AM low-level conversation:
Started with about eight; ended with one lone student.

10:10AM intermediate-level conversation:
Four students were enrolled; only two of the four showed up regularly. I had no students the first week (except on the make-up day); on one unusual day I had three students; today I had only one student.

TR CLASSES

7:50AM low-level reading comprehension:
Started with about 12; maintained 6-10 for most of the term; had only five on the last day.

9:00AM low-level conversation:
Started with about seven; phenomenally, ended the term with five. This class, however, gave me the lowest average rating of all my classes. I'm tempted to speculate that presence makes the heart grow colder, but I don't think that was the problem: my drama class had better attendance and gave me much higher ratings.

1:10PM drama class:
Started the term with two; one dropped out because of Z. The main office, sensing danger, found two more students, then later found a third one. Once the enrollment stabilized, those four students were almost constant attendees. Last week, two were absent on Thursday, but that was the only blemish on my record.

Today, I have eighteen evaluations. It seems that one student (mercifully?) decided not to evaluate me.

Now... on to those forms! Here's the ugly truth, nothing censored.

The first part of the form (it's all in Korean) asks students to rate their teachers on a scale from 1 to 5. There are five criteria:

1. Teacher sticks to allotted time. (i.e., doesn't go overtime, doesn't start late, etc.)
2. Teacher prepares thoroughly for class.
3. Teacher sincerely works to make students understand (the material).
4. Teacher understands the course content.
5. Everything about the course was satisfactory.

The ratings:

5 = very good/excellent
4 = good
3 = average
2 = bad/poor
1 = very bad/very poor

The second part gives the students a chance to write comments. One large box is labeled "good points"; the other is labeled (roughly) "things that need changing."*

I'll provide the students' ratings, then list the comments that went along with them. My comments will be in boldface.

Here's what my Tuesday/Thursday 7:50AM reading comprehension class had to say.

Student A
1. Teacher sticks to allotted time. = 5
2. Teacher prepares thoroughly for class. = 4
3. Teacher sincerely works to make students understand. = 4
4. Teacher understands the course content. = 4
5. Everything about the course was satisfactory. = 4
GOOD: Very fun/interesting; detailed explanations.
BAD: n/a

Student B
1. Teacher sticks to allotted time. = 5
2. Teacher prepares thoroughly for class. = 4
3. Teacher sincerely works to make students understand. = 5
4. Teacher understands the course content. = 4
5. Everything about the course was satisfactory. = 4
GOOD: n/a
BAD: n/a

Student C
1. Teacher sticks to allotted time. = 5
2. Teacher prepares thoroughly for class. = 5
3. Teacher sincerely works to make students understand. = 5
4. Teacher understands the course content. = 5
5. Everything about the course was satisfactory. = 4
GOOD: n/a
BAD: n/a

Student D
1. Teacher sticks to allotted time. = 5
2. Teacher prepares thoroughly for class. = 4
3. Teacher sincerely works to make students understand. = 5
4. Teacher understands the course content. = 5
5. Everything about the course was satisfactory. = 5
GOOD: Made a variety of materials for class.
BAD: n/a

Student E
1. Teacher sticks to allotted time. = 5
2. Teacher prepares thoroughly for class. = 5
3. Teacher sincerely works to make students understand. = 5
4. Teacher understands the course content. = 5
5. Everything about the course was satisfactory. = 4
GOOD: Taught in a friendly and comfortable manner. This was an interesting/fun** class.
BAD: The material we covered in a single class was usually too difficult, and often there was too much to cover.

KEVIN'S OVERALL RATING: 4.76

All in all, not bad. I was indeed trying to give the students (who were low-level English speakers) exposure to a variety of material they'd be likely to encounter on a trip to America (with one class devoted to the obligatory TOEFL Reading Comprehension section). I can understand the complaint about difficult material; I wasn't about to make things easy, and the students generally rose to the challenge.

Now we move on to the class that liked me the least: my 9AM Tuesday/Thursday basic level conversation class. Here's how they flayed me:

Student A
1. Teacher sticks to allotted time. = 5
2. Teacher prepares thoroughly for class. = 3
3. Teacher sincerely works to make students understand. = 4
4. Teacher understands the course content. = 3
5. Everything about the course was satisfactory. = 3
GOOD: Taught students in a positive manner.
BAD: This teacher is very different from the previous one***, which is disappointing. It would have been nice to have more time for free talking.

Student B
1. Teacher sticks to allotted time. = 5
2. Teacher prepares thoroughly for class. = 5
3. Teacher sincerely works to make students understand. = 5
4. Teacher understands the course content. = 5
5. Everything about the course was satisfactory. = 4
GOOD: Taught in a positive manner. Used many methods to help us understand. Clear pronunciation.
BAD: Used a bit too much Korean in class.

OK, I have to insert a comment here. I do use some Korean in class, but never enough to qualify for this complaint, in my opinion.

When I was taking those linguistics courses as part of my French major back in the late 80s and early 90s, we learned there was an ideological gulf between those who felt that a second language is primarily acquired, and those who felt it was primarily learned. Bear with me; this debate is relevant to my student's complaint.

Acquisition is something of an osmotic process. A baby acquires language, especially during its first year, but also long after that point. Acquisition entails something like absorption; it's a natural, often unconscious process that occurs when one is exposed to linguistic stimuli. Learning, on the other hand, is more (self-)conscious and explicit. A teacher who teaches French by using grammar charts, for example, is encouraging learning. The teachers talks about the language, as well as speaking in the language.

Modern trends have been toward more communicative approaches that emphasize 95% to 100% target language in the classroom. Many teachers and language program directors feel that L2 (the fancy-pants term for the second language) is primarily acquired, which explains the hard-and-fast rule that the teacher must never, ever speak in the student's native tongue. I think this approach makes sense for an ESL class, but I'm not teaching in an SL (second-language) environment: I'm teaching in an FL (foreign-language) environment. When students leave my class, they're back to speaking Korean. It's a joke to think that they're being "immersed" in English during their brief 60 minutes a day. An SL situation would be different: ESL students are already living in the countries where the target language is spoken. The target language is a necessary part of their everyday interactions, so it makes practical sense for the ESL teacher to speak only in English. After all, s/he can't be expected to have a working knowledge of Cambodian, French, Korean, Swahili, Russian, Arabic, Polish, and so on.

Given that there's little difference between using 90% and 100% target language in an EFL class, I opt for the time-saving option of speaking Korean when students obviously don't understand. Some teachers counterargue that the student learns more when s/he has to struggle in the target language. There's some truth to this, but the teacher also has to consider other factors: in a class of ten students, can I devote 5-10 minutes of a 60-minute period to a single student's comprehension problem? There's no right or wrong answer to that; it's a pedagogical values question, somewhat akin to the question of letting a single student dominate a discussion in a graduate seminar-- sometimes the results are worth it, sometimes not.

So: My point is that I don't speak Korean the entire class. The students get maybe a few sentences out of me here and there. Some students (about one out of twenty, I'd say) complain that even this is too much. Since Student B is the only one out of 18 students to gripe, I choose to ignore the complaint.

And regarding the "free talking" comment: this is something else that Korean students often think they want, but which doesn't lead to anything if it's completely undirected (as one of my current colleagues sagely pointed out). Free talking is a waste of time in many cases: the teacher, often implementing a soft version of a communicative approach, isn't focusing on student speech errors, but is encouraging them simply to produce language. I'm not convinced this is all that effective. In my opinion, directed output is better: conversation about a specific aspect of a given topic, for example.

I hope you don't get the impression that I hate communicative approaches or spend all day focusing on grammar. I don't. I do, however, disagree with the high tolerance for student error that's inherent in most communicative approaches. While it's never good to interrupt a student every half-second to correct a mistake, it's also a bad idea to let the student rattle on unchecked if s/he's making too many mistakes. Bad speech habits solidify quickly, and the situation only gets worse when students are postpubertal.

Moving on now.

Student C
1. Teacher sticks to allotted time. = 5
2. Teacher prepares thoroughly for class. = 4
3. Teacher sincerely works to make students understand. = 4
4. Teacher understands the course content. = 4
5. Everything about the course was satisfactory. = 4
GOOD: n/a
BAD: n/a

Student D
1. Teacher sticks to allotted time. = 5
2. Teacher prepares thoroughly for class. = 5
3. Teacher sincerely works to make students understand. = 5
4. Teacher understands the course content. = 5
5. Everything about the course was satisfactory. = 4
GOOD: He makes his English explanations easy to understand-- uses drawings, etc. to get his point across.
BAD: This was a basic-level course, but the teacher spent more time talking with students with better English skills. Because he took so much time with them, I felt like I didn't have many opportunities to speak.

I've never understood how a student can rate the first four criteria a "5" and then give an overall rating of less than 5.

I might have to plead guilty to the above complaint, though. In this class, there were two students who were able to speak at length, and I may have given them more time than I should. Student D gave me decent ratings, which makes me more inclined to listen to her critique. I'll watch myself next term.

(NB: Neither of the two students was particularly cute, so this wasn't a matter of paying too much attention to a cute panty-flasher.)

Student E
1. Teacher sticks to allotted time. = 5
2. Teacher prepares thoroughly for class. = 4 (scratched out; orig. 5!)
3. Teacher sincerely works to make students understand. = 5
4. Teacher understands the course content. = 5
5. Everything about the course was satisfactory. = 3
GOOD: Teaches earnestly, always affably. I'm grateful he kept the class from being a burden. I also appreciated his "free clinic" for pronunciation.
BAD: Not enough focus on student progress and dialogue.

KEVIN'S OVERALL RATING: 4.36

Here, I'm likely to ignore this critique. Once again-- a 3 after giving nothing but higher ratings? It's possible that this is an indication of dissatisfaction with the course, not with me. I suspect, though, that that's wishful thinking. Koreans are quick to associate concepts with people. They develop strong loyalties and sometimes find it hard to let go when a new teacher comes into their lives.

Now let's move on to my 1:10PM Tuesday/Thursday drama class. I loved this group, including poor Z (I'll be blogging some photos of the group later).

Student A
1. Teacher sticks to allotted time. = 5
2. Teacher prepares thoroughly for class. = 5
3. Teacher sincerely works to make students understand. = 5
4. Teacher understands the course content. = 5
5. Everything about the course was satisfactory. = 5
GOOD: We got right into acting, which was great, and the script was easy to memorize. The teacher was thoughtful and considerate, and he understood the students.
BAD: It's too bad we had only one script to practice.

I might take that complaint as a compliment.

Student B
1. Teacher sticks to allotted time. = 5
2. Teacher prepares thoroughly for class. = 5
3. Teacher sincerely works to make students understand. = 5
4. Teacher understands the course content. = 5
5. Everything about the course was satisfactory. = 5
GOOD: The teacher gave us the confidence to act.
BAD: It would have been nice to have more scripts.

OK, maybe it's not a compliment. Then again, I get the feeling the students are saying they were really into the course and would have liked to tackle more material. That's an important point. Perhaps next time I'll offer more short scripts.

Student C
1. Teacher sticks to allotted time. = 5
2. Teacher prepares thoroughly for class. = 5
3. Teacher sincerely works to make students understand. = 5
4. Teacher understands the course content. = 5
5. Everything about the course was satisfactory. = 5
GOOD: The teacher was really funny. Even though I couldn't speak English very well, he made the effort to give me confidence to perform. Thank you!
BAD: Nothing special to note.

I wonder if this was from Z.

Student D
1. Teacher sticks to allotted time. = 4
2. Teacher prepares thoroughly for class. = 4
3. Teacher sincerely works to make students understand. = 4
4. Teacher understands the course content. = 4
5. Everything about the course was satisfactory. = 4
GOOD: Really fun class.
BAD: n/a

KEVIN'S OVERALL RATING: 4.75

This frustrates me. Why all 4s if there was nothing wrong with the class? I WANT MY 5s, DAMMIT!!

One thing I'm proud of is that my students were fairly constant in their attendance. There was that one day when Z did a runner, and another girl in the class was also absent, but aside from that (and if we overlook the shameless tardiness), everybody came every day.


And now... the group of beginning-level conversation students who loved me. This is my 7:50AM Mon-Wed-Fri class. Most of the students who bothered to visit my "free clinic" came from this class. The group as a whole was always perky, always on the ball, and pretty good about attendance. Some members were also quite punctual, coming to class even before I would show up. I can't really take credit for the high rating I got; they were all naturally perky and eager to learn. Here's how they rated me.

Student A
1. Teacher sticks to allotted time. = 5
2. Teacher prepares thoroughly for class. = 5
3. Teacher sincerely works to make students understand. = 5
4. Teacher understands the course content. = 5
5. Everything about the course was satisfactory. = 5
GOOD: It was good to feel his affection toward us.
BAD: n/a

Student B
1. Teacher sticks to allotted time. = 5
2. Teacher prepares thoroughly for class. = 5
3. Teacher sincerely works to make students understand. = 5
4. Teacher understands the course content. = 5
5. Everything about the course was satisfactory. = 5
GOOD: Despite my poor English, the teacher always encouraged me to speak without fear of embarrassment. His class's ambience was pleasant and he was very understanding. I'm very thankful that he was willing to teach us extra lessons during his private time.
BAD: n/a

That's the kind of compliment I'd like from everyone from now on, you hear?

Student C
1. Teacher sticks to allotted time. = 5
2. Teacher prepares thoroughly for class. = 5
3. Teacher sincerely works to make students understand. = 5
4. Teacher understands the course content. = 5
5. Everything about the course was satisfactory. = 5
GOOD: I really enjoyed the one-on-one classes. His knowledge of Korean was time-saving, but he was above all a perfect communicator. Kind, understanding, really good!
BAD: n/a

KEVIN'S OVERALL RATING: 5.00

There are treasures laid up for you in heaven.

Finally: this last evaluation form comes from the only intermediate-level conversation student to show up today. As I blogged at the beginning of term, no one showed up to this class during the first week, except for one woman who appeared only twice more the entire semester. On average, I had two students in class-- a Smoo student and a housewife who'd lived in the UK. The latter never showed up for class this week. She sent apologetic text messages to me, but I thought it was too bad she didn't show up. Here's what my lone student had to say.

1. Teacher sticks to allotted time. = 5
2. Teacher prepares thoroughly for class. = 3
3. Teacher sincerely works to make students understand. = 4
4. Teacher understands the course content. = 5
5. Everything about the course was satisfactory. = 5
GOOD: Listens to students with great patience. Very knowledgeable about philosophy and culture.
BAD: Might have been nice to have a greater variety of materials.

KEVIN'S OVERALL RATING: 4.4

It's a bit frustrating to be rated by students who have a history of skipping and tardiness, but the department's will be done.

I guess the message for Uncle Kevin is to prepare more of his own stuff. The reading comp class obviously liked the fact that I'd built a course basically from scratch, even if one person thought the material was too difficult. The drama students would have liked another skit on top of the one they did (understandable), and my lone intermediate-level conversation student also felt there needed to be more.

I now have a month off. Will probably spend it planning massive amounts of student activities since I won't be going anywhere.

All in all, that wasn't a bad start for my new career. At least no one rated me below a 3, eh?

Ah, yes: my overall rating. We can calculate it two ways:

1. By averaging the five collective class ratings, or

2. By averaging every single student's score.

When we do it the first way, we get: 4.654

When we do it the second way, disregarding class groupings, we get: 4.667

So there we are. Your Kevin in a nutsac-- uh, nutshell.

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*The term used is a-shi-oon jeom, or, literally, "regrettable points" or "points that are too bad." It's a bit like the evaluation form that was used when I taught high school French in the States: that form, filled out by my department head and the assistant principal, had sections labeled "commendations" and "recommendations."

**The term jaemi-it-neun, from the verb jaemi-it-da, translates variously as "fun" or "interesting." I'm never quite sure how the word should be translated when students are referring to my class, since I try for a mixture of the fun and the interesting.

***I took over the class for the second half of a twelve-week term. My department's program runs 12-week and 8-week programs, divided respectively into 6-week and 4-week halves. The longer programs occur in the fall and spring; the shorter ones in summer and winter.


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