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u/smokeshack · 6 pointsr/teflteachers

Pronunciation teaching is my research area, and you're right that the method you've described is not a great way to teach pronunciation. Making connections with the Korean writing system is a good start, so I wouldn't recommend cutting it out completely, even for adults. It should just be a building block for connecting what they know about language sounds to what they're learning, though--it can't possibly cover everything a student needs to know. A good pronunciation program should teach segmental sounds (vowels and consonants), suprasegmentals (rhythm, intonation, stress), as well as giving the student a critical framework for understanding foreign accent, what it means to have one, and how to respond to discrimination based on that accent.

But I take it from your post that you know all of that. The real question is, how do you bring this up to your boss?

First, I think you may need to think hard about what service you're actually providing. If you're working in a Hagwon, many of your students may be there more for entertainment than for practical skills.^1 In that framework, maybe they don't really care about acquiring accurate or fully comprehensible pronunciation. They may just be enjoying a kind of edutainment. Talk to your students, ask them what they want. If they're happy to answer the 'telepone' and drink 'copee', then I'd say just drop it and focus on what they want to do.

If your students want better pronunciation training, and they tell you so, then that's the sort of thing you can bring up to your boss. Tell them that the students want more in-depth pronunciation training, and they'll be more likely to go along in the hopes of obliging the customer. By no means should you frame it as 'this style of teaching is wrong, I know what's best'. Instead, frame it in terms of 'after hearing my students' concerns, I did some research, and it looks like this style of teaching is more effective.' Don't turn it into a battle of you being right and the director is wrong, because you'll definitely lose that battle.

This is exactly what led me to my current study, by the way. I was dissatisfied with the way pronunciation was being taught in the Eikaiwa (Japanese Hagwon) I was working at, so I started making my own materials. In my case, I just started using my own materials without asking permission, and every time the bosses got on my case about it, I lied and said I'd use the official materials, then kept on using my own stuff. Every few months I'd get a talking to, and I'd tell them what they wanted to hear, and then kept on teaching in my own way.

Really, if you want to be a better teacher, you may have to do that. Japanese schools are really strict on keeping everything exactly the same from teacher to teacher and classroom to classroom (because they have no idea what teachers actually do), and from what I hear, it's not much different in Korea. At a certain point, I decided that I had a greater responsibility to my students than to my school, and if the school wouldn't support me in providing quality lessons, then I'd do it myself. Was that the right decision? It was for me. My bosses weren't terribly happy about it, but on the other hand, they begged and pleaded for me to extend my contract when I handed in my resignation, so they couldn't have been too put out.

So I'd recommend talking to your students first. Figure out what they want and whether the current system is meeting their goals. Bring that information to your boss, along with some information on more effective pronunciation training.^2 If you boss isn't convinced, then I'd just do it anyway. A Hagwon job isn't worth losing your integrity as a teacher. But only do that if your students really want better pronunciation training. If they don't care, then I'm afraid you're the jerk in the situation.

^1 Kubota, R. (2011). Learning a foreign language as leisure and consumption: Enjoyment, desire, and the business of eikaiwa. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 14(4), 473-488.

^2 This book is pretty good for the technical stuff. For information on the social role of foreign accent and what it means to have one (equally important!), check out this book.

u/Onion_Terror · 2 pointsr/teflteachers

I wouldn't bother planning out an entire year all at once. Planning on a week-by-week basis is easier and much more flexible.

What books did you receive? You can plan a syllabus based on what's in the books. I often find it a good idea to use the coursebooks as a skeleton and then use my own materials/things I find on the internet to put a bit of meat on the bones.

For warm-up activities, I get a lot of stuff from these two websites, and also 700 activities. But there are loads of really good websites and books out there - it just requires a bit of searching.

Also, two weeks for needs assessment is a bit excessive in my opinion, but it gives you a chance to take everything quite slowly and at a relatively relaxed pace, as well as do a lot of practice and recapping.

u/BithTree · 1 pointr/teflteachers

Here is a graded reader on Amazon. Take a look at the first chapter. This is "level 2" (whatever that means), but it seems like it's for high beginners or low intermediate. The point of a graded reader is to have an actually interesting story that isn't intended for children.

My biggest successes are when I use graded readers about soccer players (especially Pele) with my Saudi Arabian male students. I can barely pull them away from the book! Think of the interests of your students and try to work that in. (It's been a while since I wrote that comment so I didn't realize I was repeating myself.)

u/chinadonkey · 1 pointr/teflteachers

Get ahold of a copy of Teaching Unplugged by Scott Thornbury. It's filled with student-centered activities that focus on communication. I've been using it quite a bit as a way to get away from the coursebook. Also, check out his blog. Further, Compelling Conversations is a great book filled with discussion-stimulating topics.

Edit: Keep Talking by Friederich Klieppel (I believe I mis-spelled that) is a classic with lots of nicely scaffolded speaking activities. It's meant more as a supplement to your lesson, but, again, it's quite student-centered.