No, don't say hajima. You are an English "teacher," tell them to stop it. Use English, not Korean.
God I'm embarrassed of the "teachers" I am associated with. You guys have no idea how to teach. Not qualified, not good, pathetic. It takes more to be a teacher than your mother tongue. Most "teachers" here are no better than your average Wal-Mart employee stocking shelves

Dodge don't blame the teachers, blame the people who hire them and say them in the advert 'young American female wanted, no experience necessary'

No, don't say hajima. You are an English "teacher," tell them to stop it. Use English, not Korean.
God I'm embarrassed of the "teachers" I am associated with. You guys have no idea how to teach. Not qualified, not good, pathetic. It takes more to be a teacher than your mother tongue. Most "teachers" here are no better than your average Wal-Mart employee stocking shelves

Dodge don't blame the teachers, blame the people who hire them and say them in the advert 'young American female wanted, no experience necessary'

It sounds like you might be at the start of a set-up for a firing. I've had this happen to me and seen it happen to friends. The schools usually tend to have fluctuations in their attendance, especially around exams and vacation times, but owners will sometimes use this as an excuse to get rid of staff.

It could be that no matter what you do, it's not going to satistfy your boss. Follow the instruction, but I suspect that in a week (or a few weeks) you'll be called in again for some other problem that you are the cause of.

"Your students say that you are not fun anymore. Please try to be more interesting and play more games". Next week, "you are playing too many games and the parents are complaining."

Wow. Firstly, thank you Dodge for the malicious personal attacks on my character, about which you know nothing. I'll have you know that whilst I am inexperienced and am clearly making grave errors, I'm doing my best for the kids and am always striving to improve, not bitterly slagging someone off over an Internet forum. Shame on you. Also, for your information I'm a British male, so you know what you can do with your assumptions. If you were some teaching maestro I doubt you'd be skulking around an Internet forum putting down those in need of help. Re-evaluate yourself.

To everyone else, in a nutshell I've had no training or guidance of any kind and there's no real curriculum. The kids come to me, I work my way through whatever textbook trying to drag some speech out of them, then we play a game. You could say I wing it. For 9 months this has been completely fine and there have been zero issues. I have some freedom in the classroom, moreso with the middle schoolers, but in all honesty I'm at a loss about what to do with a load of surly teenagers from whom I have to drag even the most basic sentence.

Wow. Firstly, thank you Dodge for the malicious personal attacks on my character, about which you know nothing. I'll have you know that whilst I am inexperienced and am clearly making grave errors, I'm doing my best for the kids and am always striving to improve, not bitterly slagging someone off over an Internet forum. Shame on you. Also, for your information I'm a British male, so you know what you can do with your assumptions. If you were some teaching maestro I doubt you'd be skulking around an Internet forum putting down those in need of help. Re-evaluate yourself.

To everyone else, in a nutshell I've had no training or guidance of any kind and there's no real curriculum. The kids come to me, I work my way through whatever textbook trying to drag some speech out of them, then we play a game. You could say I wing it. For 9 months this has been completely fine and there have been zero issues. I have some freedom in the classroom, moreso with the middle schoolers, but in all honesty I'm at a loss about what to do with a load of surly teenagers from whom I have to drag even the most basic sentence.

Teenagers who don't want to talk?

1) Close ended questions (yes/no questions) and follow-up with open ended questions (Why?). Model the answers if necessary, making sure the student repeats after you if he or she is resistant. That will make it clear that being moody and shy isn't acceptable without saying it explicitly. They'll eventually become accustomed to hearing themselves talk in English and you'll be showing them that you are in control of the class. They'll respect you more for it.

2) Praise the ones who make an effort. The other ones will be jealous and follow.

3) Spend a few minutes talking about what they did that week or that day. It's easier for learners to talk about themselves (don't get into too many personal details, though). They've got exams coming up in the next week or two, talk about that. If they resist, do what I suggested in number 1.

No one is saying you should be some master teacher after 9 months, but thats long enough to develop some skills, even by trial & error. The tweaks your boss suggests are valid, but if your quote above is accurate, sounds to me like there are deeper underlying problems with your performance.

You're the sole foreign teacher in your school. You're a key expensive factor in your boss's business strategy. Students are quitting in droves. Your boss sounds reasonably patient but there comes a point. You need to spend some effort outside the classroom learning how to teach.

Maybe you're unsuited to teaching. Thats not a slam against you, not everyone is.

No, don't say hajima. You are an English "teacher," tell them to stop it. Use English, not Korean.
God I'm embarrassed of the "teachers" I am associated with. You guys have no idea how to teach. Not qualified, not good, pathetic. It takes more to be a teacher than your mother tongue. Most "teachers" here are no better than your average Wal-Mart employee stocking shelves.

Another high and mighty post from the king of that. If you are so qualified and such a good teacher (you have mentioned that ad-nauseum), then why did you have to go to Korea to teach ESL in the first place, D7? We already know why you stay there (which is pathetic in its own right and dropped ad-nauseum as well). Wouldn't it just be easier to accept the fact that you are the one that you constantly refers others to be?

I think you miss my point. I jokingly tell kids they are smelly and they jokingly respond with things like "no Teacher, you are crazy!". It's all in good humour and I'd never maliciously tell a child they smell, even if they did.

Similarly, I only tell children who are being a pain in the arse to "shut up". You know the ones, the ones that will not do as they're told and are all-round little so-and-sos.

I take your point though, but yes, I've got a lack of experience. I've been an Englishee "teacher" for 9 months. I'm going to make mistakes, which I'm going to correct immediately according to what the boss wants.

I think you miss my point. I jokingly tell kids they are smelly and they jokingly respond with things like "no Teacher, you are crazy!". It's all in good humour and I'd never maliciously tell a child they smell, even if they did.

Similarly, I only tell children who are being a pain in the arse to "shut up". You know the ones, the ones that will not do as they're told and are all-round little so-and-sos.

I take your point though, but yes, I've got a lack of experience. I've been an Englishee "teacher" for 9 months. I'm going to make mistakes, which I'm going to correct immediately according to what the boss wants.

Totally agree with you about the banter.

Totally disagree about the "shut up". It's way too harsh, IMO .

Care to elaborate why you totally disagree and think "shut up" is way too harsh?

For 9 months this has been completely fine and there have been zero issues. I have some freedom in the classroom, moreso with the middle schoolers, but in all honesty I'm at a loss about what to do with a load of surly teenagers from whom I have to drag even the most basic sentence.

Don't get too worried with all this. If you went 9 months, they are obviously seeing the end and preparing.

It is quite possible they did not get enough money from parents and now they are trying to save rather than make money. The next phase is to get another teacher regardless what you do and how good/bad you are at teaching. Then they get parents to send their child back to the school because there is a "new teacher". It's the "new iphone" trick.

No, don't say hajima. You are an English "teacher," tell them to stop it. Use English, not Korean.
God I'm embarrassed of the "teachers" I am associated with. You guys have no idea how to teach. Not qualified, not good, pathetic. It takes more to be a teacher than your mother tongue. Most "teachers" here are no better than your average Wal-Mart employee stocking shelves.

Another high and mighty post from the king of that. If you are so qualified and such a good teacher (you have mentioned that ad-nauseum), then why did you have to go to Korea to teach ESL in the first place, D7? We already know why you stay there (which is pathetic in its own right and dropped ad-nauseum as well). Wouldn't it just be easier to accept the fact that you are the one that you constantly refers others to be?

Well, considering there is only ONE hiring season for licensed teachers (the summer) and if you miss out then you have to wait ANOTHER year to apply again, it makes the impatient pretty antsy.

I was living in Florida for most of the summer in 2009, and I had a job lined up for me back in Cleveland had I stayed there, but I was stupid and lived it up for the summer with some friends down south. I came back home in the fall, saw the job ad on craigslist to teach in Korea, I like to travel and I could make money doing what I went to college for, so I signed up.

I'm totally justified in my reasoning why I'm here, but you, Mr. Business Economics major guy, why are you teaching? You didn't even go to college to learn how to be a teacher, you failed in your profession so bailed out like a loser. Tell the truth. You made a poor decision in choosing a college major and now you are stuck singing ABC's and are a day time nanny for the rich Korean mommies. Sing another song for the kids and fall back in line--because God knows you can't do anything or make it back home anyway, lol.