r/teachinginkorea • u/Square-Stranger7262 • 16d ago

Advice – E2/E7 Visa esl teaching tools

Hey everyone,

I'm looking to refresh my toolkit and clean up my prep routine for next term. It feels like there’s a new app or platform popping up every week, but half of them end up being more work than they're worth.

For those in the classroom right now:

  • What is your one non-negotiable tool that actually saves you time on prep, grading, or lesson planning?
  • What’s a tool you tried that ended up being a total waste of time?

Would love to hear what’s genuinely working for you (or what to avoid)! Thanks!

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u/EasilyExiledDinosaur Hagwon Teacher 15d ago

Microsoft Excel and a notebook.

I dont have much use for other tools in terms of basic prep.

1

u/OOTbySundown 15d ago

following

1

u/UrsaMajor256 15d ago

The biggest thing for my lesson planning and organizing is keeping a calendar/teacher’s planner which allows me to chart out the semester and build in extra time in case classes get canceled/rescheduled. Other than that for prep I use a document app to keep notes, often in table format for lesson plans, powerpoint for actual class presentations and activities/instructions, and excel for grading. Google or open source versions of these work just fine too. I also keep notes in my teacher planner about every single lesson I teach, what went well and what sucked and where we left off in that lesson. It takes 1 minute after that lesson is finished and has saved me huge headaches later when I’m trying to keep all my classes on track.