Korean Job Discussion Forums

fevens · Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Location: Gwangju

One of the classes that i'm teaching is two 6 year olds. They refuse to listen to me, do any work or behave. I've tried everything I can think of....I'm starting to lose sleep over this and even though I have 5 other classes that day, they are taking all my attention.........please help!!!!

uberscheisse · Joined: 02 Dec 2003 Location: japan is better than korea.

do you have any recourse? like are there any rewards you can take away from them?

one thing i do that keeps my students in line like good little soldiers - and when i did this my classes became SO much more manageable -

i keep a progress chart for every student in the class. if they fulfill their responsibilities as a student, they get a sticker by their name.

when kids can see their progress - and how it compares to their peers' - it quantifies things and plays on the super-competitive nature of the school system here. if you can somehow put a number on it, then kids start worrying about that number more than their free-and-easy classroom playground. underhanded, but it works wonders for your sanity.

and - do you know any korean?

i find that yelling "YA!" (hey!) when things get too crazy shocks kids into their seats. or "anja!" (sit down!) works as well.

i've also tried ignoring students and 'sending them home' as a total last resort. like "ok, you're not allowed to talk to me today. you need to sit there and do your work by yourself." or - "go home - and explain to your mom why you're home early." get them to pack up their bag and walk out of the classroom.

or - i keep my phone in class - "i'm phoning your mom!" and i "talk to their mom" for a few seconds, and explain the kid's transgressions in bad korean "uh... studying... upsoyo!" and then look at the kid "uh, she wants to talk to you now!" the kid will come to the phone, and you'll get the weakest, most terrified "y-y-yeobosayo?!?" you've ever heard.

silent treatment and removal from the group has done wonders for me too, when i'm at my wits' end. ONLY when i'm at my wits' end though.

kermo

poet13 · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 7:59 pm Post subject:

No rewards. They shouldn't be rewarded for doing what they should already be doing.
I think Kermo was on the right track though. Pit them against each other. But reward the good one? No way. Girl A gets out of hand. Punish girl B. Girl B has a go at acting out? Punish girl A.
I had two little ten year girls when I first came to Korea that were like that. It only took a few days before they cracked. One finally told the other to stop doing something cause she knew she was going to get punished. They became two of my best students. One of the little girls still cries when she sees me cause she misses me so much. Super kids.

There is something that might be hard to do but I believe is absolutely essential. That is, from one week, day, even minute to minute, you can never hold a grudge. Punish and move on as if it never happened.
If they continue to reinforce each other, I don't think you can ever win.

blynch · Joined: 25 Oct 2006 Location: UCLA

It is not easy to teach a 6 year old not speak while the teacher is talking, especially when they have so much enthusiasim and energy. teaching them to "do the right thing" seems impossible but it can be done. I find parent communication the best tool with most students. Notes home, behavior contracts are all good, phone calls (thru KTs) are the most effective. I am selective in my calls home and also remember to praise the student to the parent when improvement is made.

venus · Joined: 25 Oct 2006 Location: Near Seoul

Qinella · Joined: 25 Feb 2005 Location: the crib

Either my find function isn't working or no one else has said this yet, so here's the simple solution:

TPR

and it bears repeating

TPR

(Total Physical Response)

poet13 · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 8:23 pm Post subject:

TPR can only go so far. When that fails, try KPS.

kermo · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 8:30 pm Post subject:

poet13 · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 9:02 pm Post subject:

As I said. KPS. Kick, Punch, Slap.

Ok, ok, just joking.
Punishment. No game day. Hands up. Last out of the classroom. (for some reason, being first was super-important.) Pain? No way.

Rewards? Yes, I reward. Praise is paramount. But I think the only tangible reward they earned was game day. It was easy to lose. They worked hard for it, including self-policing.

Juregen · Joined: 30 May 2006

I personally would drop that class and move on.

I need to maintain a high quality image so i dismiss clients who don't care.

CasperTheFriendlyGhost · Joined: 28 Feb 2007

6 year olds usually straighten up and fly right after 1 or 2 months. The 5 and 4 year old students can be a bit more of a challenge. They are terrors because it's fun to make the teacher angry; I always thought so anyway.

What you have to do (and be creative, anything less than harming a student is fair game) is make it not-fun to make the teacher angry.

Slep · Joined: 14 Oct 2006

I had a class of 6 year olds like that. 3 students were absolutely brutal until 1 day, I just ripped into them in broken Korean in front of the whole class. The next day, the entire class was perfect.

Now if I could only convince my racist students to do their work Rolling Eyes

uberscheisse · Joined: 02 Dec 2003 Location: japan is better than korea.

i always try to play with cultural things like shame, status, age, money...

here's one that occasionally works -

"so, tae-seok, what are you going to be when you grow up?"

"oh, a doctor, teacher. my father is a doctor!"

"so, where are you going to school?"

"oh harvard. my father went to harvard."

"what language do they speak in class at harvard, tae-seok?"

"uhh... english"

"so what you're saying is that you're going to be a gimbap delivery man when you grow up?"

"nooooowwwoooooowwwwoooooowwwooooo... teachaaaa!"

then let them know how much fun it is to ride a motorbike all day, even in the winter.

n3ptne · Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Location: Poh*A*ng City

Simple... throw them out of class. Refuse to teach them.

I've done this before... what you do is start by writing in the class folder that the "class's behavior in unacceptable" and you wait until they have accumulated for a few days, or weeks.

Make a point of constantly yelling at the problematic children, but assigning group homework if the class misbehaves. What I do is write "NO HOMEWORK" on the board, and if someone misbehaves, I erase one, or several letters, depending on the severity. First time I do this, the homework is nominal, but exponetially increases everytime, and make sure you write, in the folder, "homework assigned due to behavior".

After you have enough saved up, just throw them out, and if your director tries to intervene, refuse to continue teaching until they've been removed for the day. If you continue to remove them, then, go to your boss with an ultimatium, say that you point blank will refuse to continue teaching the class unless those students are removed if it happens one more time.

If your boss, or their parents, try to say anything, then just open up the folder and show them all the remarks about behavior. If they ask the other students in the class, who the problem is, they'll unanamiously point the finger at the problem children. In my experience, this is the most important thing.

Problem solved.