Korean Job Discussion Forums

[spyro25]

in one of my uni classes i have this really creepy student. he has been around all the other native teachers classes as well and they have the same opinion of him as i do. he has recently returned to my class and is causing problems again.

he dresses like its the 1980's and almost never changes his clothes. he has the greasiest black hair and a little pencil moustache. he always sits away from others. now i don't mind this kind of thing - what we all mind is his inappropriate questions and inappropriate conversation.

examples include - (in a first 'getting to know you class') 'what do you think of the ghettos in world war 2'?

asking me if i was married because he knew a 'few hot chicks around uni' we could 'score' with.

asking if i could call a gay person a 'cigarette' when people called them 'fags' and where the word 'faggot' comes from

asking is the word 'cun' (which isn't even a word) had any relationship to the word c***

asking about 'comfort women' in the same friendly 'getting to know you' class

he stops me for 10 minutes after every class to ask me these inane and often embarrasing questions, and always does his best to ask questions in class that aren't in any way related to the topic we are discussing, and has no problems with rambling on about something wierd while the rest of the class are waiting to discuss the issue / grammar point at hand. the other teachers are glad to be rid of him but he's my responsibility again so i don't look forward to my 6:00 class like i used to anymore?

does anyone have any tips for a) getting rid of him or b) getting around this kind of behaviour? i don't want to upset the guy as he seems like another cho seung hee at the moment................

[yingwenlaoshi]

Cut him off. Ask students in turn.

"I don't know"
"I don't want to talk about that"

etc.

[Ozabout7or8]

If you a physically intimidated get rid of him quick smart.

If not, then you have a responsibility to the other students in your class to control one student. When someone rambles on or asks and innappropriate or unrelated question I nip it in the bud right there and then, and firmly.

As a teacher you need to be able to control the classroom appropriately for everyones benefit, and other students will I'm sure (even if they do not say it) be getting frustrated with you not controlling him.

Do it immediately and consistently when he starts some tirade of crap. After class tell him that you are not interested in answering questions at that point in time unless they are related to the homework. Your time out of class for students is at your discretion alot of the time and unless you are in office hours you can just say goodbye. If you are in office hours you could tell him that YOU get to dictate the timing of his session and the topics he must discuss so that it is comfortable for you.

You are not there to get abused. And at all times weight up his needs against those of the majority of the other students and the correct course of action will be immediately apparent.

[yingwenlaoshi]

Ask him if he buys his clothes at the 99 Won store.

[spliff]

Sounds like my kind of student, frankly. Play along w/ him. Act as if his questions are perfectly normal and take him up on the uni girls boink..

I bet he's a punk rocker.

[spyro25]

i dont really have a problem with him much in class - i make sure that my lesson plan is fully carried out and all the other students get as much talking time as they can. most of his odd stuff comes after the class.

i'm worried that when it comes for the students to do a group task tomorrow that he's going to wierd out the other students, who won't want to work with him (even though he would be a useful resource as he has lived in the US for a while). I can't exclude him from group work but I feel loathe to include him as well.

how can i make him just disappear?

[mehamrick]

Tell him dokdo belongs to Japan.. I would definately have a good time giving the guy a good mindf**k

[Fresh Prince]

You could tell the guy you are religious and don't like to talk about things like that.

[missionshk]

I would get rid of him immediately, report him to the school. I would probably pack my bags and leave Korea

[some waygug-in]

I had a student a bit similar. I asked him what he wanted to do on his coming travels and he responded (half shouting) "find a filthy f***ing b**ch! I'm not sure what he expected from that, the rest of the class was mainly middle and high school girls. He had a few more weird comments and questions over the next while as well.

I just tried to ignore his inappropriate questions or responses in class and he seemed to lose interest when he couldn't get a rise out of me.

I'm not sure if this will work with your guy though.

anyhooo, good luck.

[yingwenlaoshi]

Actually, I had a similar student but to a milder degree in a class of engineers. But he wasn't that bad. At least he was speaking English. The other students appologized for him though which I thought was unecessary. Could be he was being a smart ass, but it just didn't seem too much like that to me. They probably thought he was being disrespectful, but I've seen worse. With adults. Had this one guy giggling all the time once. He was a fkn arsehole.

[captain kirk]

[insam]

Sounds like a perfectly cool student and a perfectly typical response to such a student.

[thegadfly]

I wonder if he thought the word cunning shared a root with the other word you mentioned? LOL

[lastat06513]

He does seem like a disruptive student....
Just take him aside and tell him like it is; that his comments will not be tolerated and that if it continues, you will have to move on to the next student in the group.
Why do you have to beat yourself up over it?
As like in Canada and in the US, Korea has its fill of crazies and it is up to you on how you will manage them.
I think that when I come back to korea, with my background in security, I can handle problem people alot better than alot of the posters here....