Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Grimalkin]

I teach two conversation classes to adults. Most of the students arrive late. Recently I had a student arrive 15 minutes before the end of a two hour class followed 5 minutes later by another student!). It bugs the hell out of me.


I studied French for 3 years with Alliance Francaise in England. Students rarely came late for class and if they did they apologised profusely and usually had a good excuse. Up until recently I put the difference in punctuality down to the fact that we English are a bit anal about time keeping.


Not anymore.


A couple of months ago I started taking Spanish classes. There are 7 students in the class. Along with myself there is one Irish guy, one S. African, one American and 3 Australians. Last week commenting on the difference between teaching Koreans and Westerners the teacher noted that Koreans are usually late whereas when he comes to our class the students are always in class before him (he also mentioned the fact that it's obvious that we review the material after class whereas Koreans obviously don't...but that a whole other post/vent).


So what is it, a sign of disrespect for teachers...a cultural difference...other?


(And if you've any suggestions how to make my students more punctual I'm all ears.)

[Tiberious aka Sparkles]

How old, roughly, are the students? Maybe they have business/familial affairs which sometimes cause them to be late. Are they paying for it or is their company?

[maeil]

If they're that late for class, why do they even come?

They're adults, as you say. Others may disagree, but what I would do is, if they're more than 30 minutes late for class, not let them in unless they warn me in advance of the class that they will be late. If their reason for being late is valid, then they can at least take the courtesy to let you know.

[Freaka]

Grimalkin, je pense que tu es super sympa avec tes etudiants...soyez ferme. Ils doivent te respecter...c'est important!

[Tjames426]

When I have students who are late, I ask my school director. Sometimes, the school calls the students. Most of the time, the school tells me what the issue is.

Often, the student is finishing one Hagwon and rushing to my class.
Often, the student has a school trip or something.
Some students travel a long distance for my class.

I don't worry about my K1 - G4 kids. They have a lot of stress in their lives already. I am very understanding about why they are late.

[yingwenlaoshi]

[paquebot]

[yingwenlaoshi]

[paquebot]

[paquebot]

[SuperFly]

I think it just depends on the people. In my Korean language class at Yonsei, we had 6 Americans, 2 Canadians, 2 Chinese, 1 Indian and 1 Japanese.

4 out of the 6 Americans were consistently late. The other two made it to class on time, every time. The Indian never made it to class on time, ever. The Japanese guy missed about half the classes (Business trips) but was always on time when he did make it to class. The Chinese and myself were the only students with perfect attendance and on time to class 100% - and the two Canadians missed a total of two classes but were never late.

Sorry for the long breakdown.

[bellum99]

[willneverteachagain]

i think they just dont care if they are late. if they are paying for the class, you cant do much to prevent it. if the company is paying, i wouldnt let them in the room if they are more than 10 mins late. u are teaching adults. i taught kids up to 18 years old and if any of them were not in the class b4 me, they stayed outside

[SuperFly]

[rocklee]

Out of all my students, the Chinese were never late (surprising since they don't come to school by bus but on foot or car), the Japanese well they are always always puntual! My Korean students take the school bus and excuses range from "lousy bus driver" to "school events". Fair enough but I feel some of them are purposely late to draw attention to themselves by skipping the first part of the lesson (which is also the most important part).

I think it all boils down to motivation.