Korean Job Discussion Forums

[dinga271]

I am currently teaching in a hagwon in Bangeojin, Ulsan and tonight I finally lost my cool.

I have been biting my tongue for the last few weeks with this middle school class of mine (3 boys in particular). We were completing listening activities out of a textbook and in the middle of an activity (10 minutes from the end of class) these boys decided it was time to close books, do homework assigned from the principal's lessons or simply talk amongst each other while the girls in my class kept on working diligently like they usually do.

So after asking the boys why they have stopped early (finish time, want to play hangman) telling the boys no one leaves until everybody has finished (giggled like girls at that one) and repeatedly telling them to be quiet so not to disturb the girls that were actually participating I decided enough was enough.

I picked up the end of the desk that 2 of the boys were sitting at about 4 feet and dropped it, telling the boys to be quiet and start writing. One of them gives me a smirk and spouts off something in Korean but quickly shuts his mouth when I hover over him asking 'do you have a problem?" 3 or 4 times. It is the fastest I have seen the boys in this class move and of course they finish the work in record time. All this time the girls are smiling and giggling to each other because they have had the shits with these boys for a while as well.

I apologised to the girls for my unprofessional behaviour and gave my side of the story to the principal in case a parent rang outraged at the foreign teacher's behaviour while denying the bad behavior of their sons (has happened to the principal as well).

I admit I am not a perfect teacher (who is?) but I have no problems with 90% of the students I deal with at the hagwon, only a handful.

Anybody else put professionalism at the back of the queue and just let go?

[uberscheisse]

i think you need to find different strategies. the heavy routine works occasionally, but it's the stuff that surprises kids that really works.

first, break up the gang. find the ringleader and get his buddies to laugh at him. one of my favorite ones is to give the kid a nickname. you have never achieved power in a classroom until you have the main troublemaker weeping in shame because you called him "jun-BOMB" instead of "jun-bum". or something like that.

the second one, i call yesu-nim (jesus). buy a couple of 2-pound dumbells from your local health-uh su-ports-uh store. put them in the main offender's hands and let him hold them horizontally, as if his body is a "T" shape, a la jesus on the cross. he's not allowed to drop his arms.

thing is, this seems cruel, but when he sees the weights, he gets all cocky and brave. after about 2 minutes though, his deltoids are on fire and he's begging for mercy.

or... say "hey, listen kid, i'm going to phone your mom". pull out your phone and dial some bs number. don't press send. the kid's already frightened, so just dial and press the red button.

"yeobosayo? neh... na neun... uhh dave-seonsaengnim.... 'billy' is... uh.... no study..."

then you go silent. nod your head a lot and say "neh... neh... yeh yeh.... oohhh... aniyo... chaka-man-yo..." and then get a resigned, sorry look on your face, look at the kid and say "she wants to talk to you." as if you, the ignorant foreigner, has opened up a can of maternal worms.

hand him the phone. he'll say "yeobosayo...?" in the quietest voice you've ever heard.

then everyone will laugh at him.

[tanklor1]

[mindmetoo]

Step 1) A few calm friendly warnings.

Step 2) In their face, yelling, and then

Step 3) Kick them out, give them extra homework when they come back. Helps too if you frog march them in front of the class to the office and have the Korean English teacher explain the additional homework to them.

I had one little turd I kicked out of class. He refused to move. I pulled him out of his chair and marched him to the door. Just as I was about to close the door he tried to run back into the class. Oh my. He's now up against a wall, I'm poking my finger in his chest and just dressing him down in front of his class mates. You need to remind them you are the teacher. They are the student. That's the relationship. You say x. They do x. End of story.

It's also helpful to discover the Korean teacher that takes no guff and they are all afraid of. Ask them repeatedly if they'd act like that in his/her class. If not, why do they do it in your class?

But at the end of the day you can't waste much time on a small number of overt trouble makers. If they act up, just kick them out and get back to work.

[MarionG]

I don't see dropping the end of a desk (assumedly to make a big, attention getting noise) as a bad strategy. I have been known to slam a book down on the table, making the whole chatty class jump.

I once put two boys, 1st year middle school, who had been laughing over making one of the girl students cry (for the third straight day) sitting "at attention", on their knees, backs ramrod straight, holding a book straight out in front of them with both hands.

I told them (through a student in the class whose English was up to it) that they would stay that way for 5 minutes PAST when the girl stopped crying.

The funny thing was that all the other girls immediately stopped comforting the crying girl...they all wanted her to cry as long as possible.
The two boys on their knees started trying to comfort her...although I made them be quiet.

I was surprised at what an effective method of punishment it was. The boys were embarassed, both by having to kneel this way AND by how their arms started to shake after a while, and the girls were glad they stopped harrassing the one girl. To my surprise, the boys not only became much easier to deal with in class, they started showing, in small ways, that they liked me, i.e. good morning every day, big smiles, etc., and I'm not a cute young thing teacher...I'm 63.

[Bondrock]

CNN had a segment about american students "baiting" teachers, getting them to lose their cool and then the video shows up on the internet.

i wonder how long it will take for this to reach Korea?

Thank jebus i dont teach kids.

[VirginIslander]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhyTH6AhZ_0

[eamo]

Never lost my cool in class. Not once in 7 years teaching. If kids can aggravate you to that extent then find another profession. Remember they're young. They don't follow the social rules of adults.

[mindmetoo]

Always remember, their first assumption is you're not Korean. Rules are different under you. You're not part of their social structure. You have to establish early on in the class room that because you're a whitey you're not owed the respect of a teacher.

(To the OP, you did nothing uncool. Breaking an arm is uncool.)

[The_Conservative]

[uberscheisse]

i think that "losing one's cool" is a good way to establish the "don't *beep* with me, because i'm the teacher" boundary.

kids are kids, and they get caught up in their wigged-out realities sometimes, and they have little control. sometimes that requires loud noises to snap them out of it.

i've constantly been pretty anti-authority, but what gets my goat is when one little punk is trying to disrupt the rest of the kids who are really trying.

after establishing who is not the boss... but the mediator in the classroom, you'll have very little trouble. i run a class like a drill sergeant at first, and then after that things get really relaxed. nobody gets away with anything, because they know what could happen.

another strategy is to say to the troublemaker "hey, go home. you don't want to be here. go home. and then explain to your mom just why you're home." the kid will go "noooooo..." and you'll go "yes." it'll be to the point where you're packing his bag for him, and he'll beg you to let him stay.

[uberscheisse]

[The_Conservative]

[dmbfan]

[sojourner1]

I used to lose my cool when I first started teaching, but now I just don't care anymore, because many of these kids know I can't do much so they just do as they please such as chatting, being rude, aggressive, and in a big hurry to nowhere. The director likes it better if you have no incidents, even though some kids may not have one ounce of respect for you since they just take advantage of English classes to clown around. I know getting them to listen and cooperate is like trying to move a mountain at times.

I had to learn to be more tolerant and resilient to these bad acting kids. Getting mad will only get you hated and result in drop outs. Let the thorough breds run in your stable...