Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kentucker4]

What can I do? I have tried music, cards and sing a longs...not much luck. They don't understand a word I say and run arou8nd screaming and falling on the floor while knocking over desks. They then shout, Korean Korea! No English! I am really worried that this is making me look bad to my new boss who of course has invested a lot of money into me. Any ideas?

[Steve Schertzer]

What time is the class? The reason I ask is simple. This should explain it. Say the class is 4th period, just before lunch.

Once the class is out of order, this is what you do. Ask the students this question:

Teacher: "Would you like to have class now or later?"
Students: (In unison.) "Later!"
Teacher: "Okay."

The students fool around. Sit around, (or stand around), and watch. At the end of class the bell rings. The students start to leave.

Teacher: "Hey, where are you going?"
Students: "It's lunch time."
Teacher: "Not for you. You said you wanted to have class later. Well, it's later. Let's have class."

Start class. Remember, it's your classroom. And, of course, you never said what "later" was. "Later" is ALWAYS up to the teacher. It could be after school as well. (Never tell the students when "later" is.)

Once students miss lunch, or soccer, or seeing their friends after school, they'll get the message very quickly.

[kimchi_pizza]

[shantaram]

[PRagic]

Just curious. Do you have a degree in elementary education? Certification?

[pest2]

Are you working in a public school? If so, they are legally required to put a Korean teacher in there with you to 'communicate' with the students. If not... well, you are screwed. My sig other had a job at wonderland for a year, and she just bopped em on the head whenever they got out of control.

I have 1 such class per week and 90% of the time I can control them; I just make coloring pages with letters (they dont even know ABC yet) and try to get them to repeat the letters over and over. When they get out of control, I just walk out and refuse to teach again until a Korean teacher goes in to communicate with them in a language they can understand.
The Koreans know they are doing wrong to begin with and their butts could all be in a sling if anyone found out they're breaking the rule.. so they are always happy to oblige.

Its really really stupid to put a native speaker with no Korean language skills into a class of very young kids who dont know any English and are not being immersed in an otherwise English-based society.

A degree in elementary ed may help a little, but I think those degrees still assume you and the little ones speak the same language, right?

[jlb]

Is it a hagwon or public school?

In the hagwon, I found that squeezing the kid's arm, looking them in the eye, quietly saying, "sit down please" and not so gently forcing them to sit down did the trick. For that matter, touching someone's arm and looking them in the eye while telling them to be quiet does the trick as well for my uni. students.

Never get angry, never raise your voice. Stay calm no matter what.

[chris_J2]

http://www.eslcafe.com/idea/index.cgi?Discipline:

I only ever taught grade 3 elementary & up, but recall crouching down to make eye contact with the kids, & just using very simple English. eg "What colour / color is this? It's red" Easy! Check out some of the disciplinary techniques in the thread above.

I had a graded system:

1. Stand up
2. Stand up & hands in the air *(or on the head)
3. Stand in the corner
4. Get outside in the corridor
5. Home teacher to be advised (they were scared of their ht!)

If they behaved they could sit down. Also find out what kids (if any) have learning or physical disabilities. I had about 5 in my old school of 800 students.

Additionally, split up troublesome duos, or groups fighting & playing up.

* The Korean teachers were much harsher, & would make the class scuttle around on the floor like crabs, eg.

[Chloe11]

If it makes you feel any better, I have absolutely no teaching experience whatsoever. My very first day on the job, Monday, I was thrown into a class, by myself, with 6 year olds. One of them ended up screaming and running around with a chair on his head. The others threw things at each other while they pointed and laughed at me. For a moment I considered getting upset and concerned over what my boss might think about my inability to control the little brats... then I remembered that my boss had just paid over 1000 dollars to fly my inexperienced ass to Korea and sit it in this classroom with absolutely no training. Hence, he'd probably get over it. Thankfully, two of the students told the Korean teacher afterwards how rude their classmates had been to me, and they got told

Needless to say, I need to work on my own teaching style so that these things don't happen again... but for now, I'll roll with it. Just remember that you're not alone, eh?

[ajuma]

If it's the first time that the kids have had a foreign teacher, ask to have a Korean person (teacher or not!) in the classroom for the first few days.

First things first. Teach: Stand up. Sit down. Do this activity several times, demonstrating each.

Teach: Talk. Be quiet. Do this activity several times, demonstrating each.
If needed, have the Korean teacher translate.

THEN start teaching simple things: numbers, colors, what's your name, my name is...

Remember: Kids have REALLY short attention spans. 5-7 minutes per activity is more than enough. Check out some of the kindy teaching threads to get some ideas of things to do.

[Young FRANKenstein]

[xCustomx]

[PRagic]

chloe11 has exactly the right idea, especially for a hakwon job. They aren't hiring trained professionals, and they know it. They will, however, give you a speech about how you need to be professional and devote yourself to education and blah, blah, blah. Don't buy into it. They just want to get their money's worth out of you on the cheap.

Smile and say pay me. It's their game, you're just playing it.

[Steve Schertzer]

[Funky Chunk]

Alright...

1. Go in early and make name labels for all the kids and assign them seats. This way you can separate problem kids. Think of your best behaved kid and your worst behaved kid and seat them next to each other. Then your second best and second worst and so on. Depending on your class, you may want to seat them boy - girl order. I realize that you may have tables as opposed to desks and a small room, so it can be difficult, but the point is to get the ringleaders as far away from each other as possible and preferably in positions where they can not easily make eye contact with one another. Your followers will calm down when there's no one to lead them. *Tape the labels down so the kids can't move them, and be sure all seating is in place before they arrive.

2. Establish and post classroom rules. It is important that you include the kids in this process. Even the rowdiest kids will actively participate in this activity and for the most part give you the answers you desire, especially if you write everything down. Once all the ideas are down, you and the kids can eliminate and condense to come up with a few basic rules that are general enough to encompass all the stuff the kids mentioned. Write the rules on a large enough sheet of paper where the rules can easily be seen and there's enough room for all the kids to sign their names. The signing process gives the kids a sense of ownership and unity.

3. Clear off one of your bulletin boards and devote it to behavior management. Have all the kids draw pictures of themselves to be tacked along the top of the board. Down the side you will list consequences: Warning, lose half of free time, lose all of free time, trip to the office (or time out in another room), & note/phone call home. Of course these can be adjusted to suit your class, and depending on the kids, you can even have a class discussion with them to decide on consequences. They will usually choose far harsher consequences than you will. Every time a child breaks a rule, you will move their picture down on the board so that it's next to whatever consequence they're on. This serves multiple purposes. First, it helps you keep track of who did what. Second it allows the kids to see exactly where they are in the scheme of things. The smarter kids will misbehave up until the consequence they can't bare, and then quit the unaccepted behaviors. Third, it helps to ensure that your consequences are consistent - everyone gets the same punishment everyday. No playing favorites. The kids will understand and respect this. In the beginning, you'll have to reset the kids pictures to the top of the board daily. After a while, you'll only have to reset them weekly.

4. Buy a Lotte Bar for each kid and tape them to the wall in a place where the kids can see them but not reach them. Explain to the kids that anyone who only gets their picture moved X amount of times for the week will get a bar on Friday. Seeing the bars taped to the wall reminds them of what they're working for and lets them know that you truly plan to reward them. Explain to the kids that there are enough up there for each of them because you know that all of them are capable of earning a bar.

5. Finally, write a letter to the parents explaining the rules, consequences and rewards. Also let the parents know that you will be sending home weekly reports of classroom behavior (this can be as simple as a half-sheet checklist marking where their kid fell on the behavior chart each day-with a class of 12-15 kids, it won't take more than 10 minutes) Have it translated into Korean and send it home. Request that the bottom be signed and sent back (it may help to offer the kids a piece of candy or some other reward for bringing it back). By doing this, the parents know what's going on, and more importantly, the kids know that their parents know.

I realize this is a lot and some of it sounds silly, but it works as long as you're consistent. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.