Korean Job Discussion Forums

[idonojacs]

For some reason I was under the impression Asian students would be fairly well behaved and motivated to work hard. Perhaps it is because Asian students in North America have that reputation. While there are some students here in every class who clearly are, and are surprisingly good at English, I am seeing a surprising amount of problems.

It seems that many classes are getting out of control. It's not just the English classes. The other teachers apparently are just letting the kids do whatever they want, and get away with murder. When you try to regain control, the troublemakers just laugh in your face. At least that is what I am seeing.

And it is not just during English class. When I try to do fun stuff, like watch a movie, in some classes the majority of kids still insist on doing things like listen to the same Korean song they have heard 300 times on their MP3 player, or yell, or put their heads down and go to sleep.

If a kid did that in schools I've seen in the U.S. they would be removed, suspended, or put in a special class for kids with behavioral problems. Here, it seems to be accepted as normal.

On the other hand, I do have several classes where the students are well behaved and seem to enjoy learning. So I don't want to label all Korean kids.

What are you seeing?

What are the most common behavioral problems you see in your students?

If so, why do you think we are seeing so many problems? Poor diet, lack of sleep, lack of training in good manners from parents, lack of motivation, sick and tired of having facts crammed into their heads?

Or are your students reasonably attentive and polite?

NOTE: My apologies; there was supposed to be a "none of the above" option. There is a quirk in the poll construction function, and sometimes if you don't add an 11th option and then remove it, it drops the last option. Once someone answers the poll you cannot change it.

[moosehead]

what i have learned in regards to the stereotype many of us have of korean students (in the u.s.) - they are isolated; poor social skills that is, so they have a lot of trouble making friends - not to mention the nationalistic attitude that also hurts them - they aren't at all prepared for the massive culture shock they are about to encounter

think about it - the ones that manage to go overseas to a uni generally have spent their entire childhoods in school, studying and going to hakwons - how does that prepare one for anything?

so they stay together with the other korean students - how many koreans have you met who said they lived overseas yet perhaps their english wasn't even that good?

there are exceptions - but there's a reason the toefl has been changed to provide for a speaking section -

[idonojacs]

I don't know about Korean students in the U.S. first hand, so I didn't mean to stereotype them as good students. Maybe they are just as ill-behaved as they are here.

And there was that one at Virginia Tech that went berserk. So not all Korean students are well-mannered in North America.

But I am talking about Korean students in Korea - public school students. That's where I am teaching.

[crusher_of_heads]

I get the odd year 2 middleschooler nodding off-I still get the desired effect when I stand by their desk and stare-that's as tough as it gets.

[sojourner1]

Like the OP, I came to Korea thinking that Asian students would be a joy to teach since they are disciplined, respectful, and hard working, but this is only a special gifted minority that fits this stereotypical profile of Asian students. Asian cultures dictate people to present good image and save face which makes them very conscious of what the outside world thinks of them. The added stress from this extra social responsibility highly motivates Asian students studying abroad to be model top grade A students. The Asian students and classmates you seen at home are select individuals who are the best of the best. I knew in college and after college I was competing with the geniuses from Asian countries. They had us going good on believing they were the most advanced kind of people on Earth. Now I know that all peoples are at the same level, but just have varying cultural norms, values, and languages. Of course, some individuals from every country are the most intelligent, beautiful, and motivated who promote a model representation for their country.


Most of my Korean students are very average, but hyper energetic, talkative in Korean to their classmates, and refuse to listen or have enough discipline to have the patience to learn English. My kindergarten are doing excellent, but most of my middle school students seem hopeless since they just act like it's time to party, socialize, and be cool. English is a blow off class for many kids after elementary years since they don't see or understand it to be important.

Would you take a class seriously that doesn't grade you or report back to your parents nor teaches anything you use in everyday life outside of school, while you have 8 other classes that are to be taken seriously?

I still prefer kindergarten when it comes to the kids as they are the most trainable and often demonstrate genuine effort to learn with positive behavior if you ask that of them through good attitude and communication.

I also am realizing that it takes a long time to foster the necessary relationships to be highly successful in doing my job as a teacher which is why many teachers at home would teach for many years in one school and see their students grow up. I look back when I was a kid and I remember that I listened and learned well from long time teachers vs. substitutes or short timers due to that level of established trust and respect as well as a bond.

[ESL Milk "Everyday]

Well, I have those problems but I wouldn't call them serious.

Serious to me is insulting me to my face every day, talking through the whole lesson so that it's impossible to teach and then calling me a crap teacher because of it, demanding that I do only whatever the kids want me to or else they complain and get me fired, physically attacking me, refusing to do something when I ask them nicely, semi-nicely, and then not so nicely, refusing to come into class, etc.

But usually, that only happens in hagwons.

[idonojacs]

sojourner1:

[isthisreally]

Sorry to say this OP, but it's your fault. Don't expect more than 10% kids to be totally self-motivated, unless they're older. Kids will take advantage of you as much as they can and often times if you give them an inch they'll take many miles. I'm not the strictest teacher and I've had my share of learning experiences in the past. But you should have set requirements for your students and set punishments for violating those things (and rewards for following them). And another thing, another teacher i used to work with who has been here 7 years, pretty much modeled his behavior after a strict Korean teacher. He had all the students half-bowing and handing their papers to him with 2 hands and all that jazz. His kids were impressively polite, attentive and respectful.

Although I have 2 rude students that I've really made no progress with (I blame this on them), the majority of my problems are my kids talking during class and this is because I'm really lenient if they are speaking English.