Korean Job Discussion Forums

[afsjesse]

So I'm having trouble with a student in class. He's really big and has honestly put a pretty good punch to me before. Today he was acting up in class and I calmy told him to calm down. Well he didn't and finally I told him to get out of the room. He said no, so I proceeded to open the door and and said get out again. He tried to close the door and I had had enough.
My hagwon gives me no disciplinary powers, I cant even send the kids out of the room anymore after this incident. My director said just "ignore hime" and "leave him alone" This is for everyone in the past as well. I cant just ignore him because he interrupts the entire class.
I went and got the director and he pushed him and now the kid was crying and saying bad things probably to me in Korea, looking at me as if I was death itself.
He will continue to be a problem and not just an annoyance... so what would you do if you were me?

[WoBW]

You could try getting the director to call his parents, but in my experience that has no effect because he is their little angel and it must be all the bad foreigner's fault.

Other than that, if you can't find a way to get the kid to cooperate, you just have to go through the motions and breathe a sigh of relief at the end of each class.

These kids don't give a shit. They know they won't get into trouble, whatever they do.

[hanguker]

install CCTV?

[Imrahil]

This is a tough situation for you because nothing you will do will be right. Your options are: ignore him, physically remove him from class (not a really good idea honestly), just keep sending him to the director, get a teacher or director to call his parents, and refuse to teach the class until the director kicks him out or has a serious chat with him. I would try to get the director to talk to him seriously. If it doesn't help or the director refuses to talk to him, just tell the director that you can't teach the class because of him. Also, try to point out to the director that in the long run this fool is going to drive away a lot of 'good' students and ultimately the hagwan will lose lots of money because of it. It amazes me how many directors or hagwan owners refuse to see this line of thinking: kick one bad students out to prevent many good or average students from leaving.

[RJjr]

You have a student punching you and the director is telling you to ignore it? Hell no, man.

What would I do? I would tell the director that ignoring being punched is far from being acceptable and that I'm not going to allow that student back into the classroom until the student's parents or the director (and I don't care which, as long as it's one or the other) assumes some sort of responsibility to help this student with his issues.

[OnTheOtherSide]

I have a couple students just like this and my school sounds very, very similar to yours.

There's a few things I do. A lot of times I will assign homework, take away gametime and do other things like that, making it clear that it is that students misbehavior that caused it. This really turned one of my bad classes around a lot.

Or I will repeatedly yell that student's name. "Mike be quiet!" "Mike be quiet!" "Mike!" "Mike!". Make sure to make your voice loud, obnoxious and gravelly. Like singing a heavy metal song. After a while this will bug them into submission. It also annoys the whole class, thus they will pressure him into behaving. Or at least they will stop cooperating with his shannanigans. This technique once caused the entire rest of the class to start yelling "Shut up Mike!", it was great.

Sometimes I will just choose to ignore it. I'll go through my motions of teaching, ignoring the noise and the god students will listen. I do this when all else fails, and it is obvious that they are feeding off of my yelling and scolding. Often the problem will solve itself within 5 minutes or so and the class will smooth out.

It's all about creating a situation in which the other students will take your side. Korean kidsare all about trying to look cool to others. If everyone in the class thinks you are cool, and thinks t is cool to pay attention, it will happen.

If you do have classes that are going out of control. My advice is to keep a thick skin, don't let it bother you, and keep positive. I've noticed that kids respect me more when I act cool, happy and friendly. If I start acting mean, standoffish and authoritarian the kids will all turn against me.

[moosehead]

this T is on the right track.

I also make a point of using strong facial expressions with the students who act up and just as strong in a good way with the other students.

It helps get the point across as to who I'm angry with and who is being good.

the other students DO help discipline each other - just don't allow them to snitch too much - or that in itself can become a problem.


also - the post about telling the dir he'll lose students on account of the bad egg - this never works, IMO, maybe because we're foreigners giving advice or what - it just doesn't ever work. I've tried this a number of times, even just to get a kid transferred to another class - no one ever listens to the "he/she's ruining it for the others" line of reasoning.

[thematrixiam]

I found a route that works well.

I put a letter or part of a letter (depending on the length of their name) on the board each time they acted up. When the full length of the name got on the board I made them read out a whole passage of the reading we were doing that day. If there was no reading that day, I just picked one anyways.

If they refuse just stand there and the kids that class will begin again when so and so has finished reading.

Or you could always just go straight to the director each time. Saying the kid wont listen, you deal with him. Someone will get upset and deal with the situation.

Two problems though. You don't want the kids to hate you and invent something like you sexually or physically assaulting them. Which happens, just read the other posts. And you don't want your director to think you can't handle kids well enough and have him letting you go because of it.

[Join Me]

At the beginning of class take the clock off the wall. Sit down with the kid and show him "go to the home" time. Tell him if he is talking he will stay 5 minutes late. Wave your arm around the class as you say "everyone bye bye...you no bye bye." Then laugh in his face...this part is important. When he talks, make him stay and keep doing it. If you have another class just let him stay five minutes into that one. Koreans hate to not be able to follow the herd out the door when class ends. If he starts crying about having to take the bus just tell him that sucks but he is still staying.

You could also try giving all your other students stamps or something for not talking. Single him out so he feels like a piece of crap as much as you can. He will either cooperate or go home and cry to mommy that he wants to quit. Either way you will win, you just need to keep it up till you do.

If you can't control him, you could also try to control him by using the class. Tell everyone that each time they talk to him during class they will get a mark on the board by their name. Three marks and they get extra homework. He may be the cause of your distractions but without the other kids he has no incentive to continue. True, there are kids like him that you just can't control. But, if you can control the rest of the class you can minimize the problems that student is causing.

Finally, tell you a-hole director that the next time a student hits you something had better be done about it or you are on a plane out of here.

[Ya-ta Boy]

If I understood your OP correctly, the student punched you at some point. Is that right?

You go to the director and say, "Take this kid out of my class, preferably out of the school, or I don't teach. It's him and his tuition or me. You choose and choose right now." Then stick to your guns. Make no empty threat.

[Whitey Otez]

Ha! You're doing it wrong!

None of that "either he goes or I go" crap works with a director. Here's what you do:

Get the director to come into the room, and tell the kid to hit the director, just like he hit you. The kid will refuse to the point of tears, but keep telling him to do it until he hits the director. Then watch the sparks fly. I've used it successfully with "F*ck you" and a spitter. The spitter actually thought it was cool for a second, then he ran away.

Directors play it off like you're making a mountain out of a molehill, so the only way for them to take the necessary action is to shove it in his face directly.

[itaewonguy]

well seems like he doesnt really want to be there a his mum just keeps sending him anyway and the director doesnt give a crap what happens in your class as long he is getting the tuition..

do this..

insult the kid in the class, keep calling him names when ever you refer to him! example

" YA BABOYA! your turn to read!
" YA PIG! shut your face!

keep doing things like this until he hates your class, and he begs his mother to take him out! once the class start laughing at him when you tease him he will be embarressed! ohh and when the mother rings the school and complains that the foreign teacher is insulting her son!
you just lie and say NO I DIDNT!
keep doing it, he will finally leave!

[Scotticus]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[bundangbabo]

teaching is a nightmare