Korean Job Discussion Forums

[linton]

Who here works at a public school? And what do you do when the students sleep in class? I work at a public middle school in Seoul and was basically told to just let them sleep. Right now, I wake them up If thy play with an item, then I take that item and put it at the front of the room.

I do also try to keep the class fun so the students will stay involved.

So, fellow teachers, here is my question: Here at my school it seems to be a school rule to let the student do anything because to correct them would nmake them upset and we do not want to upset students. Any thoughts?

Still, I think students should not sleep in class.

PS: Yes, one of my 6 co-teachers told me to just let them sleep; this is Korea, so it is okay.

[EzeWong]

I was told the same thing,

Generally yes, I do let them sleep because my understanding is that from

8:30 - 3:30 is school
4:00 - 10:00 is hagwon
10:00 - on is.... god knows probably homework.

These poor kids are sleep deprived.

I only grab kids if they are missing out on things like exam questions. And depending on their mood, I'll give him a nice warm pat on the back and wake em up. Or I'll do something cruel (yet insanely funny) like whip out my camera phone and take pictures of them, or switch students around, or wherever my creative mind takes me.

I mean compared to our school systems back at home, it's bloody annoying and insulting they are sleeping in our class. But I just think back to my college days... I slept through 30% of my classes because of the exhaustion. It's really cruel for these kids to be studying so much.

[linton]

Maybe I will let them sleep in class. But wht a really sad, sad system it is when teachers don't care or think it is a good idea to let their students sleep. And so you all know, I do not think the American system is great; but to have a system where the teachers think it is okay for students to sleep in class is not okay with me. It says something is wrong.

Any thoughts?

[Yu_Bum_suk]

I would never fall for the 'let them sleep' BS. I'll give students who are 'apaeyo' a break once a term (occasionally they are - I once had one such student suddenly sit up and then puke all over her desk). After that it's 'you can't be sick every week'. In the case of students who really seem unable to stop from nodding off I'll sometimes let them fall asleep for a minute and then wake them up. Otherwise if they keep putting their heads down after I've woken them I'll make them stand or move off to the side and do squats.

Planning your lessons so that the more exciting stuff happens during the last part really helps.

[cruisemonkey]

If a kid is sleeping in my class I slam my open palm down on the desk beside his ear (as hard as I can). After I peal him off the ceiling, I make him stand at the back of the class. If he can sleep standing up I leave him alone.

[xCustomx]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[Snowkr]

when I taught public HS last year, I actually went around and checked out my "sleepiest classes" to see if they were sleeping in their other classes.

Big shock. They were. I had a lot fewer sleepers than most of the Korean teachers.

OP, I know it's troubling when anybody sleeps through your class but with Korean students, it's usually nothing personal. They need to sleep sometime. As awful as that sounds, I can't help but feel for them. It's not like the classes taught by native speakers really count that much for anything anyway, at least not compared to many of their other classes.

I teach teachers now and try as they may not to, they nod off from time to time too. The difference is, they are not being forced to spend 8 hours in school and then another 8 hours in a hogwan. I have little to no sympathy for them.

Korean students are just a totally different story. If I could, I would arrange for them to all have a nice feather pillow in class and a massage while listening to soothing piano/harp music or quiet jazz.

[Imrahil]

If it is a good student and only happens about once a month I let them sleep. All the studying these guys do I honestly feel sorry for them. Now, if it is a bad student well, I wake them up usually by yelling their name right close to them.

[Easter Clark]

[jvalmer]

What are you guys talking about? When I was going through school, I think I slept through a good quarter of my classes. Most teacher I had throughout school hardly cared if I or other students slept. Then I come to Korea, I was kind of surprised that my CT would get angry at sleeping students.

Might be because I'm in the provinces, that teachers don't like sleeping students...

[cangel]

The teachers don't have to care when they aren't allowed to fail the students. Additionally, everything in this country rides on the college entrance exam and has nothing to do with your k-12 years. As far as I'm concerned, people want to talk smack about the American education system and how "low" we rank but if you consider many Asian country's children put in twice the time, the payoffs are small. Not to mention their unbelievable inability to think abstractly.

[jvalmer]

Oh, but they do fail them. Not for academic reasons, the two I've seen failed were for behavior problems. Both were 3rd grade in Middle School.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[jvalmer]