Korean Job Discussion Forums

[lorenchristopher]

I consider myself a good teacher, maybe not the best....but I engage my students and get them speaking and we always have a really good time in my classes. I am confident in my skills I'll just put it that way.

Recently I was given a new class of 5th graders that I was taking over from the other foreign teacher at my school. The guy warned me that they speak a lot of Korean and I would have problems getting them to only use English, but I took care of that right away and they don't speak Korean anymore.

The problem is they are SOOO lazy and apathetic. A few of the students act this way and it just seems to be contagious, so the rest of the class is soon sitting with their heads on their desks and not listening.

I have some really fun activities and games that my other classes just go crazy for, and I've tried everything with these guys but can't get them motivated. It's frustrating for me because it makes me feel angry and like I suck at my job....when I know their attitude has a lot to do with it. What should I do in this situation?

I have a hard time keeping my cool and not blowing up at them when I've tried so hard and they still don't pay attention or care. This has never happened to me to this extent and I was wondering if you guys have any advice.

Thanks!

[Bread]

So how did you get them to stop speaking Korean?

[lorenchristopher]

[Easter Clark]

When the semester began, a lot of kids here thought they didn't have to speak during the group or pairwork sections of the lessons. So I finally made everybody stand up and wouldn't let them sit down until I heard each group or pair complete the activity. After they sat down my coteacher would go around and have them write the dialog out. They then had a choice in their subsequent classes to speak on their own or to follow this "system" we'd designed. Haven't had that problem since!