Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Countrygirl]

I have one student who is compelled to draw pictures of subways, subway systems and now he is starting to draw boats. His attention to detail is amazing and it doesn't take a genius to realize that he is a genius. I just saw National Geographic "My Brilliant Brain" which makes me think that he is a savant. I've done a little searching on the interent and everything seems to fit. (google savant drawings on youtube and that's the level of detail that my student is drawing. It's truly amazing.)

I don't know much about this condition so I really don't know what I can do with this knowledge. My co-teacher is also worried about what will happen once he hits middle and high school. His homeroom teacher doesn't seem to care about him and I wonder if his parents even know what his condition is or how to deal with him. He does exhibit some mild autism which Korean teachers don't really seem trained to recognize.

Public School teachers with Education Degrees, how would this sort of situation be dealt with in the public school system back home? My co-teacher will tell the homeroom teacher that I think that he is a savant and autistic but I don't know if the homeroom teacher care or will even bother to tell the parents. I don't really know what I should be doing in this situation or if I should do if anything. Please advise.

[Fishead soup]

Making a living in Korea as an artist is really cut throat. Gallery's actually charge you money to use their space and don't care whether you are able to sell or not. I know from experience. Gallery's in Insadong charge approxiamately 2 million won for a two week Exhibition. You are lucky to break even forget on making a profit. Most independant artists go into Education either at the public school level or University. That might require him to have a well rounded education. Something difficult for a genuine Savant.

His best bet is to become a commercial Illustrator or designer.

[Scotticus]

[Fishead soup]

[Xuanzang]

Too bad those jobs he would be great at are scoffed at by Korean society. Comic book illustrator, graphic art designer, etc.

[The Gipkik]

Sounds like you have an autistic student. Autism has gained a lot of recognition in the past few years, so he would probably get placed in a gifted students class, a special education class/school, or just be kept in the regular public school class in order to assimilate with regular, functional students. The latter designation needn't deprive the autistic boy from having his gifts recognized and nurtured, but some teachers, schools are more sensitive and better informed than others. Check this out and see if it makes sense to you:
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=6755100

[gazz]

There is a huge market for train related stuff, well in the UK anyway.

ESP if you get him to draw 'old style' trains.

It could be a nice little earner for him + his family. I'm sure they would become a lot more supportive then!

Good luck with him!

I've taught a couple of similar boys, I was in the fortunate position of them being assigned 1 to 1 teaching assistants though!

I think I still have some material on Autistic ect children hidden away on my lap top.

If you want me to try and dig it out PM me.

[Mr. Pink]

[Kikomom]

It sounds like you have made an important discovery in the world of teaching. Something that many FT's never considered when embarking on adventures in the classroom. The Gifted Ones.

Is he picking up any English?

(PM sent)

[frankly speaking]

First of all you are not a clinical psychologist and neither are any of us Certified teachers. We may be able to suspect something; however, I wouldn't go putting any kind of label on a kid without testing. Just witnessing isn't testing. Though you may be correct in your assumption, you could be fired for making accusations about a student's mental health.

In Korea it is even more difficult to even ask that a student gets tested. My advice is to give as much support as you can and encourage the student to continue with his/her gifts as you would any student. If the student needs special help to comprehend certain lessons, then you might ask the principal or director what options the school has to help a student with special needs.

I worked with a kid that only drew city scenes. He would either draw them with a sun or dark. He would say cloudy day or sunny day to describe them. That was the extent of his oral communication. He was a 7 year old American. He was autistic and I know because he was tested. I didn't just assume that he was.

Good luck with teaching him/her. But be careful of what you say about him/her to your colleagues.

[Rory_Calhoun27]

Props to the last poster! You'd really need a HEAP of psychological testing to prove anything along those those lines stateside, so taking a leap based on firsthand impressions is ultimately unhelpful to the child. being labelled a savant can be as much of a curse as any other label. And if my time spent on Nick At Times bares witness, Howard Hessman's "Head Of the Class" bares this out, as was Arvid's curse to bare for all nerds everywhere...

The only thing an English teacher from another country can do is offer their observations to other teachers in the school. if they get the ball rolling, great. It is another society's prodigy to discover.... or shun, as the case may be.

[The Gipkik]

[Scotticus]

[Rory_Calhoun27]

[The Gipkik]