Korean Job Discussion Forums

[joyfulgirl]

Oh, the shouting. The shouting.

Screaming, even, until they hold their own little throats 'cause they're out of breath - when you ask 'em what color a flashcard is.

No one ever says "Red!"...it's "REEEDDDD!!"

No one says "Hello teacher!" when they pass you in the hallway; it's "TEEEAACCHHHHERRRR!"

Sure, some may see this as enthusiasm...but it's so over the top that it becomes painful. Is it like this everywhere here? Is this how kindies are back home? I don't remember screaming that much in kindergarten.

I'm shocked at how LOUD they TRY to be all the time. And the Korean teachers seem to encourage this LOUD behaviour. Are they encouraged to SCREAM and SHOUT when they're learning new English words, in your experience? Is this just the way it goes? Is there anything I can do to turn the volume down?

[T-J]

The answer to your question is yes they are encouraged to be very vocal when answering.

[ulmaeri]

I wish my elementary students would shout. Most of them seem content to mumble their words. Sometimes, I need them to shout. With all the rest of the noise in the classroom, many of the quieter students get drowned out.

[roadballmint]

I don't know if it's "encouraged." A lot of it depends on teaching style and the kind of group dynamic you have. I have shouting problems with some of my 6th graders.

Are you maybe subconsciously shouting, or enthusiastically raising your voice, in your lessons? I was annoyed at my kids for being too loud, until I realized that I was being kind of loud myself. For example, when they answered questions correctly I'd say, "YES! That's right! The flower is RED! GREAT JOB Jenny!" I can hardly blame the kids for something I'm guilty of too. Kids learn language through imitation. If you're loud, they'll pick up on that and incorporate it into their English. Just speaking softly in class may fix the problem.

If, on the other hand, that is not the problem, you could try some sort of light punishment system to break the habit. Kids *hate* being singled out in front of their friends and gaining or losing stamps/stars/stickers.

[Insidejohnmalkovich]

They are indeed encouraged to shout by the Korean teachers, especially in chorus. (Notice that Korean teachers rarely have students answer one-by-one, unless it is the best students.)

What bothers me is the distorted, indeed absence of, pronunciation when they shout. But that would lead me off on a rant about the negligent attitude of most foreign teachers to pronunciation ... <shrug and give up>

[EzeWong]

Why can't students discover that happy medium between silence and shouting, called talking.

I think it's the product of teachers/parents trying to encourage the kids to be vocal as possible but instead just cranked up the volume rather than the frequency of how often they will speak.

On the one had you have kids that whisper like ghosts... and then there's the problem that kids talk as loud as like physchos on the train babbling "THE END IS COMING" instead are yelling "IT'S RED! THE COLOR IS RED"

I know Korea has a problem with kids not speaking but I think they started encouraging speaking to the extreme.

I can imagine a teacher, with a silent class with only 1 or 2 kids really loud. Teacher encourages that loud proud behavior and then the kids all start acting like monkeys and scream at the top of their lungs.


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