Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ABC KID]

Whether positive or negative, please share some of your experiences or thoughts related to teaching 6th grade classes in Korean elementary schools.

Do you enjoy teaching this particular grade/age?

[zipper]

Six graders often can be challenging for a native and Korean teacher, because they are just starting to go through their hormonal changes. They know that they are leaving for the big school, and so they feel that they are at the top of the food chain. They develop changing attitudes and behaviors, and some might feel that the methods used by an ESL teacher for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders no longer apply to them, because they are �too old for that.� Not only that, they start to become more self aware and self conscious, and grow stronger reservations about losing face in front of the other students; especially if they are in front of the ones they have a crush on.. Other than that, if you have employed good classroom management strategies from the beginning, then handling them won�t be a big issue. You just need to understand what phases adolescents go through.

Having winded all that, I enjoy teaching them.

[The Gipkik]

Sixth grade classes can be quite different. Some classes are so cohesive and work so well together. Others are difficult. In one of my classes, the students are so quiet, and the boys refuse to talk to the girls and vice versa. In other classes, some students are so disaffected by English, it is a challenge to get them to do anything. If you ask them to fill in a cloze writing activity for a song, their papers will be blank. They won't do anything. And some of these students are actually good speakers who love to participate during a fast paced activity like balloon volleyball or paper airplane catch.

With the shy classes, I put the boys against the girls in contests. That really works. In the disaffected classes, I have fast paced activities where they are competing against each other and everyone on the team needs to lend a hand to get the points. Other times, I am happy to let the really weak ones just listen and absorb and have fun without participating too much. When there aren't grades to pass out, there is no accountability, no expectations. All I can offer some students is a nonthreatening environment where they can feel good and not feel like the teacher is forcing them to do stuff. They'll have more positive memories of English in the future--and hey, who knows, maybe they'll take to English later when they feel there is a need. At least they say hi and behave themselves.

In the first semester, I really didn't enjoy 6th grade. I understand them now and know their limitations and abilities. I am a lot more chilled about them.

[Xuanzang]

This is the year when you`ll see all the joys of what middle school teachers go through. Apathetic students. Sleepers. Lots of acting up and possibly even classroom fights. Also the age where you get notebooks covered in hearts and all kinds of boybands glued onto the pencil cases.

I enjoy teaching some of my 6th grades. Others are lost causes. This one class seems to have the poorest of the poor students in there. Academically and financially. There`s perhaps 4-5 students who want to learn and try in English. The rest are content to doodle or call each other bad words in Korean.

[Countrygirl]

Some days I like 'em, some days are harder. Since I now have total control of the class (co-teacher reading in the back of class if she's there at all) things have completely turned around. No more confetti, aimless wondering, and all worksheets are filled in. I've even seen a glimmer of comprehension in some of the lower level students.

When my co-teacher was "in charge of discipline" I often had an insatiable desire to drink after class. On really bad days I'd sit silently in my office marking the days on the wall that were left in the contract.

Ironically, my really bad students, who have now gone on to middle school, will get really excited if they see me in the neighborhood and will always introduce me to whomever they are with. These are the same kids that treated speaking in English like a rectal exam.

[andrewchon]

My sixth graders do most of the things I tell them to do except speak English. They are a shy bunch of wall flowers. Once we had a class arm-wrestle contest to find "Who is the strongest". Boys-champ forfeited going against girl-champ and be ramen-arms rather than to 'hold' a girl's hand. Girls refused to say "I'm prettier than you." once they found out what it meant. No problems with richer, smarter, bitchier, but no, not prettier.

[Morgen]

I love my sixth graders. I have six fifth grade classes, and sometimes they challenge my determination to not ever hit students. Sometimes I wake up in a cold sweat having just dreamt that I was yelling at them. The six sixth grade classes, on the other hand, are....rambunctious, and they definitely have personalities, but they are generally a joy to teach and I can be casual and have fun with them without things getting out of hand. Granted that on the days I need a break I can't give them something to color like third graders and they can be a little sensitive about their dignity in games, but they aren't shy about making fools of themselves.

[Xuanzang]

Last year`s 6th graders were a whole helluva lot better than my current bunch. Lower ability and more troublemakers in this cohort. Doesnt help that the class sizes are much bigger too.

[tenchu77491]

This was in my 6th grade mixed class,

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=165825

[yeremy]

I've taught sixth graders for four years in two different elementary schools. I like teaching the sixth grade but you have to lay down some rules with clear penalties unless you like chaos. I never embarass them in front of their peers nor do i baby them. I hold them responsible for their actions but I will also cut them slack if I think it's necessary.
I like talking with them because they can be really honest and fresh. But I think, at least for me, respecting them and getting their respect makes life in the sixth grade classrooms a lot easier. It's a dynamic fusion of hormones and studying for the middle school exams. I also think that the smack that comes out of some of their mouths is largely parroting stuff they've heard from their older brothers and sisters or in the media, but I don't take that too seriously. If you treat them fairly and show an interest in them, they will probably reciprocate. And, finally, they are physically becoming more and more developed every year. I have some kids who are over six feet tall and others who look like freshmen in college from the rear.

[Mysteriousapien]

This is my third week of teaching 6th graders in Seoul. I teach 10 6th grade classes and some classes can be noisy and not pay attention to me but other classes are full of angels(well almost). I think the hardest part with 6th grade is getting them to enjoy learning the material while not babying them at the same time. Last week, on my lesson on comparatives, I played a video game on Youtube in class(Tekken 6, popular video game amongst asian kids) and after each fight I asked them "who is stronger?," "who is taller." etc. They got really motivated with this however some kids continued to misbehave so that was disappointing. I think I need to get more tough though. Maybe they see me as this weak foreign girl that won't do anything. I also see that some of them don't bring their books to class and the co-teacher doen'st do anything about it! When i was in school, I got so much crap for not bringing my book to class. This is another reason why kids are not taking my class seriously. Also, the other thing is that if they do horrible on the tests, they aren't going to fail regardless. I mean there are things that are beyond my control(like them not failing english if they do horrible in my class), but I think that I can be strict on them not bringing their books. This week, at the beginning of every class I will ask for everyone to raise their books in the air. The kids that dont' have their books will have to stand in the back for 10 minutes. We'll see how that goes, but they're going to take my class seriously!(or at least I'll get most of them to)

[tenchu77491]

^still too weak.

From my experience:

6th grade girls are great most of the time. The rare 'bad' girl is incredibly nasty though.

6th grade boys are talkative and arrogant. Need to be incredibly strict.

The video game approach is pretty good I think. It will get the attention of a lot of kids but the problem is not every kid will like it. I taught a class of just 2 6th grade boys. I basically sat there and we talked about playing counter strike while weaving the English lesson in and out of the conversation.

[Mysteriousapien]

[tenchu77491]

People around here will tell you a bunch of crap about how to discipline the kids.

Personally I have an odd system,

I do 3 strikes and you're out. A strike could be talking in Korean, not doing homework or forgetting your book.

After 3 strikes I take a few different approaches. Depending on the strikes. I may kick them out of the class, speak to the homeroom teacher, call parents, speak to a co teacher, make them do push ups and hold it for a good while, and maybe pile their books on their back while they are holding the position. I am fond of up/down squats as well. Though some of the younger kids seem to like doing them. Sometimes I give extra homework, make them write sentences or re-write paragraphs from the textbook.

All in all, the kids won't be too bad I guess. Once they see you can and do have a little power. I haven't had too many problems. Worst ever was when I had taught middle school. I had a few nightmare classes.