Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Seoulio]

[kabrams]

[NYC_Gal]

[Chucky]

Ha!

You're getting bent out of shape about the kids yelling pinishee? You're not gonna last long.

Being a teacher is all about being patient and nice to these little brats. It's all about having a thick skin and keeping your cool.

Seriously, who cares if they yell pinishee? What's the big deal here? These are Korean kids who can't speak English well, of course they are going to butcher the language. It's kind of a jackass move to get all mad at them about it.

[curiousaboutkorea]

[curiousaboutkorea]

Thanks for some of the hints. I might start making them write it out 10 times. And djsmnc, so they do say that in Korean classes, eh? That's what I was wondering.

I'm dealing with younger elementary kids. As for doing writing assignments in class, I really don't have too much of an option. My hagwon (and kindy) superiors expect me to complete the complementary workbook in class (they also have a homework book).

Frankly, I've been able to curb a lot of bad behavior, but this is one egg I can't crack. I also will start forcing the turn-over-your-book thing. I am more concerned about the classroom disruption than the pronunciation, they are still learning after all. While I've never taught anywhere else (nor do I consider myself a regular teacher as it was not my area of concentration prior to coming here), I don't remember doing this in my school days in the US.

My other concern is that the worst offenders generally seem to rush through their work (as kids will do) to shout it before their classmates. And of course, their work is terrible. Sometimes I have the suspicion that they're trying to show off how quickly they did their work.

[Chucky]

[yeti08]

Ignoring them is fun sometimes when they do this. Although they really never get the clue some do and we laugh about it. I haven't had any luck trying to get them to stop however. I do correct them though and make them say FINISHED 5 times instead of saying the annoying Pinishee. God I will have nightmares with that and their horrid pronunciation of my name Josh.....I get Joshee, Joshola, Jewish, and Jasha -- which is basically calling me 'dude'.

and this post is officially PINISHEEEEE!!!

[Son Deureo!]

There's no reason to get mad, and that's definitely not a good reason to destroy a child's work. Reinforcing the behavior you want is virtually always more effective than punishing the behavior you don't. Teach and reinforce the procedure you want them to follow.

If you want them to say something different, teach them what you want them to say instead ("I'm finished", "I'm done", etc.), then only collect their paper when they say it. If they continue to yell "Pinishee!", look at them confused, then ignore them. If they continue, prompt them for the target phrase (e.g. "Do you mean 'I'm done.'?"), collect their paper when they say it, then thank/praise them.

If, like me, you don't want them to yell anything, teach them to quietly turn in their papers when they are done and begin the next activity. If they yell "Pinishee!", don't move. Say, "Then what should you do now?" If they do not know or remember the procedure you have taught them, remind them, then thank/praise them when they have completed it.

Establish the procedure you want them to follow, then reinforce it with verbal praise. It saves a lot of headaches.

[Lunar Groove Gardener]

Like beach, fish, orange and church, "finished" is one of those
words which obtains an extra vowel in Korea. It is very likely that some
Korean English teachers instruct the pronunciation as such.

Simple Past Tense Verbs' "ed" endings have three distinct sounds:
"ed" as in "wanted", "t" as in "finished", and "d" as in "played".
Continued practice is needed for students to master these and know
which pronunciation to apply. Modeling is key.

I teach words that are in each group: watched, fished, wished,
hatched, matched, kissed, missed, rocked, blocked, kicked, licked.
Finished. It's a fun lesson and is relevant to future pronunciation
challenges.

I assign them to do something automatically when they finish such as draw a picture of one of three animals/or any varied options. Choice is good.
It could be; a dragon, a lion, a dolphin...every day is different. You can draw a simple picture on the board of these and once they know the routine, they'll quietly start to draw when finished.

Next to the pictures you can put a list of action verbs to choose from: dancing, laughing, wearing a dress so they must read and interpret this portion of the "busy work".
See who has the best of each category. What did you draw? "I drew a lion dancing, wearing a dress and laughing".

Just a few ideas.
Good luck.

[Von Ludwig]

As simple as this:

Teacher: �Today when you finish you have to slowly touch your chin three times so I know that you have finished�
Next activity�
Teacher: �When you finish this activity you have to touch your left ear with your right thumb�
Next activity�
Teacher: �This time when you finish you have to put your left pinky finger on your nose�.

Etc, etc, etc.
Works like a charm.

[NYC_Gal]

[curiousaboutkorea]

Son Deureo, Lunar Groove Gardener, and Von Ludwig, that's some great advice. Thanks. Some real professionals around here.

Has anyone had a chance to observe a regular Korean classroom and is this behavior typical/accepted?

[Wishmaster]

They can say "pinishee" to doomsday...I really don't care. They can also say "lunchee" from here to eternity. Doesn't really matter to me. They don't really want you to correct it anyway because even though English is your 1st language and their 2nd language, you are wrong. So, collect the paycheck and be happy with that

[djsmnc]