Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tanklor1]

Last Friday was a pretty typical day up until the point my co-teacher leaned over and said that we had a new student. A fourth grader who has lived in New Zealand for the past seven years.

My eyes lit up as I thought "Holy Snap the number of people that I can talk to on a natural level went up to two."

I later learned that she has a sister in Grade Six.

I'm on two minds with how to deal with this:

One: Ignore it and treat them like normal students and teach them all about Min-Su and his multi-racial friends.

Two: Go all out and teach them novels throughout the year, treating them as if they were in a New Zealand "Lit" class.

Looking for opinions on what to do.
Thanks.

[NYC_Gal]

It depends on their personalities, really. I have some students with better-than-average English, and they usually go out of their way to visit me. I told them that if they want to do private lessons after classes are done, they are always free to come to my classroom. We've played Scrabble a couple of times, but usually just chat and talk about what we're reading or movies we've watched.

This could be a godsend for you all. If they don't seem into it, don't pressure them. They'll probably be thrilled, though. My Spanish-speaking student was happy when she learned that I understood her, even though, after years of disuse, I'm a bit rusty.

[Sadebugo1]

During my stint in a coed high school (EPIK), a new female student arrived mid-year. She had been living in France for the past seven years with her family (father was a businessman). She was fluent in French and near fluent in English and was a pleasure to talk to having a wonderful personality. One day, she came to my office crying because one of the female teachers warned her to stay away from me during the breaks. The reason? I would be a bad influence on her by teaching her non-Korean values. Ironically, this same teacher was alway trying to get me to meet up with her own daughter who had recently been accepted to Seoul National. Anyway, the last time I saw this poor student she looked beaten down and ready to accept the harsh realities of her new/permanent existence.

Sadebugo
http://travldawrld.blogspot.com/

[ChilgokBlackHole]

I lose two students from international schools. One out of Brazil, Grade 2, one out of China, Grade 4. Both of them have good language skills, but they just didn't fit with the hakwon program. I felt bad for them, and I wanted to help, but it just didn't fit the framework of what we were doing.

[NYC_Gal]

Usually my students with better-than-average English want to spend more time with me. I'd see how it goes.

[tanklor1]

Okay, the tone I'm getting is hold off and wait to see if they come to me. i.e. don't go out of my way to help their actual English skills.

[NYC_Gal]

Well you could walk up to them during breaks and chat a little. See how they respond.

[nomad-ish]

option 1.

the kids are going to have a difficult enough time trying to fit in part way through the school year, if they have the foreign teacher playing favourites with them, i can't imagine it being any better.

if the students really want to do extra english wotk, then they'll seek you out or try to talk to you after class.

i've had quite a few fluent kids that have lived overseas before, and while some really did/do want to talk with me a lot, there were some that just wanted to fit in with their classmates.

[Fishead soup]

Chances are this person speaks English much better than your Korean co-teacher. Students who live oversea's for a few years are usually borderline fluent. They will be bored with the Minsu routine. Periodically free talk with them. Don't try to involve them in the lesson unless you want to model the dialogue for other students. These students are also great for acting as co-teachers when your real one decides to skip out.

On the other side some will attempt to talk for the students and undermine you. Don't let them do that.

[MattAwesome]

dont treat them any differently. owever, if you are fishing for answers or need to model a dialogue/sentence use them.
if they want to dominate the class, just ignore them like you would any other student. i work in a public school and sometimes its hard to share participation, other times let them speak as much has they need.

other than that, just make it known you are available after class and they can come see you if they want. dont burn yourself out doing extra work.

[Moldy Rutabaga]

-- double post --

[Moldy Rutabaga]

I've met some students who lived abroad for many years who still had poor English skills. It doesn't mean anything if they never spoke English at home or had any English friends. I'm not saying this is the case here. Some students who do look a little bored can be drafted as class enablers, so long as it does not go to their heads.

[southernman]

Yes I was lucky enough to have a student who'd lived in NZ for over two years. She was in my hagwan and had been there for about 4 years.

We got on great togeather, she helped me out a lot in class and told me some amazing stories about the culture shock of coming back to Korea.

She also told the class about some crazy stuff she'd seen in NZ. It was a very gifted English speaking class and the two girls she had lived with in NZ visited our class a couple of times while in Korea and said how surprised/impressed they were with everybodies English ability

She said when she as leaving for Highschool that she would really miss the hagwan because it was the only place she felt a bit special, and she liked that, I got the feeling she was picked on/excluded a bit at Middle school.

My young American fellow teacher found her a bit of a challenge though because the student always corrected the American teachers English with the lines of...No you're wrong they say that this way in NZ, and then she proceeded to give the NZ version I found that hilarious.

It will be harder in a Public School to form close bonds but just enjoy the situation. If it works out like my experience it will be well worthwhile

[TheUrbanMyth]

[jvalmer]

Is this student in elementary?
I find the vast majority kids in their teens usually don't want anything to do with an adult over 25. So I wouldn't treat her any different. Except, if you want to use her in some example dialog, get her to the front of class to show off her skills, if she wants. Otherwise, don't force it.