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Gollum
Joined: 04 Sep 2003
Location: Japan
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 Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2004 4:14 pm Post subject: |
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| rapier wrote: |
Koreans are pretty harsh on the "wangtah" or least popular person... they seem to have little sympathy for the one left behind... they fear solitude and see it as wierd and scary, thus, they project this onto the wangtah...
I even noticed the korean teachers seem to pick on the shyest student.
All i can say is, always project strength when you're around Koreans... they'll take advantage of any chink in your armour. Pathetic. |
Was out drinking with some male and female coworkers. They were all answering the question, "What is the most difficult part of your job."
I just started 2 weeks ago, and I answered that it bothered me I couldn't communicate with students like this one .... the ones I'd like to reach out to and at least make smile that day. My female Korean coworkers looked at me like I was an idiot, and just didn't get it.
Their response, after a pause, was, "Yes, we wonder how you can teach more than basic English to them when you can't even talk to them."
Not exactly a response I was thrilled with. |
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Gollum
Joined: 04 Sep 2003
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2004 4:16 pm Post subject: |
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| Psy wrote: |
| Looks like Social Anxiety Disorder. Have a psychiatrist prescribe Zoloft for her.[/url] |
I was telling my sister about this (she has 2 kids) and she says that this also could be a negative response to taking Ritalin. She said that "picking at the skin" is a side-effect she was warned about when she considered putting her child on that. She didn't, last I knew. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2004 5:07 pm Post subject: |
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Bullying is something I kind of didn't plan on and yet I'm surprised I didn't even consider. Kids are kids all over the world. There's one little boy who seems to get picked on. It doesn't happen in front of me... much. It's very subtle. Anyway, I always call him by his name with "chingu" after the name. "John Chingu!"
I think there's probably little you can do but maybe you can use the "I have a western friend so I'm cool" thing to your advantage when dealing with these marginalized kids. Just showing the kid a bit of special, friendly attention, saying hi to him/her in the hall... it can go a long way.
Sometimes just say something like "oh, you seem to be having a bad day, come to my office after class and I have a cool pencil for you."
The one little marginalized boy, I've noticed a pretty big change in him since I started my "John Chingu" campaign. He smiles in class. Before his head was always down. |
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buddy bradley
Joined: 24 Aug 2003
Location: The Beyond
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| Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2004 6:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Sometimes just say something like "oh, you seem to be having a bad day, come to my office after class and I have a cool pencil for you." |
Am I the only one here who thinks that sounds sick? |
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rapier
Joined: 16 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2004 9:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Gollum wrote: |
| rapier wrote: |
Koreans are pretty harsh on the "wangtah" or least popular person... they seem to have little sympathy for the one left behind... they fear solitude and see it as wierd and scary, thus, they project this onto the wangtah...
I even noticed the korean teachers seem to pick on the shyest student.
All i can say is, always project strength when you're around Koreans... they'll take advantage of any chink in your armour. Pathetic. |
Was out drinking with some male and female coworkers. They were all answering the question, "What is the most difficult part of your job."
I just started 2 weeks ago, and I answered that it bothered me I couldn't communicate with students like this one .... the ones I'd like to reach out to and at least make smile that day. My female Korean coworkers looked at me like I was an idiot, and just didn't get it.
Their response, after a pause, was, "Yes, we wonder how you can teach more than basic English to them when you can't even talk to them."
Not exactly a response I was thrilled with. |
I've found the same- they totally miss the point. To me, the emotional/social wellbeing of a student who is suffering or victimised is of primary importance. To them, they treat the kid as an idiot or worse. |
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just because
Joined: 01 Aug 2003
Location: Changwon - 4964
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| Posted: Sat Mar 13, 2004 1:10 am Post subject: |
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I know it was mentioned before but she is the wangta of the group. Nothing you can do or say is going to change this but I applaud you for showing sympathy for your students.
Perhaps the reason why suicide is so high in this country is due to the problem of being the wangta. |
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rapier
Joined: 16 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Sat Mar 13, 2004 2:46 am Post subject: |
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| just because wrote: |
I know it was mentioned before but she is the wangta of the group. Nothing you can do or say is going to change this but I applaud you for showing sympathy for your students.
Perhaps the reason why suicide is so high in this country is due to the problem of being the wangta. |
Conformity seems to be big in this country. But what if you don't fit in? There is no safety net.
I'd like to be able to encourage and be attentive to the wangta's that I teach. But My time is taken up trying to control the worst (and usually most popular) students. I don't always have time to give much needed attention to the weaker more inhibited students.
To me they are special. They are more intelligent, thoughtful, have more challenges to overcome. As future adults, they will be the most interesting people.
I used to be the wangta at school sometimes. People can be awful, evil to others, for no other reason that they sense a weakness. Taught me to look after number 1, and sympathise with the downtrodden... |
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Homer
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Mar 13, 2004 3:25 am Post subject: |
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Rapier,
You were a wangta yourself weren't you?
I feel for you man 
In all seriousness, all you can do in these cases is try and help that person during class. You have no control about what happens outside of class (sadly).
People can indeed be cruel to others and that applies in all walks of life and can be especially bad in HS or elementary school.
We had a few wangtas' at my HS back in Canada. Some of them got beaten up and teased mercilessly on a daily basis..... |
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rapier
Joined: 16 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Sat Mar 13, 2004 3:38 am Post subject: |
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| yep...never been popular as such...although I did have my moments.. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Sat Mar 13, 2004 3:47 pm Post subject: |
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| buddy bradley wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Sometimes just say something like "oh, you seem to be having a bad day, come to my office after class and I have a cool pencil for you." |
Am I the only one here who thinks that sounds sick? |
Yes. It would appear you are alone in this. |
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Seoul Skye
Joined: 28 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2004 12:02 am Post subject: |
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I empathise with you. I had a wangtah in a 1st year high school class I taught. Her home room teacher said she was a "country girl" and painfully shy. I asked the home room teacher if it would be okay if the student helped me out a few times a week with cutting up speaking activity cards and the like. The homeroom teacher agreed (he didn't care one way or the other) and the student seemed willing.
It took a few weeks but she soon relaxed and even smiled easily and often. While I was pleased that her listening improved, her speaking skills remained very limited in English. Although, she wasn't exactly a chatterbox in Korean either. After she had been my "special assistant" for awhile, the other girls seemed to warm to her a bit more but there was no dramatic change in her status. They just stopped giving her icy looks when she ended up in their speaking activity groups. |
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Medic
Joined: 11 Mar 2003
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| Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2004 2:02 am Post subject: |
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It's been a while, but I had a class at a middle school with a slightly overweight kid who always cried iff things got too stressful. The rest of the boys would go ahhhhh there he goes again. They called him the crier. He was a pleasant kid otherwise, but often would just burst out in tears. I was struggling with my classes at the time so I wasn't able to help that much. The funny part about the whole thing though was I when I went for help the boys all said don't don't, because the other teachers would only slap him on the face to try and shut him up.
He wasn't at the wangtah stage, because he could usually fit in when he was normal. Never was able to figure him out. |
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rapier
Joined: 16 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2004 3:42 am Post subject: |
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| interesting...I guess what these kids need is quality time spent with their parents..ie, seeing them for more than 15 minutes each day before they have to go to school. in my experience, such kids lack a home and family life to give them confidence. They retreat into their own worlds- because they haven't learned social skills at home.. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2004 3:51 pm Post subject: |
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There was this one kid in my class who wasn't so much picked on... but every class he had this look that was half priceless, half disturbing. It took me a while to catch on and I started to spend a bit of extra time with him, where you kind of get down on your haunches, get eye level with the rug rat, and give him a bit more hand holding help.
Anyway he had a constant look on his face that might charitably be described as a "What the hell am I doing here?" look. Less charitably, his look was the look of a doomed man, like an 18-year-old on the beaches of Normandy who has just been told by his sergeant he's next up to try and throw a satchel charge in a machinegun blockhouse. The kid has already seen four of his friends die horribly trying the exact same thing and all he can think is "I'm only a boy. I'm too young to die. Why me?" It really was that bad of a look.
He didn't last long. I don't see him anymore.
That look both makes me laugh and haunts me. Too weird. |
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