Korean Job Discussion Forums

[IT'S JUST ME]

Here's the question.

Could the experienced instructors share with the newer instructors their worst teaching experience and how they dealt with it.

It might help school the new crowd on what to look for and how to cope when things go wrong.

[thegadfly]

Hmmm...assaulted by a 19 year old freshman that was 6 inches taller and 50 pounds heavier than me, within the first fifteen minutes of class on the first day -- oh wait, that was in the US...worst day in Korea? Yeah, that one time Min Soo didn't do his homework....

Seriously? The only bad classes I have had in Korea have been because I haven't had enough things prepped and ready to go -- if you have ten different things you COULD do per hour, you probably won't need them all, but on that day when nothing works, you still have stuff to fall back on...however, when you only have three things upon which you plan to spend 20 minutes each, and two bomb...you have a lot of sweaty tap-dancing to do in that 40 minutes....

Mini-lessons, man, mini-lessons. Five minutes on something, five minutes on something else -- quick cuts, simple and direct ideas and lessons. A little drill, then a little note-taking or copying from the board, maybe some partner work, then a read aloud or chant or song, then something else -- like an MTV video, keep the camera hopping. If you hit on something the class is into, go ahead and let it run its course, but when it loses steam, jump into the next thing....

The thing is, they do not need to be COMPLETELY new every day -- they can be recycled and reworked versions of the same thing, but have a variety of things to do, to give the feeling of change and progression. Plan a dozen things for your first class, see how many you get through and how they go...then you have a guide for future classes, AND you have extra ideas in reserve. Try to prep ahead as much as possible -- a few days, a few weeks, a few months. Tweak as you go, but knowing where you are going and how you plan to get there won't hurt, even if you change course halfway....

[Whistleblower]

I had one particular experience in the UK. It was my initial job as a teacher outside Korea and there was one student (who was an Arab) who questioned my teaching. At that time, I was being observed by the Senior Teacher. The student decided that he did not want to be taught by me and walked out. I continued with the lesson but it crashed and burned. The students were not interested.

After the weekend, everything went back to normal only to find myself being kicked out of the job. The school decided to cover for the student rather than the teacher. I learnt quick that schools would rather cover their own arses than help their staff. I moved to another school and have been there for a year. The school is a lot more sympathetic and the staff are really friendly.

As a teacher, the more you experience the more you learn how to do better. Continue to learn and you continue to improve.

On a side-note, the school was blacklisted and the Home Office revoked their visa issuance number. What comes around, goes around.

[Snowkr]

For me it was when a snotty German girl I was teaching informed me that she hated Americans.

I was in Canada doing a TEFL course with observed teaching practice. This girl told me she did not come to Canada to have an American teacher. She was very rude to me. I just showed her the door.

Second worst was when some rather large ms/hs boys in China told me off in Chinese and stood up to try and force me onto the floor in front of the whole class. A student later translated what they'd been saying and they were actually trying to simulate "rapee..." It was sick.

In Korea... I think a kid may have kicked me one time. My director made him kneel and hold a chair over his head until his mother came to get him. Then he never turned up at the school again. Korea has been a breath of fresh air for me!

[djsmnc]

The only bad experiences I have had are when a student or two just absolutely does not want to be there or participate. Well, not just not participate, but just have no motivation whatsoever to be involved regardless of what you do. You could be handing out free money and they would still not want to be a part of it. It's those very few students that make me disagree with some academic programs where they put the full burden on instructors to motivate students or make adjustments.

[Junior]

Hogwons are where the worse stuff happens. If you're an inexperienced teacher and don't know what to do. I mean stuff like being dong-chimmed, kids fighting or out-of-control classes refusing to follow your directions.

Although nothing like as bad as this:

[thegadfly]

djsmnc,

I agree that the students that absolutely refuse to participate can be the most frustrating, but I would like to point out that those educational programs that put the burden to motivate solely on the teacher do so because so many teachers give up much too early. You, personally, may go the proverbial extra mile, but I know many teachers that absolutely do NOT, and it would improve their teaching significantly if they could be convinced that motivation DOES fall within their job description....

[djsmnc]

[2000zerozero]

My first job in Korea was pretty tough all around. I have had problems here I never had in Spain - and the kids there were far more rambunctious, rebellious, and sneaky (traits I tend to like in kids, actually ).

I had a coworker some in and yell at me because I wouldn't work for her in front of the whole class of upper-middle school children. She went on and on - in English, to her credit - about how selfish and terrible I was for not working overtime for free. When she finished her tirade, she stomped out. I made it a teachable moment about personal vs. private, and dealing with anger, and about enjoying your free time.

Another time, the same teacher shoved a screaming 3 year-old into my class of 8 calm 3-4 year-olds and held the door shut from the outside, so that neither I nor the kid could escape. The other kids immediately stopped what they were doing. The crying kid missed his mom. I banged on the door until she let us both out, and immediately took the crying kid out with me, hugging him. The other kids were alone for a few minutes, but it was worth it to prevent them all from freaking out, domino effect style.

Last one, I swear - once this 10 year-old kid hit me. I looked at his book, pointed to a wrong answer, and he hit my arm as hard as he could (he wasn't autistic or anything). It was nothing, really, no mark, no scratch, but it was willful and he was testing me and ALL the other kids were watching to see what I would do. I told him to leave, he said "no" of course, then I went and got the director. She took him into her office and - here's the kicker - gave him a lollipop. He trotted back into the room all smiles, and all the other kids were asking "where'd you get that from?" with jealousy. I left class, went straight to the director, and asked her what she thought she was doing. She was all indignant and sanctimonious and said, "what did you expect me to do - hit him back?" to which I replied, "I expect you to NOT GIVE HIM CANDY!" Needless to say, I didn't last long after that.

The point of all that is to offer this advice: always make sure you have the support of your coworkers. Make sure that if you have a problem with a kid, there's someone you can go to for discipline that will threaten to call their parents, etc. If you don't have this, it doesn't matter how motivated your students are or how good of a teacher you are - they won't listen. That said, don't give up at the first sign of trouble, but don't put up with something that makes you truly miserable, either.

I should mention that I now have a decent job with lots of support. Happy ending!

[2000zerozero]

Oh - I should mention I've been teaching ESL for 6 years. Not long enough to brag - but long enough to have seen a few things. Just joined this forum a little while ago. Cheers!

[djsmnc]

[RMNC]

Amen, djsmnc. A-friggin'-men.

[Noella]

I second that Amen!

I have little use for kids of any demographic these days. But to be fair, my first bad experience was with an adult student from Europe, not a child from Asia.

I guess I could also say I have little use for snotty European students in their twenties who come to the U.S./Canada on their parents' dime to get an "English only immersion" experience.

[J Rock]

My worst class ever was a bunch of fourth graders who were a pretty decent class in general, but one day all hell broke loose.

The lesson was going pretty well they for the most part and the kids were cooperating. I was writing on the board when I dropped the marker, I bent over to pick it and in the 2 seconds it took me to fumble with the cap a kid got up from his seat and dong shimmed me. Now keep in mind this happens at least twice a week and I usually blow it off. But this time I don't know what he did was it was the most perfectly placed dong shim in history and he must have had a running start becuase he got me really bad.

It was the weirdest feeling as you can imagine and instinctively I just wheeled around out of surprise and pain and my right arm blew this kid right off his feet. He must have been off balance already becuase I didn't hit/push him that hard but he went flying to the ground and the whole class gasped like "oh my god Jordan teacher killed Min Su!!!"

The kid was wasn't hurt he was just surprised, he cried for a minute but then calmed down after I told him I was sorry I didn't mean to do that. I thought it was over, I was wrong.

The next day before class started I was called into my bosses office and there sat my boss, the student, his mother and father! They asked me what happened yesterday and I told them the whole story. It didn't seem like the parents believed me so I thoguht I was gonna get yelled at for "beating" a student. I then suggested we watch the video tape of what happened (we have cameras in each room) and I was actually a little nervous because I didn't know what it would look like on film.

We all watched it together and it showed exactly what I said, apparantly when the boy told his parents the story he left out the part of him dong shimming me. When they saw that they shot him a look like when he gets home he's really goingto get beat. They made him apologize to me and that was that.

It turned out well but that was my worst classroom experience so far.

[CSlinguist]