Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Chokse]

Imagine that! A Korean cheating. Shocking!

[interestedinhanguk]

[bobbybigfoot]

[PatrickGHBusan]

[angma]

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[shifty]

OP I can understand your frustration completely. I just hope you don't get to teach middleschoolers because their propensity to cheat is on a whole new level. It's like they're ingrained with it.

Then you'll really have to restrain yourself.

The parents are completely OTT. Once I declared to some middleschoolers that Neil Armstrong of spacewalk fame was a friend of mine, that I saw him regularly. They wanted me to prove it by producing
an autograph.

I had forgotten about it until I started getting regular reminders about the autograph. So I produced one. Of course they pronounced it a fake. All good healthy fun and encouraging to and fro.

Next thing I knew the director was in a huff since some parents instigated by a doyenne now accused me of making improper suggestions.

OP, any decent director knows that the foreign teacher will err from time to time in the sight of the crazy mothers. A competent director will shield and protect you from their interference.

[Skippy]

First off, you made something so minor, so big. GhBusan is right, but you also need to know when to just let things slide. Because something are just not worth the fight. Find that balance of being a good teacher and giving yourself less stress.

Also if you boss is not going to go to bat for you. Cancel the class, they do not like it, get rid of the class. Ask the boss to change to it and say sorry I will not teach it, I will teach everything else but that one. You need to turn the tables on the parents. You need to show them that okay you will not teach their daughter along with the other students in her class. How long do you thing the other parents want no foreign teacher not teaching before they go to the complainers and tell them to shut up, or they leave the school making the boss think which is worse 1 student or 5 to 10 students leaving. True you might get fired or let go, but you will have had the power and you have the chance to poison the well, if you are fired, tell us all the name of the place. Finding a another teacher might be difficult for them.

Good Luck

[Fat_Elvis]

Sounds to me like you should take another look at how you are assessing the performance of your students. Is it really that important to set tests for kindergarten students? Can't you just assess their performance based on a portfolio of work they produce in class, or using speaking assessments based on pairwork activities, or another kind of testing that can't be cheated on? And does it really matter if there's a bit of cheating in class? They're kindergarten students after all.

[oldtrafford]

Fat Elvis, perhaps it's the school that sets the tests. Cheating at any age is just wrong!!

[oldtrafford]

Wiltern, I was referring to the kid being a serial cheat in general.

[PatrickGHBusan]

[shifty]

[sirius black]

I've been in Korea long enough to vote for the posts that said
1. Generally speaking hogwons are a business. Given a choice, keep the parents (typically the ajumas) happy even if what they want is not conducive to teaching.
2. Children cheat. They may or may not understand it in kindergarten but the FACT that they cheat at all educational levels (and oftentimes as adults) tells me its a cultural thing.

[oldtrafford]

Sirus I agree. I've only ever taught adults and they cheat. I have had students in the past ask me for the test paper. I've known admin. pass on papers to their friends/ lovers. I kid you not. I think I'll write a book about the goings on at my place of work, when I leave Korea. Problem is nobody would believe me!!

[angma]

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