Korean Job Discussion Forums

[djunamod]

Hi everyone,
I'm in need of some advice. I am turtoring online for some Korean schools (mainly one-on-one, but some small groups) and I've run into a problem.

One of my classes consists of a small group of 7th graders. I was told that the class would have a Korean teacher present but found out from the first day that there will be no Korean teacher and no other adult to help insure that the kids behave. So I am basically alone with the kids in the classroom.

Because there is no adult supervision and the only adult is on a computer screen millions of miles away, the kids are naturally spending the time socializing and not really learning very much. I try to make the lesson as interesting as possible with the materials I have to work with and I try to engage the students as much as possible (I have some teaching experience in related areas of ESL, like writing and literature, so the teaching experience is not totally new to me), but mostly to no avail. The kids aren't bad kids - they just would rather socialize than learn (surprise, surprise, right?)

I have contacted the company I work for to let them know the situation, as they have been very kind and helpful. But something tells me I can forget about getting a Korean teacher or other adult to help discipline the class (because o fthe school, not because of the company I work for).

So I'm looking for any tips and advice that you can give me as to how I might approach the class. I'm still trying to learn about Korean culture and what is and is not acceptable. I'm thinking there might be some strategies I can employ that will get the kids to pay more attention and get something out of the class. Also, keep in mind that I have the limitation of being online only. So I'm a little limited with what I can do (that is, I can't reach out my hand from the computer screen and shake the student who is talking and laughing by the shoulders as much as I'd like to sometimes ).

Any advice would be most appreciated.

Djuna

[viciousdinosaur]

I'm sorry to you say but you are part of a doomed project. They are experimenting with this as a way to lower their costs, but for the obvious reason you just mentioned, it will never work. I mean kids could just study from videos at home, right? But no one learns that way because we lack discipline. That's why we need real humans in front of us to discipline us into learning. You will never make it work, because it can't work, so my advice is to just find a way to amuse yourself with this until the day comes when they decide to cancel the program.

[Dodge7]

collect the paycheck and dont spend another waking moment worrying about it, and just know us on the front lines in the classroom have it much worse...

[Skippy]

Well use the technology you have. You have the microphone, so start pumping music or siren or loud noise into it when students do not start listening. Also flashing something on the screen to have children listen can help too.

Also consider other technological tools?

Can you message or signal the teacher in someway. Maybe the teacher does need to do something important, but if the teacher is just a text away and the student know. Then maybe they might pay attention.

It maybe strange but try to learn names. Do you have a seating chart at the least. Just by calling a student out and putting them in the spot light both figurative and literal. I would recommend Korean names, do not use any provide English nicknames.

Another option is focusing EVERYBODY on of the culprits. Offending group/person gets put onto the big screen for all to see. You stop teaching until student is paying attention. You could put up a funny or even serious frame around the kids. Of course that could back fire, as kids ham it up.

Even just the child's name up in the corner, will cause them to listen. Name stays up till student is listening. In Korea sometimes standing out from the group is bad. Heck some kids thrive on competition. Keep a running tally of worst offenders up. Big words for the worst to smallest for the least. Even vice versa can work too. Best student on top.

Plus even just recording the class and showing to who needs to see. It can be from teacher to parents. If kids know you can post there behavior up for mom and dad to see, the might just rethink it. Of course there might be laws about this!

Yet, mostly this is not your fault. You are a viable tool (in the good sense) but the school is implementing it badly. No offense at the least a supervisor should their to monitor the kids. You are trying your best from far away and they are messing it up. Really teachers should understand the nature of the children.

Other advice is ask the business what the policy is on this. Cause in this sense buyer beware. School spends money, product/service sucks because of customers misuse, school loses the money. Well business can also lose out if the school decides to not renew/resign or whatever.

[nero]

[viciousdinosaur]

Skippy is just hoping he can hire a few of these remote teachers for his hagwon.

[Drew345]

Maybe it will fail and fail badly, or maybe the OP is on the cutting edge of the future of... well, the future of everything. I think education through modern technology is exciting. Sorry, I can't help the OP with discipline advice, that is an interesting issue to bring up, but good on you for being on the cutting edge. If it doesn't work out (and I admit, it does seem doomed), it is still exciting to think about the possibilities.

[djunamod]

Thank you to all for the advice. I agree with the consensus that the project can't work well with bigger groups. The work I do 1-on-1 is working because it's more of a personal tutoring session but the bigger groups are a big problem if there is noone in the room to monitor the students. For the record, I've been teaching online for 8 years and I've seen that it can work in certain situation but, as many of you rightly point out, it has to be implemented in the right way and really thought through.

For the record, my supervisor was understanding and promised to talk to the school to see what we could arrange. Maybe they'll get wise and figure out that a small group isn't the way to go and they'll switch to 1-on-1, where the students might actually get something out of the class .

I really feel for the teachers in the classroom. I'm an optimist so I don't think the kids are bad but the system just isn't very kid-friendly, is it?

Djuna

[YTMND]

[Skippy]

[Times30]

You can bring a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

Frankly speaking, I'm sure there are ways to get kids to listen, but none of them are really going to work.

I mean, just imagine if your Spanish class in high school was taught by a guy a million miles a way and all you have is a computer to talk through. I already know what my class would have done (and frankly any student).

"BABY IT'S FREE TIME".

Kids who are serious about learning, will learn. But how many kids on this planet are interested in learning. Were any of us interested in learning when we were kids?

Put ourselves in their position and you can see how it can be difficult to teach. The only productive thing I can imagine working is making it interactive. Such that the students have to do presentations and things like that.

[Isehtis]

Don't we have the technology to attach cattle prods to the internet?