Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Smithington]

Honestly, the volume at which some of my co-teachers lead their classes is exhausting. They yell the lesson and encourage the students to yell responses. One even gets the students to bang the desks with their fists as they do a chant. Thirty students banging on their desks should not be part of any educational program. 'BANG BANG clap. Yell the phrase.' / 'BANG BANG clap. Yell the phrase.' And of course the kids do the banging as hard as they can. After ten minutes of this garbage I just had to step out of the classroom to stop my ears rattling.

And the teacher in the next room (divided from my ESL class by a divider rather than a wall) yells to the class and they yell back. At the moment she is blaring a program on the class television so loud I'm sure it can be heard in the next town. I simply can't think of any justification for the volume being so loud. Especially since, as I say, our rooms aren't even divided by a proper wall...Now she's stopped and the yell talking has resumed. Worst thing is, when these students come into my class this afternoon they will be yelling every single word because that's the motus operati in their home room. Yelling is the norm. And they take this habit out into society and the yell-talking becomes a life habit.

At my other school my co-teacher also yell-teaches even though the kids are right in front of her. Is so much noise really necessary...all the time?

What have they got against quietness, or even just conversing at a reasonable tone?

Sigh.

[le-paul]

Mine dont, but the school teachers across from my building shout so loud, I have to keep the window closed.

My students also have a weird habit of standing up every time I ask them to answer a question...

[Mr. BlackCat]

Everything in Korea is done at maximum volume.

Just this morning the school nurse was on the phone with a parent having a normal conversation. I was outside her room and a bit down the hall and I couldn't even hear myself talking to a student. Just SCREAM TALKING on the phone.

My classroom windows face the playground and every afternoon the kids play out there (which is great, better than going to hogwan!). But every single afternoon they seem to have screaming competitions. This isn't a few young kids once in a while. This is every afternoon for 3 years now (and before at other schools). Just high pitched screams for 1-2-3 hours. Not playing, 'Oh I fell down' screams either. I've gone out to have a look and they're just standing there screaming as high pitched and loud as possible. Different kids, different days. It's just their way. Making noise here is a sign of power and influence. The more important you are, the more noise you make.

I once discussed the concept of "indoor" and "outdoor" voices with my co-teacher, hoping to maybe introduce the concept into our class. She was completely confused by it. Her English is near fluent, she understood the words I was saying. She just couldn't wrap her head around having two different volumes for different situations. Add in the Korean tendency to allow children to run wild with no discipline and it was a futile attempt on my part all around.

Don't even get me started on the amount of talking. Koreans never shut up (in general of course). I don't know how they don't get coarse throats or headaches from all that talking, always at maximum volume. People (we all know who) will come here calling out for saying this, but seriously. If you've been to a wedding here you know what I'm talking about. Can you not answer your phone and speak at maximum volume for 20 minutes?! It's not like Korean weddings are even all day affairs. 20 minutes. Just shut up for 20 minutes. Even 10. How about 5?

But whatever. One of the charms of living here. Can't wait for the election trucks to start driving around at '11' volume at all hours.

[andrewchon]

Screaming and yelling is a proven method of teaching. It is particularly effective when students are lacking in confidence. Often used in military and team sports.

[jazzmaster]

I'm interested in the way Koreans yell to show social standing and I once used it in a situation to see if it would work.
My internet wasn't working so I phoned the ISP company. They said the earliest they could come was tomorrow afternoon. I politely tried to get them to come out earlier but they refused. I then hung up the phone and tried again. This time I was bellowing down the phone. The again told me that the earliest they could come was tomorrow afternoon. I then started shouting as loudly as I could down the phone that tomorrow was unacceptable. They then agreed to send a guy out as soon as possible. The guy arrived within an hour.
To me this shows that screaming and yelling is an acceptable way to get what you want in Korea.

I also once saw an adjoshi having a screaming match with a mentally disabled man in a train, over a seat. They were screaming at each other.

[le-paul]

[Died By Bear]

[Overture1928]

[Scorpion]

^ I think it's pretty obvious that the OP is talking about Korean co-teachers. Have you ever had a Western co-teacher at a Korean public school? I'm guessing you haven't. Not surprised though, because they don't exist.

[Overture1928]

[Smithington]

Man, she just can't teach without screaming. It's unbelievable. And the kids yell back. I tell the kids to stop yelling (in Korean), but the teacher can't compute that I want her to stop yelling too.

What's with this friggin' culture and noise?

[KimchiNinja]

Just had lunch with the woman...

She said "that's true, talking loudly is an effective teaching strategy" and also "swearing at kids", and sometimes "telling kids if they don't pay attention they are going to be dummies like the Americans".

Still recovering from my fit of laughter, she said she doesn't do #3 that often, but it's card that can be played if necessary.

[Smithington]

[Lucas]

[KimchiNinja]