Korean Job Discussion Forums

[rjones]

Hey everyone.

I've been teaching in South Korea for four months now and I feel like I have settled in very well. I have figured out what makes the different students tick and how to get them talking and completing their work....apart from one class.

I have a class of five middle school boys who are extremely disrespectful. They do not listen, they speak over me, they only speak in Korean to each other and the just do not cooperate at all. I have tried the friendly approach as well as the angry approach, giving them the "your parents are paying for this" speech. Nothing seems to work. Even sitting with them and doing the work with them is losing it effect now.

I've spoken to their Korean teacher and he told me that they make him angry too so I shouldn't worry about it...

Anyother suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[matthews_world]

Talk to the manager or owner about them. Come to some quarum with them with their behavior.

If the Korean teacher knows about them, then the owner/supervisor knows as well. Let them know what's going on.

Just be proactive about it. Have the school contact their parents to know that you're concerned.


Perhaps money isn't an issue for their parents and they consider the class as summer babysitting but don't automatically take this observation.

They're middle-schoolers. Pretty hard to change their behavior. Prepare lessons for them, of course, but don't expect too much.

Check their level, though. If their levels fluctuate, allow the higher-level kid to help the lower-level (peer teaching).

Use some sort of age-appropriate video and have them describe the scenes. Use project-style learning. Discuss Sherlock Holmes, for example, and have them produce some presentation about the author.

[Hokie21]

I had a class like this once. I complained about it to the higher ups and they put a video camera in the classroom....facing the students, not me. The Korean teacher came in and explained to them that they were being filmed due to their bad behavior and that they would be getting filmed from now on. They were then told that if they misbehaved their parents would be called in to watch the film.

I know most parents (Korean or western) all want to think their child is a perfect little angel and that if there are complaints it's probably just a "misunderstanding." Well the video doesn't lie.

The kids shaped up after that.