Korean Job Discussion Forums

[rawiri]

I like K kids, i find them to be pretty respectfull, i think because i lay down the law from the get go. Today i was teaching one of my middle schoolers to play knocking on heavens door on my gat, after about 20 minutes he had the four chords down and was really stoked. I agree that it's not the kids you have to worry about in the hagwon, rather the management.

[captain kirk]

I absolutely like kids. Didn't always. Used to find them annoying and 'non-dimensional' because I wouldn't 'stoop' to 'their level', too afraid. Too afraid of people in general, maybe. Probably.
Here's an interesting fact (IMO) I've observed. Kids, if you 'work it right' can give you energy. Most people would agree that working in a hagwon is draining, exhausting.
I was with these monks in a buddhist temple on a retreat once, for a long while, like three months straight. Not bragging, just did it. The monks were from Poland, U.S., England, speaking English about life in 'talks' every week, for one to two hours. Otherwise silence. Something they said about energy was that you get what you need. If you're putting out then that reservoir is refilled, because the universe won't allow entropy. Like the science experiment in elementary school about how dye in water will spread itself until the water is evenly represented in the glass.
So the more you give the more you get. If you put out alot what's missing will be replaced. If you're some big buddhist, like a boddhisatva or something, putting our truckloads of energy to help people it'll come back and he or she will be doing it again, giving it away the next day. Or minute, or whatever. Physically this doesn't seem to be so. Like if you run a marathon it isn't 'instantly' recouped, the energy. But perhaps the 'intangible' energy can be recouped promptly. And the more you contact the positive, intangible energy the more it effects the physical energy. For example, I don't think positive people are affected as much by illness. There are psychosomatic illnesses and states which lead to, or assist, physical illness and energy levels.
To get the kids' energy you have to put out to recoup, IMO. If you just sit there and slump the kids'll dance circles about your static presence, tie you up and paste a 'kick me' sign to one's morbid butt.
But if a teacher throws out quips and comic remarks, teases, and cajoles, spontaneously 'follows the bliss' heightening the atmosphere into a party of sorts then, amazingly, the next class is the same -more putting out and more good times.
Like a ball rolling.
Kids have hordes of energy. And I suppose you could 'classify' it into positive and negative. With the latter draining them and the teacher. It's reciprocal. Their positive energy is a big celebration because, I think, in ways they haven't 'learned' how to be down. If they are slumped in their negative energy state I've noticed that what works best is to keep being upbeat and joking -they'll come around if not that class but later. It's work to be bummed out and they'll realize it's not bumming you out. I heard someone say that the best way to depress someone is to act sullen when they're around.
I remember when I was a kid I was the same way. I had some things bothering me and they were with me then, family issues. But they didn't catch up with me and overwhelm that abundant 'kid energy' until I was a young adult. I'm 'realizing' as I write this that the same deal could be applicable to the 'miserable', stubborn middle schoolers I encounter. One said to me, 'elementary school is fun, but middle school is boring'. I asked if she thought the government would change the system and she said yes, but gradually I suppose.
They can dance circles around you or the teacher can dance with them and actually initiate a dance moment to moment, which is even better and actually the job, ideally.
So I owe kids alot. And my appreciation and gratitude becoming more visible and communicated to them, which makes things even better.
I was, for a long while, one of the abundant English teachers that looks down on himself for doing a job that is 'beneath him' (or her as the case may be).
I think the intangible energy of sharing a joke and a smile isn't 'something to sneer at', 'paltry' because it's not tangible like food, coffee, ginseng, orange juice, the physical gusto one has related to one's age. It can be cultivated and can snowball into a vibrant experience of life felt to the core. Yes, an 'emotional' energy. Before I left for Korea I went to a weekend ESL course for a couple of hundred bucks and the speaker said that 'teaching comes from the heart'. Sounds sappy, but being a sadsack is even sappier.

[Badmojo]

[Saxiif]

[Corporal]

Mine is good. Other people's suck.

[lush72]

Korean kids are so cool- I wish they could keep that innocence a little longer-

[lush72]

[desultude]

I really love children. I have a good time teaching camp. But six hours a day is too much, especially in this heat.

[keithinkorea]

I like kids but I'd have to be really hungry to eat a whole one!

Joking apart, Kids are just like adults some of them are really nice and others are really bad. Generally I like the little blighters.

[schwa]

Its really useful if you have some sense of western child development. The ability of Korean kids to express themselves in english has little bearing on the depth of their thought processes.

[trevorcollins]

[The Man known as The Man]

[skinhead]

[matthewwoodford]

[Corporal]