Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bapha]

I just took over a beginner's class in Suwon, Korea, and these kids are my nightmare! They are out of control and as they have no English, I am finding it difficult to calm them down. There are a few students in the class that wish to learn but I can't spend any time with them as I am always trying to get these boys to quiet down. If I try punishment they just look at me and refuse to do it. If I try rewarding good behaviour they don't care for the reward! They would just rather sit and talk with their friends, no matter what the cost. I am in a school where the administration seems to turn a blind eye. I am not allowed to fail them, and if I send them to see the director, she does very little. Can anyone make a suggestion?
Thank you!

[manlyboy]

I hate it when the kids force me to choose between giving up control or becoming a grim slave-driver. Of course, it's not really a choice at all. You're going to have take on the unpleasant role of putting the "dic" in dictatorial.
You said you just took over the class. Sounds like whoever had them before you didn't do their job. Unfortunately in hagwons you sometimes have to inherit classes from teachers who couldn't give a stuff about enforcing discipline.
If they're refusing to obey you, and the administrators aren't provoking any changes, then it sounds like time to involve the parents. Next class I would make it very clear to the students that "If you are bad, I will get so-and-so Korean teacher/staff to call omoni/aboji". Use hand gestures, speak slowly, get them to write it down in their books - make sure they understand completely. If they don't back down (and they probably won't), do it. Call the parents yourself if you have to. If you don't know the Korean, just say to them "yong-o sonsaengnim", your school's name, and their kid's name. Then rant at them in English. The parents will get the idea.

[peppermint]

Had a class like this today- and just experimented with positive reinforcement. Gave the kids that worked a sticker, and when the others saw that, they settled down- a little.

[Michelle]

I'm working on the assumption, as you said positive reinforcement has not worked.

Maybe you need to have harsher punishment for these brats!

Even if they do not understand they can still sit quietly in their chairs.

Try punishing the very first kid that gets out of line in that class, give them a really hard time and see who of the others wants to follow. Make sure it's treatment you could give as many of them as you need to.

It really helps if you can muster up even a little support from the Korean staff. One good punishment is to make them stand up against the wall, holding something if needed.

I have found the fact that children have ears to be very useful for little brats.

Just take them by the ear and gently lead them out of the classroom, or against the wall for the duration, where you want them to go.

Wonderfully this is a punishment that they hate as it hurts them, not you quite a bit. The first few times they go with a struggle, but they learn it hurts and are keen to avoid it in future. They learn that once you have them by the ear, they can go quietly and it hurts less.

Don't forget that it hurts as you can end up with kids crying, these always seem to be the ones who were making the most trouble a second ago. Ears can be sensitive.

[captain kirk]

I've got a class like that, or potentially looney tunes. They're doing Let's Go 1, which is a blast from the past since that was half a year ago, that the current crop at the haggie were back there doing 'What's this? What's that?'. They make me laugh, that bunch. They can easily slip off a banana peel into an hysterical 'run riot' mode, like oblivious maniacs having a shared, group experience, with me left out. Sensing this, like a threatened animal, I managed to head them off by keeping them alert to my 'top doggedness'.
One kid, Ben, is like a baby bear. He's always buoyant with a twinkle in his eye like life is for living. Meanwhile, amongst the six boys, are two shy girls. One, Betty, is utterly charming for her habit of lifting up her chin with each word she speaks in this quiet, whisper of a voice. In the midst of 'contest mayhem' during the stickyball target game (correct answer gets a shot) the last five minutes of class, this is like a butterfly miraculously appearing amidst the antics of hammy, coarse, Oktoberfest revellers.
Once they go over the zany edge then teacher has to go for overkill, and that's messy. Sometimes there's a 'scene' in class like that. But getting the hyped up transgressors to stand in the corner for five minutes isn't out of line, and sets the tone. Then the kids find they can have fun with teacher and within the obligations of the study session instead of having fun in spite of teacher, which teacher, of course, finds maddening.

[SweetBear]

Kids need to learn boundaries, especially K kids it seems. Here are some opposing methods that have worked for me.

You could try the stick or candy approach, literally. Take in a huge bag of candy and sit at your desk quietly and eat it, don't make a big deal out of it, just enough to get their attention, then once you have it start rewarding appropriately for quiet, calm behaviour.

Try taking in a stick, but never use it, just look menacing. Maybe rap it on the desk loudly.

Make sure that your lesons are always fun and despite the harsher measures, show genuine kindness, especially for the ones that you simply want to kill.

Remember to make sure they know who the boss is.

Try being calm and relaxed and gentle, don't let any of it really get to you.

These very different approaches have worked for me, depending on the class, you'll have to experiment with them a bit. Good luck there !

[dford]

Captain Kirk.....I wish I had your grace.....you make your classroom disciple sound like a Jane Austin novel...I would just brood around the class to let them know I'm pissed off and go strictly by the book until things cooled down.

It works if you don't use it too often.

[lookingtoteach]

I used to have a class like that. 11 7 year olds, all hellions. The teacher that I replaced actually warned me of them and they were notorius even with the Korean teachers. I used a 3 smiley-face system. They lose one face if they're bad (or speak conversational Korean), another one if it happened again, and another one if they did it again. It was basically the three strikes you're out thing. But, if they had 2 or 3 faces at the end of class, they got a sticker on their chart. I bought the first one(s) to reach 10 stickers a prize. If they lost 2 faces, they went to the corner with their hands over their head for 5 minutes while the others played a game. If they lost 3 stickers, they went outside the room or to the director (depending on the offense) for the rest of the class. It sounds complicated, but it's not. I used it with all of my lower-mid level classes and it worked great. I had about 7 of them at that level. Just be sure to let them earn back smiley faces if they're good. Have fun and good luck.

[canuckistan]