Korean Job Discussion Forums

[trigger123]

I am working at a Public Elementary as part of the GEPIK programme, and I wanted to share my concerns with other ESL teachers in the hope that you could advise me on what to do in this situation.
My school is largely good, and I have a good working relationship with the staff and of course the kids are great too. There is one situation I am not happy about, and having worked in the UK school system, can see massive differences between how this would be handled at home and how it is (not) handled here.
There is a boy in one of my grade 6 classes, who quite obviously has special educational and behavioural needs. I know this because the other teachers have told me, and having worked in special needs schools back home, would guess that he has a very low IQ, is prone to rage, has very little social ability and is generally in need of special education. His behaviour in class can range from almost catatonic to violent, and the other students are either scared of him or tease him for his outbursts.
Perhaps most worrying of all is the fact that my co-teachers tell me his parents have been seen to hit him in public, and that he is denied special education because the parents have stated that they don't want him in a 'special' class. They are known in the town to be violent people, and the boy is always dressed poorly, is dirty and appears to be generally neglected by his carers.
And finally, being a grade 6 kid, he will move to the the local middle school in a month or so.
How can this be? Surely the child needs to be 'statemented' for his needs and moved to a special school? If the parents are indeed abusive, and it is common knowledge locally, why has he not been removed? Why are the school not making any effort to help this boy?
Looking down the line I see very little hope for this child, and the situation makes me angry and frustrated. What advice does anyone have?

[turtlepi1]

Yeah it sucks...(beyond that I am not sure what adivce to offer...)

"Special education" I wasn't even sure they had it in Korea.
My GF is also in Gepik and after time she found out there were "special" students in her class. Not always easy to pick out in a foreign culture if you are not looking for it and no one at the school told her.

Teachers just ignored certain students and other students made fun of them. So oblivious my GF asked them questions and help them with their work. Sure they needed a little extra help but these particular students weren't at a level where abandoning them was the answer..(not that I am implying abandoning a child is ever the answer...but hopefully you know what I mean.)

In a class of 30 where you have children that shouldn't be in the class I can see how a Korean teacher might give up. Even in that situation I'm not sure what can be done aside from helping the children as much as you can to have at least a sense of being "normal" even if it is only for one class.

As for your situation, it is far worse...I'm not sure what advice to offer you beyond change what you can and find a way to understand what you can't.

The stigma attached to defects is great.
Maybe instead of being shocked and appauled you could try talking about it, (from the point of view of it is so sad..but not making judgements) with a korean teacher...don't try to get something done right away, but if you can open a Korean teachers mind about how sad it is then they will likely do something...eventually...

Maybe you can do nothing for this child, but if you change the way one person thinks then you have done something...

Hell I don't know...shitty situation...

[manlyboy]

I'm in GEPIK as well, and I have some kids who are in similar circumstances to the boy you describe. I was advised not to devote too much time to them. There's 40 plus kids in every class. Even if they were all healthy and well-adjusted, there wouldn't be enough time to give each of them the attention they deserve. Remember at GEPIK training we were advised not to discipline the children? They see us as teacher/tourists, and they certainly don't want us getting involved in their personal business. I think if we try to change the way kids like this are being managed, it would be taken as a huge insult.
Volunteering some of your free time to help out is an option, but kids like this require A LOT of special attention, and I think most of us just don't have enough room in our lives to do that.
I just do the best I can with them when they're in my classroom. I know it's not enough, but I don't see myself as being in a position to tell those concerned to change their ways.

[FUBAR]

Yesterday a girl in my class showed up to school with a black eye and bruised face. She told me that she was running and fell down the stairs in her home. When I mentioned that she lived in an apartment complex and uses the elevator she just said "Apt fall down, ok?"

It left me a little distressed which led to me talking with the Korean teachers at the school. They told me that she was "not mentally able" and her parents were divorced. When talking about it a little more, I asked them about calling the police. They simply told "in Korea it's a private matter for the family. The police won't do anything."

Also about the those girls from �̷�; I asked the teachers about her as well. Summarizing what she told me: "The woman want to help her, but the male police officers don't believe her." She said the woman are really angry but she doesn't think that there is much that will happen.

[TJ]

I teach at a middle school in Gyeonggi Do. We have a boy who obviously has major mental problems. Although always well dressed and clean he rarely actually attends a class. He spends most of his time either wandering around the corridors or sitting in the teachers room. When he does attend a class he takes no part in the lesson and does not respond to my prompting.

The other students are not picking on him. In fact I have never seen any of them talk to him or have anything to do with him.

He sometimes cries for no apparent reason. However, what's really worrying is that he sometimes bangs his head very hard against the wall. On occasion there has been blood on his face. When this happens, whoever is near stops him. Usually that is enough but occasionally he will return to the wall and recommence knocking his head.

It doesn't take a psychiatrist to know that this is a serious prolem.

I have spoken to my contact teacher but she told me not to worry. Of course I do worry but at the same time I realise that nothing I do or say will result in him receiving the special attention he needs.

[Shutterfly]

I am having similar problems as well. I had worked with special needs children in canada. There are three students in one of my classes. I am sure one has narcolepsy ( will fall asleep almost like she is unconsious at the strangest of times) One i know must having a learning disability of some sort, i can quite pin it but his physical appearance also has some telltale signs. Another student i am sure has turrets. He has involuntary movements and speech. I have addressed these issues with all of my co-workers and my boss and they adamently insist there is nothing wrong I just try to give them one on one attention before and after class. There isnt much you can do if both the parents and the school refuse to address the problem.

[Grotto]

I guess my school is lucky. We have two severly handicapped children at our school and they both have full time aides and spend most of their time in their own classroom. Other children that have learning disabilities attend these classes for specific areas of help.

They are well looked after from what I have seen.

[Derrek]

Grotto, you are lucky, and your school must be rich or the parents are paying for the aides.

We have some special girls here, too, (Private Girls HS) although we don't have violence issues with them. One of them is obviously special ed. material, and when she was in my class, I just treated her very friendly and didn't push her to do the things everyone else was doing unless she was motivated. She is EXTREMELY shy at all times, and it seems that in every class some girls seem to watch after her and take her by the arm, etc. I still have to approach her slowly, or she will cower back as if I'm going to smack her. Teachers at our school don't hit her, but I wonder if she had problems in middle school.

The other girl I know of is what I would call, "slow" and a discipline problem at times. She is very pretty, and is late to school very often, and likes to talk in class. At first I thought she was just a poor student with "princess syndrome" who didn't care, but when I complained about her to her homeroom teacher, I was told that she is "retarded." I see it now. As someone mentioned, it's more difficult to see this when you're a foreigner here.

Since then, I've softened up on her and am very friendly to her. I don't have her in my class at the moment, but I found that giving her attention in the hallways outside of class somehow caused her to gain interest in my class and talk less. Actually, this has worked well with MANY students.

Gosh, I worry about her, though... bumped into her on a weekend at Seohyun station. She was wearing make-up, and looked like a very pretty college-aged woman. She's the type that many bad men would love to take advantage of, and she might not know what hit her until she got knocked up or something. Luckily, I think she has good parents.

[d503]

I too have a couple of special kids. One of them is physically handicapped (he only has one ear, and his hearing isn't that good). However he seems pretty mentally able, you have to work a little to maintain his attention, but I think that stems more from the fact that it is hard for him to hear (his parents recently decided he didn't need to wear his hearing aid ) I worry about him some though, the kids in his class are really great and he never gets teased or put down for his handicap and also they don't exclude him...next year though he heads out to the real world, i just hope it treats him nice.

The other major one has some sever attention disorder problems. He will wander away mid-sentence (Korean or English). I used to try to keep him in his seat all the time, but found that the other kids don't expect him to stay in his seat all the time. So unless we are doing a whole class activity or a group project I don't force him to remain seated. (Which means while we are doing reading practice or individual presentations he wanders about) It works okay and he mainly just likes to pace at the back of the class.

[margaret]

Besides run of the mill kindness and the possibility that you might want to devote some of your own time to this child, the best thing I can think of is to talk to as many Koreans as you can stand to about it. That's how embarrasing things that used to be swept under the covers started getting attention here in the US--exposure. Although as a foreigner you have less power, for instance, to discipline, in the system, you have possibly a greater power to spotlight the situation because of Koreans wanting to put Korea in a good light with foreigners. You might even run across somone who could do something for the child.
Good luck.
Margaret