Korean Job Discussion Forums

[andrew]

.....

[Cthulhu]

Sounds like you are using material that is too serious for middle schoolers--the wife murdering the husband article in particular. It's too bad the boss pushed it on you--the material sounds interesting for high school level or higher but might be too much for middle schoolers.

Middle school kids have very narrow interests and don't often respond well to serious issues unless they are well travelled or good at English. Kids also have a tough time expressing themselves on harder issues because they don't have the confidence or language ability to back it up.

As trite as it may sound, trying to find a balance between the serious stuff in the book and lighter issues (found on your own or elsewhere in the book) might be better: music, culture, travel learning English etc. It's usually easy to get a sense of what subjects kids will open up about and which they won't; it's better to skip over a subject they don't like (assuming you are allowed to do that) rather than pull teeth for an hour because the focus should be on learning English rather than debating certain issues. Hope your boss is flexible on that. Since you've given no indication of being angry it's clear the kids probably think you are angry because of the material you are using, not because of you.

[Voyeur]

Seriously - don't ever gert defensive and do whatever it takes, BE whatever they want, to make them happpy at any Korean job IMO. If you can't stomcah what a certain job demands try to switch or get out of it. But fighting "city HAll" in korea almost never works.

If any student is mad at you - you did something wrong. If your boss is mad at you you did something wrong., If a parent complains then you did something wrong. Not neccessarily, not even likely, did you do what THEY said you did wrong. But since IMO your goal is to teach while pl;acating all these interest groups if they are not placated you failed. And while it is oka to fail provided you pick yoruself up, dust yourself off, learn and go at it again - don't try to defend yourself or rationalize why you failed to placate. Just tr to make sure no one ever complains agian. That is IMO the only way to survive Korea consistently. Sounds cynical I know but actually it doesnt end up being that bad.

[Ya-ta Boy]

I'm just taking a shot in the dark here since I wasn't in your classroom. But, many Koreans do read faces and draw conclusions--sometimes wrong, but mostly right in my experience. One example of when they are wrong: when I concentrate I wrinkle my forehead. Every time I have a new class I have to explain that no, I'm not angry, I'm just thinking. (I've had American kids ask me the same question.)

When I'm in a pissy mood because of a problem, I'm pretty darn good at hiding it from American students. Lots of practice at that. But apparantly I'm terrible at hiding it from Koreans. They never fail to detect when I'm upset about something totally unrelated to school. It's uncanny. Eerie.

Do you happen to look serious during class? Especially if an activity is not going well? Or you look at the clock and decide you need to go faster or slower? Maybe feeling stress because of the new job?

It's possible they are misreading one of your unconscious mannerisms. On the other hand, they might just be a bunch of little punks out to make trouble for the new teacher.

[Zark]

I have to support Ya-ta Boy here. Koreans really are d*mn good at reading a face or thoughts. They watch your eye movements much more closely than people at home would.

Example: Yesterday - I was thinking about a problem with a property manager back home as I walked down the hall to class - and shortly the student assistant comes up to me and asks if I was "angry about something"! I am generally known as a very upbeat teacher - so it was quite a surprising question. In fact, I had to think for a moment to realize what had happened.

Funny though - I find that for my students "angry" is their favorite word. When I dismiss class I always like to ask if the students are "hungry" or "angry" - if they don't listen carefully they sometimes confuse the two. It's usually good for a laugh.

I agree with the other posters too - the content sounds a little serious. Might try to find something a little more upbeat. If I was trying to avoid an "angry" label - I might try to stay away from "angry" material - like people killing each other because they are angry.

[Demonicat]

yeah, what I force myself to remember is that we are like the family dog. If something goes wroong, balme it on the dog. If something is broken, oh the dog did it. The dog is supposed to always be happy with a wagging tail. The dog never gets sick. The dog will take tons of abuse and still lick your hands. And of course, should the dog ever growl or snap at a student...the dog is put down.

Murder? You actually talked about murder and infidelity to middle schoolers?!? Wow, thats brave. And we aren;t alking hamlet here, but real world. Dude, you need to rethink this, even in the states a teacher would get in trouble for that. Its a little dark. Next time, go for the cheap pops- starcraft, maple story, pop songs, homework. Trust me, its much easier than murder. Further, Koreans tend to equate you with what you teach. If you teach using basketball for examples, then you are a basketball player. If you teach using starcraft analogies, you are "starcraft teacha", if you teach uing murder, you are...

Rufff, ruffff

[captain kirk]

Middle school, I hate to say it, appears to me the age when the herd mentality sets in. Someone said, 'they have very narrow interests'. They are losing the 'magical child' open mind and getting into the groove.

On the other hand I met a middle school guy, a one on one class, who has five radio control cars. Expensive, Japanese ones worth over a million won each. It was a two hour class and after Expressways (text) for an hour I found out about his interest in RC cars. He's the leader of a club that has 120 members, including adults. I'm totally into motorbikes, kind of a motorhead these days, so I was interested in his hobby. He disassembles the motors every six months, replacing the piston and sleeve. So here's a guy who's hobby isn't 'reading and listening to music', that seemingly standard answer to 'what's your hobby?'.

That's interesting what someone said about Koreans equating what you're interested in with who you are. Kind of judgemental, that, if it's true.

It's your first few weeks and maybe, after they get to know you better, they'd lay off jumping to conclusions. For example because you talk about smoking you're bad. Middle schoolers can be manipulative and, being able to express themselves well and wanting to practise adulthood, exercise their manipulative skill, spin doctoring. Maybe getting behind your back. Taking on the parent role, since they're bucking that, making teacher 'their baby' when they complain to their parents who complain to the director. It all starting with their kooky perception.

Maybe Korean teachers go full into the 'teacher role', like taking on the nobility of it, and present a good, balanced impression with everything they teach, not venturing off into risque topics, grey areas, 'reality tv' kind of topics. So the mundane, accepted topics, the lowest common denominator/accepted views/topics is what's expected, and your class content is a shocker(?).

[crazylemongirl]

sounds like the material you have is a little advanced.Middle school is a tough age group.

1st years are just babys fresh out of elementary school and the change is really hard to go from the 'hey i can pretty much do whatever the helll I want' enviroment to the highly regimented middle school enviroment.

2nd years the homones are hitting they are't bottom of the heap anymore and they know it. Generally they tend to go back into their shells a lot more. don't wanted to be treated like babies too.

3rd years. If they don't know you and have nothing vested in you then they are a tough group to crap. My 3rd years have knowon me a year laready and I have test questiosn so they don't give me any crap.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

If you're reading at that level then why can't you just take her aside and talk to her yourself? Reinforce her confidence a little and compliment her on something. Tell her you're not angry at her and think she's a good student (or be euphamistic if you have to). Otherwise, who cares? Really, who cares?

[Gopher]

[deleted]

[W.T.Carl]

I think I used the same text with some of my middle schoolers. The murder bit was a big hit with them. No complaints.