Korean Job Discussion Forums

[KorJen]

Thanks for all the advice. I am a bit of a hard a** already but the kids really refuse to act appropriately. Even if i raise my voice and send them out of class. they dont care. I sent letters home, the parents dont care. My co-teacher is ineffective, and i tried to punish a class the other day for not doing their homework and she came in and told them all to leave. totally overriding my authority.
I have been teaching in this country for 3 years but have never had these kinds of problems. Its really ridiculous. I certainly don't want to have a hand in raising brats, that's a definite. I'll try some other techniques, like the ones mentioned and i'll let you know how it goes.
thanks again.

[Picture Perfect]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[joe_doufu]

[joe_doufu]

In my hagwon schedule of I guess about 10 different groups, I only have one class of 5th graders that is a nightmare. We implemented new books yesterday, which i thought would be great. An earlier class of 5th graders LOVED the new book, "Fifty Fifty (intro)" because it lets them walk around the room and interview classmates, etc. Very cool book.

But then came the nightmare class. They're starting the same book, but they are such a bunch of cynics, they wouldn't give it the 30 seconds of attention it'd take to see that it was a fun book. There are one or two who tell me in no uncertain terms that they HATE english (surprisingly they're pretty good at speaking it) and they refuse to participate. It's a problem because the students who WOULD enjoy my classes see me yelling and arguing with the rotten kids, and they too decide they don't like me or English.

All in all, I think I'm pretty lucky that it's only one class, three times a week. A lot of you have it worse, I gather.

[Ekuboko]

I think one of the contributing factors is the 'quality' of teachers in Korean schools these days.

I remarked to some teachers at my school about how I've noticed there are NO young male teachers, only old ones who are at least 50. The other two thirds of the staff at my school are female. Earlier in the semester we had one relieving teacher, who was a younger, single male - very popular in an all-girls school!

Anyway the teachers I have spoken with say that these days, most of the places at teacher's college are taken by females, because they're getting the better grades. They seem to look upon teaching as a secure job, but they don't necessarily consider the various responsibilities of being a teacher, nor do they necessarily have the skills to be a good disciplinarian in a teacher role.

I don't 'team teach' in my school, but from what I've heard from friends who do, a lot of the newer, younger female teachers just can't cut it when it comes to controlling and effectively disciplining their students. Of course it's a bit rough having to do so with 35-50 little bug*ers in the same room, but good grades to get into teacher's college does not automatically equate to GOOD teacher.

[Freezer Burn]

Take the leader of the pack out of the class with his desk into the hall and make him sit there and write lines, huge sentences too.
If the co-teacher says anything you can reply that it is still english, and since he is disrupting the class all too often he can have his lesson out here.
Go and walk past your class when they have a Korean teacher and watch the difference, they dont accept bulsh*t in their classes, why should you.
Yelling and screaming is only effective if they understand what you mean, I know that if some Korean starts yelling at me on the street I laugh because I have no clue what they are saying, Be forceful without yelling.
I taught 60 in a class at a time, 26 classes, and only about 17 classes were ok to teach, the rest I HATED, dreaded teaching them, and it showed in the tests at the end of the year, they were the worst performers in the tests.
If the co-worker overrides you again, throw her out of your class.

[The Lemon]

[rumpolestitskin]

The solution is a two fold.

1st Get the class quite
When their bad give all the kids worksheets. a crossword or something thats generic. so that you can have it to hand for every class.

2nd Bin Huggin'
Get the ring leader on his knee's at the front of the class. Draw a stick man huggin' a bin. Them bring the bin to him to hug. Make sure he does a good job of it. Then draw a heart next to the stick man you just drew and do a kissing gesture. There's no way that the kid will ever kiss the bin, but the other kids think it's funny. Qudos for you with the good/better kids, slight humiliation for him being as he's in front of the whole class.

Next lesson when he decideds to instigate trouble, fetch the bin from the back of the class and put it by your desk. If he persists move it halfway between your desk and his. still persisting, put it next to him. no resolve? get him a huggin'

[deessell]

Two words



LOVE STICK!!!!!!!Get one fast. You don't have to hit the students, but I make a pretty big bang on the desk.

Also try isolating the trouble maker. Make him/her sit next to you. Make him/her give out the hand outs. He is now your personal slave. Give him attention. I have recruited most of my trouble makers now and they are on my side. There are only a few left to deal with. I don't have a co teacher and I'm a female teacher in a co -ed high school.

Good luck and remember there are students who do want to learn but fun time is over!!

[Freezer Burn]

[The Lemon]

[guangho]

I don't know what bugs me more- that they behave badly or don't bother trying. I was grading exams last week and time after time I saw blank pages. I mean blank- zero, zip zilch. No effort whatsoever. At least thirty to forty percent of the students handed in blank tests.

[Alias]

[mindmetoo]