Korean Job Discussion Forums

[andrew]

.....

[K-in-C]

Andrew...

As you know children can be cruel no matter what the culture or country. It is from the parents that they learn most of these things. I believe that a lot of Koreans are obsessed with their weight and I also believe they make negative comments about those who are weighty. The parents say these things and the children mimic them.

The best we can do is let our students know that name calling is not nice. If we only influence a few youths at least we have made our mark.

I have been praying for patience and tolerance as this is one culture that often times really annoys me. Getting upset and expressing this to most of these people is pointless.

God loves us all thin, fat, short and tall. Feel good in his eyes and try not to be too concerned with the 'wordly culture.'

Peace and prayers,

Kate

[NearlyKorean]

[Deconstructor]

When you're in class and dealing with little monsters, God ain't gonna help ya. You deal with the situation the best you can. I've discovered that when all else fails (decency, humor, interesting activities and outings, demonstrations of the rewards of good behavior, etc) and I am left with no options, I still have my final option: I BECOME AS HIDIOUSE A MONSTER AS SOME OF THESE KIDS ARE. And I rule the class with an iron fist armed with precision weapons like dark sarcasm referring to height, weight, intelligence, family, self worth, ethnicity, gender, lack of language, etc.

Yeah, yeah, I am a horrible, horrible teacher, but I do get through the day and they all know who rules and they all know what happens when any of them ever step out of line. After all, what did I have to lose but a crummy job that I easily got back in the West?

[Dan]

Calling another person fat is certainly NOT ok behavior in Korean culture. But sometimes they don't consider other races the same.

I'm not sure if that's what was going on. Koreans use smiling and nodding as a defense mechanism when they are lost and don't know what else to do.

[PolyChronic Time Girl]

When I've had a Korea kid be rude or even point to me, I've usually had their parents reprimand them and tell them to be quiet. That's what a good parent does. Those parents you ran into are obviously degenerates who can't raise their kids right, and sadly, they exist everywhere around the world. That's why these kids turn into a-holes. Sadly, nothing can probably be done since those parents you ran into are probably scared/incompetent to scold their child, and that's why their kids are such worthless, spoiled brats.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

No doubt it's their parents' fault. Why not just look at the parents, point at their kids, and give them a big thumbs down? Say 'stupid children' or something like that and laugh at them. Probably nothing would insult Koean parents more, and these two deserved it.

Remember though that taking the piss is something some Korean kids do and it's just harmless teasing for them. I had a girl joke that I was fat. I'm 5'11" and 155lbs.

[Dan The Chainsawman]

Pull a Bernie Goetz

[Snowkr]

What's a Bernie Goetz?

I too find that prayer really works well.

I used to pray for my kids in China all the time and their behavior was so much better in my classes, even the parents noticed and wanted to know what the "American teacher was doing to make their children so nice"! I certaitnly wasn't getting that response based on my teaching skills.. and that is certain.

Also, I think kids responded really well to me as a foreigner(and probably female) because I always made a point of direct eye contact with them. Don't get me wrong... I got "told off" in Chinese by some of them as well but they usually apologized... in English "sorry, teacher. Please don't be angry"

Anyhow, I'll be in Korea soon too and I think I'll be only 1 of 2 foreigners in my school so perhaps we'll be somewhat of a novelty?

[Gopher]

The Korean kids are particularly venemous with each other in the classroom (in a hogwon). They complain about each other (and the teacher whenever there's a pretext) and make each other cry all the time.

Some are sweathearts like one named Diana, who always comes up to me to hold my hand and say hello. But she's only six years old yet.

Also, when they hit puberty the boys especially become extremely shy and quiet. Girls less so, but still not as monstrous as an 8-11-year old girl can be, especially to other girls of the same age.

I don't have any weight issues, so, luckily, I haven't had them calling me "fat." But if they ever see me eating a sandwhich or anything or even just having a Coke they call me "pig," and that get's a little annoying at times -- like when several of them start chanting the word (few of them at my hogwon can speak in sentences). I can't imagine ever calling any teacher "pig" in my childhood. I just say "yeah, I'm a pig, goodbye now please," and they get the message.

[manlyboy]

[Tiberious aka Sparkles]

A semi-related experience:

This afternoon I took the little girl to the store for ice cream. Returning home, a few of the girls in our building were out front jumping rope. With them was a boy, about 8 or 9, whom I had never seen before.

The girls all greeted me and said 'anyong!' to my daughter, while this little hellion proceeded to follow me up the stairs shouting 'hi!' 'hello!'

I turned around and gave him a false grin, then went into our apartment.

Downstairs, this kid wouldn't let up, laughing and guffawing at what he considered a witty play on his part. The girls ignored him, but he stuck around.

Then, my daughter pushed a chair over to the window, stood up on it (I was there to make sure she was safe, naturally), and started calling "eon-nee!" to one of the girls below with whom she has a quaint older sister/younger sister friendship with.

When my daughter called her name, shouting "Ye-ji yah!" the little batard started laughing manically.

Here's the conversation from below:



"Why are you laughing?"

"Can't you hear? That American girl just spoke Korean when she called you."

"She's not American...she's Korean...her mother is Korean. And she's our friend, so stop being a dork."


After that the girls started picking on the boy; and I can't say I didn't approve. Those sassy gals ran his ass outta town.

Score one for the home team.

Sparkles*_*

[mithridates]

Nice, that kid was a dork.


op, don't forget that other people are allowed to discipline kids in Korea. You can give them an earful if you feel they deserve it and most parents will agree with you.

[PolyChronic Time Girl]

[djsmnc]

Maybe the OP looks like a fat loser???

Anyway, I had a kid call me fat one time here. He was 11 years old and weighed 70 kilograms, so I think it was probably the only insult he knew....