Korean Job Discussion Forums

sheba · Joined: 16 May 2005 Location: Here there and everywhere!

Ive had maybe 2 kids cry in the 4 months ive been here and one was because of me.... kid1 says something in korean, kid2 punches him in the face. I growl them both and kid2 (the puncher) cries... strange. They are only 9yrs (Korean).

The other time was the same class but another kid was teasing one of the girls and made her cry.

plokiju · Joined: 15 Mar 2005

I've had quite a few of my students cry. They'll cry for all kinds of different reasons. I have one girl who'll have some tiny thing wrong with her craft, science experiment, whatever and she'll just get so mad and tear the whole thing apart and start crying. Then she cries even more when she realizes that I can't put it back together for her.

Other ones cry because of what some other student has said or done. Usually it's in Korean though and friends side with each other so I have no idea what happened.

I have made them cry myself, too. I have one class where the 3 boys have very minimal English skills and their whole interaction with me is a farce since they understand maybe 10% of what I say. They were always drawing and I decided to take their books and pencils away. One kid fought to keep his pencil. I ended up breaking the lead and let him keep it. He cried for quite awhile. I was having a very bad week. Then being refused permission to go to the bathroom or get water results in tears occasionally. I really don't know if they are crying less or I've just become accustomed to it. Only 18 more days of class and who knows.

TECO · Joined: 20 Jan 2003

a couple of times.

all young ladies.

they come in wound up pretty tight some of them.

keithinkorea · Joined: 17 Mar 2004

I got a little boy who is pathetic and always crying. He thinks he's a little tough guy and is often mean to the other kids if I'm not around. I'll tell him to stop and he'll just get all defiant and then say 'NO'! He does this with the Korean teacher to, I guess he's just a spoiled little brat.

A prime example is yesterday. It was test day so whilst I interviewed the individual students I had the others doing puzzles and stuff. Anyway small class so after I'd tested them we were going to play a game, little brat gets really noisy because he's losing and starts shouting, I tell him to stop shouting and he literally screams in my ear, I tell him to get in the corner and put his hands in the air, he refuses, I make him...The waterworks begin.

When I force him to do something, he'll just start bawling. This happens often, the stupid thing is he knows that if he's bad I'll punish him, especially if he hits other students -happens often. I have absolutely no sympathy for him as he is just trying to get his way by making a scene, so I just ignore the little bugger. When the other kids say 'Gyu-Min sad!' I just say 'No, he is a baby and babies sometimes cry for no reason' and they nod and get on with their work, the great little kids they are. This kid is a pain in the arse and the best thing to do is ignore it.

Some Korean kids are great, others are spoiled little buggers. Crying kids for no reason are usually in my experience spoiled brats seeking attention and the worst thing you can do is indulge-envourage them.

Strict-supportive-encouraging is my approach to teaching kids, I love it when I get a class where I don't have to do 'strict' but they are rare.