Korean Job Discussion Forums

joe_doufu · Joined: 09 May 2005 Location: Elsewhere

I'm in a hagwon, not a public school. The parents have more than once made it clear that they don't want me "molding" their student. If they want the child to grow up evil, the child gets to be evil. But if that child disrupts my class (thus wasting the other mothers' money) out he goes.

ilovebdt · Joined: 03 Jun 2005 Location: Nr Seoul

n3ptne · Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Location: Poh*A*ng City

Mebbe I'm the only one here who acts/thinks this way....but,

I don't treat my students like students, or customers, I treat them as peers... and often superior ones. What I mean by this is very simple, I'm studying Korean, they're studying English. They speak one better than I, and I speak one better than them, so with all due respect to them and their country, I don't pull the "I'm the teacher" BS that I absolutely hated being around for my entire academic career.

Having said this, my kids treat me well, very well... That shouldn't suggest that the job is problem free, or that I don't occassionally feel like throwing a kid out the window, but such incidents are few and far between.

What I do is typically start off every class by saying whatever it is I'm in the process of learning (in Korean) and let them scream at me for a good ten minutes before trying to take control of the class and explain an English concept. Or tell them what food I recently tried, going to a singing room, whatever.

Insofar as discipline is concerned I have but three tactics: Yelling, Sending into the Hall, and Writing, and I use them sparingly (all except for the yelling, which isn't "yelling" in the sense of chastisement, but rather talking very loudly to get their attention... you cant honestly expect children (ones who don't speak English no less) to focus on you, and not talk while your talking for the duration of an hour, however I do *yell* in rare moments.)

Now.. I start off with the *yelling* when someone is pissing me off, typically a rapid fire English rant that I'm sure they won't understand, followed by a sort of demeaning, and this time slow, reexplanation of the rant, mixed with a few "Do you understand"'s, and "Are you sure"'s. The rant usually consists of telling the person they're this close (hold up your fingers) to being kicked out of my class if you keep pulling that shit (hand gestures are key), and even then, I only do it when the shit they're pulling is of an especially distracting kind that disallows other students to learn... or if its so repetitive I can't stand it. What I really love is how the student I'm going off on... is so shocked by being talked to in English so loud and fast, that he almost never understands the jist of the rant (even the second time around, just sits there staring blank eyed), then one of his friends will talk in Korean and tell him what i'm saying... which usually results in a "AWWWWWWW", makes my heart smile.

Now I often times find that when one such student is misbehaving that he begins feedng off rest of the class, and everyone is suddenly more concerned with focusing on what he is going to do, than on what I'm trying to do... Thats when the writing comes in, before I kick him out, I'll tell him to write the word list of whatever chapter we're in 10 times. While writing he isn't allowed to participate in anything we're doing. If he keeps going, he's gone... if the room keeps going after hes gone, they all write 10 times and I get to read. Extra homework is a good way to temper behavior over a long period of time too.

Last resort? I get the director. She yells so loud and makes so many threats that after she goes the kids don't even like to talk if I ask them a question. But I don't get her unless I *absolutely have to*.

I bring in candy for my kids, play with them constantly, rarely give them homework (or if I do I let them do it in class, another favorite is doing a few things in class and then telling them that their homework for the night is what we just completed). All in all, over the course of two months of consistent behavior on my part, my kids have naturally "molded" their behavior quite nicely. Now I like to think they did this because they wanted to, because I'm there friend... might not be the case, but at the very least they're thinking "OK, we have to be with this white man for an hour, he can either be really nice and way cooler to us than all our other teachers, or we can be dicks and have him get pissed".

ddeubel · Joined: 20 Jul 2005

Quote:

This thread has been interesting to see how we all view teaching. Not making judgements here just fascinating to see the diverse views.

SCARY. Very scary...........................

But Jaderedux, I liked your post except for the previous one . Where you state....

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

n3ptne · Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Location: Poh*A*ng City

Yes, peers do teach by yelling... thats how the kids teach me... they scream. And I teach by the philosophies of "by any means necessary" and "there is no such thing as a bad kid". I'm going to teach them, and I'm not going to allow one to prevent others from learning. Discipline is a must when in a classroom environment, but I don't consider them "students" in an intellectually inferior fashion.. they're peers, child peers, but this concept is moot. They must be forgiven for most, if not all, of the infractions they commit... because they're kids. Thats what they do, you can't expect them not to be.

I haven't pronounced one a bad apple yet, but am this close to doing so. Now I just kick him out of the class in the first fifteen minutes, and he's no longer an issue. I don't get the director, I don't care if he gets in trouble, stands in the hall, goes home early, just so long as he isn't in the room bothering me.