Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Mr. BlackCat]

Here's my situation:

I've been in Korea teaching for a few months now, and I'm actually enjoying it and like teaching and all that. But before I came I made it pretty clear that I didn't want Kinder classes, and when I arrived I learned that I had a couple but they would go away in a few months.

That seems not to be the case. Fine, I roll with the punches. It is what it is, and like I've said I enjoy all my other classes.

But here the thing; although I have some control over one of my kinder classes, at least here and there, and we seem to have fun together, my other class is just a disaster. It's the last one of the day for them, in a tiny windowless room and no matter where I stand half of them aren't facing me. They're 5 (Korean, so 4 Western). I am invisible. I do not exist and the only way to make my presence known to most of them is to physically stop them from doing whatever crime they are comitting.

I share this class with another foreign teacher and we are pulling our hair out. At this point my goal is to make sure that no one is bleeding at the end of the day, which is difficult at times. When I go to the supervisor or Korean teacher for discipline, which only happens with extreme violence, the kids are usually hugged and played with and sent back in with a meaningless 'sorry teacher'. Don't be sorry to me, be sorry to the girl you beat up!

I don't really know what this post's goal is. I guess its self-therapy. If anyone has any ideas, I'd appreciate it. Or similar stories to let me know I'm not alone (which I know I'm not). I get frustrated because Kinder just drains me for my later classes that I actually enjoy. And I know they're just 4 and they should be playing and having fun. But I'm a teacher not a freakin zookeeper!

[Roch]

Been there. Shorty situation, too.

Try to utilize Buddha in the classroom. Sounds like a weird non-sequitor. Works, though.

In one case, finally, after a week of unruly little kids at a particular institute that the spectre of a law suit prevents me from naming, I came to school after reading a book written by a nice young lady from someplace in the world. She recommends that we just hum a pagan tune from one of the temples we walk by, inevitably, in our time in country.

All previous inclinations and temptations were immediately chucked out the window for a few minutes as I thought about trying something I'm not normally inclined to even think of as a solution to such a situation.

Seriously, it worked, and I've used her advice in lots of situtations since then. Weird, eh?

Good luck!

Roch

[Qinella]

[tomato]

Hello, Mr. Black Cat!

You are not alone.
There have been other teachers who have written in, expressing similar problems.
Here is a list of previous threads about kindergarten:

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=39139&highlight=
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=34653&highlight=
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=4422&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=29953&highlight=
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=16204&highlight=
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=14162&highlight=
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=11817&highlight=
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=5804&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15

I hope this helps.

[john]

Dude print off the sticker charts from
http://www.preschoolprintables.com/schart/schart.shtml
buys some stickers and cheap candy prizes for when they finish the chart.

It will work wonders.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

I can control a class of 40 high school kids all by myself for 50 minutes. I couldn't control a beginners kindie class of 4 children for 5 minutes. I'm not exaggerating at all. Whatever you do, don't feel bad. If you don't speak Korean, it's a pretty hopeless task. Back before I fled the world of private academies I did find a way to make my kindie classes very productive, however. I did my lesson planning for my better hogwan classes during my morning kindie class while the kids played under the table.

Seriously, they drop off a bunch of little monsters with no sense of discipline or right or wrong with a monolingual foreigner and don't seem to realise that if they want to make a good long-term impression they have to help you get the kids into a good routine. Instead they're much more worried that little Raphael (in a twist of irony I liked to name my kids after angels) will go home whining that he had to stand in the corner because he was running around hitting people. It doesn't occur to them that if, after four months, little Raphael still can't say the alphabet his parents might clue in that they're wasting their money.

Try to get a Korean assistant if you can. If not, my only advice is to become a masochist or find an excuse to quit and get into the field of public education. Just whatever you do, don't get down on yourself or take negative comments personally. It's not your fault that you have the situation you do.

[dbee]

Firstly stop trying to control you kinder class, it's an impossible task. They are too young to discipline or reward properly and there is no way that your going to win a war of attrition. They have a hell of alot more energy than you do. Think instead about channelling that energy into certain tasks.

The golden rule with kinder is to keep them busy. If you don't keep them busy all of the time then they'll simply amuse themselves. A bored class is an out-of-control class.

Crayons, plain paper, lots of glue and scissors and various colored and glittery paper and accessories. Kids at that age are active learners and are very tactile and curious. Use this to your advantage ... have the kids draw pictures of animals, people, their family etc. You could also try origami, PE lessons, songs, simple games,

Once you have everyone on the same page and going in the right direction, then start to base your lessons on easy themes - like family, animals, numbers.

[tomato]

Hello again, Mr. Black Cat!

I'm just the opposite of Yu-Bum_Suk: I couldn't control a secondary class of 4 kids for 5 minutes. However, I work with kindie class for 3 hours a day, and I love every minute of it.

I think the Korean people are unrealistic in expecting every teacher to be proficient in teaching the whole gamut. There aren't many teachers who can do that.

However, 6 years ago, I wasn't even comfortable in teaching kindergarten. I could have written a message similar to yours.
Here are some disciplinary tactics which I learned little by little.

�� supervising clean-up

If you need the floor space and the floor is covered with blocks, supervise the clean-up operation. It may be tempting to do all the work yourself, since that is easier in the short run. But don't do that. It may also be tempting to shout invectives at the children for not already cleaning up. Don't do that either.

Rather, look for some unoccupied children and ask them to help. They might not understand "clean up." It is an abstract word, and children mature in the direction from abstract to concrete. Rather, you could make specific requests: "Could you put this doll back where it belongs? That would be so nice."

The first chapter of Tom Sawyer has some relevance here. Try holding up a toy and asking, "Who can put away this toy truck?" Betcha several children will reach for the truck and yell, "����! ����!"

�� calling the children to the circle

If you're like I was, this is probably the hardest part. Resist the temptation to shout, "Hey, you guys, get over here right now!"

A better way is to find one or a few children to take by the hand and bring to the circle. Then once you get the attention of those few children, make all the noise you can. Start with the name of the child to your immediate left, slap your knees, and chant, "Hello, Sarah! Hello, Sarah!" in even quarter notes.

Other children, wanting you to chant a stanza for them, will come to the circle.

�� reinforcing those students who are paying attention

The technical name for this technique is positive reinforcement.

When you call children to the circle, and Sarah, Clara, George, and Bob are the only ones who come, lavish your praise on Sarah, Clara, George, and Bob. Betcha the other children will want their share of the pie, so they will come running too.

Later in the lesson, you look to your right and you see George, who is paying attention, Billy, who is �޿�����'ing Suzy, Suzy, who is calling Billy a ��û��, and Bob, who is paying attention. You say, "I am so glad that George is listening. I am so glad that Bob is listening."

Instead of yelling at Billy and Suzy, you send them to Coventry.

In secondary school, positive reinforcement doesn't work as well. Each student is afraid to curry favor with the teacher his peers will regard that as a symptom of an Oedipus complex. How Yum-Bum-Suk gets around this is beyond me.

�� asking for volunteers

The more times you call on each child, the better.
Suppose the book has a dog on the left page and a cat on the right page.
You ask, "Who can show me the dog?"
Billy raises his hand and shouts "����!"
You say, "Billy, show me the dog."
Billy slaps the page on the left.
You say, "There you go, who can show me the cat?"
Suzy raises her hand and shouts "����!"
You say, "Suzy, show me the cat."
Suzy slaps the page on the right.

�� making topics out of free play

During free play one day, the children were hiding under a blanket.
So I brought the blanket over to the circle. The children then took turns hiding while the rest of the class sang, "Denny, where are you?"

The children all giggle, giggle, giggled.

If you see a child crawling and imitating a cat, throw together a lesson about cats. If you see a child crawling and imitating a dog, throw together a lesson about dogs.

If a child brings a toy to school, make a lesson centering around that toy.

You never know what the children are going to show interest in, so you never know which words you will introduce. Here it is wise to keep a set of alphabet tiles.

Be sure you have enough of each letter. I once got caught without enough R's for REFRIGERATOR.

�� correcting misbehavior non-verbally

Stopping in the lesson to reprimand a child interrupts the lesson. This gives the other children a chance to lose interest in the lesson. Avoid doing this.

If the Billy's attention wanders while you are talking to the class, pat Billy on the knee.

Or direct a lesson-relevant question to the child. If the lesson is on colors, ask, "Billy, what color is this flower?"

As you speak to the class, look for children whose attention is wandering. A study has found that the most effective classroom disciplinarians tend to be those teachers who are the keenest for detecting and quickest for stopping misdemeanors in their earliest stages.

�� redirecting offenders

If Billy is tickling Suzy while you are singing a song, then it only follows that you should yell at Billy to stop hitting Suzy, right? Wrong!

Rather, it is usually effective to say, "Billy, I'd like for you to sing this song with us." That directs Billy's attention to the song rather than tickling Suzy.

�� asking for a commitment

You are starting to read a book, but Billy keeps interrupting. Your hormones tell you to yell at him to ''SHUT UP,' but your hormones are wrong. Try calling his name to get his attention, then asking, "I would like to read this book. Will you let me read this book?" Chances are that Billy will nod his head.

Then if Billy interrupts again, tell Billy how disappointed you are.

�� repeating an activity until a child stops interrupting

If you read page 3 while Billy is interrupting, say, "Let's read that page again and hope we get through it without Billy interrupting us."

Then read the page again.
If Billy interrupts again, read the page again.
If Billy interrupts again, read the page again.
By this time, Billy's classmates will get tired of hearing 3, and will become your staunchest allies.

�� whispering at a student who interrupts

If you want a child to be quiet, the child might understand if you set an example. Instead of yelling ''SHUT UP," call the child's name as softly as you can while still getting the child's attention, then whisper, "The teacher is talking right now. Please listen."

�� asking the child if further measures will be necessary

You have tried all these measures, but Billy is still being a ��������. Ask him very gently, "Billy, am I going to have to move you?" Or if you even tried moving him and it still didn't work, "Billy, are you going to have to go to the time-out chair?" Betcha Billy will shake his head sadly.

There may still be convictions to the time-out chair, but I hope I have reduced them.

If there are any bases which I haven't covered, feel free to write back.

If you still have trouble, remember the last part of Yu-Bum-Suk's message: " don't get down on yourself or take negative comments personally."

[Kimchieluver]

OP, your story brings back a lot of memories. I was in the same boat my first year here. I will never teach kindy again. I coped by playing a lot of childrens songs I also did the hockey pokey. The only thing you have to woryy about with the hockey pokey is that they will want to do it every day. "Simon says" is pretty good, but be prepared for tears and a lot of non-particpants.

[Dan The Chainsawman]

I think you ought to pay attention to Tomato's suggestions as they do make a lot of sense. I run my younger classes like a military boot camp and get good results for it, but on the other hand it often leaves me feeling miserable. Not many people get a thrill out of being a total sado nut case towards 4 year olds. I for one am not one of them which is why after I gained control of my classes I tend to find ways to use praise, and other little ways of showing the kids they are doing well.

Remember 4 year olds do not process information quite like we do as adults. To a 4 year old with the attention span of a gnat right and wrong tends to be seen a great deal differently. I would not spend a great deal of time attempting to exert control and expecting perfect results as much I would spend alot more time keeping them busy with short activities that are easy to accomplish. Once the activity is accomplished reward the successful ones. When more participate make the reward larger, and when less participate make the reward smaller.

Even a four year old has some grasp of behavioral economics.



Ohh by the way I for some reason actually enjoy working with younger kids a great deal more than older ones. For sure they leave me totatlly exhausted at the end of the day, but it is a good feeling of exhaustion. I would not give up on the class as with kids that age anything is possible it all depends on finding the right approach for you.

[jajdude]

Can you play the guitar? I knew a guy who brought a guitar to his kindergarten classes. He did well. They love to sing. Lego and play doh are good too.

[ajuma]

tomato has some great ideas!! The only thing I can add is that sometimes you have to "get physical". No, no!! I don't mean beating on the students!!!

I once had an ADD student (of course not diagnosed, but he had all of the signs...absolutely NO idea of the consequenses of his actions) who had a 2-second attention span. What worked for me was sitting him on my lap and holding him with one arm while teaching with the other. He need the physical touch to keep him focused. He used to say (Korean teacher translating) "I know I am bad, but I don't know why." I KNEW why and did my best to help him feel good about himself, and keep him from disrupting the rest of the class.

Good kindy teachers are a special breed. Bless you!!! I could never do it again myself, but I respect the ones who CAN and who do it well and take the job seriously.

[OiGirl]

[Wrench]

I have at least one ADD kid in every single class. I also have at least 4 mentally retarded children.

[ajuma]