Korean Job Discussion Forums

[some waygug-in]

When I get classes like that........ and it happens often. I try to just ignore the student and go on without them. Fighting the student is just not worth all the stress and anxiety that it causes. (even if you win, you lose)

Sometimes when a student like that sees the other students participating and having fun, they change their mind and want to join in. Of course there are also times when they just disrupt everything and won't let anyone else have fun either. If you have a wonjong who will support you.......then perhaps you can do something about it. But most wanjongs I've met will side with the student every time.

Sometimes...nothing works and you have to give them a crossword to work on or something.

With regards to Christmas songs, one thing I try and do is make a sort of worksheet out of it.

Ex: Using Jingle bells
Make a close exercise with the missing words in a box on the side or the bottom. In class you sing through the song several times until they can find all the missing words. They usually need a lot of help with it and they discover all the words they've been misunderstanding for so long.

Then, use any vocabulary from the song that you think will be difficult for them and make a definition match kind of thing.

sleigh - a kind of bid sled pulled by a horse or reindeer
laughing -- Ha ha ha.

etc.

Then you can make a crossword or just have some pictures from the song with blanks underneath. The kids have to find the right words from the song to describe each picture.

bells, sleigh, horse, fields, etc.

For really low level classes you can make a wordsearch from the song. Anything to recycle the vocabulary a bit.

It's not as boring as just singing, and the kids may get at least some understanding of the song and maybe learn some spelling in the process.

[Qinella]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. It's too much for me to respond to, but I read them all and appreciate the support and advice.


News update: Today, Mary came to me after her class (I rotate teaching days with K teachers, so I didnt teach her today). She called my name and when I turned around she said, "Teacher, I'm sorry." It made my heart melt, seeing her standing there holding her bag with two hands, obviously nervous and embarrassed.

I wanted to say something significant in response, but I was so surprised that the best I could do was muster a smile and clumsily mutter, "Okay, thank you Mary. It's fine."

The K teacher who spoke with her said she didn't prompt Mary to apologize. Apparently, she did it of her own compunction.

Q.

[JeJuJitsu]

I gave a few "Wet Willies" early on in the year (where you wet your finger with your spit, then stick the finger in someone's ear), now if I want a student to comply, I just put my finger in my mouth to signal that a "Wet Willy" is soon to follow. Instant compliance--but I do it with a mischevious smile, and it sort of gets the whole class to go "Eeeeewwww!" in hijinx anticipation. Point being, they don't want a wet willy, but can't wait for the fun of me fake-chasing a kid around the room a bit, wet finger waving, the offender can't help but to stop their petulence.

[ontheway]

JeJuJitsu,

That's it. That's exactly what each teacher needs to develop. Something personal and outrageous to get the brat kid to give up his/her tantrum.

So, don't copy JJJ. It has to be something that comes from each teacher's mischievous heart and shocks the kid back to reality.

[Privateer]

That makes me want to go and wash my ears repeatedly just reading about it. That and punch any person who did it to me.

[Qinella]

I have a feeling that attempting to stick my finger in this child's ear would not have gone over so well. Even when I tried to put my hand on her back, she flipped out like I was about to beat her with a hammer.

Really.. wet willies? I don't know. To each his own, I suppose.

Q.

[denverdeath]