Korean Job Discussion Forums

[denverdeath]

Jade, perhaps I should've been a little clearer in what I meant in previous posts. Qinella was basically referring to some smart-asses in his classes...which most of us have had the pleasure of dealing with at one time or another. If they're calling him "Monkey Man" or "Babo" or whatever, it's probably best if he ignores them...no need to fuel the fire. Also, I have had very low-level middle school students at the last place I was working. I never ignored them or their Korean, per se, I encouraged an English-only environment. A higher-level classmate might do a quick translation like "Repeat", which I would allow because not only would the lower-level student benefit, so would the higher-level student. Regardless, I still believe that less Korean is better.

[tomato]

Hello, Jaderedux!

I didn't use the word "ignore," Qinella did.
I'm sorry you got the two of us confused.

There are other ways of dealing with hangukmalling in the English class besides ignoring.

�� pretend you don't understand

If a student asks for a ����, I sometimes say, "I'm sorry, I don't know what a ���� is."
Nine times out of ten, the same child asks for a pencil in English.

�� ask the remaining class members for the English equivalent

If Kathy has to go to the ȭ���, I ask the remaining class members, "Who can tell Kathy the English word for ȭ���?"

�� ask the child for the English equivalent

The kindergarten student are fond of looking around the room for matching items. They often use the word "�Ȱ���." They all know the word "same," so I insist that they use it.

�� translate the child's utterance to English

I show a picture of a cat and Mark hollers out, "������!"
I say, "Mark, let's call this a cat, because this is English class."

�� reinforce the students who don't hangukmall

Every so often, I pause in the day's lesson and have a round of cheers for each student who hasn't hangukmalled:

One, two, three four,
Who are we for?
Joe! Joe! Joe!

You might be surprised how many previous offenders benefit by this treatment.

�� reinforce the students who speak English

My kindergarten students are fond of saying "why?"
When they do, I get my guitar out and sing:



�� attune yourself to the students' one-word signals

If a student requests "bingo" or "guitar," I say yes or no.
If the answer is no, I explain why.

�� attune yourself to the students' nonverbal signals

If a child nods, shakes his head, or point, I try to understand what the child wants.

�� on rare occasions, mix the two languages

For my kindergarten students, lunchtime is a time when Korean conversation is permitted. Still, I would like to maximize English conversation at all times.

My Korean teaching opponent--I mean assistant--has an impulsive habit of saying, "�߸� ��������!" I would like for the children to at least learn that much in English, so I beat rhythmically on the table and chant:



They think that's funny.

[jaderedux]

[UncleAlex]

According to a conservative Korean friend of mine, it is disrespectful for a
student to address a teacher informally. Perhaps your pupils don't consider
you an actual teacher, that is a licensed teacher in Korea. So they have no
intention of being rude to you. They probably admire you more, though. Admiration
is more valuable than respect.

[Qinella]

[Axl Rose]

i bumped into 2 female students recently in the street. i had a quick interchange with them (in Korean mostly) and when we parted i naturally said "anyong" and they said "anyong" in return. it hardly gives me sleepless nights but it did make me wonder "are they saying anyong as opposed to the correct forms that should be used to an elder/teacher out of disrespect or is it a sign of friendship, the kind they don't enjoy with other teachers?".

i'm not gonna make a big deal out of it and insist that kids say "anyong hi ka/ke se yo" however. best not to think about these things too much because for every k-kid who uses non-polite forms there are 10 who do not in my opinion.

students call me by my first name only. i don't want them to say [name]-teacher because it sounds silly and i don't want to be mr [surname] because my surname would be a mouthful for them. keep it simple. "[name] sonsaingnim" isn't a priority of mine either.