Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Tancred]

Okay...i rarely vent against korea on this forum, and so i think i'm entitled to a little rant right now...

What is the deal with these people in regards to how they teach their children? I mean, does anyone think that they're better off being thrown in schools of one kind or another for every conceivable hour they have of free time? I know one student who, after lunch at my institute has about 20 minutes before his next class, and his parents send a tutor in to see him for those 20 minutes.

Recently, my director (who's a nice man and is really just a slave to the whims of the capricious parents of the children at my school) told me to stop playing so many games with my middle school class. First of all, i'll allow that we play a lot of games...but they're learning english while we do it. When these poor kids come to my class they're usually so exhausted from the day (and the heat) that they want nothing more than to sleep or relax at the very least. I've always prided myself on the fact that they never seemed to mind my class that much and at times even enjoyed it. But apparently if it looks like the kids are enjoying the class, it's synonomous with them not learning.

Anyway, that's just a microcosm of what i'm talking about here. I know all of you probably agree with me that these kids are overworked, but my question here is....Is quantity better than quality?

I remember my childhood and school days with fondness. It was a time of growing, spiritually, physically, and academically. It was a time to be creative, have wild dreams and get excited about everything new. To be honest, i can't see how throwing students into class after class after class until they're so tired that they don't want to do anything but eat their dwen chon jee gae and go to sleep, could be helpful to them.

Is this situation f#$%ed up, or is it just me?

t.

[Zyzyfer]

The trick with middle school kids is to make extracurricular activities a kind of treat/secret. Tell them that you'd like to watch a movie, but the director said that you can't show movies. Mention that somebody told their mom that they watched a movie. When they feel like they're in a secret guild and stuff, you can slip more cool activities in.

[Tancred]

[CurlyQ]

Yeah, a lot of other cultures seem to get by on much less in terms of quantity of education and still produce a high caliber of scholar.
I wonder how much it's possible to cram into one brain anyway. The evidence seems to suggest that all this hagwon time produces mediocre results at best.

[richardIII]

Watch Hogan's Heros for inspiration.

Cast yourself as Hogan, the director as Klink, one of your co-teachers as Schultz, and so on... all you have to do is find the episode where Klink tries to trick Hogan with a fake POW and you've got your answer.

Failing that, there's always the 4H answer

[rapier]

I'd love to treat my kids to more fun stuff but the parents are the problem..
However on Friday I bought some glass paints and we spent half the lesson painting fruits etc onto plastic squares..the kids loved it immensely. But i reckon i'm going to have to frame them in English sentences before they take them home, so the parents don't whinge their kids are wasting time in an art class. It was a hot Friday afternoon, afterall.

[Eunoia]