Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Mills]

Worst day ever;

A. Class #1: Kid A (who was in front of the class answering basic questions) points at stomach and says "Tee-cha, tee-cha", "Are you sick?" I reply as I grab the trash-can... BARF!

B. Class #2: Kid B (juvenile delinquent/repeat homework loser) is doing push-ups (my weapon of choice) when he stops and stands up. "What's up Kid B?�� I ask as he begins to zone out and shake. All-of-a-sudden, "Arghhhh!!!!" he yells as he lunges at Kid C (a classic smartass who has apparently said something to offend Kid B while I was looking over everyone else��s assignments)... I end up having to drag both kids (kicking and screaming) to the Director.

C. Class #3: My smart kids (four of eight have lived in the United States) and I are reading their rough draft stories out loud and correcting spelling/grammatical errors. I have got through six of eight kids' stories up until today, so some kids have had much more time to work on their stories. Kid D is a very bright kid and I expected an excellent story from him considering his past performance and the amount of time he has had to work on it (I had required they use irregular verbs; two base form, two simple past-tense, and two past-participles AND if they used, say "dive" as a base form verb, they were not allowed to use "dove" for simple past tense... this should have been easily accomplished since we have gone over more than 120 irregular verbs to date) anyway, when I begin to read his story I realize he has used the word "made" six times. I am disappointed and I tell him so... before I get a chance to tell him that I will give him another day to work on it, he crumbles and tears his rough draft into bits and begins to cry uncontrollably for the next 50 minutes. I try explaining that a rough draft is supposed to have mistakes, that he can easily fix the assignment, it's okay he just didn't follow the directions, blah, blah, blah...

D. Week two of Class 4: Adult A (I've never seen her in my life, I assume she is in the wrong classroom). "What class are you here for?" I ask. "Uh, uh... conversation... uh, uh this class conversation('?'or '.', I don't know)". "Hmm... this is not a free speaking class" I say assuming that is what she meant by "conversation", "We use a textbook for this class" I say holding up my teacher's edition. "Uh, uh... I don't care about book... uh, uh I only be here Friday."
"Okay... did that answer my f_cking question?" I think to myself... "Hmm... we have completed two weeks of class, everyone else is done with chapter three of a book you "don't care about" or even have for that matter, and you can only be here on Fridays while everyone else meets daily..."

So will you be paying by cash?

[Big Mac]

I just can't believe you get your students to do push-ups as a punishment!

Sounds like a fun day at the office.

[Grotto]

I made mine hold chairs over their heads, do the duck walk and in extreme circumstances kneel on a pencil (pencil was flat on the floor but that do hurt!)

[Mills]

[jacl]

Can't believe you guys have to punish your kids like that. Maybe I'm the expert, but I don't teach kindergarten. That's different, but, for me, the same.

[Ya-ta Boy]

I use push-ups, too. (High school classes) My co-teacher just boots 'em out of class, which while it removes the obnoxious one for the period, just allows them to wander the halls--not much punishment in my opinion. Other teachers here use the love stick liberally. So I figure push-ups are reasonable: non-violent pain.

Anyway, Mills...sorry to hear about the crappy day. Sometimes the universe just doesn't want to deliver a good day. It must be connected to the stars or some other equally blind force since the alignment favored me on Friday. (Lots more money for less work.)

[Pyongshin Sangja]

Blame a Canadian.

[TheUrbanMyth]

[Mills]

[Pak Yu Man]

Here's what I do.

Get a bunch of heavy books. Depending on how evil I'm feeling or what they've done wrong. Make them hold their arms at 90 degrees and put some books on their hands.

Make them do that for 5 mins. Then tell the class...next time 10 mins. Next time after that 15 mins. Next time 20 mins.

They get the hint pretty fast. I actually had a kid who had to do a 20 min ordeal.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Friday I had to raise my voice a little and make a student feel a bit conspicuous in my grade 3 HS class. They had an exam the day before and a few of them just didn't feel like doing any work. My grade 2s were perfect.

[poet13]

my two won.....
one kid acts out. everybody pays. we play baseball. In one class if they earn three strikes they have no game day on friday. game day is english puzzles, hangman, etc. most offenses earn one strike, like talking out of turn. thats a problem in most classes. in every class there are higher and lower level kids. the shy ones are usually lower level, but if given the chance, they can usually figure out the answer. it doesnt help when one know-it-all is blurting out all the answers. thats one strike. the f-bomb is an automatic three strikes. reading a comic book inside the text book is also three strikes. if a child leaves his or her books at home one day, then if they dont have them the next day, no game day. I had one boy who left his books at home because he thought it was game day, contrary to instruction to always bring books.
i tell the students i am a teacher, not a policeman.
psych 101 and peer pressure are great.
they look after themselves, and when a new kid comes into the class, the others orient them. they get a grace period, and usually get one free offense of each kind (except the f-bomb)
i have very well behaved classes. in the beginning, several classes each week lost their game days, but now usually only one a week. it was tough, cause before i came here, EVERY DAY was game day, at least in part.

[southboca]

For my little kids I'm a big supporter of Hands Up. With occasional lollipops thrown in as incentive.

For bigger kids, I use a party. The details are pretty simple. 20 classes. 40 points. This go round, points are lost for speaking Korean, not doing homework, and for running and fighting -- all recent weak points. The number of points at the end of class 20 determines the quality and length of the party. (15-25 minutes of a 60-minute class.)

Sure I have to shell out $20-30 or so every 2 1/2 months. But in return my last class of the day does its homework, speaks English and is fairly well behaved. They are making good progress learning English to boot. The students in the class below all study and do homework too because they are desperate to level up into the cool class. This week the girl who had to leave because her mom switched up hogwans cried so hard she got sick -- luckily it was outside after class so clean up wasn't my problem. :)

[crazylemongirl]

Today the captain from one of my classes walked into to find his desk, chair, and book bag had gone AWOL. His friends of course had put them out of reach up on the TV. I tried to be angry, but it was just so funny I couldn't help but laugh. However as the captain was the only one who got candy for that class for volunteering he had the last laugh.

[JongnoGuru]