Korean Job Discussion Forums

[iluv2fly1]

After one particularly irritating incident (I got the kid thrown out of school and through a parental tantrum he returned) I mentioned to my coteacher that foreign teachers are treated differently than Korean teachers. The look on her face was utter shock. She told me that she has NEVER met a foreign teacher who had ANY problem controlling the kids. Is she in denial or do we never mention any of these problems at work?[/code]

[guangho]

[jajdude]

Somebody, a Kyopo, told me he taught ESL in Canada. He said among students he taught, Koreans were the most likely to spend the classes with their heads down, not paying attention, might as well be sleeping or absent, for however many months they went to class. Also, he noted, they were unlikely to use English in Canada (Toronto in his case) unless needed, would hang out with other Koreans, and often return to Korea no better at English than when they left. There were some exceptions, he said, but this applied to the majority. His opinion was that being a Korean growing up in Korea just made it too difficult to relate to anything, anybody, or any language that was not Korean. I couldn't say he was wrong. It all makes sense to me.

Just consider Korea. Almost 100% Korean always. How do Koreans adapt to being in other countries? Most of the time, by meet other Koreans. I guess this applies to most people? Need someone to speak our native language to....whether we are Chinese, Japanese or whatever. I have found Europeans and Africans no problem overseas, those cats usually can manange in English.

[willardmusa]

Your Canadian friend's observations are pretty accurate, based on my own teaching in university programs in the states. The Korean students cluster together in classes, in the dormitory, in socializing, etc. Some don't want to, but feel the pressure to; all seem happy to do it.

Interesting thing: At my uni in the states, in the dormitory, everyone complains about the Korean students for - - - taking over the kitchen! Then, I'm at a Korean university, and I hear them complaining how the Vietnamese students (who, it turns out are by far the best and brightest student in the university in my opinion) have taken over the kitchen! I didn't even try to share my perspective with them on that. (To tell the truth, I never saw any of the Korean students cooking; they ordered "motorcycle food"; but they just couldn't stand that the Vietnamese were using the kitchens so much. The school ended up building a rooftop kitchenette just for the Vietnamese students. So now, the Vietnamese are kept segregated in the lowest floor - - a wing of their own and have to climb up to the roof to cook all on their own.)

(The other complaint in the states university was that the Koreans were loud, had parties all the time, hung out only with Koreans, and simply would not obey the no-smoking rules.)

As far as in the classroom: It really depends on what their motivation is. If they're trying to get accepted into the university and it is their idea to strive for this, not their parents (often last ditch effort to find a direction for their directionless, failing kid), then they tend to be as good as any other student. Quite a few do fit the category of "parents sent me" and do zone the classes out.

[ilovebdt]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Korea, where discipline at high school is a breeze (98% of the time) and discipline at university is almost impossible. You just keep telling yourself that the rest of the world is backwards and Korea makes perfect sense.

[ajstew]

I teach at a university and can associate with the other teachers who have posted earlier.

I'll get a handful of people emailing me about their grades and wanting them to be changed. I always do... and oddly enough, the emails have tended to come from my 'D' students saying they need higher grades to get scholarships. Funny... you'd think it would be the students who got B+'s, who needed the A's. That, I could understand, but the 'D's receive them for a reason as they have to be the very worst in the class. What I can't imagine, is that such students, who put such little effort into my class, actually have 'A's in their other classes and really need higher grades from me to get scholarships.

Lastly, I had a female student come to me the other day after class. Now I've taught her before. That happens where I teach sometimes. Anyway, her English is very good, but her problem is that she came in very late to class about 8 days of the term and was absent from 4 other classes. This equaled 7 and 1/2 days counted as absent, so I warned her not be be late last week or she'd miss a total of 8 classes and would automatically fail the course. She came on time those final two days, and like I said at the beginning, she came to me at the end of class. She sees her attendence grade (very low) 3/10%, which really hurts her otherwise fine Quiz and Midterm scores, and finally begins to regret her skipping. "Teacher, if I do really good on my final exam, could that somehow raise my attendence score?" I thought to myself... this is so typical, and just like so many other Korean students, she has absolutely no accountability for her own actions. If she only had applied herself and came to class regularly she would have gotten an A+, but as it stands, she will probably end up with a C or D.... very sad. If anyone is wondering... no, I'm got going to change her attendence score. As far as I'm concerned, she's lucky I gave her the warning, because she would surely have been late, and she could have gotten an F.

[Hanson]

A few more...

Giving me a mango juice on the last day will not improve your grade.

Complaining unjustifiably about your grade actually makes me want to decrease your grade (although I resist the urge).

Pouting will not help your cause.

Complimenting me will not help your cause.

Understanding responsibility will land you in my good books and might convince me to give you a second chance.

Lying to me will screw you in the end. I can easily verify a doctor's note or a "field trip".

Cheating on a test will earn you an F.

Plagiarising will be dealt with as cheating, but this being Korea, I might be willing to give you a second chance to resubmit, with a penalty on your score, if you admit it when confronted with it.

It's easy to get an A in my class. I don't give you a grade, you earn the grade you get.

Being disrespectful is the best way for you to help me with my grading curve.

Have a good summer!

*EDIT* Guangho, your avatar is screwing up the page! Please reduce the size, or I'll be forced to give you an F!

[Yu_Bum_suk]

I remember when I was a uni TA having a student come to whine to me about the C+ I gave him on his paper. I finally conceded and raised it to a B-. Then he went whining to the prof. to see if he could get even more and the prof. lowered it back to a C+ saying that I had been right in the first place. The kid was whining that he needed higher marks to get into med school and the prof. told him 'if that's the way you write I don't want you writing my medical report'.

[kermo]

Here's a good one for you.

Today I caught a student cheating. She had a little cheat-sheet copied from the book, hoping it would help. My questions didn't lend themselves very well to rote learning, so she was sort of up a creek.

Anyway, I saw her using the cheat-sheet toward the end of the class, and took both the exam and the sheet away. I used my best poker-face. I simply told her to leave.

She hovered a bit, and asked "F?" I said "I don't know. I'll have to talk to some other professors first." (As I mentioned, this is my first term here and I don't know what the protocol is.) She clasped her hands and put on a "pleading" face, but I can't stand that kind of whiny nonsense, on top of stupid and deceitful behaviour, so I just told her to leave.

She came to my office a few minutes later, armed with a small Buddhist nun (a complaining, annoying, manipulative, obsessive-compulsive one, at that). I told them again that I would deal with it on my own, after I'd talked to the other professors. "But Professor! She's crying!" Um, yes, I can see that. Finally I realized I wasn't getting rid of them, and knocked on the department head's door.

I shooed the nun away and had the miscreant speak to my Dept. Head, who fortunately is no push-over. The miserable creature explained that she didn't bring it in order to cheat, that she hadn't really looked at it, and besides, it hadn't helped her that much.

Ok, so you expect me to let you off because you tried to cheat, but it didn't work very well?

Whining, pestering, lying and then insulting my intelligence? Aren't you a little charmer. Why of course I'll forget it all happened!

Of course, her advisor approached me later and said "She is one of the most sincere students. Why don't you excuse her?" I replied that I would look at her average, and mark the exam, and then judge. I assured him that there would be consequences, but that I'll try not to destroy her. Just call me Kermo the Merciful.

[Paji eh Wong]

[kermo]

[mack the knife]

I like the part about the NUN defending the cheater. I always thought Korean Buddhists were full of s**t, and that's just another nail in the coffin.

Goddam NIKE-wearing, EQUUS-driving Buddhist monks...

[kermo]

[endofthewor1d]