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captain planet
Joined: 18 Jul 2006
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 Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 5:00 am Post subject: |
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i'da just laughed or said hmm or ok or something non-commital. if they asked me a question, i'd answered.
anyway, what that reminded me of was a few weeks ago this 1st or second grader hopped up on her chair and started doing a bootie grind dance. now that kind a thing'll freak you out... except that i had a 4th grade boy turn around on his chair and start thrusting like a madman at thin air a few years back. |
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bnrockin
Joined: 27 Feb 2006
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| Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 5:24 am Post subject: |
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| whats done is done. If someone asks you about it, just say that you wanted to encourage that the human body was beautiful and not something to be scared of. Hope everything works out for you! |
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mateomiguel
Joined: 16 May 2005
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| Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 5:49 am Post subject: |
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well i'm actually finishing my contract in two weeks so, good or bad, i'm not scared of any long-term consequences. Not that I would be anyways...
About the comment that i'm just an english teacher and not a Sex Ed teacher, well, I'm not really just an english teacher either. I teach math, science, reading, spelling, and english as different subjects. Its a comprehensive english after-school curriculum, so I teach these kids a ton already. I'm not their homeroom teacher but I'm the second closest.
Plus, I've got a policy of never simply ignoring what my students say to me. I think it would be a betrayal of my teaching profession. Students are actually curious about something and I brush it off? THAT seems shameful. I've had very serious 20 minute conversations about the merits of dogs vs cats and the importance of the zerg rush in Starcraft. I even once told a 10 year old, completely honestly, that Santa Claus wasn't real and I didn't believe in him. I don't habitually dismiss my students, so I didn't this time.
But I guess if I find out in 10 years that my poorly taught misguided children all grow up to be juicy girls and college dropouts, I'll change my teaching style. |
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tzechuk
Joined: 20 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 6:19 am Post subject: |
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I think you did fine.
We need to celebrate the beauty of our own bodies, not to dismiss it as something that is tabooed or to be ashamed of, which is very often the case here in Asia. |
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canuckistan
Mod Team
Joined: 17 Jun 2003
Location: Training future GS competitors.....
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| Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 6:56 am Post subject: |
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| schwa wrote: |
I'd say he was way out of bounds.
We're english teachers, not puberty counsellors. The OP's comment could easily be taken as inappropriate & come back to haunt him, & by association, the rest of us.
Foreign teachers have a special responsibility to be above board at all times. |
I have to agree with schwa. Some queries that emanate from students are best just put on "ignore." Especially if they're *10 year old girls* and their English teacher is male foreigner and the subject is developing b reasts.
This vignette could be totally misconstrued by a parent in any re-telling. The story could very well end up being: "Today English teacher told us b reasts are beautiful." 
If I were one of their moms and discovered their male (and foreign) English teacher told them this you can be sure I'd be checking that out with the school for some clarification. Was he talking about my 10 yr-old daughter's b reasts? 
Korea is still a very conservative country. Don't underestimate the power of miscommunication--especially in a case like this.
While I understand it was well-intentioned "positive reinforcement", unless you've been hired as the sex ed teacher, leave the teaching about girls' bodies to their parents and teachers designated to do so.
The "Elementary school girl flashed boobies at me!!" title of this thread doesn't show very mature or prudent judgement. In fact I'm going to edit it. Hope you don't mind.
Last edited by canuckistan on Thu Jul 27, 2006 7:22 am; edited 2 times in total |
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Richard Krainium
Joined: 12 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 7:19 am Post subject: |
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| tzechuk wrote: |
I think you did fine.
We need to celebrate the beauty of our own bodies, not to dismiss it as something that is tabooed or to be ashamed of, which is very often the case here in Asia. |
Your husband is a lucky guy!  |
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canuckistan
Mod Team
Joined: 17 Jun 2003
Location: Training future GS competitors.....
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| Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 7:28 am Post subject: |
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| tzechuk wrote: |
I think you did fine.
We need to celebrate the beauty of our own bodies, not to dismiss it as something that is tabooed or to be ashamed of, which is very often the case here in Asia. |
Of course, but I don't think that encouragement is best coming from foreign male English teachers when girls are 10 years old |
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seoulsista
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
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| Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 7:30 am Post subject: |
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I think it depends on the tone of the word "beautiful" if you saud it the way you would about a playboy centerfold than yes that's innapropriate. If you said it in a rather mundane way then no I don't think that's a big deal.
If people want to get all self-righteous - tell me you have never said something off the cuff and questioned it. |
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mateomiguel
Joined: 16 May 2005
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| Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 7:47 am Post subject: |
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| seoulsista wrote: |
| I think it depends on the tone of the word "beautiful" if you saud it the way you would about a playboy centerfold than yes that's innapropriate. If you said it in a rather mundane way then no I don't think that's a big deal. |
It was just like talking about a flower or a little paper frog that the kids make, like "that's nice now sit back down in your desk". It was only half a second. |
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jacl
Joined: 31 Oct 2005
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| Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 7:58 am Post subject: |
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| mateomiguel wrote: |
| seoulsista wrote: |
| I think it depends on the tone of the word "beautiful" if you saud it the way you would about a playboy centerfold than yes that's innapropriate. If you said it in a rather mundane way then no I don't think that's a big deal. |
It was just like talking about a flower or a little paper frog that the kids make, like "that's nice now sit back down in your desk". It was only half a second. |
Big deal.
Last edited by jacl on Thu Jul 27, 2006 8:05 am; edited 1 time in total |
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denverdeath
Joined: 21 May 2005
Location: Boo-sahn
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| Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 8:00 am Post subject: |
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| canuckistan wrote: |
| tzechuk wrote: |
I think you did fine.
We need to celebrate the beauty of our own bodies, not to dismiss it as something that is tabooed or to be ashamed of, which is very often the case here in Asia. |
Of course, but I don't think that encouragement is best coming from foreign male English teachers when girls are 10 years old |
Is it then acceptable if the encouragement is coming from a foreign female teacher? |
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askingquestions
Joined: 21 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 8:14 am Post subject: |
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I don't know why people are saying that he's not a sex-ed teacher so he was wrong..... cuz he wasn't teaching sex-ed, he wasn't showing them the book, he didn't bring up the subject. Kids say the darnest things sometimes. I think in a split second that was an acceptable answer because if he had a look of shock on his face, then they would think breasts are shameful and bad. Im not sure about the wording (beautiful), but in a split second that was fine, I don't think you caused the kids any life-long trauma, and I hope the parents don't hear about it cuz they will prolly hear the wrong thing and parents always overreact.
Hope it works out for you. |
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Homer
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| Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 8:59 am Post subject: |
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The OP did not act maliciously or like some perv.
He just, in my opinion anyway, dealt twith this small situation in a poor manner.
I think canuckistan raises a good point about context and interpretation. If it was my 10 year old daughter who came home and said her male teacher said b reasts are beautiful I would wonder of the context and why this was said. I would most likely ask the school questions...and my daughter prior to calling the school.
Sometimes it is better to dismiss or deflect certain questions in the classroom. |
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canuckistan
Mod Team
Joined: 17 Jun 2003
Location: Training future GS competitors.....
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| Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 9:19 am Post subject: |
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| denverdeath wrote: |
| canuckistan wrote: |
| tzechuk wrote: |
I think you did fine.
We need to celebrate the beauty of our own bodies, not to dismiss it as something that is tabooed or to be ashamed of, which is very often the case here in Asia. |
Of course, but I don't think that encouragement is best coming from foreign male English teachers when girls are 10 years old |
Is it then acceptable if the encouragement is coming from a foreign female teacher? |
The encouragement should be coming from a teacher (male or female) specifically hired to teach the kids about their bodies. Hopefully in a positive way! Any comments from such a class re-told by children will not raise red flags with the parents who would be aware that such classes are being taught.
While the OP was just making a brief off-hand remark in which perhaps the word choice could have been better, young children often fail to communicate context in re-telling and I say this from experience--I've seen grand inquisitions of teachers occur in schools which turned everything upside down for a few days based on the miscommunication of often innocent teacher remarks (of all kinds) by kids to their parents--who later show up at the admins office in an angry lather. And depending on the character of the principal running the school, the teacher can feel like they've been hit broadside by a Mac truck.
It's not a pleasant experience for a teacher and I can't stress enough that they must be quite guarded about what they say, especially in an unrelated class about the potential minefield topic of bodies and sex etc. |
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own_king
Joined: 17 Apr 2004
Location: here
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| Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 9:56 am Post subject: |
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| Homer wrote: |
The OP did not act maliciously or like some perv.
He just, in my opinion anyway, dealt twith this small situation in a poor manner.
I think canuckistan raises a good point about context and interpretation. If it was my 10 year old daughter who came home and said her male teacher said b reasts are beautiful I would wonder of the context and why this was said. I would most likely ask the school questions...and my daughter prior to calling the school.
Sometimes it is better to dismiss or deflect certain questions in the classroom. |
Yeah, don't worry OP. You would only be a perv, if the girl was showing you the pic of a *beep* and you said "Beautiful". |
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