Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Sash]

Might be a poll somewhere in the archives, but it didn't come up in a search.

Do you hang out with your students? Yes? No? Why? Why not?
I always thought this was a definite no-no back home, is it acceptable here? (I'm talking about adult students).
Groups? What about hanging out one-on-one?

Please share!

[The Chewbacca Defense]

No that I do it that often BUT...

I sometimes go out and have a beer or two with some of my adult students. But it usually a low key affair and I have some of the other teachers around. It makes for a fun lesson and they seem to loosen up a bit in an out-of-the-classroom context.

[butlerian]

This poll is inappropriate due to the wide range of student ages that each of us are teaching. Of course, if you are teaching at an adult hagwon, such as YBM, occasionally having a drink or whatever with a student is not a big deal. But if the student is not an adult, then in my opinion it would be generally inappropriate.

[tiger fancini]

A very big NO. My students are mostly middle school girls and I dislike even seeing them around town, which is pretty inevitable as I live very close to them and the school. So, they know pretty much all of my business anyway, but I certainly don't want to hang out with them and I try to avoid them as much as possible outside of school hours.

[poet13]

Absolutely! I have middle school boys, and a few of the kids from the haggie I worked at (boys and girls). With the boys, I usually end up in a pc room playing starcreft for a couple of hours once a week, and the girls we usually end up in baskin robbins for ice cream. Sometimes I will take out the boys from my drama club or english club for pizza, and I have a few sets of brother and sister. The girls I had at the hagwon, and the boys at school. It's really nice to see them outside of school. It's a really small city, so there's no escaping seeing them. Today, with no afternoon classes, I rode around town and saw four or five students from the haggie I hadn't seen in a long time. ICE CREAM!!!

[ajuma]

I love hanging out with my uni students. It's a really small uni town and it's not unusual for teachers here to hang out with their students. I find with my "unigwon" classes, going out for dinner and a few beers in the 3rd week really relaxes them and they become more of a group than a class of individual students. Many of my former students are some of my best friends...and that holds true for most of the teachers here.

This said, students that I hang out with know that IN class, I'm the teacher, but out of class, we can be friends. I make the line and they respect it. I've never had any problems in this respect.

[twg]

Assuming the topic is adult students, because the alternative is creepy and weird:

Hell no!

Not that I've ever disliked any adult student I've had it's just that adult Koreans have...

1) No sense that you may enjoy your privacy.

2) Don't know when to frig off and leave you alone.

3) Believe that the social obligations that apply to Koreans apply to you as well. Sorry, not going to church on Sunday...

And as such, I've always found my new bestest buddies ever to be a bit of a burden. Even Korean adults that I am close to drain me after a while.

[poet13]

"Assuming the topic is adult students, because the alternative is creepy and weird:"

So I'm creepy and weird?

[bosintang]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

It depends on what you mean by 'hanging out'. I'd never do something like go to a PC-bang with my students, but if they want to do something with me, like last week when some of my high school students wanted to take me along for pizza, I'm delighted to go.

[Ya-ta Boy]

I've spent most of my time teaching adults, and yes I hung out with them. Most of my great times in Korea have been spent with students at the 목욕탕 and then afterwards at restaurants, sitting on the floor eating and drinking. Lots of my classes had monthly dinners. And all of them had beginning and ending dinners. They can be great fun when you know how to go about it.

[poet13]

"I met a woman once who hung out with ONE of her high school boys...'

One boy? Ok, to hang out one in particular is weird. I don't "hang out", as in structure part of my day with my students, but if I'm downtown and not busy and a group of students sees me and says, "Hey, lets go play starcraft", sure, why not. Yesterday I saw three of my kids (11 and 12 year old girls) from the hagwon I used to work at. We had ice cream. They wanted to know all about how my family was (My son occasionally came to class with me, the kids had a great time with him), tell me how fat I am, what I did when I was home....etc. In the summer sometimes we play soccer. Its' usually a dozen or so fathers and sons.
I would agree that hanging out with one student only is weird. I do not spend meaningless lengths of time (doing nothing) with my students. I don't plan meetings, unless it's something like their family has asked me to dinner. I always maintain the teacher student relationship. They address me as teacher XXXXX in school and out.
I am sure there are freaky people out there who get some enjoyment out of interacting with their students in less than healthy ways. Then there are the vast majority of us who would never even think of our students as anything more or less than students. I don't think it's fair to label a person as weird or not weird without knowing their intentions.

[ChuckECheese]

In organized social functions, yes, I would hang out there. Privately, I wouldn't hang out with my students dining, drinking, etc.

[ilovebdt]

[twg]