Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bejarano-korea]

I have realised that I'm getting really good at this job, I'm starting to like a lot of my students and there was a satisfying moment yesterday listening to my classes run out of the building singing Manfred Mann's 'doo wah diddy diddy' and Lonnie Donegans 'My old mans a dustman' (Songs that I have taught them)

However, there are classes where the students are a problem, my director excuses their bad behaviour and she has done this a lot in the very short space of time I have been here. This has included lying, downright laziness and insulting me. But the director always has an excuse and has even tried to blame me (until I put her back in her fucking place!)

I know the discplinary procedures must be different between a hagwon and a public school, but surely there must be some measures or do hagwon directors take the line of that their little cash cows however irksome - must not be scolded or punished?

I don't really want to rip a new arsehole out of 'Kevin' and his English in every lesson because he wants to insult me or call his mate Byung Jin 'Byung Kong' 'Byung Wong' etc because he also wants to have a pop. I would rather they behave, participate and leave after the hour is up.

So, is this typical 'hagwon director' behaviour? Or have I just landed unlucky?

[sojourner1]

They don't instill discilpline so the students don't go home complaining how unhappy they are to go to XYZ hagwon. If students complain negatively to their parents enough, then their parents will send them to another hagwon. Classroom control is one tough cookie of a situation at times.

When you present the problem of bad behaved students to the director, you are rocking the boat and she/he doesn't want to hear about it. I seen that most foreign teachers just let many of these sorts of things ride though I sometimes raise my voice. Such as when one boy pulled his pants down in the middle of class and attempted to pee to rebel against me telling him to stand in the back corner after numerous times of warning him to stay in his seat and not run his mouth constantly in Korean while rocking his desk constantly. I raised hell about this one. I also raised hell about a student snapping cell phone pictures/video of me in class after I warned her not to use a cell phone in class. I took it from her until the end of class and she fought me for it and ran to the director thinking I was stealing her phone by force. It was a misunderstanding on her part and I apologized for scaring her and she didn't drop. Maybe many kids don't know what you are saying, but they do know what is right and wrong behavior. The director did not oppose me in these 2 situations as they are blatantly bad incidents of misbehavior that needed to be dealt with.

They tend not to listen or respect foreign teachers like they do their Korean teachers simply, because the Korean teacher has more power to get their point across and will hit students when they are unruly in a very rude way. Your Korean co-teachers and secretary will provide support during troubled class times if they care. Mine do care since they know I am making a genuine earnest effort in my teaching.

Kids expect English classes to be fun and see it as an easy blow off class to chat and have fun in so they won't take a serious foreign teacher all that serious. They often act bad in late afternoon hagwon classes since they are hungry and tired by 3pm and want to go play and eat after having been in Korean school classes all day since early morning. They do get up around 5 or 6 before their parents head off to work and then they eat very light meals which is not enough, but it keeps them thin and competitive.

[MarionG]

At my hogwon discipline is definitely supported. Some typical non violent ways of disciplining:

I have the green chair - sit in it and face the corner for X minutes. Turn around and the clock starts over again. It works for grades 1-6.

Get down on knees, body straight from knees to head, hold hands straight out in front of you, hold heavy book. Feel the burn... Works for all grades.

Stand on one foot...for x minutes, time starts over if you touch down with second foot. Works for all grades.

[Young FRANKenstein]

[bejarano-korea]

Sojourner,Marion and YF.

Thank you for your input, it is a strange feeling to have put in the research like I have into coming here and still end up on a bum deal. Thing is I have no interaction with the parents and I have probably seen around two or three parent looking figures around the school in my time here.

I have tried taking their chairs away from them and it works with the fat kids! If I tried to instill a more severe measure of discpline I know the director would kick off - she looked pissed off that I took the salad dodgers chairs away.

The one great thing thats come out of all this is I like to teach and am good at it. The majority of my classes are sound. I like Korea as much as it is safe, is clean, is modern and has all the amineties for having a good time. It was never going to be anything other than a 1 year stint but I don't like the fact my boss - nice enough lady as she is - is a crap director and my year is going to be less than so.