Korean Job Discussion Forums

[OnTheOtherSide]

I work at a hagwon where I teach all ages of students. I've been there for about 3 weeks. In the beginning of the day, I teach young elementary kids. Then it goes up to middle school, then high school and one university level class towards the end of the day.

The elementary school kids are insane and out of control, but in a normal, innocent kid sort of way. I can handle them fine by just keeping them busy and they respect and like me at least, even though they are bouncing off the walls.

The high school and university level students at the end of the day are great. They show me a lot of respect and we laugh together and have good, productive, controlled classes. The bad students in these classes just stay really quiet or fall asleep, no problem.....

The middle school students are a big challenge. Most of them, probably 4 out of 5 of them act with total and complete disrespect. They have private conversations in Korean the whole time i'm teaching. They throw things, punch each other, yell, slide their desks around, you name it. They never pay attention to me and the classes are just a joke no matter how hard I try to get work done.

Today I had a really rough class. Some kids were acting really crazy and not listening to me at all. They were singing, yelling, making noise, ripping up papers, and generally disrupting and ruining the whole class, leading other kids to join in until the whole class was out of control. Normally I stay cool, but this time my blood started to boil.

One of the kids threw a small eraser at me while I was writing on the board. It bounced off the board right by my head and I lost my cool, got p!ssed, and made them all stand outside.

My face was red and my eyes were wild with anger for a minute or two and I could tell the students all got a little bit frightened of me from it. The other kids who were being good looked totally scared of me after that. All of my co-teachers all looked a bit freaked out too. I'm still pretty new there and I think I had them wondering if i'm some sort of loose cannon.

How do you deal with this sort of thing? Being nice gets me nowhere. Being strict seems to make them rebel more. Telling them to be quiet or do anything else doesn't go anywhere and they just don;t take me seriously. I've tried just about every strategy, but it seems that no matter what, they disrespect me simply because i'm a foreign teacher, the only one at my school too. They see me as a joke and see my class as a time to *beep* around since I can't speak Korean.

I'm just about at the point where i'm about to ignore it. Let them not pay attention and let them ignore me for the entire class if they want to. I'm getting sick of wasting my energy on making them pay attention. I'm thinking I should just stay cool, smile and go through the motions. Whether they listen or not, that's their choice. I just need to figure out a way to keep them quiet and not disrupt the entire class at least.

[Netz]

I posed this question recently:

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=117672&highlight=

[Privateer]

It's tough but you've got to figure out a set of rules and punishments, lay them out for the students and then stick by them. Getting angry you risk going too far, but being nice you risk not going far enough: stick to the rules you've decided on and you can't go wrong. If it means the entire class is in the hall doing pushups for half the class so be it. Without order you can't teach anything.

Don't just ignore the bad behaviour for your own sake. You'll only feel even worse about it.

[icicle]

One thing that you need to consider in looking at this is the fact that the world over Middle School students are for many teachers the most difficult to teach - because of the time of their lives that they are living through - And I don't think that is any less the case here in Korea - Maybe even more so - because once they reach High School the school related pressures really increase significantly -

Last year I taught Midde School in a Public School - and I know that the reason that many of the classes didn't end up as you describe is because there was a Korean Co-teacher in the room who basically focused on discipline in the room - who did not hesitate to take things as far as they thought appropriate.

Re the speaking Korean in the classroom - I am still thinking that one through for myself - One the one hand I do think it is important to encourage only English to be used - On the other hand if students don't have the English to communicate what they need to say - then how can they communicate - or ask their friend to explain - OR .... I think if the focus is on stopping Korean being spoken that can easily be all that you end up doing - and you probably won't succeed in stopping it - I don't have any where near enough Korean to understand anything of what is spoken around me a lot of the day - I can pronounce hangul fairly well now but my vocabulary is not much beyond Hello/Goodbye/Thank you/ Yes / No ... and a few odd words - And because I am now teaching in a Kindergarten/Elementary hagwon I am now by myself in the classroom - And I think that one thing last year in the middle school did for me was to desensitise me to the fact that I understood very little of what was said around me - and very good at picking up every non-verbal/ situational clue that there is - and managing to respond appropriately so often - and appearing to understand that two teachers in the last week have questioned whether I know more Korean than I have said because I seem to understand -

I think one thing I would suggest you do is to think about what you like about the students in your Middle School Class - and try to think of something that you like (even a little) that they are interested in - or try to get to know them a little better - Knowing even little things about students especially at that level can make a very big difference - And it actually isn't too hard to find some things out - Just asking a few questions about "favorite" things in the context of teaching answering questions - may give you some clues you can build on - I know that one thing most of my middle school classes really enjoyed (and actually didn't know about until I showed one in a lesson) was Mr Bean videos - we could get great work out of them with the potential of a "reward" of watching one at the end of the lesson - And using one in the context of the lesson - building the lesson around it usually worked to engage them from the start - And things like that you use - don't have to take up a lot of time - but can really help to engage the students in the lesson - and make them easier to teach (The key is to find out what works best with this particular group of students) - Off track because it relates to Kindergarten is the fact that if they are not engaged - for one of my classes if you want immediate attention - the fastest way to get it is to put on a song that they know - they will immediately start singing the song - and are once it has finished - much easier to pull back on task - or to give the next step in the process - It works like a short break - which gives them motivation/energy to keep going.

Icicle

[OnTheOtherSide]

Thanks a lot for the tips, i'm reading them all for sure.

One problem perhaps is that I never did specifically lay down the rules. I guess I assumed that they already know. I know that when I was in middle school or elementary I was never specifically told "no throwing", "no yelling" , we were just expected to know these things. I'm going to try doing this though, even writing the rules on the board.

As far as punishments like doing pushups etc. When I first arrived at the school I asked them what I can do for discipline. They said I could make them stand in the hall with their hands up, or make them write sentences.

When I tell the kids to do either one of these things, they flat out refuse to do it saying "NO!".

There have been 3 times when I've gotten the director, or another teacher to come in and make the students go outside, or make them do the sentences. But I always feel like I should be able to handle things myself, so i'm hesitant to get their help.

I am the only foreign teacher at my school and this is my first teaching job ever. I have been taking a cue from the other Korean teachers on what I should do for discipline and I never see them making kids do pushups, or doing any serious discipline.

I get the impression that the teachers at my school are soft on discipline and instead try to make it fun and interesting. If problems arise, they just yell, make them do sentences or stand outside, none of these things work for me.

Yelling in English carries no clout, and they refuse to cooperate with other punishments, leaving me in the position to go and drag someone else over to my classroom for discipline.

It I could hit these kids on the ass with a stick...... I would probably do it. But unfortunatly I have not been endowed with disciplinary power of that magnitude. Maybe I should try banging pots and pans?

[OnTheOtherSide]

[midgic]

[OnTheOtherSide]

[dmbfan]

O.P.........you are nto alone in this situation.

Most Korean teachers don't actually teach in private schools. They just talk away in Korean. That is not your problem, but it does take a toll on their learning ability.

Try this:

Do you have a digital camera? If so, place it somewhere in the classroom where it can focus on the problem students. When it is go time, have the camera recording. You can chose to tell the students what you are doing, or not. Simply walk to the camera, start the process and don't offer an explanation.

When you get the evidence, download to your computer and burn it on a CD. Then, present it..........no....play it for your director, secretary and Korean teachers. Show them this is what is going on the classroom.

Do this for awhile and keep a record.


dmbfan

[Easter Clark]

OP--It's likely that your students don't understand a word you are saying! Be sure to grade your language to their level. Speak clearly and a little slowly but not robotic. Choose words you know they will know. Taking these steps will go a long way towards building a rapport with you and the kids. I think this is one aspect of the job many people take for granted. Teach them "discipline" vocabulary using photos and go over different intonation with them. Have them practice on each other, role-playing the "bad student" and "teacher."

[Fishead soup]

Your lessons are obviously really boring. Didn't they give you the Mikey Mouse ear's on the plane trip in.
Don't tell me your idiotic enough not to think of wearing Mikey Mouse ears.
Haven't you noticed them on everyone else.

[dmbfan]

[Fishead soup]

[dmbfan]

[Fishead soup]