Korean Job Discussion Forums

[captain kirk]

Well, this is the continuing 'report' on how the new teacher is faring, not that I want anyone watching me as much as I do him (that's a joke). For those of you who don't know, he's 23, first time in Korea, first time teaching. He's a great guy.
Today 'time stopped'. The boss and the head teacher, both Korean, were talking to him with serious looks, and he looked 'put on the spot'. He had an anguished look, whether it was for feigned concern to 'be a good employee', and to what degree of that, I dunno. But he looked the part. The boss said, 'did you call so and so student 'crazy'?'. He looked taken aback. He remained leaning against the wall looking disoriented and rather pained after they left.
The teacher beside me said she 'wasn't watching', as if she doesn't get into 'politics' and minds her own business. I was interested because this was the first 'error in the program (apparently) during his first six weeks. He kind of treats me like a funny old funnyduddy which is annoying until I realize he's at the age he can 'do anything' and 'parental figures'/anyone over thirty/with experience are 'threatening'/hold you back (so treat them with pseudo-disdain. But I didn't like seeing him look uncomfortable, it's a 'big family' at work. We all get along and things run smoothly.
Anyway, the teacher beside me said she thought he was 'too friendly' with the students. I'd said to him in 'teaching tips' I sent in a long email that 'the students aren't your friends'. I guess he figured that was 'crusty/jaded' 'advice'. The students call him by his first name. He calls the boss by her first name. They call me 'teacher', sometimes my name but mostly 'teacher' (I'll miss the sound of that when on vacation 2 months, those bright voices), and I call the boss wonjonim, or 'captain wonjonim ma'am sir'. He's calling the boss by her first name? That's like calling a member of the Spannish Inquisition by their first name, or Vlad the Impaler. 'hey, Vlad, how's it goin?'.
I think this teacher is right. If a teacher is 'too friendly' in the way that it's too casual (remember, he's fresh from more casual, Canadian culture) then some kooky kid can forget themselves and complain to their parents that teacher called them 'crazy'. What's going to happen? Certainly the 'one of us' teacher is 'so cool' that he can't take issue with this. He's not a teacher or adult, he's more like 'one of us'.
So the head teacher is going to talk to the parents later tonight, the father. Can you imagine? Calling some kid 'crazy'. I do it all the time but it's in a joking way. The head teacher said 'this is a rare case'. Nothing to do with him as 'abuser' but more about presenting himself in an easygoing, 'likeable' way, too much so.

[thorin]

When I worked in a hagwon, the director told us one day that we couldn't use the word "crazy". I was like damn, what am I gonna talk about now?

[hojucandy]

when i used to teach kids, i explained to them that is english, crazy does not have the negative implications that it has in konglish. in fact it is a friendly sort of word. they were cool with that and i went on calling them crazy.

you gotta be friends with the kids... i could not have survived if i was not.

and as for the boss. every boss i have had in my life has preferred to be called by his first name. me too.

when i worked in PNG everyone wanted to call me dr williamson. i opjected and asked them to call me greg. in the end we compromised and they called me dr greg.

[Koreabound2004]

[Derrek]

A teacher at my school caught heck for saying, "No, you're crazy!"

She was teasing back a student who kept saying, "You're crazy! You're crazy!" to her in class.

The parents called and made a huge stink over it.

They didn't care one bit that the student had been saying it, and the director called me in to ask me what I thought of the situation, and explain what "crazy" meant in the West.

He didn't believe the teacher when she told him it wasn't serious to say that back home.

[turtlepi1]

I think my director isolates me from a lot of this BS.

I call my kids crazy and even babo quite a bit. They call me it even more.(This is only with my elementary kids.) I guess in a class with a Korean teacher it would be completely unacceptable the way we interact and I struggle with it sometimes, but then when my kids leave a class and they say "Annyonghi-Kyeseyo" and bow to the Korean teachers and say bye and wave to me I feel better about whether I am creating a mixed-message for them. (sucks for all of the foreigners that want to be Korean I know...these kids will be another generation that trat you differently)

I am the way too laid back teacher for sure. I am the one you are complaining about. On the flip side of that my kids struggle to speak to me in English at a level that is way above their ability.

Our hagwon's focus is strong grammar skills they spend 4 classes a week with a Korean English teacher who hammers grammar skills to them in Korean. My boss wants me to be a grammar teacher as well but I challenge him to teach his grammar classes in English only then he realizes that the "Native speakers" role is different...a necessary evil.

My role is to get them to talk. To make them have some fun while speaking English. It is the same as the Gepik program. Those native speakers in the public schools aren't here to teach English, they are here to promote interest in English and increase the kids ability and confidence to speak.

(Though it sounds like it, this isn't an opinion on teaching English in Korean...I think the kids get WAY too much KOREAN in the English classroom, but if you want to debate that you need to decide which is more important, the ability to speak or the ability to pass TOEIC type exams...in the past it has definitely been TOEIC type exams...with the changes to the TOEIC...we'll see)

[the eye]

i say it all the time, in a joking way...." are you crazy??"...although sometimes i prefer " ARE YOU OK??", just to mix it up a bit.
it's become a catch phrase with my students.
like the captain's coworker, it got me in trouble the first time i did it as well.
i think it had more to do with the WAY i said it rather than the fact that i said the word 'crazy' at all.
when i first came here, the kids didn't seem to get my sense of humor. now, i can't seem to get them to leave me alone, repeating my stupid jokes over and over between laughs.
regarding the 'crazy' thing, i have come to realize that i have to desensitize the word before i use it.

it seems like his main problem is that he just doesn't care about social rules..or the chasm of rules that exist here. i think it's okay to be friendly, but there is a definite line that can be crossed. respect should always accompany the friendliness....sounds like he forgot that part.

another thing is, these kids repeat everything that happens in class to their parents. even if you say something completely innocent, it could get misconstrued by xenophobic mommy and daddy.
"What did you do in conversation class today, JinWoo?"
"Teacher said i was crazy"
"Really?"
"Yeah, he calls all the kids crazy, then he laughs"

[tomato]

It is natural for adults, especially adult males, to spar with the children.
It is also natural for the children to spar with adults, especially adult males.
That was the adult male's job in prehistoric times, and our inner brains are still living in prehistoric times.

Deep down inside, we think that the children in our English classes are fellowtribesmen, and that it is necessary to play-fight with them for practice in case enemies or predators move in on us.

In ancient times, there may have been children who did not like to play-fight with adults. But if there were, it is unlikely that those children are our ancestors. Rather, they were the least prepared when enemies or predators invaded. So these children lost out before they could pass their genes on to us.

There may also have been adults who did not like to play-fight with children. But if there were, it is unlikely that those adults are our ancestors either. Rather, they were the adults whose children were least prepared when enemies or predators invaded. So these adult's children lost out before they could pass their own genes--or their parents' genes--on to us.

Yes, I know, there are no wild animals for miles around. But our inner brains don't know that. Our inner brains are very slow. It has only been a few thousand years since cities were organized and wild animals were confined to the wilderness. Consequently, our inner brains do not know about cities.

Yes, I know, strength, agility, and endurance will be of little help if Kim Jongil decides to drop a bomb on us. But our inner brains don't know that, either. Bombs are a modern invention, and our inner brains certainly do now know about modern inventions.

[Derrek]

[manlyboy]

My Korean co-teacher calls the kids "babo" on a daily basis. And she isn't joking when she says it either. She literally shrieks it at the kids when they're screwing around. The sound of it even sends a chill down my spine!
My philosophy is to treat them not like friends, but like you would little nephews and nieces. You can play and have fun with them, but you're also obligated to set an example, and discourage inappropriate behaviour. This mindset also helps when dealing with the more "unlovable" students. If you're thinking of them as friends, you might be inclined to just turn your back them. But of course, if you think of them as "family", you know that you should never give up on them.

[captain kirk]

Haha, no, I don't have an obsession with, or want to date, this 23 year old, blonde, handsome, blue-eyed guy from Canada. Bwahaha. But look at it this way, I've been out in Asia for eight years. Along comes a guy from 3 hours from where I live, and he acts like he thinks I'm weird or something. Wouldn't you start to wonder, 'am I weird? Has being in Asia for so long made me 'weird'?'. I mean, I feel perfectly normal. I think the thing is this whole place looks weird to him, myself included. When he got pulled over for his 'infraction' (calling some kid 'crazy' (basically the kid tool liberties, turned the whole thing into an excuse to get him in trouble for no reason but mischeviousness, being allowed lots of slack with his casual, too freindly attitude I think)) he looked truly startled. Like, where am I, and what's going on ie. 'are all these people crazy'. I think the formality and hierarchy is sensed by him as rather morbid, stuck up, and bizarre. The boss and head teacher, when they approach with some 'issue', look like they're about to deliver news that someone, a family member, died.
Yeah, you never give up on family, and it's that way at the haggie with the kids, good point. You're not 'friends' with them in a casual, informal way. Like the teen girls who practise getting their way. After being pulled over, feeling stunned I think, he submitted to their whines to 'play scrabble'. For forty minutes! Where's that gonna go. I don't mean educationally so much as once you try to please them, and they don't want to be there and study, really, is it going to be wrapped, and wrapped around kiddies' little fingers?
I'd never, never be calling my boss in Korea by their first name. Sure, it depends on the situation. Perhaps if I was a lot older, and he was a lot younger, maybe. I dunno. But Korea isn't a casual place. It is in some ways but the hierarchy/status ladder is always in a Korean's mind, and it gets on my mind (not to mention nerves). Besides, calling the boss 'wonjonim' is a compliment to them.
About this new teacher, I'm just curious about what he sees looking around. How much different is this place, which I've become accustomed to?

[mindmetoo]

I slip into uncle mode frequently. This Sunday I'm taking a couple of my American comic book fan boy students down to Itaewon to scrounge through the stack of used comics at that used book store near the military base. The parents seem rather happy about it. I've got the time and the parents like the idea they're getting added value for their educational dollar. The kids are my clients, ultimately, and sometimes it's good to treat your best clients well.

[crazylemongirl]

I teach at a public school with middle school boys and I'm kind of close and distant with my at the same time. My studnets call me by surname. They bow to me when I come in and out of class and when they see me in the corrider.

However we also joke around a lot in class. I use a lot of outrageous statements to get the students talking. Sometimes they respond in kind so the standard response is 'are you crazy'

If they are being cheeky sometimes I give them a light choke slam (just grab them lightly around the neck) which my studnets call the chocopie slam!

But always know where the boundaries are and I come down like a ton of bricks when they step out of line.

[Zyzyfer]

I don't call my kids crazy, but I love to rant occasionally in class about a topic that seems silly and spout the word a lot then.

When I'm trying to poke fun at my students, I tend to use other words like goof. It's a lot easier for them to identify that the word isn't insulting when it's a word they've never heard before and I can freely explain the meaning without Korean culture connotations.

[crazylemongirl]