Korean Job Discussion Forums

[lookingtoteach]

I have two kindergarten classes at the school I teach at. They're at the same level, but one class is a year older than the other. The older class has more kids, less talent, and is definitely my hellion class. I swear they are the Spawns of Satan. They won't listen and have quit acknowledging that I even speak to them. And they're only seven. They're graduating from kindergarten in March, but how can I discipline them and keep my sanity until then. I've tried putting happy faces on the white board and erasing them whenever they speak Korean or are assholes, but that doesn't work anymore. Some of them ask for me to put them in the corner. "Teacher, me corner now?" What do I do?

[Crois]

Maybe the best thing to do is to be more phyiscal with them. By this mean dont hit them. Never hit a kindergarten kid. I swing them around and they swing from my arms and they love it.

You could use bribary with sweets but that might become expensive.

Take them out of the class room and shout at them. Try to make them cry. They arent as secure on their own so when they come back crying the other kids might be scared.

Try to teach them individually if possible. By this i mean come in and greet the kids and say what you want them to do and then go to each one and teach them a bit at a time.

Hope this helps.

Frodo

[SweetBear]

It took me ten months to stop hating my kindergarten class ( see my post I HATE kindergarten) during that time there were the problems that you mentioned with the added difficulty of a book that absolutely sucked. I found it necessary at the time to be real strict with them and let them know that I wasn't going to take this kind of behaviour, like climbing all over the furniture and grabbing my boobs at all. I enlisted the help of a Korean teacher and presented the problem by telling her that I was so suprised that very young Korean kids behaved so badly. I also told her that I would absolutely not tolerate this behaviour . An experienced teacher explained to me that it's all about attention, the bad ones thrive on being scolded. Reward good behaviour was his message. In doing so and one day just deciding that it was pointless to get so stressed out about it ( that became part of the problem) things gradually began to change. Now I could actually say that I enjoy it. So to summarize, I would say that relaxing and rewarding good behaviour was what what changed a harrowing experience.
Hope this helps, good luck!
Sb

[OiGirl]

It helps to bribe the children. I never bribe children with sweets. It doesn't make much sense to try to change their behavior by pumping them full of sugar. And they are little kids with a short attention span. They can't collect 50 stickers on a card to get a reward. They just can't think that far ahead.

With this age group, I might give them each three chips or counters each class. When they do something they shouldn't, they have to hand one back to me. I let them earn them back for later being good. I know some teachers don't let them earn chips back, but what are you going to do with them when they know they've lost?

At the end of the class, if they have three chips, I will give them a SMALL prize, like a sticker. Sometimes I will surprise them with a bigger prize, like a pencil.

It's simple and it's a bit of work at first to get it started, but it WORKS!!! Eventually, my kids will do something bad, realize it, and give me a chip without my saying a word. I don't mean they think they have permission to act bad if they turn in a chip, but that they become self-policing.