Korean Job Discussion Forums

WendyRose · Joined: 10 Dec 2008 Location: hanam-si, seoul

Last semester whenever there were students with disability in class they would often have an accompanying teacher to help them. While they should really have their own class, at least someone was there to help.

This semester is quite different. In almost every class I have a student who has a mental disability. I've worked with plenty of young people with varying degrees of disability in my day and I'm not at all uncomfortable with it.

However - it's very difficult to teach a class when I have a student who comes to the front of the classroom to bounce a ball around, write on the board while I'm talking, dig in my purse for change, bang their head on their desk or make a cup of (unheated) tea.

Why don't Korean's have a special class for disabled students? It would be better for the teachers, better for the students engaged in English class and definitely better for the disabled students who need to learn in a drastically different way.

Anyone else have this problem?

Cerriowen · Joined: 03 Jun 2006 Location: Pocheon

I've got one kid who yells... screams... at the top of his lungs in class. The other kids are surprised, and laugh... so he screams again. The co-teacher stood over him, patting him and giving him attention, (which helped some) but he still shreaked and threw things to get my attention.

I think it's an experiment this year.

Straphanger · Joined: 09 Oct 2008 Location: Chilgok, Korea

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

There should still be a special needs teacher at your school; talk to him / her. If there isn't, talk to the homeroom teachers of any students who are posing really major disruptions and see if there's a way to send the student(s) somewhere else for your lesson.

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

WendyRose · Joined: 10 Dec 2008 Location: hanam-si, seoul

bourquetheman · Joined: 18 Aug 2003 Location: Suwon

Each school is different I guess because I taught at a public high school for 2 years and during the first week of each new school year the mentally disabled kids would come. It was explained that it let them feel as part of a regular class, but after the first week they'd all go back to their special classes with their special ed. teacher.

Straphanger · Joined: 09 Oct 2008 Location: Chilgok, Korea

Xuanzang · Joined: 10 Apr 2007 Location: Sadang

I had one who walks funny and has slurred speech. He's wasn't disruptive but definitely shouldnt be in a normal elementary school.

Snowflake · Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Location: Seoul

Hi WendyRose - Sorry to hear you're having problems. When I worked at your school there was a special needs teacher who would come into the classroom while I was teaching and sit with the students who had learning difficulties - has she left?
(If you go down to the far end of the 2nd floor corridor that's where the special needs classroom was).
Hope it gets better!

WendyRose · Joined: 10 Dec 2008 Location: hanam-si, seoul

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

poet13 · Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 9:55 pm Post subject:

On the first day at my second school, a first year boy crawled under his groups table, dropped trow, and pissed on the floor. He's special. Nice kid though.

ekul · Joined: 04 Mar 2009 Location: [Mod Edit]

There is a child that's in a motorised wheelchair who can only move his head and fingers, he can't speak. The special needs teacher just wheels him in, puts him in park and leaves. I found it hard to deal with him, not because he was badly behaved, how could he be, but just because I had no way to communicate with him and the class at the same time. I just felt sorry for him having to sit there for 45 minutes every week. I could see in his eyes he was as smart as any other kid in the class, he should have been in a specialised school where he could actually flourish.

Ilsanman · Joined: 15 Aug 2003 Location: Bucheon, Korea

I had a deaf kid before. Otherwise, he seemed normal. He behaved better than most of the other kids in the class. Super nice.