Korean Job Discussion Forums

[I'm no Picasso]

Okay. Background: all boys public middle school. Two after school classes, twice a week each. No co-teacher.

One class is going swimmingly. The students are all of an intermediate level, not too high, not too low and close enough to each other in ability that I can teach them all at one time with no co-teacher. The students are bright and engaged and enjoying the class. They obey and behave. There was a little nonsense at the beginning, but I've since reigned them in, after they tested me out minus a co-teacher, and they now come to class on time, with their materials and are quiet when I tell them to be.

Class number two. Total nightmare. I have four or five students who are nearly fluent, ten or fifteen who fall somewhere in the middle, and ten or fifteen who haven't a fucking clue what's going on most of the time. There are also two who are hell-bent on making trouble no matter what. Those two I've been working hard on sorting out and mostly don't cause trouble anymore. However, when I teach high, so that the high level students are engaged and eager to participate, the low level students (who are not bad kids) get confused, then bored, and then start to talk amongst themselves in Korean. When I teach low so that the low level students are engaged and eager to participate, the high level students cop an attitude and complain about how "stupid" the lesson and the other students are.

All of these students come from one extremely old co-teacher who is also extremely lacking in English ability. She fails to keep her classes under control when I see them ordinarily throughout the week and cannot understand my directions and explanations well enough to translate them for those students who are confused. The students are higher level than she is, almost without exception, and I handle all of her classes entirely on my own during the week.

I've tried to explain this problem with the after school class to her on multiple occasions. I tell her that there's no way to teach to spectrum of levels involved without some translation to keep things moving along, and keep everyone happy, and the students attitudes are miserable as a result. The only thing she says in response is, "Let the students to understand you," or, "Let the students to not be noisy."

I'm nearly at the end of my rope with this and am about to bust out the "but I'm just an *assistant* teacher, remember?" argument, which I hate to do, because I'm not. I run all of my other classes entirely on my own with little to no translation or assistance from my co-teachers whatsoever. It's this one class.

Any suggestions? I know this is long. But. Well. You all know what it's like when you've got that one class, combined with that one co-teacher....

[Tokki1]

"She fails to keep her classes under control when I see them ordinarily throughout the week and cannot understand my directions and explanations well enough to translate them for those students who are confused."

I'd sit down and do absolutely nothing.

As for the nightmare class you teach solo, you mention that this is after school? Meaning it's basically a free English class for those lucky enough to be in it? Either write letters to their parents, punish them with lines/make them stay late or simply tell them to go home. LOL.

[Joe666]

Picasso - I have not been doing this for very long and I am in the same boat as far as after school classes with no co-teacher. I am of the opinion that a Korean co-teacher is absolutely necessary! I have plenty of reasons for this. As for your "solo problem", they know with no K co-teacher present in the classroom, it's a free for all, period!

I quess the best advice I can give you is to find out your disciplinary limits from the higher powers. Use them to the best of your ability. That's about all you can do. I understand your pain. I just don't see the point in driving yourself nuts over something you have limited control over. You can't force any human being to learn if they do not wish to.

I have been thinking about this for the last few weeks. I believe I am going to have one of my co-teachers translate the following message in Korean. I will bring this to all my solo classes: " If you do not wish to participate in this class, please leave the classroom.

I have some that participate, others that talk in cliques which is a distraction. I am trying to solve this problem myself!

Good Luck Brother!!

[Fishead soup]

Don't even ask that Korean teacher she sounds old school and completly useless. First put the students in groups. Make it so At least every group has at least one student that is near fluent. If you have to do it allocate the groups yourself. One problem I used to get with after school classes is students tend to scatter around the room. Set the desks up in small groups so the students cannot scatter. The rest of the desks should either be outside the room. If someone esle at your school doesn't like this too bad!!!!!!!!!!!

Another thing you can try is arrange the desks in a semi circle. Some students will complain, too bad!!!!!!!!!!

Try doing a peer dictation activity. Paste a paragraph at the front of room. Tape it to the board well. Tell the students they are going to compete to re-copy the paragraph. Each group should have one student who writes and several who walk to the front memorize a few words of sentences and go back and tell the writer what to write.

I find this activity is great for a lethargic class. First it gets them out of their seat, second it gets them speaking and using the language. Finally it keeps them busy. During this activity you should be a spectator. You just keep students on task and make sure no one is cheating.

[I'm no Picasso]

Tokki1 -- It's not fair to the students to just disengage. The thing about this that is getting to me the most is that I feel like I'm struggling so hard to make everyone happy, and ending up failing both groups of students -- high and low -- entirely.

Joe666 -- The two who were being little badasses were the only two who I would say startedout not wanting to learn, and they've been somewhat reformed. Again, what's getting to me most is that I feel like most of these students do care -- they've just ended up with a lousy attitude because, for one reason or another, I can't meet the needs of the entire class at once. Whether that's my shortcoming, or the situation, I'm still not sure. But it's nice to know at least that I'm not alone in trying to figure out how to do this....

Fishead soup -- Dead on. She's old-school. Her suggestion is to make them do more worksheets, from what I can manage to gather from her English. Having a class that's silent and writing does not equal having a class that's learning. I refuse to go that route, no matter how easy it would be.

Your suggestions are fantastic. I've already sorted the scattering problem -- they know my seats fill up from the front to the back, no exceptions. And bags are not allowed on the table. Etc. etc. No one leaves my class when the bell rings -- instead, they are released in shifts, in accordance with how much disruption they've caused during the lesson/how well they participated. I really am giving it my best, here.

I'll give your idea a shot. I was just reading about peer dictation. Was thinking of trying the telephone game, but think it might cause a bit too much disorder for this class, at the moment. This sounds like a good alternative. Thank you.

[lifeinkorea]

I have worked with middle school students at hagwons, and I would say 75% of time I was very lucky. The ones who were troublemakers behaved better the more I yelled at them. They would behave just to get me off their backs.

I would also point right at them. They didn't like to be singled out, except for 1 or 2 class clowns, in which case you can use this to your advantage. Have them read a sentence or two to everyone and correct them. Use them as guinea pigs to teach the rest of the class.

The other thing is something we can experience at any of the schools. That being noise level. What do you do to keep the noise level down? You have most likely already tried grouping the smart and well behaved ones and worked with the others to no happy ending.

So, in that case, you need 2 rooms. Take 5 students at a time into a second room, teach what you need to teach to them. Do the next 5 and continue until everyone is finished. If the class has less than 15, you can simply divide the class in half and that is usually good enough. Anything over 20 and you will need a microphone if you choose to teach them as a group.

Save your lungs, don't abuse them at the expense of a bunch of twerpy middle schoolers.

[Tokki1]

[Morgen]

OP, I've struggled with this in my afterschool classes too. I had no input in the organization of the classes and thereby ended up with three grades grouped in each class (1, 2, 3 and 4, 5, 6 elementary). In my higher-level class I have both low- and high-level students from each grade, meaning I'm trying to address like nine levels at once.

What I do, basically, is pick a theme and teach it in layers, relying on a group structure. Students are assigned to two groups, a color (red, blue, green, orange, and yellow) and a number (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) so every student is a red two, a green four, whatever. I put them in numbered groups according to level (lowest, low, average, high, highest) and the colored groups have one student from each numbered group. When I need the levels to be mixed together so the higher can help the lower, I group them by color. When I want to give the lower levels more time and teach more complicated things to the higher levels I group them by number.

So generally I pick a theme to project over several lessons and use colored groups to make sure everyone understands what we're doing. Then in the next lesson I put them in numbered groups to practice dialogs or do worksheets or whatever. Because it takes the lower levels are generally learning for the first time it takes them a great deal longer to finish the work, which gives me time to work with the higher levels. It's kind of complicated but they're easier to police in groups and I feel less like anyone feels left out.

I'm completely jealous of your other class.

[I'm no Picasso]

[Tokki1]