Korean Job Discussion Forums

[onbeingtrue]

I am just wondering if any middle school teachers wouldn't mind commenting on their experiences with this age group. I am supposed to start in December at a public middle school and am curious to know about your insight/experiences, teaching tips, etc. Thanks!

[Joe666]

I may be able to give a bit of insight. I believe a lot has to do with where a school is located. Richer area, better students in general. It's a tough age for any human being. They are hormonally sporatic, confused etc. It's not easy. The best advice I can give you is to be patient. If you are not a patient person, you will have your work cut out for you. If you are a patient person, you will be 100X more patient after 4 months.

Enjoy the ride!!

P.S. There are many other aspects of Korean culture that will also test your patience. So, add the 100X from the middle school experience multiply X 10,000 for the extra curricular experience and you will be a certified Monk in less than 6 months.

Your welcome!! Don't say I didn't warn you!!!

[Molorchus]

If you are planning group activities in class, be wary that some students may not want to "team up" with another because of some bad blood between them.

Also, boys and girls may not want to team up with one another either.

[schwa]

Veteran middle school teacher here.

I love them, but they keep you challenged. (Maybe thats why I love them.)

[byrddogs]

[cruisemonkey]

I teach at a boy�s middle school... and love it. This is not to say it's for everyone.

Control and 'presence' are the key i.e. no: swinging on the ceiling fans, walking on the desks, trying to push each other out of fourth-floor windows, punching each other/fighting and smashing the windows on the hall/door side of the classrooom. They must come to attention and bow when 'cruisemonkey' walks in... ... then clean up the broken glass.

Much to the K-onsternation of my Ko-teachers, I make the soccer players sleep standing up (literally on their feet) at the back of the classroom - they're like horses (and most have as much 'English ability').

Every semester, one or two rookie, female K-teachers will have nervous breakdowns and disappear. I have no idea if they�re hospitalized or just transferred.

[D.D.]

I am in my last week of two years in a girls middle school and I have mixed feelings about the time here. It was tough in so many ways and also very relaxing in other ways. I made the mistake of trying to do a good job. Maybe that was a mistake but I can walk out of here knowing I tried my best. I think I have very high expectations and that doesn't go over too well here. I read the letters some of my students they wrote me this week. They seam to think the problem is their fear of talking to foreigners. Many of them thanked me for helping them get over this fear.

In my eyes many look lazy and arrogant. I think even if you do a good job here you might end up feeling empty. The system is just so screwed up and they are too arrogant or something else to see it. They have a hard time taking input from outsiders.

I know I have made a big difference in about 8 of them. So out of 800 that is not much. I like to think that a few of them will go on to have larger lives do to the fact they took the time to study and be open.

I think as the other guy said this makes one a friggin monk. I think my new job will seam like a breeze.

The biggest problem now is Korea is going through growing pains in terms of opening up to the world and you get to deal with that drama on a daily basis. I think I was good in stirring them up and being in their face if they treated me as less than a Korean.

I created some very good systems for learning English and the students that applied it grew fast. Problem is most students don't care and the co-workers are not really interested in some westerner improving things.

When I taught in China the students were just so much more open but I was doing university there.

I hope I can look back and see what I learned here.

If you like drinking Korea is more fun but I have passed the days when I like to wake up feeling like crap. I think drinking opens up much more chances for relating in Korea.

Korea is not the place for a non-drinker who likes to try an improve a work enviroment and people's lives. At least my school was not or maybe I have a lot more to learn about serving people.

[dbmctague]

Tough to say. I started here back in March.

My first impression was how astonishingly loud it was. Yelling, running, chasing, throwing things in the hallway is generally tolerated. Strange, they discipline students in the morning for uniform violations, yet beyond that, discipline seems to go out the window afterward. Kids don't really have a childhood here compared to let's say, the united states. Many of them go to school 16 hours a day so I suppose they let out all their energy at school during the 10 minute breaks.

As for pair work, at least at the 1st and 2nd year levels, a majority of girls and boys will refuse to work together. If you force them, they'll stop whining but will then simply not perform the activity. I also found this aspect strange, I never remembered nor witnessed this aversion of the opposite sex as a student growing up, even in elementary school. Girls had cooties of course, but it never went beyond that.

As someone else mentioned, the kids are going through a heck of a confusing times in their lives. You'll encounter some really stuck up ones but most are still nice and respectful.

Be prepared to witness bullying. The girls are just as bad as the boys when it comes to this. A girl at my school who has a slight mental impairment of some sort...I dunno exactly what it is, a lesser well versed co-teacher of mine refers to her as "sick"

(on that case, make sure to ask your teacher whose deaf/autistic/has disabilities...etc. since many of these students don't go to special schools. My first month here I got annoyed at this one boy because he always slept during my class and never did any work. I disciplined him by making him stand up with his arms up. My part time co-teacher who barely spoke english kept on telling me "he's sick, he's sick". That's what she told me last week, and the week before, so I didn't believe her and thought she simply didn't want to deal with the problem. Well, later another co-teacher told me that the kid suffers from a phobia of being around people, and that every day they pump him up full of meds and pills, which makes him extremely exhausted....I felt so bad and angry at the same time. Like, what the hell is this kid doing here, he needs professional help. Though this issue, that's a whole other topic.....another time I also got visibly frustrated with a kid because he never spoke during my exercises and didn't do any work, turned out he was legally deaf.....you're left out on the loop on a lot of things so ALWAYS ask her co-teacher what's up and what's going on.)

Anyways....back to the girl bullying, the other girls refuse to sit with the mentally handicapped girl. They'll instruct her to sit at a vacant table far away. Some people can be very cruel, and it's a good idea to be prepared for situations like this. When you discipline the girls for bullying the mentally handicapped girl, then be prepared to have those girls hate you for a long time, if not for the rest of your time there. I have several girls now who absolutely hate my guts for disciplining them. One of them said to me in korean, after I had announced I took a german test to get into a german university next year, that she hoped that I failed. If you're young, being in such petty situations like this...you gotta keep your cool and be the role model.....granted somtimes you do really wanna just bash their face in and to hell with civility.

Chances are, you'll be teaching roughly 600-900 students within a span of one to one and a half weeks for what's really just 40 minutes of class time. Don't go in thinking you're going to see progress. Learning a language and measuring its progress is very difficult, let alone when you see them once a week for 40 minutes. Not to say that you won't see any of them progress, but if you, most likely it will be the lower level students, where progress is easier to chart, and the reason for their progress being that they take extra classes outside of your class.

There are many good students that make you happy. Then there are students that frustrate the hell out of you. You have your ups and downs. As far as administration goes, it depends on the school. My school is really laid back and I'm not asked to do much. My co-teachers are nice and don't bring any drama. Though all this isn't middle school specific, it can be any school.

Make yourself accessible to the students. If you're remotely attractive, you'll achieve rock star status and depending on how you handle the year, it'll stay are relatively the same level. Saying HI a million times gets tiring so either teach them a new greeting or two, or start giving high fives instead, or better yet, a combo of them all.

Also on classroom discipline. Well....that largely depends on whose your co-teacher. If your co-teacher is respected or feared, they'll be well disciplined. If your co-teacher is not respected AND not feared, then it's hell. I have one part-time co-teacher at the school with no home room so the students don't know her. They know her English is not that great and since they don't know her, they don't fear nor respect her. She's also in the position, i think, where she's afraid to discipline them out of fear of losing her job at my school. My classes with her are the most difficult.



Bottom line. PATIENCE.

I forgot to mention. I'd recommend working out some sort of a grading system for your classes, even if it's simply just discipline. Normally, the students in your classes don't receive a grade at all. The students will realize this quickly, so if you're not the sexiest man/woman in the world or your games aren't the best and most interesting week to week, the students will get the spiel and they'll start slacking, the whole lot of them. I mean, why should they care if they know their grade isn't affected in any manner. A simple discipline/effort grade may not encourage everyone to hustle, but it's enough to get at least those on the fence to get back to work.

Also, every class has a certain mood. You'll pick up on this after a few months. One really energetic fun student can change the entire mood of the class and get everyone into learning english. If there is no such student, that class can be quite difficult.

Keep your room clean and interesting....I still got one of the old rooms, no smart boards or anything, so it's quite "rustic" in the not nice 1960's korean architectural way. Don't let students write on the desks either, nor littler or stuff desks full of trash and gum...because when they recognize that their classroom is a piece of crap, their respect for the environment will go down and they'll be less encouraged to learn.

If you're coming to Korea for the first time.....I've lived in several major cities around the world, and when it comes to a 1st world country, korean children and young adults are the worst litterers that i've encountered by far. They learn from their parents, who I often see litter too. There are old men and women who are apparently paid to roam neighobrhoods and pick up the trash, so perhaps because of this, they think it's ok to litter. I think this all comes down to parenting...I was raised to respect the environment and not throw trash on the street. The other day a student of mine said Hi to me and right then and there, dropped her empty soda can on the ground. I told her, "What are you doing?" while pointing at the can. She was confused, she honestly wasn't aware what she was doing was wrong. Granted, city kids generally have less care for the environment, but still, they carry this attitude into the classroom and take no consideration for their own mess they create. Discipline them and make sure they don't make a mess, who knows, you might influence one or two of them into becoming more responsible for their environment.

[cruisemonkey]

It's K-land... the floors are spotless but the walls are covered in spit.

The cleaning adjumma at my school will scrub the urinal... but leave the mildew on the grout around the sink taps... next to a hand towel that has 1/4" of fungus growing on it. Administrators 'take a dump' and don't flush the squat (or wash their hands afterward). Students sell conjunctivitis to each other... the going rate is W500.

Korea... number 1!

[onbeingtrue]

Wow--thank you everyone for providing such helpful responses. Seriously, thank you. I haven't had enough time to really absorb your words, but when I do (and if you don't mind) I think I'll have some more specific questions. I just wanted to start out with the big picture...

I will be at an all boy's middle school in Jinju; I'm not sure which area of the city I'll be in. I left out this info first time around intentionally, but now if anybody has taught at a similar school I'd welcome any more insight you've got--along with more general insight.

I am a first-timer in Korea, and teaching for that matter (although, I've worked with kids and coached sports). I am female, and am hoping my 'dark blond' hair and green eyes will help out a little (and my passion for soccer!). Or, at the very least save me a few days before they get too crazy...

Thanks again!

[D.D.]

[onbeingtrue]

[Carla]

[Bog Roll]

[Joe666]

Bog Roll wrote: