Korean Job Discussion Forums

[gillod]

Here's the long story short: My 4th grade is a disaster. I've had TWO temporary co-teachers, neither of whom has spoken even a single word of English and neither of whom has done anything more daring than text on their cell phone during class.

At the start, this was okay. But in the last two weeks the kids have just gotten to. I don't know. The I-dont-give-a-crap point. They've stopped participatibg, stopped speaking, stopped whatever. I've got 40 kids in a room which means that if I'm trying to get 5 of them to talk, I've got 35 deciding what trouble to make next. If I'm trying to get 1 kid to stop smashing the mouse to pieces, 39 of them of plucking the keys off the keyboard. Meanwhile, \the co-teacher watches on like she's at the zoo and this is a particularly hilarious exhibit.

I spoke with the principal and his attitude was: Look, the regular teacher will be back in January, hang in there. Which is fine, except that I have like 6 more weeks to survive. I started putting kids out in the hall, but they just ran away. I put them at a table in the back of the room, but they'll start throwing shit. And somewhere in here I'm trying to teach a lesson.

Essentially, I can't discipline all of them, they don't take me seriously and I have no one who speaks Korean AND gives a damn to help me out. What do you usually do in this situation? Tips/tricks? My 5th and 6th grades aren't nearly as bad, although my 5th grade co-teacher also doesn't speak any English, she doesn't hesitate to smack the kids around, either.

[blackjack]

don't discipline the individual discipline the class.

I have my classes in two teams, the winning team gets to leave first, while the losing team has to remain in their seats until they have left. On the blackboard write two team names (lions and tigers for me) Every good thing gets a plus point, every bad point gets a minus. To get silence I raise my hand and extend my fingers one by one, if the team is still noisy a minus point (if both teams are noisy each gets a minus point).

Don't explain the rules just at the beginning of the class just tell half of them they are lions and the other half are tigers. The kids will soon catch on that being good will get them points. Kids that are constantly bad will get picked on by their classmates.

I also random add punishments to the losing team (clean the classroom, remain behind in silence for 5 minutes) and very very occasionally give a reward to the winning team.

They will catch on quick. The key is to remain calm, never raise your voice and did i mention remain calm

[gillod]

[Countrygirl]

My kids sit at tables of six. I have each table number on the board and the good tables get circles while bad tables get x's. Answering questions correctly gets the table circles and an x will cancel out a circle.

The table that has the most circles gets to leave early. If a table only has x's or no circles, they have to stay and clean the room.

I used to have to send kids out the the class but not any more. Basically the kids police themselves.

In really bad classes I make them put their head on the table for five minutes or until they are deathly quiet.

I can't believe you have to teach with computers....that would be hard. At this age they just want to make noise with whatever is within reach.

Good luck.

[lifeinkorea]

Splitting into teams is good. The baseball approach seems to work. They can all focus on one event, but you can individually work with each student.

As far disciplining when they get out of hand, there is usually one person who starts it. Also, when someone is late and you finally get the class paying attention, they all talk to that person coming in. You have to focus on the one student who influences others on how to behave. Students don't like to be singled out and they will eventually catch on to why you are scolding one student.

I don't know where you have your computer, but it shouldn't be close to the area you are actually teaching. Put it in the back of the room if you can.

I bring things like playing cards, rubik's cube, picture dictionary, etc... and also put these in the back of the classroom. Students who come early can play with the stuff before class. Then, some students responsibly grab the cube during class and pass it around. If it gets in the way of my teaching, I take it and put it back. I try to meet them halfway, they can fool around until their turn, but when it's their turn they have to cut the crap.

I also explain to students (especially the ones I have now) that their outdoor voice is not to be used indoors, and that they can't be so loud in class.

Worse comes to worse, they aren't paying attention to you, you just walk up to them and yell at them like a drill sergeant. I have NEVER had a student continue what they were doing after that.

Oh, also, if they take something out of their bag like those flipping cardboard coin shaped things (I think called "dakchi"), they are mine. They quickly put the rest back in the bag.

[Manuel_the_Bandito]