Korean Job Discussion Forums

[schwa]

Can you help me correct or elaborate on my gross generalizations below? Talking average large classes in typical public schools.


Primary elementary: cheerful, rambunctious but biddable, short attention span, enjoy simple repetitive tasks, physical movement, and music.

Middle elementary (grades 4 & 5): also cheerful, eager to learn, cooperative, still enjoy simple activities but also want to be challenged, love team competitions.

Senior elementary (grade 6): a challenging age group stuck between innocence and false maturity, can be defiant, require a mix of authority and playful activities, pleasant one-on-one but resistant in class, some have given up on english.

1st-year middle school: tentative at first but generally keen and cooperative, can be fun, enjoy good-spirited competition, english levels are becoming more distinct, difficult students start to gain social sway.

2nd-year middle school: another challenging grade, moodiness and peer pressure, brighter students tend to dumb themselves down to fit in, the mood goes up and down but some laughs and learning can still be had.

3rd-year middle school: settling down and more willing to engage in thoughtful conversation, laughter and cooperation come more easily again, after-school study and highschool concerns weigh heavily, imagination (in many cases) suffers.

Highschool: input sought.

I'm trying to put together an overview. Thanks for your comments.

[Emark]

Seems pretty accurate to me. I have no problems with it.

[shostahoosier]

maybe its just my school but I would group 5th grade with 6th grade as opposed to 4th. I think 4th has more in common with 3rd than with 5th...but my experience could just be limited.

I think your list is pretty accurate though.

[mmstyle]

Your list for 1st and 2nd grade match my school, but my 3rd graders are mostly quiet. The pressure has gotten to them a bit, and while they are less moody than my 2nd graders, they are actually quieter overall, at least at my school (one 3rd grade class in particular got a rep this last year as particularly quiet). While easier to talk to, since they're not loud, I find 3rd graders hard to get engaged.

[jvalmer]

middle school:
1st and 3rd year students are the easiest to control and teach. However, 3rd years tend to be pretty quite if put on the spot and nothing short of pulling a tooth would get them to talk.

1st years are great until the end of the year. You can pretty much choose 90% of the students to come up to the front of class and they'll be blabbing away in a mixture of Korean and English. Great fun.

2nd year students usually are the most difficult to motivate and control.


high school:
limited experience, but 1st grades are similar to 3rd grade middle school students. At least at the beginning of the year.

Supposedly most schools will limit contact with 3rd year students, if you even see them at all.

Of course if you get placed in a technical high school, then my prayers are with you and hope you survive the year without a totally negative view of teaching.

Final note, the dynamics change depending on your gender and the gender of the students. Generally all boys schools are a hassle, but if you know how to channel their energy, can be great. But is extremely difficult to do.

[CPT]

I'd say those attitudes apply to students in hagwons as well.

I agree with rearranging the groups a bit though.

For elementary students, grades 1 and 2 are pretty similar, as are 3 and 4, and 5 and 6. So I would group them that way, but your descriptions are fairly accurate for the most part.

[Tycho Brahe]

i laughed at grade 6. I'm still getting used to not hating work because of a particularly defiant bunch that i just lost.

[Goon-Yang]

High school 1 :interested in learning/having a break (English class) to apathetic.

HS 2: Apathetic-don't talk to me waegook.

HS3: Seriously? Why are you bothering me. I have to study for the 수능.
(university entrance exam).

[Nierlisse]

High School grade 1: Mine were sooo quiet at the beginning of the year. They were shy and probably a little terrified at being in high school. Of course, by the time the 3rd month rolled around they were completely different, and not in a good way. I mistakenly thought they would be the best grade. I was wrong. One or two bad students start acting up and the whole class goes down in flames.

Grade 2: More mature than my 1st graders. Still some students acting out but on the whole I loved them. Even the "trouble" class were really good for me.

Grade 3: Never taught them, rarely saw them. Proctering for midterms and finals in some of their classrooms was always interesting. At least a third of the class would just sleep through each exam and not even try. Didn't see that in the other grades. A couple students would come visit me in my room once in a great while. One of them said she wanted to be an English teacher and I really hope she goes for it, she was very good and really nice.

As far as interest in English goes, this was a technical high school, so there wasn't much. Always a few in each class, but overall, just a struggle. There were a few who were brave enough to talk to me during breaks and at lunch.

I don't have the level of horror stories that I've seen others post on here, though I definitely understand why people prefer to avoid these schools. Of course, I was mislead when I got the job, otherwise I might have done so as well. But I didn't totally hate it, in fact I liked teaching so much I'm going home in a few months to get my teaching certificate.

[fustiancorduroy]

I taught in a foreign language high school, so my experiences might be a bit different, but...

1st-year students: energetic and eager to learn; some are still a bit naive and shy; generally less assertive about their opinions; overall, a pleasure to teach

2nd-year students: apathetic towards learning; confident to the point of being rude; highly assertive about their opinions; have already aced the TOEFL and are more worried about preparing for the 수능 than learning English at a high level (since they don't need it for the 수능); sometimes enjoyable to teach, most of the times not so much

As for the 3rd year students, I rarely even saw them, let alone taught them.

[winterfall]

Technical HS. All of the above attitudes with kindergarten English and the learning speed of a senile old man. And they're completely convinced they learned everything right when they didn't. Eg: the alphabet....

[Xuanzang]

Primary elementary. Agree with everything but some of them are extremely skilled for their young age. Might be the products of English kindie or hagwons from a younger age. Of course, the classes as a whole needs a lot of repetition and reinforcement. Songs and games go a long way.