Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Radius]

This must be hell. Hagwons are hell. Students are little demons with pitchforks sticking you in the back.

Ok, not ALL students. But this class today literally made leave the class, and i refused to go back in until the director made me.

I tell them to get ready for test. I give them the test and they obviously did not study so they scribbled on their test sheets instead.

ok.

So i go to collect it and they refuse to give me their tests. i have to get a Korean co-teacher to wrench the friggin tests out of their wretched hands.

Then i tell them to take out their book.

they say they dont have it. i look in their bag and lo and behold its in there. I make them take it out but they refuse to open it and instead just whisper and laugh at me to eachother.

Then they just get up and leave the classroom without permission.

So, thats when i said, "F-this!" and i just walked to the teachers room and sat down in my chair. my co-worker said the students are back in the room, aren't you going back. i said, "Not until im ready." i was ready to rip their heads off due to the utter disrespect day in and day out. its only a class of two girls. bottom line is they refuse to work and mock me the whole time. I am ready to quit.

**have you ever quit a hagwon bc the students were unbearably rude and spoiled?


** Was i out of line for leaving the class in frustration? my director said i cant just leave the class. ok, maybe so, but can you imagine? i was that pissed off from these two constantly making me go crazy i just literally could not return to the dungeon.
this has been on-going for several weeks and ive just about had it. I get no help from the director or co-workers and noone feels my pain because they have little angels in their class and i have the demons.

***before you assume i was overreacting, this is an on-going affair with these students. and i have an identical class with the same exact problems with different students on different days.

I just hope my director will give me a LOR...

[jammo]

is it just this class?

[probablylauren]

That's my thought.

It harsh, but if its more than one class, you should look at your own methods and what has caused the downward spiral that got the classes to where they are.

[Radius]

[probablylauren]

[dumpring]

Uhm they probably hate you cause you said you didn't like big bang or something ( I had a class of girls who didn't like me so much in the beginning because I said that).
Anyway, if it's just one or two classes then talk to your boss and tell him that they're making teaching impossible and to talk to them and their parents about them either doing some work or you refusing to teach. Unless your hogwan is in some dire financial status it shouldn't be a problem.

I can't imagine a class of two students being that troublesome though, how old are they? What could you do to motivate them?

[rollo]

Yes thiS is where you end up if you are a bad person. Actually you are in pre-hell. THERE ARE FAR WORSE THINGS AHEAD.

[edwardcatflap]

You've got to get the parents involved. Ideally you need to arrange interviews with all the problem kids' parents and an interpreter and explain what the problem is to get them on your side. If the boss doesn't want to risk losing the business and refuses to help you with this it might be time to move on asap.

[bde2]

Agreed. In a hagwon, the parents are your best allies in this kind of situation, as they are the ones shelling out the dough for these classes, and I assure you, they aren't cheap.

That said, you don't necessarily need to have a conference with them. One thing that worked for me last year was to print out a letter that said something like "dear mom and dad, i've been naughty, i've wasted teacher's time and your money, blah blah, etc." Get someone -- a friend or co-worker -- to write a translation of it in Korean, as well. Put spaces on the bottom for the kids, and their parents, to sign it.

I had a really out of control class last year at my hagwon, and I found this idea right here on Dave's. Here's the link : http://www.eslcafe.com/idea/index.cgi?display:1100436017-25241.txt

If you go to the idea cookbook on this site, and click on "discipline", you'll find it under "Guerilla discipline".

Oh, and it really straightened out my hell-class last year. I went in there super serious, and at the first sign of trouble, I handed out the paper, calmly instructed them to read and sign it, then collected it from them. I told them that if I ever had another problem with any one of them, this letter would go straight to their parents. Needless to say, I never needed to use a single one of them.

If only that worked on my problem kids at PS... Sadly, their parents aren't shelling out the big bucks for Englishee, and couldn't care less... Be glad that you've got some leverage over them, OP. It honestly could be worse.

[BoholDiver]

I don't see how the letter would work if the kids just throw it out and laugh at you when you ask for it. In this sort of case, if management won't back you up, it's a lost cause.

I have had bad kids but never to this level.

[alistaircandlin]

I just skimmed this post to be honest so apologies I've I've missed something..


They sound like a bunch of demotivated middle school students - I had a really difficult class like this once and thought it was my own teaching that was the problem. It wasn't - they were the same with two other teachers who had a totally different approach to me - they both said it was like getting blood out of a stone when you tried to get a response from this kids.

Now in the UK - same old story - I've got about 2 or 3 kids out of 150 who I cannot get to focus - and I've tried every strategy available.

Sometime IMHO - it just down to the students - they've gotta decide to work and there's nothing you can do until they decide to do that

[caribmon]

I had many classes like this. I would just teach the class, and nobody would pay attention. You're there to collect a paycheque and teach. If they listen or not it is irrelevant. One class I had a kid who would spend the entire time running around erasing the board every 3 minutess and DDongChim'ing me every 5 minutes, while hiding under the table the rest of the time. He was so cute thought so I didnt' really mind.

I think you should watch some documentaries on YT about gathering water in Niger and trying to be a nomad when the desert engulfs their pasture an extra 1km per year and they have no firewood so they just soak corn in water and eat it. Things are much worse in other parts of the universe.

[gregoriomills]

OP-

I literally had a class EXACTLY like this, this year. I say "had" because it totally turned around (I hope for good) last month. Little devil middle school girls that went from bad, at the beginning of the year, to horrible, to hellacious. It all came to a head, when I was teaching, doing my normal trying to ignore them and focus on the other 5 kids in the class, when one of the girls tells me to "shutup" in Korean, then her and her sidekick start laughing. I kick them out, receive more disrespect, and then talk to my director about it. The next day, they get an earful my director, and then they come to apologize. My director later told me that they acted up because they thought I hated them. Sounds strange and like an excuse, but since then, they have been angels, and now their one of my best classes.

[Whistleblower]

[oskinny1]

Video camera. When they see that little red light recording them they will change their ways.