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dinga271
Joined: 31 May 2006
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 Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 7:57 am Post subject: inmates are running the asylum.....i mean hagwon |
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I need some advice before I curl up in the foetal position. My situation thus far is this - I have been at this hagwon since mid September and as the title suggests the students are behaving far worse than anything I have experienced at a hagwon previously. As the native speaker I was given the responsibility of conducting speaking classes only. No textbooks or curriculum were provided and the only instruction given by the director was to make the classes communicative. I initially tried some textbooks but they were met with great disdain from the students. I tried to make lessons more activity based by modifying content from text books and the Internet with supplemental games. The hagwon has no facility for interactive or media based activities as classrooms do not have access to A/V equipment.
I established reasonable classroom rules, printed in English and Korean but without success. Apart from the usual Korean student misbehavior I have students walk in and out of class at all times, material given for speaking lessons thrown out of windows, erasers et al thrown at students and dice games used as opportunities to slap students. Rewarding students for good behavior and punishing students for bad behavior seems to do sweet f. a in building a learning environment.
The director and I have spoken to parents about student behavior and they have come across as apologetic and empathetic but Korean parents appear to have little influence and/or are scared of disciplining their kids.
I am open to ideas as I nothing I do appears to have any effect on many of classes. |
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Chimie
Joined: 05 Oct 2011
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| Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 8:19 am Post subject: |
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| Ask for a release letter. Run for the hills. Idk why you're sticking around with such a crap job. Even a terribly run chain like Kid's College or Poly sounds better than that. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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dinga271
Joined: 31 May 2006
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| Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 4:43 pm Post subject: |
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It is the same employer, but I followed your recommendations and renegotiated the contract with the employer. The employer has been above board at this early stage, it is just the students and my classes that I needed the advice about. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 5:23 pm Post subject: |
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| dinga271 wrote: |
It is the same employer, but I followed your recommendations and renegotiated the contract with the employer. The employer has been above board at this early stage, it is just the students and my classes that I needed the advice about. |
Actually my recommendation was
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| I wouldn't work here. |
You can see that just a few posts down from the contract one.
However that's water under the bridge so as to speak.
We are going to need some more information on your situation before anyone can give a definite answer.
Question 1 What are your disciplinary options?
Question 2 Do you receive any administrative (AKA the director) support for said options?
Question 3 Apart from establishing the rules and speaking to parents what have you done to enforce the rules and establish class discipline?
Question 4 Do you know for a fact that the director has spoken to parents or has he just told you he has. Given that many parents will just pull their children out of the hakwon and go to another if they get complaints about their children...I have to ask.
Question 5. How old are your students (age range)?
Question 6. Is this ALL your classes or just some of them? If the latter please see Question 5.
Question 7. When you say "speaking classes" what is it exactly that you do?
Question 8. Regarding rewards and punishments that you hand out...could you give an example of these?
Yes that is a lot of questions...but your situation is quite generic and (to be honest) far from unusual, to judge from stories on here. Giving more information by answering these questions would likely give you more replies that are tailored towards YOUR specific situation. |
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dinga271
Joined: 31 May 2006
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| Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 7:27 pm Post subject: |
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| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| dinga271 wrote: |
It is the same employer, but I followed your recommendations and renegotiated the contract with the employer. The employer has been above board at this early stage, it is just the students and my classes that I needed the advice about. |
Actually my recommendation was
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| I wouldn't work here. |
You can see that just a few posts down from the contract one.
However that's water under the bridge so as to speak.
We are going to need some more information on your situation before anyone can give a definite answer.
Question 1 What are your disciplinary options?
The director has stated that I am only to penalize students according to the hagwon reward system. Any other disciplinary options are carried out by the director or head teacher.
Question 2 Do you receive any administrative (AKA the director) support for said options?
See above
Question 3 Apart from establishing the rules and speaking to parents what have you done to enforce the rules and establish class discipline?
I suppose I am very ordinary here - rules are advertised in English and Korean, if they are broken I bring it to the attention of the student, tell them what rule they have broken and advise them of the penalty along with taking away cellphones etc
Question 4 Do you know for a fact that the director has spoken to parents or has he just told you he has. Given that many parents will just pull their children out of the hakwon and go to another if they get complaints about their children...I have to ask.
If I have a complaint I advise the director, the director calls the parent in and we talk to them together.
Question 5. How old are your students (age range)?
8-17 years old
Question 6. Is this ALL your classes or just some of them? If the latter please see Question 5.
Only some in the 8-13 age group, so elementary students.
Question 7. When you say "speaking classes" what is it exactly that you do?
As mentioned the hagwon has not given a set curriculum to follow so I follow a course book and provide students with speaking practice with activities and games. This is what the director wants and was practiced by the previous foreign teacher.
Question 8. Regarding rewards and punishments that you hand out...could you give an example of these?
Point system - follow the rules you get points, break them students get penalized. At the end of 2 months prior to a market day points get tallied and students are given hagwon money in exchange. I don't give out candies etc for rewards and only use games in the last 10 mins of a lesson at most.
Yes that is a lot of questions...but your situation is quite generic and (to be honest) far from unusual, to judge from stories on here. Giving more information by answering these questions would likely give you more replies that are tailored towards YOUR specific situation. |
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itistime
Joined: 23 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 1:12 am Post subject: |
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I never understood why so many people take
'hit or miss' jobs.
Good luck to you. If you're not happy, you shouldn't stick around.
...in any situation. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 7:33 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah...I'm not going to lie...you have a tough job it looks like.
You are limited in disciplinary options and it seems that some kids are taking full advantage of that.
In your situation I would give the boss an ultimatum. Either my disciplinary options are expanded or he can find another teacher.
How does he expect you to maintain order when you are virtually hamstrung in regards to dishing out punishments?
And when I say punishments I don't mean (or advocate) beatings or anything like that. But it seems that certain students don't care about the punishment you are allowed to mete out...so there need to be other options. |
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dinga271
Joined: 31 May 2006
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| Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 5:06 pm Post subject: |
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| I appreciate the reply but I am not sure what options I would be able to successfully implement anyway even if I had the director's approval. Students don't respond to discipline from Korean teachers or parents based on conversations I have had with them. |
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PatrickBateman
Joined: 08 Jun 2009
Location: American Gardens Building, West 81st Street
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| Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 5:08 pm Post subject: |
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Oops.
Wrong place. |
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