Korean Job Discussion Forums

[livinginkorea]

So today, I had my usual middle school class of second grade. They are at good level of English but sometimes they can be a little nosiy.

Usually I tap them on the head or shout at them, which does happen often. But they are still a good class, honestly!!

So after teaching them for the last few weeks without a game I eventually decided to give them a game day!! So I did some pages of word searches and the first person to complete the word search got a bag of crisps!! So after doing this for about 20 minutes the kids had finished and some students asked me could they study, as they have exams coming up soon. So I said no problem as long as they kept the noise down. Some of them studied, some of them played on their mobile phones, some of them chatted and some of them read comics.

Generally, to be honest, I have to tell them to keep the noise down about 3 or 4 times a class, but they can still whisper if they have free time, which is what they were doing when the Korean teacher came in with a stick and hit 5 of them on the hands and took a phone from one of them!!! At first I was shocked by what happened but then I got really annoyed. As the Korean teacher was leaving my classroom I apoligsed for my class and he said he was sorry too. Maybe this was for coming into my class. The class is beside the staff room so I felt a little embrassed as the other teachers would have heard him giving out to the students.

As the class went on the students were a little quietier and I got really annoyed and angry for being belittled like that. It looked like I can't do my job. If they were really noisy then I would have dealt with them myself, as I always do. I thrown so many kids out of class so I'm well able to deal with them.

So after the class I went into the staffroom and he was on the computer and there was some other teachers there as well. I didn't care who was there I was still going to "talk" to him. So I told him to never do that again. He said that he was sorry and tried to explain that the culture is different in Korea. I explained that they had free time as they finished their work. He said that the class are always very noisy and that the Korean teachers are here to help me. I said that I was able to deal with my own class and that he should tell me first instead of hitting the students. He brought up the fact that a student had a mobile in my class and that they could be playing games or going on the Internet and I explained that it was free time for them and that I allowed it. He then said that Korean teachers don't do free time in their classes.

At this stage he was really red in the face and stuttering and another teacher sitting beside us had moved off quickly when we realised what was happening. I guess that I probably had a red face on me as well and then I just decided that there was no more to say and I just left the hagwon. Luckly that was my last class and I'm still really annoyed that he went above me in from of MY students. He's not the boss so he has no right to do that.

So what advice can you give me?

Has this ever happened to you?

[Pyongshin Sangja]

You are not here to change the system. Rocking the boat will only get you singled out.

[livinginkorea]

[sistersarah]

i understand where you're coming from, but the korean teachers really don't give their kids free time, so it probably looked bad for him to walk in and see kids on hand phones and studying different stuff.

i understand that it's your class and you thought they worked hard enough for the past few weeks to have a game/free time period, but the korean teacher walked in and saw unacceptable behavious in his eyes.
the previous poster was right....don't rock the boat.

me, i just play a quick game with my students for the last 5-10 min of class and everyone's happy. no free time. they don't know how to deal with it and it doesn't look good to the staff anyway, even if it's deserved.

[livinginkorea]

ok thanks for the advice. I'm just annoyed that he did to me.

[livinginkorea]

by the way the other teachers do give free time and let the students go early sometimes

[lepid gecko]

I dunno if you can generalise. It's unique to each school surely. Smetimes our kids get a bit of free time, or game time. I would also feel annoyed like the OP. A couple of times other classes have been rowdy, and I've gone and taken a look through the window. If there's a teacher in there I don't do a thing. It's highly condescending or whatever to discipline kids on other teacher's time, unless you ask for it.

[livinginkorea]

yes thank you!! so it's not just me who feels annoyed. thank you. i have never discipled another class, even though a couple of teachers at the school have very bad control over their classes. It also made me look bad as the other teachers could (surely) hear the Korean teacher giving out to the students.

[lepid gecko]

yeah for sure man. that's bullocks.

[waterbaby]

Koreans have this thing about "face"... if you tell the guy he made you "lose face" in the classroom, he'll probably understand your perspective a lot better... btw - you probably made him "lose face" in the staffroom

[livinginkorea]

lol I kinda hope that he did so that he can understand how I felt!!

[own_king]

Totally right OP. I would be pissed too. I have had this happen in the past, but it only happens once. Usually your students will feel better about you if you stick up for them. What Korean teachers need to realize is that while the kids are with you, they are under your auspices and it is unacceptable for them to undermine your authority in the classroom - it makes you look like a joke. Instead of respecting you, the kids will think you have no guts and the Korean teachers have some sort of say in your classroom. This kind of thing would never fly ina classroom back home and before I get all these people jumping down my back saying "You're not back home; you are in Korea," or "Don't rock the boat" etc . . . blah blah blah. Someone needs to remind Korean people, that if they are going to go out and hire professionals or experts from another country then they need to respect our customs and expectations of professional conduct as well. It cuts both ways. Besides, I don't think this kind of action would be tolerated in a Korean school either. It only happened because you are a foreigner and the Korean teacher saw a chance to show you up. So I say good for you got standing up for yourself and putting him in his place, although it probably went in one ear and out the other.

[marista99]

Is it possible that rather than trying to show you up, the Korean teacher was trying to help? I mean, you could try explaining to him that it upset you, because he really may have just thought that he was helping you out with this problem you were having in your classroom and that you would be grateful to have someone else come in and set the little monsters straight rather than having to deal with it yourself.

[livinginkorea]

I think that he was trying to help. At least I hope he was trying to help me and not show me up. But I've been working here for 3 and a half months and it looked like I was unable to do my job. Just busting into my classroom and dealing with my students is not acceptable. He said that the korean teachers are there to help me but if I ever had a problem I ask them and I've never had a problem with correcting or controling my middle school students. Now elementary is another story altogether!!!

I think it was because it was his free time and he didn't like playing on the computer with some students talking in the classroom next door. Maybe it's because he is a tyrant in his own classroom. There's no way the kids would have any fun. Yes, I know that I'm there to teach them but I take pity because they have a crazy school life with their WORK, WORK, WORK attitude and crazy long hours everyday. Sometimes I give them free time when it comes near exams and as long as they keep the noise down then we have no problem.

And yesterday I had no problem until the Korean teacher came in.

[chronicpride]

I think that you're reaching past the obvious in your deductions.

Look at the Korean teachers perspective. He briefly heard and saw what he deducted to be a class out of control and he jumped to your aid in gaining control of the class.

There was obviously no time for him to realize that you had condoned this behavior for this class, otherwise you would have told him, right?

This has absolutely nothing to do with a 'Korean thing', but rather than an assumptive perspective thing. This could happen anywhere. And at the heart of it, he was just trying to help.

Believe me, I had some similar situations happen to me like this in the past with some schools. It doesn't matter how many months that you have been there or if you think that they should realize that you know how to control your classes by now.

He read a situation, came to your aid, and suffered the consequences for it. The better thing would have been for you to stop and explain it to him in the class. If he had time to hit 5 kids on the hands and take a cellphone, then you have time to tap him on the shoulder and explain the situation.


I don't know why you are looking past the obvious. There are tons of little misunderstandings over here, like this. More often than not, the truth is innocent and right in front of you. Instead, you are manifesting and verbalizing his assumed thoughts with zero evidence for your assumptions.