Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Tiny_Tibbo]

Well tomorrow will be my first parent complaint in person. The mother of one of my 6 year olds is comming into school to have a meeting with the supervisor about the quality of her daughter's workbook. She's upset because I didn't correct her daughter's work during class. I find it hard to get the children to complete the amount of book work in class, nevermind doing it right. I guess her G's look like 6's.....and I must have not shown her how to write them right, even though there is a "G" on the page right in front of her.
So I guess my question would be: "what would be the right way to respond to being blamed for a 6 year old's incapablity or interest in doing her work book correctly?" My first response and rational in thinking was "well, did she talk to her daughter about her efforts in class?" but I forgot.....its still my fault...or we wouldn't be having this conversation.

thanks for any suggestions. And for those who feel the itch to criticize my english writing skills...please refer to my last post on "being scolded"

[Kimchieluver]

Just say that writing English and the alphabet is not that important, her child is just too smart.

[denverdeath]

Ask her to write a nine and see if she writes it like a "P" the way many Koreans do. Then, say sorry and that you'll try your best to improve her little princess' English ability.

[schwa]

I once had a child's parent (a post-grad lingusitics student) grill me on how I intended to teach her precious the difference between "bed" & "bad." I explained it didnt really matter & that context was the more important determiner & please get back to me after your child has mastered a response to "How are you?"

Never saw her again. Her child though went on to do quite well.

[pegpig]

[denverdeath]

Or, you may want to give her some methods to deal with her daughter's dylexia. Or, you may want to tell her that you are very worried that her daughter may be suffering from a severe genetic flaw called "retardedness," which you believe she gets from her mother. Or, maybe the best thing to tell her is to tell her daughter that she is doing well and that you are, too. She probably expects the "princess" to be speaking flawlessly overnight. Tell her that there are more important things to worry about. Like maybe your and her daughter's self-esteem. Keeeeh-rist!

[dulouz]

I smacked a kid after he smacked another kid and then his mom came to school. Part of the punishment people in my position are suppsed to receive is having to sit rapt through a Korean only dirty look lecture about how bad hitting kids is. The lecture is supposed to last about 25 minutes and the parent is not required to acknowledge the presence of the offending teacher. I wasn't convincingly rapt and I drank a Coke during the episode. This required one more lecture along the same lines.

[Tiny_Tibbo]

ok...so i should expect a dirty look lecture?? ok...umm....how am i supposed to act in these...i mean, just to pass the time.....and not to give away that I really don't care or plan on kissing any ass??

[d503]

I have had a couple of these I tell them the truth, it works and for the most part it will be your translator who is just making you seem very nice and apologetic.

Tell them that it is not your policy to correct student workbooks during class. That you teach the lesson and use the workbooks as a tool for reinforcement. And that you are glad her mother is going over the workbooks as it its an excellent way to reinforce the day's lessons.

ANd try not to look too bored.

[Ya-ta Boy]

You might want to try mentioning that 6 year olds have crappy hand-writing and that making well-formed letters is a process. You thought the kid was doing OK for this stage of development and that refinement will come later.

[Grotto]

Use the opportunity.

Agree with the mother. Tell her you would like her daughter to write out the alphabet 5 times every night for a week....if the mother could check it then you would check it the next day too.

You could point out that many people have trouble with g's, p's, 9's and any others you can think of.

[Captain Corea]

[casey's moon]

[Grotto]

tzechuk wrote

[casey's moon]