Korean Job Discussion Forums

[matthews_world]

As I am researching public school jobs, the only deterent would be the class size. I imagine being an "entertainer" rather than teacher would do wonders. My worst area in classroom management, however, would be discipline.

Small groups would seem to be the best scenario, with each team having a trustworthy student be team leader that could help keep each team focused.

Ideas that I would use to control classroom behavior are as follows:

1. Teacher-prepared, written or copied roleplays, with prizes for best recital.
2. Student-prepared, roleplays, with prizes for best performance.
3. Song lyrics, with cloze exercises, same as above.
4. Group projects - planning fake trips, researching country facts, presentations on various topics, etc.
5. Lots of flash cards - vocabulary, unique phrases based on topic or grammar.

If anyone could expand on the above or give some their own input that would be great.

TIA!

[inspector gadget]

Its not that difficult at all, I went from hogwan to middle school girls with 20 - 25 students in class.

Classroom management isn't that hard at all.

Set some rules, tell them in a nice way that if they don't follow them they will be disciplined. Not physically but otherwise. its easy.

My rules are as follows:

1 have fun
2 behave
3 speak very little korean
4 one person talks at a time

Explain to them if they follow 2, 3, 4 then they will have more fun.

I am not an edutainer either, sure I will use games/activities to get them to understand the lesson but thats far from a regular thing.

I also point out every single class two or three students that have shown great behaviour and they get rewarded for that.

Good luck

[jinju]

I teach classes where there are between 30-40 kids. This is an elementary school. This issue of large class sizes was almost a factor in me wimping out and staying in a hagwon. Glad I didnt as classroom management is not a big issue, kids are generally really well behaved and the job is much better than a hagwon job. Its not perfect however, as having to waste 4 hours a day in my office doing nothing is driving me insane especially since I could actually pick up a nice hagwon part time job and earn an extra 1.5-2 million a month during the time I waste at the office.

[peppermint]

I teach between 40 and 45 at a time, in elementary school, and the kids in grade 6 are so unruly that my new coteacher is questioning her job choice after a week. The rest of them are great though.

I'm lucky in that I've got my own classroom. I gave the kids assigned seating on the first day of classes, and they're grouped into teams of about 6. Team wins a game- they get a point. One member of the team doesn't do their homework- the whole team loses a point. It puts the onus on the kids to keep eachother in line.

[schwa]

I have about 36 middleschoolers in my classes. I dont have any serious discipline problems with them. In some ways theyre easier to handle than small groups of hagwon kids -- (from experience) theyre less likely to challenge your authority.

There are lots of ways to make lessons entertaining without acting the entertainer, but if your classroom presence is dead boring, the kids wont cut you much slack. Simple & clear speaking helps a lot. So does being able to speak in a louder voice without appearing to yell. Humor & a ready smile will win them over too.

Small groups is definitely the way to go -- I never do otherwise. Theres so much more you can do with teams to maximize student involvement.

I dont understand why youre thinking of lesson ideas as ways to "control classroom behavior." Activities dont control the students -- you do. If youre not on a wavelength with the kids, the activity will likely fail.

Whatever grade you end up with, my best advice is to keep your first lessons easy -- not childish, but kindergarten easy! -- but with some open-endedness so the kids can demonstrate to you what they know. They'll surprise you with their vocabulary & dishearten you with their grammar. A good many will just seem flummoxed. This is what you have to build on. It bears no resemblance to the texts they study & write tests on.

Theres so much else. Theres the small talk about what they did on the weekend, about the season, about todays news & special events. Theres them getting used to hanging out with a foreigner & theres you learning about them -- their culture & personalities. There can be real affection grow.

Expect a hero's welcome & a (brief) honeymoon. If youre halfway personable & can think on your feet, you'll connect & get along fine. In my experience what the public school system expects of native speakers is simply a positive intercultural experience for the students. (Dont ignore the lowest achievers.)

2nd-language acquisition is a lifelong exercise. If you inspire even a few of your students towards it, your work is done. It can feel really gratifying.

[TheUrbanMyth]

[Ya-ta Boy]

While having a variety of well-planned, well-prepared activities is vital to a successful teacher, that isn't what is meant by class management. It's only a part, and maybe the less important part.

The real core of classroom management is control of the students' behavior. If that is under control, then and only then, can you use the lesson plans effectively.

You have to have it clear in your mind (and translate that into the kids' minds) what the rules are about...who and when someone can go to the bathroom, what will happen if someone sleeps, takes out the cell phone and starts sending text messages, throws a paper wad, hits the kid next to him, dong chims the teacher, doesn't bring the text book to class, says '*beep* you' to you...etc.

Generally, the last educational experience beginning teachers had is the university experience. Top end students, motivated to learn, somewhat mature....Forget all that. Drop back in your memory to the age-level you will be teaching and remember what the mid-to-low end students who were not motivated and were in the throes of hormonal hell...and try to remember what your teachers did to control that. Use what was effective and ask around for other ideas.

[matthews_world]

Fun and interesting lessons are of course the key to get students to enjoy themselves while learning English.

What kind of stuff do you guys use? Any of the above in the OP?

I imagine most teachers play bingo and hangman once in awhile but I'd make it a point to steer away from those.

For me, I'd try using the last day of the month for pop song day.

[inspector gadget]

A great lesson and a fun one I have used with great success is about body parts.

Create teams and then draw an outline of the body on the board complete with eyes, ears nose, fingers toes etc.

get some water in a bowl and a role of toilet paper, have each student come up team by team, give them some TP that you have dunked in the water. Have them throw it at the body a la chan ho park.

They are then required to say a sentence like this, I hit the ankle, I hit the stomach etc.

After the first round have them get more specific, I hit the left ankle, I hit the right side of the stomach etc...

The kids like it alot and they really do learn a great deal.

And if your lucky one of the students will hit the person in the CROWN JEWELS area and the entire class will erupt in laughter to be heard clear accross the whole school, simply give them another shot at it.

Give them three strikes, if they don't hit the body they lose there turn.

Some of them will suprise you with the amount of english body parts they will know.

[Demophobe]

[matthews_world]

I'm possibly accepting a high school position for GEPIK. I'm not sure if it's co-ed or exclusive.

My question is how long are most classes and do they seperate the kids according to level or do they stay in their own rooms?

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[taekat]

I find it the exact opposite at my public school in a rural area. It's interesting because I have some friends who are in urban areas and they say that their classes are really easy to control and the students are well disciplined. I am the first Native teacher to be at my school which has 60 students. There is only one class I can describe as well-behaved. According to some Korean friends, people in the Pocheon area in which I teach in, tend to shout or speak a little louder. I can't say if this is true or not because I haven't taught in an urban area, but I do know that when my kids aren't shouting they are performing WWF/tae kwon do tournaments in the classroom. Last semester, somehow my schoolmaster designed a schedule in which I had to teach grades 4,5 and 6 ten times a week and the grades 1&2 six times a week by myself(I was with students more then their Korean teachers) plus my 6 Curriculum classes with the co-teacher. I stuck to vocabulary and alphabet because only about 10 students knew the alphabet (2 in grade six and 6 in grade 5). Pretty much 90% of my material is vocabulary, learning new words and reviewing learnt words. I tried doing simple phrases but I lose too many students during the lesson and they end up yelling or screaming or just start talking to their friends. I find my students tend to be very outgoing, if they don't like the lesson they will tell me. In the end, teaching vocabulary with Powerpoints, guessing games, matching games, slapstick games was the only thing that I found really connected to my students. And a good form of punishment is making the right out words hundreds of times. I use that alot. I have what I call Pain Paper in my classroom (Blank B4 sheets). If they can't keep still for more then 2 minutes then I give them each a piece of paper and then right 5-10 words out on the board (sometimes with the Hangul word). Then I make them write each word 100 times ... For each minute they are quiet I take off 10 from each word.

The nice thing about being at a Hagwon is that when the class is over the kids are gone. At my school they don't leave ever and they often come into my office (which is the library) and shout and scream or try to talk to me. It's not a bad thing, but sometimes it is nice to have a little time to myself. The only other thing I could ask for is someone to talk to, I think my next job will be at a Hagwon just because I like to be able to talk to someone once and awhile at work.

Aaron

[matthews_world]

I've verbally accepted a contract at an industrial high school. It shouldn't be too bad.

The above poster shared his game about body parts. There is much info on the web about ESL activities. But I want to know what works for you.

[mack the knife]