Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Drunken Monkey]

Stumbled across a teachers blog today www.staypuff.net and here is his latest post.
Everyone can have a bad day but is this acceptable behaviour?
Would you behave like this?

[newteacher]

Don't know if I'd label it as acceptable or unacceptable, but it does seem like the teacher was acting almost as childish as the kid.

Btw, physiologists? Don't think a physiologist would care, unless there was some bodily function that made the child or teacher act that way.

[Drunken Monkey]

[Mr. BlackCat]

I don't know if what this teacher did was right in this instance, although it doesn't sound that bad.

My beef is with asking children to leave the class. I'm at a hagwon and my classroom is very small. When I have a large class, it's very difficult to get around or even to deal with one child at a time. So when a student acts up to the point of distracting the whole class, or because he's violent, I usually ask the student to come out in the hall. I do this to a) take the problem student out of the situation; b) calm the other kids down; and c) to facilitate a private talk.

9/10 times the kids will refuse to budge. Then they will either hang on to anything they can in order to stay put or start crying loudly. That's usually when I get upset. I realize this isn't Canada, or the 1980s, but in most cases what the student was doing in the first place warranted much more than a sturn talking to where I come from. But actually refusing the teacher's instructions to leave the room? That would have brought on the wrath of my elementary teachers to such a level I don't think any child in my class would have ever been ignorant enough to try.

But here I am told but my manager that a) I shouldn't even demand that a student leave the room, even if it is just for a quiet and calm discussion. I guess little Jin-Ho will tire himself out after punching his classmates. and b) if they refuse to go, or start crying, I should stop trying to make them go. Awesome life lesson! If you just start pouting then you'll get your way. (If anyone has ever dated a Korean woman, you'll see how this turns out).

I think many teachers here end up acting immaturely because the system doesn't back up their initial responses. If I can't ask a kid to leave, assign extra homework, take away stickers, or do anything else that a rational teacher might do, I sometimes will react badly. It's still my fault, though. I should find new ways to deal with the situation. But I work in Gangnam, where 8 year olds are boss and I'm just a monkey who shouldn't dare correcting them.

Rant complete.

[cwaddell]

Aside from the fantastic faux pas of physiologists, this blog sounds so bloody boring. Dull, dull, dull. Where is the comedy, or engagingly skewed observations of Korea? It's literally... "Yesterday I woke up. Then I brushed my teeth. It took approximately 2 minutes and 10 seconds. The new toothpaste from Homever is OK, minty with a hint of cloves. I prepared my breakfast in the usual manner......"

[KYC]

I think it's a bit extreme. All the kid did was not follow directions.....how many of my children dont follow my directions?? Quite a few....do I lose my cool and go ballistic on each and every one of them? No...that would make me seem like I've lost control of the situation. I instead focus on the ones following direction and tell them they are doing a good job. The ones who arent? Well I just ignore them. If they dont want to learn, I'm not going to force them. However, if they disrupt the other students from learning then its a different story.


And I have to agree...this teacher should have allowed the student to participate once that student corrected his behavior. It's like if you screw up once, then I'm going to not teach you and ignore you. Such behavior is childish and unprofessional as a teacher. I would just demand an apology after the student corrected his behavior and let him join the class.

[newteacher]

Last week I had a kid who had some behavioral problems. When it was clear he wasn't going to be able to control himself I had him move his desk to the front of the room and turn it around so he had to spend the rest of the time facing the rest of the class. Believe it or not the humiliation of having to do that actually shut him up in a hurry and he was very well behaved the rest of the class.

[jdog2050]

[kermo]

The kid's a jerk for not colouring properly and "doing his own thing"? Why would that make a teacher so upset? The man may have issues.

[The_Eyeball_Kid]

This guy is clearly not good with kids - not good with people - and shouldn't be teaching them. He has no confidence in his ability to deal with classroom conflict, which is reflected in the behaviour of the kids. But at least he knows what he did was wrong, which gives a small glimmer of hope.

[djsmnc]

Maybe he should try something other than teaching kids. I would have done the same thing or worse.

It's not that he hates kids per se, but he doesn't have a handle on what to do when they act that way. Sure, you can sit back and say "He should have done this...or that..." but when it's happening in the moment, it's hard to know exactly what to do if you don't have the orientation or even desire to manage children.

I'm like that too, so I refuse to teach kids. If I have my way, my kids are going to be raised by a nanny if I ever decide to have any.

[IncognitoHFX]

That happens to all of us. I think the teacher in question generally reacted immaturely, but nothing he did rings of criminal, or terrible teaching. I was a problem child too when I was kid, I remember all sorts of things I did that literally made teachers break down.

I came into class on day in Grade 1, started telling off the teacher to the point where she had a nervous breakdown and I spent the rest of the day sitting out on the steps of my one room school house (yes, I went to a one room school house).

Anyway, yes, he could've handled it better but teachers do get pushed over the edge a lot by little brats like him. Plus, it is impossible to make a kid leave the classroom without physically picking him/her up and putting them there. My co-teachers have told me to do that, but I don't want to cross the physical boundary. I haven't got a kid to leave my class once.

[chris_J2]

I had a graded discipline system

* stand up (if they behaved, & paid attention, they could sit down)
* stand up & raise arms
* stand in the corner
* get out of the class room & stand in the corridor
* home teacher (not applicable in hagwons) This is the most severe punishment as most kids feared the home teacher. I only used it twice in 12 months.

For groups that were egging each other on, I would divide & conquer. eg, "You, sit up the back, you sit in the front, & you over there". If they refused to stand, I would gently lift them up putting my hands under their armpits.

I didn't agree with making the kids write out 100 times "I must not <insert here> in class", as it makes them associate learning English with punishment, imho. Neither did I agree with the Korean teachers making the kids scuttle around on the floor like crabs or insects.

If you search Daves ESL threads, you'll find a sticky thread or 2 on discipline.

If the entire class was bored, listless, or inattentive, I'd use TPR (total physical response).

Oh.. one other thing. In my school of 800+ students, there were around 5 kids who were retarded, mute or disabled. (Less than 1%). Find out who they are (ask your coteacher), where they sit, & try to include them as much as possible in normal class activities. I felt like an idiot, when I asked one girl to stand & repeat a word, & the other kids told me "She can't talk. She's deaf / mute."

[Mix1]

[IncognitoHFX]