The Rude Student

I've been teaching for more than ten years and this student is the rudest student that I've ever had. He's a third grade student who always distracts the class. He makes noise, disturbs his seatmates that sometimes causes some bruise when he hits someone next to him, doesn't do anything what you tells him to do on the computer and when you asked him to stop on his craziness then he will curse you or other teacher who asks him to do. He always bothers others but doesn't want to be bothered of his craziness.

One day, he was absent and his friend said that she was so happy that "Rudy" (let's just call him Rudy because he is rude) was absent. She said that she felt so relieved and it seems like some thorns pulled out from her heart after saying what she wanted to say without Rudy. She said she's suffocating when Rudy is around. I felt the stress that this student feels about him. Just the way that I felt when I didn't know him well but I realized that Rudy is completely special child. I don't mean he's retarded or disabled, what I mean is, he has phychological problem that he makes everyone so stressful.

When I gave them homework that I told them to write a situation when their teachers got angry with them, he said that his teacher was so angry in class when he cursed her. I found out that he says bad words to everyone even to his school teacher.

I heard that he has younger sister and his family's attention is with her sister. Since then, I realized that he needs special attention that's why he bothers everyone in class because he needs attention. When I lose patience to him, I sometimes think that his family ignores him because of his bad attitude. But deep inside, I take pity on him because of his attitude and I'm still thinking on what to do to stop his craziness.

My Sleepyhead Student

It always irritates me when I teach the class with my sleepy head student. He always feels sleepy during the class. No matter how many times I wake him up and hit him, he doesn't do anything. His sleeping time in my class is more than the time that he studies. I don't know what this guy is doing in my class. He's just wasting some money to pay for private institutes. He can just stay home and sleep. Why does he have to pay and sleep?

Whenever I hit him, he wakes up and write some words. Then he's asleep again when I'm not beside him. I understand that he's tired but it doesn't mean that I can allow him to sleep. He just changes the mood of the class. What I mean is, he doesn't have to pay if he's not interested in studying. I don't know why their parents have to send their children in private institutes when their children are not interested in studying?

Parents think that their children study hard. Some of them even think that because their children have been studying for many years, they think they are better than others who study less time than their kids. But they don't know that their kids don't really focus in class. Going to institutes just became their habits.

I'm Finally Back After Three Years

It has been three years since I last updated here. I rarely think of posting about my experiences in teaching but too lazy to post and sometimes forget when I come home. I have lots of good and bad experiences about teaching. As you know, it's not easy to teach in other land specially when you have different language. Eventhough I love kids and teaching is my passion, there are times that I feel upset, terrible and irritated. Of course most of the time, I have to carry my patience with me or else everyone will be in trouble.

It's alright to hit the students in Korea which surprised me when I first saw the teacher hitting a student on his head with a stick. It wasn't too hard that could break his head but still it was against the law in my country. After seeing several times of spanking the children from the teachers and boss, I got used to it. I realized that it needed to educate the Korean students because they don't listen or follow the teachers easily. There are lots of hard-headed students that some of them even say bad words to their teachers. Saying good words or giving some advise to them is useless. They should be taught some lessons through a stick or rod.

In my case, I never hit a student in my 12 years of teaching but sometimes feel like hitting them or throwing them out of the window if it's just possible. But I always keep my patience because I understand that students are also moody. There are times that they don't feel like studying specially when they have a problem at home or school. I can't deny that I sometimes get irritated but most of the time, I enjoy my day with kids.

It's not easy to teach Korean students

I'm tired of teaching so I'm planning to quit my job but that's not going to be easy. It's not easy to quit when you know that you are teaching because you want to help. I think i'm helping my boss because I'm doing my best so his business will become successful. I also believe that I'm helping my students because I always do my best so that they can learn even when they are sometimes rude and naughty. I sometimes feel like losing my temper but want to throw them away out of the window but I just take a deep breath instead. Sometimes I feel like my head is going to explode because of stress and anger that I always keep deep within me.

Oh well, it's not always easy to teach Korean students.

Party for Children's Day

Every 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month, students go to school. But last Saturday, it was a holiday because of Buddha's Birthday and today is another holiday because of Children's Day. And because it's holiday today and it's children's day so we had a party for the students yesterday.

We give some points to the students who study hard. They collect the points and use them as their money when we have a party. We sold some school supplies and food to the students. We had some quizzes and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd would get points. Students had much fun playing with their classmates and they enjoyed eating some food. It's just too pityful to see some students who doesn't have much point so I just gave them some free stuffs and food as a present for Children's Day. I hope they would study hard next time so that they could get more points and enjoy more the next party.

My special class

I don't like attending my special class. They are very naughty and it seems like they are not learning anything. I don't know if they just come to have fun or to study. There are not interested in learning and they just always laught. I don't know why their parents want them to have a conversation class when they are not good at conversation. They even don't know simple English so it's hard to teach them. I'm trying not to speak Korean because it's a conversation class but I am forced to translate everything in Korean because i'm worried that they can't understand what I am teaching. I think they are paying more than the other students because they are special class. They can just join the other class so I don't have to consider them always. It's because they are special so their parents expect too much from me. There would be no problem if their kids are interested but even if I do my best, if they don't participate then they can't learn. I already did everything for them. I even tried to hit them or took some points but it didn't work. They are still naughty. My boss always comes in my classroom and talks to them angrily but they just laughed and smiled.

They don't listen to my boss then how could they listen to me? Yesterday, I told my boss to teach instead of me. But my boss left and said he would come back after a few minutes but he never came back. He just asked me after my class if they were still naughty. I said they never changed. Haaayyy....

Side Dishes from my student's mom

How would you react when your students' parents give something to you not only some presents but also side dishes? Yes, I usually get some side dishes from my students' mom. Maybe they know that I don't know how to cook or I'm lazy when it comes to cooking. Just last week when I got a box of dried laver and last night, I got 2 types of side dishes. I know they are giving me something or taking care of me because I take care of their children. I treat them well so I guessed it's their way of saying thank you. But I'm also grateful for them for trusting my ability to teach their kids. Although I always try to do my best but I still think of ways on how to give or share knowledge to my students in a very fun and easy way.

Yesterday, one of my students was carrying a shopping bag and handed it to me. He said that's side dishes from his mom. I didn't know how to say thank you because I even couldn't remember what good thing that I did with this student of mine. I just teach them, that's all. This is what I always wonder when I receive something from them. Are they satisfied of my teaching? Or they are asking me to teach their kids better. Well, I think the answer is both.

Teaching Strategy part II

Here's the continuation of my teaching strategy part 1

16. Prepare your lesson in advance, always. Just in case that you still have time, you can preview the next lesson.
17. Make your lesson plan. Students are not interested if they see that you are not prepared.
18. Don't go out during the class. Once the class was interrrupted, it's hard to get back student's interest.
19. Don't let the students go out like going to the bathroom or drink water. Once you allowed one, everyone wants to go out, too. In this case, students will go to the bathroom before the class starts or at the end of the class because they know that they are not allowed to go out once you started the lesson.
20. Be fair! No favoritism! It's hard to do this but you should.
21. When students asked you to buy something for them, don't buy or else you will be broke. They will always ask you to buy something for them. Just imagine how many students you have. hehe..
22. Make some flashcards if possible.
23. Make rules and let them follow your rules.
24. Make sure to check their assigment every meeting and let them know their mistakes.
25. Always give homework.

My teaching strategies

I don't know to you but these strategies work when I do them to my students.

1. Stop talking (discussing) and look at the noisy student. I assure you, he/she will stop talking and pay attention to you when he/she saw that you're looking at him/her.
2. When the student is playing with something, get the stuff and give it to him/her after the class if he promised that he would never played with that thing again.
3. Walk around the class when you do the listen and repeat part. You don't need to carry or look at your book. You can just look at their book while walking. I always do this thing and most students think that I memorized the book. They don't know that I only look at theirs.
4. Stand behind or beside the student who doesn't pay attention.
5. Look around and make sure that all of them are in the same page. The page of your topic for that day.
6. After the exam, let the students who make a mistake write the words at home 5 times. Give it as their homework and make sure to check it the next time you meet them. Do this when they had a words' test. Students who don't like writing always study before the come because they don't want to make mistakes and write several times.
7. I sometimes tell the noisiest students to go out but instead of going out, they just pay attention.
8. If you can't handle a very naughty student, tell the student to stay in the room after the class and talk to him/her. He/She might have a problem at home and needs your attention. If he doesn't say about it, just let him/her promise you to pay attention to you next time.
9. In Korea, it's possible to hit the students. Hit them rather than wait for their parents to complain for not teaching their kids well.
10. Give rewards to the students who did very well in the class.
11. Praise them when they did well or better than their former performance.
12. Make friends of them but don't forget that you are a teacher inside the class. They are not your friends when you are teaching the lesson.
13. I usually use visual aids and related games. My students always expect me to prepare games for them so they study hard during the lesson so that we can have spare time to play. They know that they can't play if they are slow in the lesson. So those who love games always lead the students and tell others not to make noise in order to finish the lesson earlier.
14. There are times that students are not in the mood for studying. Know the environment and change the lesson if it doesn't interest them.
15. Don't forget to break the ice to help everyone feel comfortable and be part of the discussion.

<--to be continued here-->

Teaching English in Korea

If you are not a native speaker (from the U.S., the UK, Canada, Australia, etc..) then it's illegal for you to teach English in Korea. Some Filipinos who got married to Korean are teaching English illegally unless they would get their Korean citizenship. If you were caught teaching English illegally, the fine is $3,000 (according to my friend) and they would send you back home but if your husband is Korean then you are excuse with the second rule. Some directors are kind enough to hide you if they know that the immigration officers are coming like what my boss did when I worked illegally. I was heading for work when he called me and told me to go back home and come back the next day because the people from the immigration were there. That happened twice that's why I changed my citizenship after staying here for two years so that I can work freely.

Teaching English in Korea is very tough specially when you can't speak any Korean. There are many rude and naughty students so you have to carry your "patience" everyday when you enter the class. You need to deal well with your co-workers so that they can help you with it. Or you can just say to the homeroom teacher and they will manage it for you. They just talk to the students and call their parents if they continue to make trouble in your class and students are afraid of that.

Teaching Koreans is also fun if you know how to handle the students. Some kids are loving, sweet and thoughtful. Anyway, each student is different. Some can't be disciplined without holding a stick and some don't want to be hit and they are getting more rude if you hit them. Others just need your attention so they make noise.

I've been teaching here for seven years and i'm not saying that i'm expert enough but I can say that I already learned a lot and willing to learn more. Everyday is a challenge for me when I enter the classroom. I don't know what kind of day I should have but fortunately I always have a good day with my students. I don't only work for the money but also I work because I enjoy my job.