Okay! So, about a week ago I had a big post typed up about teaching in Korea and how to do so, but I guess the proxy ate it because it never got posted. Shame.
During the quarterly exam period, I went on a trip to Taipei, Taiwan with another girl in my program, Shannon. It was just the right amount of time for it and I definitely recommend it for a layover or weekend trip. Any less than the 3 days we were there and we wouldn't have felt like we "saw everything", but any more time and I think we might've gotten bored (if we just stayed in the city). One country off the list! Others include:
Japan
China
Vietnam
Indonesia
Malaysia
Thailand (when things settle down)
Phillipines
Cambodia
and the cities like Hong Kong and Singapore.
I've still got a few more vacation periods so I want to knock off as many as possible for I go home for my month break in July!
Travel and recreational life is great. Teaching is not so much. The students are so poorly behaved and they're so resistant to learning English. Without motivation they'll never become skilled, without being skilled they'll never be confident, without confidence they'll never have motivation, and the circle continues. I'm not sure how to break the cycle -- I'm not teaching them anything that's not in their textbooks (I'm not even teaching conversational English anymore! I'm only teaching-from-a-text!) but they're still unresponsive.
Before, I thought maybe my lessons were too hard, that what I was teaching was beyond their abilities. So I changed my teaching style and concentrated on just practicing the vocabulary, grammar, and dialogue that they learn in their regular English class. They're still completely unresponsive just like before -- so if it's not me, then what am I supposed to do?
Frustration.
After today's class (Monday, which is my WORST day in terms of student attitudes) I just broke down. I told the co-teacher that if the students were going to be rude, disrespectful, and not attentive, that they needn't come to my classroom in the first place. I swore that if they continued behaving like they did today, I would not teach them -- I'd put a movie in and they can do without their native-speaker lessons.
The teachers empathized, apparently concerned that I was worried the students hated me. I could care less if they hated me or loved me -- so long as they're respectful and polite in the classroom. But I can't help them if they don't help me help them. Right?
I understand these students are not the best and brightest that Korea -- or even Nonsan -- has to offer. I'm not asking for smart students who can converse with me. Or even string together a sentence. I'm just asking for some effort. I do nothing in my class that I couldn't do in Korean because it's important to know how to explain things in Korean for these students. I am only expecting them to memorize two line dialogue: "Are you interested in (books, movies, animals, etc)?" "Yes/No, I am (not) interested in ___."
The teachers don't discipline them beyond slapping them with their whipping rods. So ridiculous and ineffective. Students are shocked when I kick them out or make them move seats in the classroom. Any kind of punishment that's not corporal, really.
ahhhhh what am I supposed to do with these kidsssss! I'm still convinced that if I just figure out what drives them, I'll be able to effectively teach them English. But until then! AHHHRGGGHFHDJKSLALV
2010/05/10
Day 308 -- Taiwan and Teaching Breakdowns
Labels: recreation, teaching
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2 comments:
Man, I really sympathize with you. When I was teaching in Japan, most of my junior high classes were awful. I would feel the exact same frustration when I dumbed the lessons down to language straight out of the book and they still wouldn't even try, and we didn't have either corporal or non-corporal punishment (I wasn't allowed to do anything myself).
Unfortunately, I don't really have much advice, since I pretty much just had to put up with it. One thing that helped just a tiny bit, though -- since I wasn't allowed to actually punish the students in any way, I tried to improve their behavior by having the classes compete with one another for essentially who could suck least. At the start of each class, I'd draw 10 tally marks on the board, and every time someone got caught cheating in a game or behaving particularly disrespectfully, I'd erase a point. I'd add up their points at the end of each period and record the running totals for each homeroom on a white board that I would bring to class. The agreement was that the homeroom with the most points at the end of the semester would get Stitch (of Lilo & Stitch) pencils -- because for some reason Stitch is still a really big deal in Japan (Korea too?) -- which I had bought in packs of 8 at the 100-yen store. It improved behavior a wee bit.
Anyway, the point is I feel you. Good luck!
I second what the previous commentor said--two words which will change your life. Positive re-enforcement! I think it will have to be a little more frequent than some prize at the end of the semester.
Younger students really like candy and stickers; with the older students you might have to be more creative. Like if they are well-behaved during the lesson, then they get to watch a movie or have free time or play a game for the last 20 minutes/next period.
Also don't be afraid to use your Korean if they don't understand (I know you've been studying).
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