Discipline problems
I am postponing my big Sex in the City post because at work two bad things happened. I think this will be my last 'bitching about work' post no matter how bad things get (well, unless they get theatrically worse) since that is what most Korea bloggers do and I'm trying to keep up with the intellectual standards of Exhibit A and Exhibit B. There is no room for the mundane in a blog!!
Ok so the bad stuff:
First, I forgot that the schedule was changing today and that my J5 class is using a different book, and therefore I started the class without having this particular book handy. It's a book I've used before, so I actually knew the story pretty well already. However, the quality of follow-up questions obviously wasn't there, and it was really a pretty bad screw-up considering the amount of effort necessary to have avoided the mistake. In the event that I was being monitored on camera, I took the old book (which has the same cover) and folded it over and pretended to work with it. One of my students busted me though.
At the break (thankfully there is one) I went to change books and discovered to my horror that there were none available in the staff room! I snuck around to the front desk and asked the director for the new book.
"But I don't understand - when did your schedule change?", she asked, sensing weakness. This might or might not have been a good time to lie, but in my new incarnation as a straight shooter I have basically stopped lying.
"Today." I may or may not have stared at the ground.
"I don't understand - you didn't check for this book before the class started?"
I twisted my heel with hands locked behind my back.
"That is correct, sansaengnim."
She didn't say anything, at that point, and fetched the book, which is good because I almost lost my temper for making me twist in the wind during my entire break.
I slunk back to the classroom and resumed teaching. After the break the class was completely ignoring me - students were talking and building things and playing games on their dictionaries and basically being a bunch of little rotters. I hastily drew a new seating plan on the board, spent ten minutes making them change seats, roundly chewed out the main offenders and resumed teaching, only to have my class interrupted ten minutes later.
Another teacher was ushered in to sub, and then one of the assistant counsellors whisked me into the hallway.
"Who are the worst students in this group?"
WTF? Shouldn't we talk about this later, like when I'm not, you know, in the middle of a class?
"Which students should I speak to in this class? Would it help if I spoke to all of them?"
It was very hard for me to say. They are all pretty bad with one exception. I know that the character of a classroom can change pretty radically with the removal of only one or two students but to ask me to name the worst...
"Maybe..Tom and...John?" I felt like a witness at the McCarthy trials. Give us the names of your known miscreants!
"What about with the girls?" That would be Jenny, but I was reluctant to give her up since she already accuses me of persecuting her.
"Jenny."
We had a quick discussion about the behavior problems they had seen.
"What are you going to do about this class?"
Again I didn't know if tact or truthfulness should be the order of the day.
"I was thinking about going home to Canada."
This had the effect of panicking her (and the whole staff), although I didn't know it yet. Anyway, I wrapped up the class and then Sue and I had a long discussion with some strategizing about what to do with the J5s.
She offered to take me out for a drink and talk about it some more (wow - they really really don't want me to quit), at this point I was through talking. You don't interrupt my class without someone being violently choked to death, either myself or one of my students.
During our 'pep talk' Sue did recommend one thing that I thought was a good idea. Get them to work on a project and then present it in front of one of the counsellors and the parents. I thought they weren't ready for parental prime-time but a live class presentation in front of Sue would terrify them AND shake their schedule up enough to make it interesting.
So today is the big presentation day - I have a lineup of nervous kiddies with their best pencil crayon on bond paper in hand and what does Sue do? She goes on vacation. Love the hagwon! It's a matter of life and death and these chillunzes lives are on the line!! BUT it's really not important at all, my job is only to create stress in you.
Today I debated the merits of quitting with a coworker but she brought me around to the logical conclusion. I'm almost done. Face the challenge. Stiff upper lip and all that.
Aye capn.
Today my director asked me to come in 3 hours early NOT including the 2 hours of prep time. Please come in and work 5 unapid hours, as a sort of dry run for the 11 hour work day hell you will experience next week. ##@@@!
Ok so the bad stuff:
First, I forgot that the schedule was changing today and that my J5 class is using a different book, and therefore I started the class without having this particular book handy. It's a book I've used before, so I actually knew the story pretty well already. However, the quality of follow-up questions obviously wasn't there, and it was really a pretty bad screw-up considering the amount of effort necessary to have avoided the mistake. In the event that I was being monitored on camera, I took the old book (which has the same cover) and folded it over and pretended to work with it. One of my students busted me though.
At the break (thankfully there is one) I went to change books and discovered to my horror that there were none available in the staff room! I snuck around to the front desk and asked the director for the new book.
"But I don't understand - when did your schedule change?", she asked, sensing weakness. This might or might not have been a good time to lie, but in my new incarnation as a straight shooter I have basically stopped lying.
"Today." I may or may not have stared at the ground.
"I don't understand - you didn't check for this book before the class started?"
I twisted my heel with hands locked behind my back.
"That is correct, sansaengnim."
She didn't say anything, at that point, and fetched the book, which is good because I almost lost my temper for making me twist in the wind during my entire break.
I slunk back to the classroom and resumed teaching. After the break the class was completely ignoring me - students were talking and building things and playing games on their dictionaries and basically being a bunch of little rotters. I hastily drew a new seating plan on the board, spent ten minutes making them change seats, roundly chewed out the main offenders and resumed teaching, only to have my class interrupted ten minutes later.
Another teacher was ushered in to sub, and then one of the assistant counsellors whisked me into the hallway.
"Who are the worst students in this group?"
WTF? Shouldn't we talk about this later, like when I'm not, you know, in the middle of a class?
"Which students should I speak to in this class? Would it help if I spoke to all of them?"
It was very hard for me to say. They are all pretty bad with one exception. I know that the character of a classroom can change pretty radically with the removal of only one or two students but to ask me to name the worst...
"Maybe..Tom and...John?" I felt like a witness at the McCarthy trials. Give us the names of your known miscreants!
"What about with the girls?" That would be Jenny, but I was reluctant to give her up since she already accuses me of persecuting her.
"Jenny."
We had a quick discussion about the behavior problems they had seen.
"What are you going to do about this class?"
Again I didn't know if tact or truthfulness should be the order of the day.
"I was thinking about going home to Canada."
This had the effect of panicking her (and the whole staff), although I didn't know it yet. Anyway, I wrapped up the class and then Sue and I had a long discussion with some strategizing about what to do with the J5s.
She offered to take me out for a drink and talk about it some more (wow - they really really don't want me to quit), at this point I was through talking. You don't interrupt my class without someone being violently choked to death, either myself or one of my students.
During our 'pep talk' Sue did recommend one thing that I thought was a good idea. Get them to work on a project and then present it in front of one of the counsellors and the parents. I thought they weren't ready for parental prime-time but a live class presentation in front of Sue would terrify them AND shake their schedule up enough to make it interesting.
So today is the big presentation day - I have a lineup of nervous kiddies with their best pencil crayon on bond paper in hand and what does Sue do? She goes on vacation. Love the hagwon! It's a matter of life and death and these chillunzes lives are on the line!! BUT it's really not important at all, my job is only to create stress in you.
Today I debated the merits of quitting with a coworker but she brought me around to the logical conclusion. I'm almost done. Face the challenge. Stiff upper lip and all that.
Aye capn.
Today my director asked me to come in 3 hours early NOT including the 2 hours of prep time. Please come in and work 5 unapid hours, as a sort of dry run for the 11 hour work day hell you will experience next week. ##@@@!
posted by Vivec at 11:14 p.m.
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