Random Thoughts on Teaching

I am now starting my seventh week of work, which has allowed ample time to observe the workings of both my school and the students who attend it. The experience has been rather enlightening thus far. The students in my classes range from 11 to 16 years old, and their behavior spans an ever wider range of "ages."

For starters, one of the important things to know about Korea, and Seoul in particular, is that there are simply not enough "good" jobs to match the number of eligible persons. Therefore, a great deal of emphasis is placed on getting a good education. This is one reason that English academies are so popular. For most Korean children, once the regular school day is over, work is far from done. They generally attend one or two after-school academies (or "hogwans") that specialize in subjects such as English, math, science, and so on. Obviously, this does not go over well with the children, many of whom are attending school until 10 pm. Add in all of the homework one receives from attending multiple schools and you have some very unhappy kids on your hands.

The changes in children with age are pretty obvious when comparing classes, which are grouped by age and skill level. In a class with 11- and 12-year olds, you are generally going to receive the instant respect and admiration of the students, but change the ages to 12- and 13-year olds and you have some serious behavior problems on your hands. Once the students reach 15 and 16 years of age, getting any response beyond a blank, unresponsive stare is pretty much a victory.

The students are, as a whole, extremely smart. A 15-year old in one of my classes told me the entire story of the 2000 US Presidential Election, a feat which I doubt many American children of the same age could accomplish. On the other hand, some students know the answers and simply withhold them to be difficult. This often leads to an exciting round of increasingly simple questions on my part, usually ending with a comment similar to "I see the answer written in your book. Just read what you have written right there on the page." Sometimes even that doesn't work.

Our school has a reward system of Bonus Tickets in place; however, I have found candy to be a far more effective motivator, even with teenagers. This necessitates a system that delicately balances improved behavior due to the desire for candy and worsened behavior due to sugar high.

Some of the students are very manipulative at getting what they want. There are always the students who act very nice while you are looking at them but try to get away with things when they think you aren't looking. Luckily, we have the threat of CCTV to keep students behaving fairly well. Little do they know the recordings are used to monitor the teachers rather than the students.

Finally, you can always expect some strange comments when working with kids. So far, I have had an 11-year old ask me why I always wear the same shoes (I totally alternate 3 different pairs), and a 15-year old tell me that my face is too small (still not really sure where she was going with that comment). On the positive side, I get a lot of compliments on having blue eyes.