I've done nothing but praise and praise Korea for being on the up and up. I love Korea most of the time. As of late, it's time for the school year to end and grades to be changed. Unfortunately, that means my sweet little fifth graders become the 'alpha students' of my school and begin to act like terrible little masses of energy. In the states, there is a very strict and stagnant program used for children who throw tantrums in the classroom or refuse to do work. In Korea, from my observations, there really isn't one. Corporal punishment was recently outlawed from Korean schools, and teachers aren't really able to cope with the loss of power in that way. There's no suspension, as kids have a 'right' to learn, and there's no detention that I'm aware of. So, I have a big problem when dealing with my students. I have already implemented a system where if they talk and don't listen, I begin to take their points for the day and they become farther away from a movie/game day. They need about 400 points for a movie or a game day.
When that doesn't work, they are required to clean the classroom. I've also tried having them write sentences of the lesson, and for every time they begin to talk more adding more sentences. But, that's starting to not work, as well. I gave them a pop test, in which four female wannabe kpop 6th graders (they're actually only 5th) and they all cheated. This infuriated me to no end, on top of a huge communication barrier between me and their home room teacher. Thus, I made them sit girl, boy, girl, boy. The class was quiet for a few minutes until they began to get loud again, so I made them do frog jumps in an attempt to de-energize them. That doesn't seem to work either. On top of everything else, one student was writing and passing notes in class and when the teacher tried to take it, the student got physical. I wanted to send her immediately to the principal, but apparently that's not what you do to terrible students. Instead, you take their bullcrap as you attempt to get the letter. This isn't the home-room teacher's fault, she's an elder women. I took charge and yanked the letter out of her hand, made her stand up. She then proceeded to throw a crying temper tantrum the remainder of the class and did nothing. I made her leave the room.
I'd like to know, how does your school handle this situation? I'd like to give them a break, since the school year is almost over and they're worrying about a final exam, but their behaviour is inexcusable. I really dislike 6th graders, as they rarely listen and seem to think they are the best since they are the oldest students. 3rd graders tend to be better at English and more eager to learn compared to a tight-lipped 6th grader.
Let's just say, I'll be ready to go home when my contracts up. I'm tired of everyone and their mother staring at me for being different.
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