TEFL Carlisle Village Delaware

When I first came to Korea, I had this stereotype in my mind that Korean students were well-behaved, submissive, and quiet students because of the strict education system. I quickly learned, that this was not the case, as I saw that a lot of the students were quite opposite of my stereotypes. The first school I taught in was a public middle school in an extremely rural area. Many of the children came from the poorer families of Korea and several of them had broken homes. As it was my first time teaching esl in Korea (I had taught esl in mexico to adult teachers, high school, and university students) and to middle school students, I had no idea how to control them. The co-teacher I had at the time, ruled with an iron fist, and I was supposed to tell him whenever a student did something bad. I had heard about the rules of never physically punishing a student, especially a foreign teacher. I, myself, have never believed in physical punishment. I also had heard that it was banned by the government and any teacher that did so, would quickly be reprimanded by the government education system. Before coming to Korea, I had seen the (BBC?) episode on Korea and its education system. They also showed the video that had gone viral of the Korean teacher repeatedly pummeling his student. In a short time, I realized that the Korean native teacher was physically punishing students. He would make students stand in the downward dog position for minutes at a time. However, I was most stunned when he slapped a girl in the face, not once, but twice, for being disobedient. I later asked him why he slapped her. According to him, the girl was listening to music through her earphones. During my year at the school, I found that, I myself, too, was on edge with my teacher. I did not know how to handle the students. For several months, I was buying tons of candy bags to appease the students. I learned that it was not a good idea nor a long –term solution. I was so glad when I left my first school, as I was so upset, frustrated, and frankly, I still had no idea how to control the students. It was not until the school that I am at presently did I realize what I needed to do. It was with the observation of my co-teachers and also quite a learning experience with the past school. I saw that my co-teachers were strict with the students, but at the same time, compassionate in their teaching and manners. I learned that also the relationship with the co-teacher(s) was very important and that it alone helped with discipline. I learned that good relationships with co-teachers can really help with the students' behavioral problems, because the students are smart and can see the tension when co-teachers have different methods of discipline. Therefore, they do not behave as well, and test the teacher(s). Yes, there are still mischievous students, but I learned that with being strict, but compassionate (as my current co-teacher told me) that for the most part, one does not need to discipline a student. Also, I realized that Korean students are just like any other student in the world…they need an enthusiastic, patient, and understanding teacher.