::A Geek in Korea::

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This blog chronicles my adventures in Korea while I am a teacher in a private school teaching English

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I've got procedures and rules to follow for all this now

I'm a week into my classes, and already the class clowns are starting to emerge. I've got a few students in each of my classes trying extra hard to get away with things. Some have reputations for being bad already and I've got them under watch already. The others I am keeping my eyes on just out of experience.

For the most part my classes are very well behaved. The majority of students don't speak Korean or do things out of turn at all. They've got a discipline system based on rewards set up that keeps the younger students in line very well. Rewards are dolled out by a number of stickers and stamps received for class behavior. For going an entire class period without Korean, or for completing homework I give out stickers. They cash these in after a point for stamps, then use the stamps to buy things like school supplies. Simple bribery keeps the majority of students in line.

The rest, however, don't follow the system. I've got a few boys that haven't done any of the homework I've assigned them yet. I've also got a few that still think I'm too dumb to know what they are saying in Korean. We've got a system for them too. Something about writing down files in a management folder. We give reasons as to why they are a problem, then with enough write ups, they get a call home from the office. With enough calls home, they get kicked out of the program. It's going to be extremely rare, but at least it's an option.

There aren't many problems building up in my classes at the moment. I've got a good pace established, and I haven't resorted to playing any games. I'm still building my tough, "don't mess with me or you'll regret it" attitude at the moment. The kids don't know that, but without the fear of discipline the rude ones won't give me the time of day later on.

Having good students I know will do their work makes the bad classes more bearable anyway. It's really the same old stuff I'm used to, but with an actual system of rewards and punishments in place to give the students an idea of what kind of behavior I expect. The standard tactics of divide and separate, mocking, and intimidation will get me through these classes. I'm sure I'll toss one student out of class on his head this week if his behavior doesn't improve just as a lesson to the rest of them.

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