Teaching in Korean: Inside the Hagwon

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Curious how Korean kids behave in the classroom? Here's a few unedited scenes from two of my low level classes, ages 7-9. If you're wondering why my students were playing dead in the first minute, it's because I was testing to see how they'd react to me writing their names in red ink.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• hagwon
• teaching
• esl
• korea
• english
• teaching in korea
• school
• teacher
• learn
• lesson
• education
• students

[rykey]

Nice video. Which hagwon do you work at?

[onceatraveler]

@rykey A really, really small one near Uljin

[Warhammer820]

Your hagwon appears to be very organized. How did you get that deal? I usually hear of disorganization and not getting paid.

[onceatraveler]

@Warhammer820 Just lucky, I guess. My boss is very honest. Although he does have to answer to parents, they usually defer to his judgement.

[terracearts]

How do you get started really for the first year students if your Korean is limited? Once you get started I can see how to keep going but it may be my inexperience but it seems like the start is the hardest part, how did you handle the start of a school term for new English learners?

[onceatraveler]

@terracearts I just had to deal with this recently as I started teaching those with next to no English experience, about 5 years old. Maybe they were just well behaved, but I haven't had any problems with classroom management so far. I used body language and reinforced it with verbal cues to explain what I wanted them to do. Now they're pretty good about just listening.

[sam92teg]

Nice job, your an inspiration.

[terracearts]

@onceatraveler That is good :] Awesome.

[thewhisperingraven]

So adorable and communicative too! I hope that when I get there, my kids are as willing to participate and learn as yours are. When I was teaching in Georgia, maybe 1 out of 15 or 20 could answer any question - even the standard "How are you today?" and "What is your name?". Most were to busy either talking on their phones, fighting, or telling me to F*off in Georgian.

[RockXdomination]

yyayy..they`re so cute