Funny teacher

[Blacklamb]

I was approached by my boss yesterday regarding a complaint from one of the parents. Her daughter does not find my class "funny" and please could I make it more entertaining for her?

I am not of the goof-ball fool-around variety of teacher. I'm pretty quiet and not naturally a 'kid' person. This is my first teaching job. My background is in healthcare so I am used to communicating with different people. I put in effort to make my classes informative and want the kids to learn rather than just play or whatever.

This particular class that I teach has no real direction and is essentially a free talking class using American text books that largely have no relevance to the Korean students.
The student in question loves art so I have directed many topics towards art, but she is the only girl in the class, so I am obliged to consider the boys too.

What do other people do when faced with the situation of not being "funny" enough?? I can't be someone I'm not.
The boss suggested I research how to teach younger children (she is elementary school age) and make things more fun for her.....somehow. I don't really know how.


Suggestions??? Help??? Advice???

[hfotis]

If you're teaching at a hogwan this is pretty normal. Maybe not the specifics of being funny but definitely the concept of the teacher being an entertainer. With the hogwan system basically whatever the parents want is what the school tries to deliver. That said I've found that Koreans struggle to know the difference between fun and funny, so it she might mean that your class isn't fun.

Either way, the idea with elementary age students is just to be very energetic and positive, try to use lots of educational games that teach whatever you're trying to teach and generally not be serious/stern.

[Blacklamb]

Yes, I'm at a hagwon, and I know this is generally par for the course, but I am not sure what to do. Ideas don't come very easily to me.

Being fun or funny...whatever they really mean it comes down to me not delivering to the customer.

I've been here 6 months and not sure if I am where I'm supposed to be age-wise. Maybe I'd be happier teaching adults???

Thanks for your advice

[Yu_Bumsuk]

First, bear in mind that when they say 'funny', they're thinking 재미, a word that encompasses more than just the English concept of 'funny'. Koreans might use it to translate 'interesting', 'fun', or 'exciting' as well. So, they may not necessarily mean that they want you to be humorous so much as provide something more enjoyable from the kids' perspectives. It's also quite possible that the director has billed your free-talking class as 'jaemi issaeyo' and thus the parents who signed their kids up didn't have very serious expectations for their children from it. Or next week another mother could complain you're not serious enough, who knows.

If I had a dollar for every time a kid complained 'oh, jaemi upsaeyo' I'd be able to afford a nice holiday, so don't get too worried about it.

[hfotis]

Yeah I know when I taught kinder and elementary I knew it wasn't for me.. There was a topic floating around the board not too long ago about ideas for teaching little ones.. I found that my students loved singing and dancing and things like that, but the older elementary kids were way harder to keep happy. Having the last 10-15 minutes of your class (or less depending on the length) be a language game or something fun to reinforce the topic of the lesson is a good way to start. I found that whenever the class ended on a fun note, even if everything before that was boring as hell, they remembered the class as fun. There are lots of simple game ideas here on the board you can try out

[DWAEDGIMORIGUKBAP]

Yes, I'm at a hagwon, and I know this is generally par for the course, but I am not sure what to do. Ideas don't come very easily to me.

Being fun or funny...whatever they really mean it comes down to me not delivering to the customer.

I've been here 6 months and not sure if I am where I'm supposed to be age-wise. Maybe I'd be happier teaching adults??? Thanks for your advice

In my experience they are just as bad, believe it or not and demand fun and games all the time.

Either be entertaining and play lots of games or get a different kind of job.

Sorry I can't help more, but that really is how it is here in the hakan AND ime the public school industries.

[justanotherwaygook]

Just be aware, when you start making your class more 'funny', You're going to get told to make your class more serious and educational because the parents complained.   

[Blacklamb]

Thanks everyone for all your responses. I feel much better after this dose of reality.

Been a shitty month with extra work on top of normal work and then I get hit with not being entertaining enough. I think I will try to stress less about it all and think of some new games or whatever.

[Slurgi]

A lot of seeming appealing or entertaining is in demeanor moreso than content, especially when in an EFL setting. One of the elements of my lesson today was prefixes, and I acted totally enamored with the fact that 'prefix' itself contains a prefix. Although not easy to simply do or practice, try to notice quirky or interesting elements of language and exaggerate your own interest to gain the interest of the students.

Luckily I'm so nerdy that this is something I do naturally. Even though I'm definitely not being funny in the western sense, Koreans find that kind of presentation quite "재미있어요".

[Yu_Bumsuk]

A lot of seeming appealing or entertaining is in demeanor moreso than content, especially when in an EFL setting. One of the elements of my lesson today was prefixes, and I acted totally enamored with the fact that 'prefix' itself contains a prefix. Although not easy to simply do or practice, try to notice quirky or interesting elements of language and exaggerate your own interest to gain the interest of the students.

Luckily I'm so nerdy that this is something I do naturally. Even though I'm definitely not being funny in the western sense, Koreans find that kind of presentation quite "재미있어요".

This is quite true, and sometimes a silly joke, using a bit of Korean that sounds especially funny coming from a westerner (jeenja?), using a funny voice, or acting 'cute' in the Korean sense can make a teacher come across as more 'jaemi' even if what you're teaching isn't inherently entertaining at all. Using funny voices to recite boring textbook dialogues is one of my favourites.

[DWAEDGIMORIGUKBAP]

A lot of seeming appealing or entertaining is in demeanor moreso than content, especially when in an EFL setting. One of the elements of my lesson today was prefixes, and I acted totally enamored with the fact that 'prefix' itself contains a prefix. Although not easy to simply do or practice, try to notice quirky or interesting elements of language and exaggerate your own interest to gain the interest of the students.

Luckily I'm so nerdy that this is something I do naturally. Even though I'm definitely not being funny in the western sense, Koreans find that kind of presentation quite "재미있어요".

This is quite true, and sometimes a silly joke, using a bit of Korean that sounds especially funny coming from a westerner (jeenja?), using a funny voice, or acting 'cute' in the Korean sense can make a teacher come across as more 'jaemi' even if what you're teaching isn't inherently entertaining at all. Using funny voices to recite boring textbook dialogues is one of my favourites.

Yeah essentially, to be taken seriously and respected; we have to act like clowns.

Sad but true.

[Yu_Bumsuk]

A lot of seeming appealing or entertaining is in demeanor moreso than content, especially when in an EFL setting. One of the elements of my lesson today was prefixes, and I acted totally enamored with the fact that 'prefix' itself contains a prefix. Although not easy to simply do or practice, try to notice quirky or interesting elements of language and exaggerate your own interest to gain the interest of the students.

Luckily I'm so nerdy that this is something I do naturally. Even though I'm definitely not being funny in the western sense, Koreans find that kind of presentation quite "재미있어요".

This is quite true, and sometimes a silly joke, using a bit of Korean that sounds especially funny coming from a westerner (jeenja?), using a funny voice, or acting 'cute' in the Korean sense can make a teacher come across as more 'jaemi' even if what you're teaching isn't inherently entertaining at all. Using funny voices to recite boring textbook dialogues is one of my favourites.

Yeah essentially, to be taken seriously and respected; we have to act like clowns.

Sad but true.

Well I think there's a blurry but nevertheless existing line between a bit of clowning and being a clown. Did you never have teachers who cracked jokes or used funny voices? My brother-in-law, who's a 'real' teacher (except that BC public schools don't want to recognise his Alberta MEd) is jumping around, making strange faces, and playing jokes on students all the time. I still wouldn't call him a clown. The guy dressed up in a silly costume waving back at kids yelling 'Annyeong!' having no idea how rude that is would be a clown. But a bit of tomfoolery and joking can still be professional.

[DWAEDGIMORIGUKBAP]

But by the same token; back home you can still be respected and not be threatened with getting fired for NOT being funny.

Huge difference.

[Yu_Bumsuk]

But by the same token; back home you can still be respected and not be threatened with getting fired for NOT being funny.

Huge difference.

When we were gong to school, yes, but if you read American-based teachers' forums these days you'll hear teachers complain about having to make everything fun, and this can factor in when it comes to things like tenure and renewal. Yes, it's probably easier to get by not being fun / funny in the west, but I wouldn't say always.

[thiskentuckygirl]

You might have already found a solution by now- but I totally agree with the Korean common mix up of "fun" and "funny."
No matter what you do, you're not going to please your school, your co-teacher, your student, and your student's mother-
Find a balance that you're happy with. If you want to try to make this one student feel better (even though she sounds
super high maintenance and might not be worth it) make it a personal goal to get her to laugh/smile at least once in each class.
If you don't want to change who you are (I often struggle with this in my Korean public school) find peace that you might have to change jobs when your contract is up!

[Blacklamb]

Thanks, Kentucky Girl.  The student in question quit, but that decision had been made before the Boss came to me with the complaint, I found out.

You know what?? I can't change who I am, essentially. I'm not an actor.

I've taken on some of the suggestions/advice from this thread to good effect, however. Tossing up whether to stay or leave.

[Exogenesis]

I was actually told to make my lessons "fun" so they got more students signed up for the next semester and so on.

[skyblue]

In hakwon, fun is the most imfortant factor for the teachers. Also in the elementary and middle schools, they will want more fun than actural 'learning" from you. I have been teaching both in a high school and a middle school, and I worked with a native speaker once a week. Most of the students considered the classes as 'having fun', so I had difficult time helping the native speaker teaching any serious topic. It's better to transfer to very good schools such 'foreing language high schools' or popular schools in the area. Or  you can go to a public school where there will be less pressure from the "boss".

[colinbro]

Maybe we should re-examine the idea of fun, or perhaps the idea of "teacher, what we are doing is not grabbing my attention!"
I'm fairly new to these postings, but, looking around, I see many people 'simply' teaching well. People post games which I find interesting and want to try in my classes, people talk about activities which range from cute to curious and I love it, and in this series of posts Slurgi talks about 'prefix' itself containing a 'prefix' (and my mind echos "itself contains a prefix which contains a prefix which contains ...)
I'm thinking of teaching a class using some ice (which can turn to water and then to steam or back to ice etc) Is ice interesting? Well yes, it is cold and wet, and it goes well in drinks and is useful in summer and so on. It doesn't dress up in a clown suit or talk in a funny voice. When it falls from the sky, silently, as snow kids love it. They love it so much that they will turn their faces to the sky and open their mouths to catch the ice on their tongues.
They are kids and they find the world interesting. (wonderful, miraculous, cool, fantastic, OK, and so on)
I find that interesting.

If I want to make ice more interesting then I will put water in a small balloon and freeze it in the freezer (where else? oh, that's right, outside in the normal weather). If I want to make it more more interesting then I will make many balloons full of water to put in the freezer. If I want to make it even more interesting then I will ask the students to write their names in pencil on pieces of paper and then put those pieces of paper into the balloons that I will fill with water and put in the freezer, then the students can see their names on the pieces of paper in the nicely shaped blocks of ice that we can examine after freeing the ice from the balloons from the freezers.

And to make it more interesting I could ask the students to fill the balloons with the water and the pieces of paper before we put them in the freezer (or outside).

And: we could add color to the water first; or we could melt the ice after; or we could evaporate the melted ice; or we could refreeze the water in a different shape, or use molds to make different shapes like stars, circles etc; or we could float the ice in water and wonder "why?"; or we could crush the ice, and add flavoring, and add color, and we could eat the colored flavored ice and then we could describe the flavor or the feeling on our tongues or the color of our tongues,

... and so on.

What am I trying to say? Just be yourself. You are not only already very interesting, you are fascinating. You don't have to conform to anybody else's criteria to be fascinating. And any student, who is not brain dead, will be fascinated by you. Even if you are totally depressed and catatonic, the students will still be fascinated. And since you are not catatonic, you are already massively more interesting. You just have to show some of yourself.

I hope this makes sense.

[wtoddm]

Maybe we should re-examine the idea of fun, or perhaps the idea of "teacher, what we are doing is not grabbing my attention!"
I'm fairly new to these postings, but, looking around, I see many people 'simply' teaching well. People post games which I find interesting and want to try in my classes, people talk about activities which range from cute to curious and I love it, and in this series of posts Slurgi talks about 'prefix' itself containing a 'prefix' (and my mind echos "itself contains a prefix which contains a prefix which contains ...)
I'm thinking of teaching a class using some ice (which can turn to water and then to steam or back to ice etc) Is ice interesting? Well yes, it is cold and wet, and it goes well in drinks and is useful in summer and so on. It doesn't dress up in a clown suit or talk in a funny voice. When it falls from the sky, silently, as snow kids love it. They love it so much that they will turn their faces to the sky and open their mouths to catch the ice on their tongues.
They are kids and they find the world interesting. (wonderful, miraculous, cool, fantastic, OK, and so on)
I find that interesting.

[...]

... and so on.

What am I trying to say? Just be yourself. You are not only already very interesting, you are fascinating. You don't have to conform to anybody else's criteria to be fascinating. And any student, who is not brain dead, will be fascinated by you. Even if you are totally depressed and catatonic, the students will still be fascinated. And since you are not catatonic, you are already massively more interesting. You just have to show some of yourself.

I hope this makes sense.

That's all good and true, but the language barrier arises swiftly and relentlessly. I can't have the students read a short story and then get up an act it without proper scaffolding. I consider myself a good teacher, but I can't do very much in classes I see once a week for 45 minutes. Tack on repeating oneself, clarifying unforeseen obstacles, and crowd control, the class becomes only 30ish minutes. I definitely enjoy this profession - I can express myself and my own interests creatively, but I feel like I drop the "academic rigor" ball.