RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

So a bit sensitive here, and this is NOT an invitation to get into a heated discussion about this topic. I just have to get it off my chest. If I see something like this again I will start speaking with my co-workers about it.

Buckle up. This is a long one.

Now then, I think the two first grade teachers at my school that I just started teaching at this year aren't the nicest women. Far from it. I've literally seen and heard them both hitting and 'roughing up' their students as well as using physical means to intimidate them. I've seen or heard it 4-5 times now in the 3.5 weeks I've been here. My office shares a hallway with the first grade classes. I'm usually alone for the vast majority of the day. Until the after-school teachers arrive in the afternoon.

One teacher is typically much worse than the other(s). I'm not talking the typical flick on the head, pinch on the back of the neck, or tug on the ear. I mean drawing her hand back to her shoulder. The most recent incident was the most disturbing. I was eating lunch with my third and fourth grade co teacher, when I see the first grade teacher, with her back to me, talking to two of her students standing against the glass doors.

I can't tell what the boy is saying, but the teacher first offers a tiny wrist slap to the cheek. He keeps talking and she pulls back to her shoulder and feigns one or two times before finally hitting him on the head twice. Unfortunately I was so fixated on the developing situation that I didn't look around to gauge others' reactions. There were 3 other classes in the lunch room still. Two 6th grade classes and a 5th grade class. I wish I had looked around, because I was curious if people had seen her act this way before.

After a very short while of more talking to the students, two first grade girls walked up behind the glass door where the students currently being disciplined were standing. The doors are the kind with the bottom halves blurred, but I could just see their eyes above the blurred portion. I don't know what they said or did, but the reaction from the teacher caught me off guard.

The area the girls were standing in is like a small foyer before entering the cafeteria. The area has all glass walls from top to bottom except for two walls on either side of the doors. I could not see what happened behind the wall to one of the girls, but have a pretty good idea after a couple of my sixth grade boys passed by during the incident. When they walked by they looked simultaneously very confused and disturbed by what they were seeing. One paused for a moment when walking by and kept changing his glance between me and the situation in front of him like, "You seeing this???" with a really worried expression. They demonstrated on themselves what they saw to their friends, grabbing their shirts by the collar and pulling on it to the point where it could rip.

I could, however, see what happened with the other girl. The teacher grabbed her half by the chin and half by the neck, pulled up a bit, and pushed her into the corner. There the teacher pulled back to her shoulder to feign a couple hits before going in for the real thing a few times.

The whole thing lasted only a few minutes, but it was enough to spoil my day. This happened yesterday, but I was too busy preparing for my next two classes in the afternoon to make a post after lunch.

Keep in mind these are tiny first graders. I've taught at a rough middle school (one of the bottom 3 in that particular city in terms of student behavior) as well as several different elementary schools of varying sizes, and I've never seen physical discipline that serious. And I've seen a LOT of different types of physical discipline, most of which doesn't bother me and some I think are fine. This though.. Kind of got to me.

Again this is not an invitation to discuss the pros and cons etc. of physical discipline and start a heated argument that typically devolves from those types of discussion threads. This was more of a post to, get this, vent and collect my thoughts on it. Also we just had a parents open class day today, which got me thinking.. "Do the kids' parents know about this?"

... Also we just had a parents open class day today, which got me thinking.. "Do the kids' parents know about this?"

That might be a great question to ask your favourite coworker. Or maybe even having a (carefully oblique) discussion about the situation with your students...

    However one feels about corporeal punishment, that seems like above and beyond reasonable. Reminds me of that scandal a year or two back involving a video showing a 4 year old girl getting the crap slapped out of her because she refused to eat her Kimchi...

   The follow up on that incident, by the way was to attend a 120 hour child abuse programme, and 2 years jail time.

However one feels about corporeal punishment, that seems like above and beyond reasonable.

It's that or getting your spirit crushed.

However one feels about corporeal punishment, that seems like above and beyond reasonable.

It's that or getting your spirit crushed.

I was hoping for comments about programmes where one can abuse children for 120 hours, but this will do too, I guess. 

So a bit sensitive here, and this is NOT an invitation to get into a heated discussion about this topic. I just have to get it off my chest. If I see something like this again I will start speaking with my co-workers about it.

Buckle up. This is a long one.

Now then, I think the two first grade teachers at my school that I just started teaching at this year aren't the nicest women. Far from it. I've literally seen and heard them both hitting and 'roughing up' their students as well as using physical means to intimidate them. I've seen or heard it 4-5 times now in the 3.5 weeks I've been here. My office shares a hallway with the first grade classes. I'm usually alone for the vast majority of the day. Until the after-school teachers arrive in the afternoon.

One teacher is typically much worse than the other(s). I'm not talking the typical flick on the head, pinch on the back of the neck, or tug on the ear. I mean drawing her hand back to her shoulder. The most recent incident was the most disturbing. I was eating lunch with my third and fourth grade co teacher, when I see the first grade teacher, with her back to me, talking to two of her students standing against the glass doors.

I can't tell what the boy is saying, but the teacher first offers a tiny wrist slap to the cheek. He keeps talking and she pulls back to her shoulder and feigns one or two times before finally hitting him on the head twice. Unfortunately I was so fixated on the developing situation that I didn't look around to gauge others' reactions. There were 3 other classes in the lunch room still. Two 6th grade classes and a 5th grade class. I wish I had looked around, because I was curious if people had seen her act this way before.

After a very short while of more talking to the students, two first grade girls walked up behind the glass door where the students currently being disciplined were standing. The doors are the kind with the bottom halves blurred, but I could just see their eyes above the blurred portion. I don't know what they said or did, but the reaction from the teacher caught me off guard.

The area the girls were standing in is like a small foyer before entering the cafeteria. The area has all glass walls from top to bottom except for two walls on either side of the doors. I could not see what happened behind the wall to one of the girls, but have a pretty good idea after a couple of my sixth grade boys passed by during the incident. When they walked by they looked simultaneously very confused and disturbed by what they were seeing. One paused for a moment when walking by and kept changing his glance between me and the situation in front of him like, "You seeing this???" with a really worried expression. They demonstrated on themselves what they saw to their friends, grabbing their shirts by the collar and pulling on it to the point where it could rip.

I could, however, see what happened with the other girl. The teacher grabbed her half by the chin and half by the neck, pulled up a bit, and pushed her into the corner. There the teacher pulled back to her shoulder to feign a couple hits before going in for the real thing a few times.

The whole thing lasted only a few minutes, but it was enough to spoil my day. This happened yesterday, but I was too busy preparing for my next two classes in the afternoon to make a post after lunch.

Keep in mind these are tiny first graders. I've taught at a rough middle school (one of the bottom 3 in that particular city in terms of student behavior) as well as several different elementary schools of varying sizes, and I've never seen physical discipline that serious. And I've seen a LOT of different types of physical discipline, most of which doesn't bother me and some I think are fine. This though.. Kind of got to me.

Again this is not an invitation to discuss the pros and cons etc. of physical discipline and start a heated argument that typically devolves from those types of discussion threads. This was more of a post to, get this, vent and collect my thoughts on it. Also we just had a parents open class day today, which got me thinking.. "Do the kids' parents know about this?"

Perhaps grow a pair of balls and talk to your boss about this. Hope that's not breaking the TOS.

However one feels about corporeal punishment, that seems like above and beyond reasonable.

It's that or getting your spirit crushed.

I was hoping for comments about programmes where one can abuse children for 120 hours, but this will do too, I guess. 

How's this for crushing spirits?

Many students are moving to scale down their enthusiasm for English after the government decided to evaluate language proficiency on an absolute scale in the state-administrated college entrance exam.

The move will essentially lead parents to cut their investment in English education for their children.

Education offices seem to be fueling the trend with pros and cons discussions about delisting English from compulsory subjects in primary and secondary schools curriculums.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2017/09/181_236742.html

The Elementary and Middle School Education Laws labels English as a compulsory subject, along with Korean, mathematics, general science and physical education.

So what's the fate of English? It hinges on the law.

Woo Dong-gi, superintendent of Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education, is a vocal advocate demanding English be "degraded" into an optional subject.

In a recent interview with The Korea Times, Woo said the English education policy had caused a "great amount of loss."

Donkey?

Well, it sounds like his parents got his name right ;)

I had a conversation with a student who came from Vietnam. This student was born in Korea, but had a Vietnamese mother. I thought that the student would be bilingual. However, the student did not know how to speak Vietnamese at all. I found out that people thought that Vietnamese was useless and that learning Vietnamese would be disruptive while learning English and Korean. The student lost the opportunity to learn Vietnamese due to this mindset. This is a great national loss. [In Daegu, although the number of students is falling, multicultural families grew from 1,423 in 2013 to 3,400 in 2017]

This sounds like a decision made by the parents way before their kid started to learn English. My wife's cousin is married to a Filipina and the language of the house is Korean. I'm pretty sure their kids don't speak English either come to think of it. Not sure why this politician thinks it's a 'great national loss'.

Also making English optional wouldn't necessarily solve the particular issue he mentioned. So the half Vietnamese kid is not made to study English at school, will he be made to study Vietnamese? If not there's no guarantee he'll learn Vietnamese at home. Presumably the father won't speak any. He might end up with only one obscure language and a missed opportunity to learn the international one.

I had a conversation with a student who came from Vietnam. This student was born in Korea, but had a Vietnamese mother. I thought that the student would be bilingual. However, the student did not know how to speak Vietnamese at all. I found out that people thought that Vietnamese was useless and that learning Vietnamese would be disruptive while learning English and Korean. The student lost the opportunity to learn Vietnamese due to this mindset. This is a great national loss. [In Daegu, although the number of students is falling, multicultural families grew from 1,423 in 2013 to 3,400 in 2017]

This sounds like a decision made by the parents way before their kid started to learn English. My wife's cousin is married to a Filipina and the language of the house is Korean. I'm pretty sure their kids don't speak English either come to think of it. Not sure why this politician thinks it's a 'great national loss'.

Also making English optional wouldn't necessarily solve the particular issue he mentioned. So the half Vietnamese kid is not made to study English at school, will he be made to study Vietnamese? If not there's no guarantee he'll learn Vietnamese at home. Presumably the father won't speak any. He might end up with only one obscure language and a missed opportunity to learn the international one.

Knew a half Japanese person back in the states who was monolingual because apparently her Japanese parent was bullied in school so the parent decided that the kid would learn only English.    

I have not been able to find chickpeas .... and now that CO2 posted that brothers green video in another thread a am angry and will also probably be disappointed with my lunch.

I had a conversation with a student who came from Vietnam. This student was born in Korea, but had a Vietnamese mother. I thought that the student would be bilingual. However, the student did not know how to speak Vietnamese at all. I found out that people thought that Vietnamese was useless and that learning Vietnamese would be disruptive while learning English and Korean. The student lost the opportunity to learn Vietnamese due to this mindset. This is a great national loss. [In Daegu, although the number of students is falling, multicultural families grew from 1,423 in 2013 to 3,400 in 2017]

This sounds like a decision made by the parents way before their kid started to learn English. My wife's cousin is married to a Filipina and the language of the house is Korean. I'm pretty sure their kids don't speak English either come to think of it. Not sure why this politician thinks it's a 'great national loss'.

Also making English optional wouldn't necessarily solve the particular issue he mentioned. So the half Vietnamese kid is not made to study English at school, will he be made to study Vietnamese? If not there's no guarantee he'll learn Vietnamese at home. Presumably the father won't speak any. He might end up with only one obscure language and a missed opportunity to learn the international one.

Knew a half Japanese person back in the states who was monolingual because apparently her Japanese parent was bullied in school so the parent decided that the kid would learn only English.   

It's unfortunate that parents think that way, because it's literally almost effortless for a kid to be bilingual if they're exposed to two languages spoken at home during early development. One of my close friends from home is fluently tri-lingual naturally, as English, Hokkien (Chinese dialect) and Tagalog were all spoken in her home. That's obviously an exceptional case, but being exposed in a non-academic setting from an early age makes language acquisition very, very easy, and will likely make it easier for that person to learn languages through study and practice at a later point in their life.

Wouldn't say it's effortless.
We are in the process of introducing this with my son right now. It takes a concerted effort by the parents and people around the family to make it work, especily if both parents are not fluent in both of the languages being taught.
Most people do OPOL, one person, one language, where each parent speaks their native language exclusively to the child. Research shows that it must be total, no wavering. So say, my Korean is just OK, I'm not going to be able to understand what my wife and son are talking about all of the time, which could be frustrating for a parent. If it was a Viet/Korean family, most Korean men would understand basically zero Vietnamese, so it would be even more alienating.

If you do it half assed, you will have a kid who is a mish mash of two languages and not particularly good at either.

Also most researchers agree there is a period usually before elementary school and first few grades, where the child will seem to be behind the other kids in the native langugae of the country, reading, writing and speaking. This usually corrects itself within a couple of years. But you can see how some families would panic a bit at this prospect. Especially living in Korea.

Obviously if you stick at it the advantages of being truly bilingual are huge. Even on just a personal level of having a connection to the two cultures of your family. But it's not always as simple as we might expect it to be.

I have not been able to find chickpeas .... and now that CO2 posted that brothers green video in another thread a am angry and will also probably be disappointed with my lunch.

All of the major stores have them now, so you shouldn't have any difficulty in finding chickpeas/garbanzo beans.

I have not been able to find chickpeas .... and now that CO2 posted that brothers green video in another thread a am angry and will also probably be disappointed with my lunch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI9WGsFUhpI

Korean fried chicken is shit. This is a real chicken. Enjoy salivating, you naughty, naughty waygs.

I have not been able to find chickpeas .... and now that CO2 posted that brothers green video in another thread a am angry and will also probably be disappointed with my lunch.

All of the major stores have them now, so you shouldn't have any difficulty in finding chickpeas/garbanzo beans.

Do you mean in Seoul / Online?

Because my nearest Lotte and Homeplus don't 

So a bit sensitive here, and this is NOT an invitation to get into a heated discussion about this topic. I just have to get it off my chest. If I see something like this again I will start speaking with my co-workers about it.

Buckle up. This is a long one.

Perhaps grow a pair of balls and talk to your boss about this. Hope that's not breaking the TOS.

Exacty. That's what I really don't understand about situations like this. It obviously bothers that particular person. But they do nothing! Just foaming at the mouth and internal judgement. If it bothers you that much, why not do something about it? Or just admit that it's not THAT big of an issue for you, that "ruined my day" is a gross exaggeration.  Because it certainly was not big enough for you to stand up for what you think is right... But I guess typing away is much easier than actually manning up for your ideals 

That's my rant for the day 

I have not been able to find chickpeas .... and now that CO2 posted that brothers green video in another thread a am angry and will also probably be disappointed with my lunch.

All of the major stores have them now, so you shouldn't have any difficulty in finding chickpeas/garbanzo beans.

Yeah. Not all of the stores have them all of the time. So there is that. And not everyone lives in a a city with a large number of "major stores".

I can sometimes get them with ease and other times i can;t find them for months I have to take a 40 minute train trip and then taxi in the hopes the next town over has them. Not everyone has your life Pecan.

I have not been able to find chickpeas .... and now that CO2 posted that brothers green video in another thread a am angry and will also probably be disappointed with my lunch.

All of the major stores have them now, so you shouldn't have any difficulty in finding chickpeas/garbanzo beans.

Do you mean in Seoul / Online?

Because my nearest Lotte and Homeplus don't 

Yeah, both the Lotte and Homeplus have them in dry form, not canned, if that is what you have been looking for.

Go to the dried goods section, with the other beans, etc.

I have not been able to find chickpeas .... and now that CO2 posted that brothers green video in another thread a am angry and will also probably be disappointed with my lunch.

You can order chickpeas, "병아리콩," through coupang. They're dried, not canned, so you have to presoak and cook them.

I have not been able to find chickpeas .... and now that CO2 posted that brothers green video in another thread a am angry and will also probably be disappointed with my lunch.

All of the major stores have them now, so you shouldn't have any difficulty in finding chickpeas/garbanzo beans.

Do you mean in Seoul / Online?

Because my nearest Lotte and Homeplus don't 

Yeah, both the Lotte and Homeplus have them in dry form, not canned, if that is what you have been looking for.

Go to the dried goods section, with the other beans, etc.

Nope not dried, not canned, NOT ANY. Zilch, nada, fokol. I am not a half wit and neither are many other folk on here, of course we have looked in the dried section. Sometimes if someone says "hey we never/hardly ever get those", perhaps accept that as reality, instead of assuming you have some superior mental acuity that others do not.

And yes, Cowboy, I order from Gmarket in bulk, still takes 3-4 days to get to me though. But I have learned. I was making a point. Not all of us can just pop out to the nearest big store and stock up.