Friday 18 January 2013
Saturday 12 January 2013
Bullying in the 3rd grade
I was totally shocked during the 3rd grade camp.
All the students picked on one girl, pretty much all the time.
They called her "virus" which shocked me due to how nasty it is to say to someone and the fact that they were insulting her in English!
The worst part was not being able to effectively manage the situation or one incident in particular...
During one break I went to the toilet and I heard the name calling from down the corridor... The toilets are separated by a wall that stops short of the ceiling so you can hear the ladies toilets from the urinals. I heard the 'victim' come into the girls toilets and she started crying and in Korean she was saying "I am going go crazy, I can't stand it, what can I do, why why why" and was really crying. I rushed back to the classroom to get the co-teacher, I told her what I had heard in the corridor and that she was crying in the toilet. My co teacher said that she would go and speak to her. Which, after a couple of minutes, she did and the girl came back and carried on as if nothing had happened. I think she must be so used to it that she ignores it most of the time and recovers her composure quite quickly. However the bullies were not spoken to (I tried a couple of times during camp, but it just got laughed off and ignored despite my attempts) it just seemed accepted. There is nothing wrong with her appearance, she seems mentally very normal, here clothes are the same, she doesn't seem poorer than the others - these are the normal reasons for bullying, aren't they? - I just don't get why she is singled out. The other kids wouldn't take paper from her, sit near her, protested when they were told to be in a group with her. I am determined that if it happens in regular class next year I am going to stop the lesson, with or without the support of the co-teacher and I am going to tell them that it is wrong, unacceptable and I won't allow it in MY CLASS, EVER! and I am going to get the co-teacher to translate it, I regret I didn't do it during camp.
Another thing that worries me is that Korea has a really high suicide rate especially, among young students. I think there was 3 incidents last year in elementary and middle schools.
It has really upset me, especially hearing her sobbing in the toilet...
However, I think she enjoyed the camp, I made sure I included her and spoke to her during the lessons and break times, but I wish I could do more!
Friday 11 January 2013
3 weeks of Cookie houses and tuna orios
My 3 weeks of winter camp are finally over...
I actually really enjoyed it, especially when compared to summer camp.
Summer camp seemed like endless days, tiring heat and failure to teach anything meaningful, with few laughs!
Actually winter camp was endless days, freezing conditions and some meaningful lessons!
Apart from the freezing conditions and broken heaters I got to leave early on a good few days which was awesome especially during the last week when Harvey asked me, "can you not go to work as I want to stay with you today". I explained I couldn't but said I would try to come home early, when I walked through the door just after lunchtime he was so excited and I felt like a cool dad! Big smiles all round.
Highs from camp were; kids sharing snacks, a good few laughs, and unusually relaxed co-teacher (for once), my growing confidence in my teaching ability, eclectic flavours during food day, flea market activity along with a few hustlers, a beggar and the student sales man who turned his $23 into $135 in 20 mins, impressing students with my knowledge of Kpop, seriously improving my treasure hunt...
Lows were; a freezing sports hall, today's crisp dumping incident (see below), a freezing classroom, bullying in grade 3....
(-) Crisp dumping incident
During the grade 5/6 final day snack party some 6th grade boys dropped a load of crisps all over the table floor etc and my Co-Teacher asked one boy to flush the wasted food down the toilet (not really sure why as it is dry food waste and it is unlikely it would go mouldy or smell) as we have no collection of food waste during the holiday period. a few moments later I went to put something in my classroom and when I opened my door I noticed that the crisps had been dumped all over my classroom floor... I was pretty annoyed, just put it in the bin you little shit. With the help of the Co-teacher we finally managed to find out who did it, but not really why! Pretty stupid thing to do really!
(-) Bullying Incident
I have decided to make this a separate post as it has upset me that much. It will be posted on Sunday.
(+) Tuna Oreo cookie canapés
I can't begin to explain how weird the flavour combinations are.... tuna and chocolate, jam and tuna... JUST WRONG
I actually really enjoyed it, especially when compared to summer camp.
Summer camp seemed like endless days, tiring heat and failure to teach anything meaningful, with few laughs!
Actually winter camp was endless days, freezing conditions and some meaningful lessons!
Apart from the freezing conditions and broken heaters I got to leave early on a good few days which was awesome especially during the last week when Harvey asked me, "can you not go to work as I want to stay with you today". I explained I couldn't but said I would try to come home early, when I walked through the door just after lunchtime he was so excited and I felt like a cool dad! Big smiles all round.
Highs from camp were; kids sharing snacks, a good few laughs, and unusually relaxed co-teacher (for once), my growing confidence in my teaching ability, eclectic flavours during food day, flea market activity along with a few hustlers, a beggar and the student sales man who turned his $23 into $135 in 20 mins, impressing students with my knowledge of Kpop, seriously improving my treasure hunt...
Lows were; a freezing sports hall, today's crisp dumping incident (see below), a freezing classroom, bullying in grade 3....
(-) Crisp dumping incident
During the grade 5/6 final day snack party some 6th grade boys dropped a load of crisps all over the table floor etc and my Co-Teacher asked one boy to flush the wasted food down the toilet (not really sure why as it is dry food waste and it is unlikely it would go mouldy or smell) as we have no collection of food waste during the holiday period. a few moments later I went to put something in my classroom and when I opened my door I noticed that the crisps had been dumped all over my classroom floor... I was pretty annoyed, just put it in the bin you little shit. With the help of the Co-teacher we finally managed to find out who did it, but not really why! Pretty stupid thing to do really!
(-) Bullying Incident
I have decided to make this a separate post as it has upset me that much. It will be posted on Sunday.
(+) Tuna Oreo cookie canapés
I can't begin to explain how weird the flavour combinations are.... tuna and chocolate, jam and tuna... JUST WRONG
Sunday 6 January 2013
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