Drift Reality > South Korea >Teaching English 2

During the course of the lesson, the smiles eventually grew and slowly evolved into mild laughter. Soon, the entire class was raising their hands enthusiastically. I left the class feeling thoroughly satisfied that I had managed to both entertain and enlighten my students at the same time.

Not all of the classes went so well. My last class of the day was entitled "Expressways 2." The class was composed of twelve thirteen year olds who had just gotten into the Hawkwan system, meaning there English was slightly above non-existent. I walked into the class and was suddenly immersed in a whirlwind of hoarse laughter and high pitched squealing.

Still disturbed by the display that Augustus had put on earlier in the day, I decided to attempt to discipline the class independently.
"Excuse me," I said. They did not even look at me.

"Excuse me," I repeated, this time in a slightly raised voice. Once again, I was completely ignored.

"Hey!" I blurted. To my utter astonishment, even my exclamation went completely unnoticed as they sat and proceeded to ignore me with stunning efficiency.

I shrugged my shoulders, sat down and opened up my book, turning to the lesson that they we were supposed to review that day.

"Okay everybody, lets turn to page 75" I blared in my loudest and most dominant baritone voice. A few of the girls opened up their books but continued to look at one another and talk.

I managed to struggle my way through 40 minutes of being completely ignored by an entire class of students and was utterly relieved when the bell finally rang at 8:15 at night. I felt absolutely defeated as I walked into the teacher's office. I threw my things down on my desk (which had finally been provided for me), and marched over to Mona.

"Mona?" I began. "My last class completely ignores me, what can I do to get them in line?"

She sized me up for a few minutes and then told me, "If they act up, give them a warning. If they act up twice, I usually let them stand in a corner for a few minutes."

This was an idea that had not occurred to me before. It was brilliant. If they were facing the corner of the room, then they could not talk with their friends. I smiled and thanked her and went about my business.

The following Wednesday, I walked into the class and was again greeted by being completely ignored. I marched straight to the board and proceeded to write every student's name down. As I was writing, I became cognizant of the fact that the entire class had quieted down and were watching me very carefully.

I turned to find eleven pairs of eyes were faced in my direction.
"Okay, one," I said as I held up my pointer finger, "and you get this." I drew an X by the first name on the list. "Two, and you're in the corner." I gave them a moment to let my edict sink in. "Do you understand?"

Although they didn't say anything, they nodded their heads. Ryan, one of the louder students in the class, turned to his neighbor and muttered something in Korean.

I instantly wrote an X by his name.

"Okay, that's one."

He responded by looking down at the table. I opened my book and turned to the daily lesson.

"Okay, turn to page 75."

Ryan turned to his neighbor and muttered something else in Korean. My response was immediate: I barked three words in rapid succession, "Hey! Ryan! Corner!"

Ryan slowly gathered his things together and walked towards the corner of the room in silence.

Just as I was beginning to think that my strategy was working, one of the other students shouted something in Korean, and the entire class burst into laughter, including Ryan.

My vague façade of control had dissolved almost instantaneously and I was immediately aware of how ridiculous I looked, standing at the head of the class with a vacant look upon my face, wondering what I might possibly do next.

Within a matter of seconds, the entire class had reverted into its original state: gossiping, looking at comic books, and ignoring the strange silent foreigner who was quietly seething. I came to dread my Expressways 2 class, and it was not an unreasonable fear, they were quite terrible.

Still, I decided to avoid bringing in the Gestapo. I felt at some point during my teaching stint, I would have to achieve autonomy or be a complete failure, always seeking the aid of authors to help me because I lacked the authority and strength to do so myself. Also, I was a little scared of Augustus.

1 | 2 | 3