::A Geek in Korea::

My director pulled me aside to explain that a parent of one of my students was going to sit in class. I was actually warned an entire class before the parent arrived, so I had time to make sure to have a good lesson prepared. The parent was coming in to watch my class because his daughter felt that the book was too hard. I told my director that I agreed with the parent.

The book I use for the class is much too hard for them. However, it wasn’t exactly my choice. Since I’m not fluent in Korean, and no Korean teacher helps me with comprehension with the text book, I don’t worry about if the students completely understand the story. We read the story a few times in class. Students are expected to read the book a few times for at home for comprehension, and to look up new words they don’t know in a Korean dictionary. We also read once for repetition in class, and pronunciation whenever possible.

I make puzzles and do activities to help with comprehension, but I never grade lessons based on how much a student understands. If they can read and pronounce the words, and they can explain some definitions of the words in English, I’m more than happy. We use the lessons in the book that teach grammar, phonics, new words, and writing exclusively since comprehension is basically a lost cause.Non-fluent Korean speakers can’t be expected to translate the entire story for students. It’s beyond my ability. I do my best to explain, in English, the story, and I also do my best to make the story as easy as possible, but I can’t do anything more than I’m already doing.

I went into class knowing the camera and microphones for listening were on. The parent was in the other room listening to everything I said. I did the single best class I’ve ever taught at that level ever. No student dared to misbehave because of the camera. The lesson I chose was challenging, but actually was material we had reviewed before.  I knew how to explain the lesson easily. Any questions the students had, I could answer. Any exceptions to the rules or special cases were explained without issue. Everything just worked, and I got done much more than I expected. I walked out of class thinking to myself, "Self that was a damn fine lesson. Be proud of yourself for that. Everyone understood, and everyone showed they could do it. Nothing more could have been accomplished in that 50 minutes."

I take pride in my work, but I’m also open to criticisms when students have a hard time, and when parents take the time to see what is going on in class. I really want them to understand that I’m trying as hard as I can to teach the ten to twelve students I see in class.

I went to see the parent. He was sitting in the office, but no one was going to be translating for me. The man spoke some garbled English phrases, but basically he asked me, "Why aren’t you teaching comprehension? My daughter can’t listen to your lesson, and she’s not interested in class because she doesn’t understand everything that is happening in the story." I had walked into the office for consultation with the books in hand, and an attendance record. I knew what I was going to be getting into.

The student in question was relatively new, and never went through the mid-year level assessment tests when she was placed in class. It’s very likely she was placed by age instead of by ability. I can’t say this, because this would imply we didn’t place her in the proper level when we enrolled her. I don’t know who put her at the level she was in.

I also had a record of how many times the girl had done homework in the past month since she had joined the class. She hadn’t done homework five times in the past month. I see students three times a week, so this particular girl was missing at least a homework lesson a week. Specifically, she never looked up new words in a Korean dictionary when she didn’t know them, the single biggest problem with comprehension. The girl in question has never, ever, participated in class. Never volunteered, asked to read, answered a question, or spoke. She’s so quiet and non-participatory, she might as well not even come to class. She never asks questions, so I have no idea how much she knows. Is this my fault? I call on everyone every single class, but trying to get an answer out of a stone is impossible.

I couldn’t exactly say, "Hey, she doesn’t know what’s going on because she never does her homework or asks any questions!" because the man said he helped his daughter very often. He said he studied the unit with his daughter "many times" before she came to class. Whatever he’s doing, it doesn’t seem to coincide with my lessons, because she’s never completing the work I assign, or if she is, she isn’t getting this concerned parent to sign it for her.

I tactfully pointed out that the girl had missed a significant number of assignments I had given her, then told him that short of handing out a Korean translation of the text, there was nothing more I could do to aid her comprehension. I told him that my students in class participate and do other units of the book, but I can’t do much more than help the students figure it out for themselves. It’s the downside of working with foreigners. I can tell you how to pronounce a world, but I might not be able to explain what it means in a satisfactory manner in your language. I am not a native Korean speaker. No amount of complaining would be changing the fact that I can’t explain what everything means.

He said that he thought my lesson was excellent, but that I needed to focus on listening and comprehension more so that this student would be more interested. I told him that in a class with fourteen or more students, there is absolutely no way I can just let everyone speak all the time. It’s simply not going to be productive. I can call on individuals and see what the know, but I have to direct the lesson. Otherwise it’s a complete waste of time. I’d love the girl to understand the interesting stories we read, but having her read and pronounce things correctly was why I get paid. Everything else she takes away from the class is a bonus. She has a Korean teacher for this reason specifically. I’m not responsible for some of the things students need to learn to improve in class because we have Korean teachers that focus on those skills.

They use different books however. Plenty of other students seem to follow what was going on, and lots of other students passed my comprehension quiz at the beginning of class today. Is this girl struggling because she is new? Is it because she doesn’t do homework? Is it because of the book? Is it because of my lesson being stronger in other areas that I deem more worthwhile? It’s probably a combination of all these things.

When my director finally came in to listen and get involved, she mentioned that there were other parents concerned about the level of the book, and that there were lower levels at the same time that might make a more suitable fit for a student struggling with the material. Stubborn parents won’t let us change the book until it is completed, so we’re basically stuck with either a book that is too hard or parents that complain about another book purchase.There are other activities of value in the book, even if the students don’t understand everything 100%, so we aren’t changing. I don’t think the students need to always focus on comprehension anyway if the book is much too hard.

What really gets under my skin is when parents that are obviously concerned, but don’t have all the information, try to tell me how to do my job. If this was one of my better students that always did homework and never did better, I’d be worried. When students that consistently don’t do homework and never participate, it’s a forgone conclusion they will struggle. I was civil about it, and I walked out of class happy that a struggling student had a parent willing to come into the school and find out what was going on with his daughter’s education. That’s a positive sign at least that shows me there is a chance of improvement.