I walked into my worst class and witnessed "Tourette’s Boy" calling a fat boy in the class "A disgusting pig" and cursing at him. When I asked him to stop calling the outcast of the class names, the boy sitting next to him said something, and they promptly starting hitting each other. Wonderful way to start the class. I grabbed Mr. "Random Phrase" and escorted him out into the hallway. I told him that I was in class for no more than two seconds before he had done something worth getting in trouble over. I told him to go home and not to bother being in my class anymore. He started crying, probably more in shame than anything else.
I walked into the teacher’s room after the confrontation for a fresh marker. I commented to my director about what had happened. Her husband, who also works as the accountant at the school, was calming down the crying boy. My director had already heard complaints about the class from the previous teacher. 90% of the students in the class hadn’t done homework.
I returned to class only to have a knock at the door. The crying student had been brought back inside, and my director asked for a few minutes of class time. At first I thought this was going to be some sort of new announcement, perhaps about the vacation next week. The look on her eyes was like of a charging rhino. I quickly got out of her way and let her do her thing. I walked out of class and was waiting as she scolded all the students in class. Screaming. Threats. More Screaming. More threats. Possibly beatings occurred while I was outside. I’m not sure.
It’s best I don’t know. By the time I walked into class, the aura of the room had changed completely. An apt metaphor would be last bolt of lightning striking a house a knocking out power, causing complete silence after a once booming storm. A charge dissipated from the room as my director walked out. Seizing hold of the change, I jumped into my lesson immediately, using their fear as a motivator. There was a lot less backstabbing Korean commentary, and actual instances of conversation and dialog between teacher and student today, instead of me shouting over the voices of ten clueless speakers. It occurs to me that several of my students should be studying with children almost half their age, but at least they weren’t actively destructive and bad today.
All it took was a mental lashing and threats of possible bodily harm. The "scared straight" method of teaching.
I don’t see this class next week because of holidays. I will not miss them, but if they come back forgetting how to behave, I’ll probably need to do this all over again.
