My superstar learners get a pizza treat

Ki-Youn, Chan-hyuk hold up their point cards with my co-teacher

Just before our school's winter break, I threw a small pizza party for the class I call my "superstar class"; the students who were challenged this year and required a little extra help. We started out with almost 8 students in the first semester; second semester, our number count dwindled to 2.  The class was only held for 20 minutes after lunch once to twice a week.

This semester the tiny handful of students held spotted attendance, with the exception of two. Surpringly Ki-Youn and Chan-hyuk (read post here) were our near faithful attendees.

Confidence beats intelligence

In the case of slow learners, confidence is often what I strive for over intelligence. If you can give any child the feeling they can succeed, then it's enough incentive to keep them trying even if they get wrong answers.

Take for example, Ki-youn, who has made grand improvements in confidence and in growing "smart brains". He's been participating a lot in English class and our superstar class and you can see his
excitement and effort towards his learning. His confidence has gotten so bold that even when gets an answer wrong, he keeps trying like rapid fire until he gets it correct. This is when confidence turns into a never-give-up motto and one of "keep trying until you get there".

Chan-hyuk is getting closer to confidence, though he occasionally has difficulty. Still, we let him earn enough success and achievement that he continues to come to class and try even when the attendance dwindled. Confidence is key. 

Employing incentives and rewards in the classroom

As an added incentive to keep our attendance numbers from dropping further,., I made point cards for attendance and participation. I told the class that if they got 30 points they could attend the pizza lunch that I would treat them too.

I don't always understand why my co-teacher occasionally wants me to speed up the process of rewards, when I'm the one who initiates the idea of point cards, pizza and spends the time/money implementing it. She wanted me to have the pizza lunch earlier that I had scheduled, because the "kids were looking forward to it". She might have assumed I was treating all the students to pizza despite the lack of attendance and such. But with me, that's not the case...

Some award stars I made for my 4th grade star pupils and for my 2 slow learner stars

Rewarding students only when they do a good job

Life doesn't reward lazy people, does it?  As such, I don't reward students when they continually fail to show up or make no effort. I don't reward laziness. Some teachers may bend in their standards in order to appease all students with a reward. It isn't fair to the students who worked hard and enforced their own self-discipline.

A promise is like a contract-- rules are rules and you must honor them.

When I make a deal with my students, I state my conditions and leave the rest up to my co-teacher's translation of the rules and my students' responsibility.

When one of the students, Chan-hyuk had 25 points (not the required 30 points) and my co-teacher wanted me to reward them early, I had to put my foot down.  The agreement was 30 points.  No 30 points, no pizza. Simple.

Thus, they had to wait out our regularly scheduled date, so that Chan yuk could get his points. 

And he did.

4 Tricks for Getting Slow ESL Learners to Start Learning Fast.

picutre by http://justicebuilding.blogspot.com/


1. Always get the bad student on your side and the rest will fall in line.
No one wants to be the absolute worst student of the class but when you have one, he sets the bar for the rest to act wild. But what happens then, when your worst student gets better? No one wants to wear that crown...

2. Kids will rise to the expectation you set for them.
If you expect them to be stupid or bad, they'll meet that expectation. But if you see potential in them, they'll see it in themselves.

3. Give them higher challenges but don't make them unreachable.
Everyone appreciates a good challenge. Give a student something easy, they'll get lazy and lose respect for it. Expect too much of your students and you'll only succeed in
alienating them from what you want them to learn. Somewhere you have to play the grey line of challenging tests. Give them a chance to define their own challenges; occasionally, you need to let them set their own bar or a bar that challenges their unending potential.


4. Always focus on the special skills and talents they have to encourage confidence.
Sometimes, it's hard to find redeemable qualities about a bad student, but it doesn't have to be big. It could be as small  "Hey, you write very nice "S"'s". Whatever it is, point it out... in front of everyone. Make that student the role model every once in a while and you may see a silent pride and a giant shift called confidence. Why? They need to know they're good at something. This is called the sweet taste of success and it gives them confidence to want to be better! An achievement, no matter how small is an achievement for kids.

During one of our recent classes, I played a brilliant Powerpoint game I found on Waygook.org called the Olympics (awesome awesome game on comparisons-I'll post it later!)  Students work in teams and must send up an athlete they think can win the event, like who is the strongest (arm wrestling)? Or who has the longest hair? ...

We were short on time so my CT wanted me to stick to the textbook vocab words. "Biggest" was on the list, BUT the ppt had the event -- Who has the smallest feet? Knowing Chanhyuk was our smallest student and the one most challenged by learning, I switched in the small feet event and when it came up, the kids all roared with laughter and cheered his name. Little Chan hyuk was so proud he was of his tiny feet! But it encouraged classroom recognition and confidence for little Chan hyuk.

Can you transform bad students into Good ones?

If looks could kill, you'd be his next victim. Welcome to 6th grade...

Always get the bad students on your side and the rest will follow.
No one wants to be the absolute worst and if you have one of those student like that in your class, he/she will set the bar for the rest of your bad eggs to go crazy.

This is advice from my mom, a retired elementary school teacher. She offered me this tip as one of a list of many, as she laid it before me and my 6th grade co-teacher after visiting my school and sitting in my 6th grade classes last spring.  Whoever thinks the kids of school teachers have it easy, think again... My co-teacher got the polite version. I got the accusatory and disgusted one when my mom couldn't understand how I could be her child and still not know how to manage my 6th grade classes. She actually has a reputation with other schools and teachers as the teacher that turns bad students into good ones.

But what can you do when your co-teacher does want to implement strong classroom management skills, yet insists on being THE teacher the students look to? Well, you get dragged around like a kite pulled by a long string on a day when there's no wind....


Things have changed since, but at the time most classes felt manageable, with the exception of one class... 

"Sometimes I wanted to tell my students--'You make me want to die'." 
-- homeroom teacher of Class 6-3

Shocking quote, eh? But if you had this class, you might think the same thing too. Class 6-3 always emitted a deep and agonizing groan from me- an "Oh my god...Why?" ... I obviously wasn't alone. Were they that bad? By Korean standards...worse.

I'm a hardened ex-New Yorker, who's dealt with bigger things in life, but this class was horrible! My girls were more bully than boys, I had kids I thought could be future Korean mafia (or the sons of them) and who would say curse words to me in Korean and laugh at me cause I couldn't understand it, and my slow kids wouldn't lift a disinterested finger to try. At one point, I actually yelled at and walked out on them. The class was like a house of cards. If one twitched, the entire balance would tumble down. 

What did we do to change them?
Aside from my co-teacher threatening them with the lie that "Christine actually understands Korean, so she knows what you are saying to her", I honestly don't know. We tried many things. I gave my attention to many students and spotlight praise has been a great dangling carrot. However, there are two students that we worked with, whose change I feel affected the whole class.

Chan-hyuk, the Mouse
Chan-hyuk was the absolute king of this nightmare class. He isn't a big bully, tough guy or have a loud voice; in fact, he is tiny and soft spoken. He is our class mouse. But when he wants attention his tiny stir can be disruptive -- kicking the back of student desks, turning around trying to get others to play with him, throwing things and generally, faking absolute disinterest throughout class. Speaking-wise, his tongue always got in the way of comprehensible pronunciation. Even if he tried, he'd slaughter his attempt with his tongue. Instead, he took the easy route of I'm stupid; leave me alone.

My co-teacher and I spent some time with him and to my slower kids, I occasionally speak a few words of Korean to remind them they can't get away with things.

Encouragement is the key to confidence. Every student craves attention and essentially wants to be your model student. For Chan-hyuk, pats on the back and grand gestures of praise in front of the class has given him a ladder to climb towards confidence. I also find, he's one of the students who likes the speed games I play with them (whispering) (and I occasionally rig the games so that my slow students have time to prepare their answer or get something we've worked on together!)

Chan-hyuk's progress is fickle but I can see him developing visible confidence along the way, such that he actually focuses, pays attention and TRIES. These days, he loves to participate, he tries to do speaking games correctly and when we have the class repeat words, he's not just faking a moving mouth. Okay, sometimes... But I've never seen such a 180 degree change in someone.

Hyojin, our strong man with a mysterious burden

No one can explain to me what's wrong with Hyojin, other than he had a mental illness last semester which had him out of school for a couple of months. Since, I think the class labeled him as the "class nut," but Hyojin is our gentle class giant with an infrequent and uncontrollable twitch. He's not a bad student, just a little slower due to his illness or mood swings.

Hyo-jin's always been one of my favorite students from the start, but I couldn't tell you why. Probably because he was one of the handful of obedient students who'd participate well when  our class was possessed by other devils.  And when he's confident, he tries to "big brother" the more troubled students, like Chanhyuk.   At times, he tries hard; and at times he completely shuts down. His learning curve isn't as great as Chan-hyuk's but because the kids don't like him much, his vocal participation in class helps.   Like Chan-hyuk, Hyo-jin is one of the students I keep an eye on when I make my rounds in class. They're the ones I spend time working with.

Last semester we held a "special kids class", every Tuesday after lunch and for 20 minutes. It was too short but all our weaker students got a chance to review with more attention paid to them. I think this encouraged Hyo-jin. He'd try to make each class religiously and if he couldn't, then he'd actually look pained.  While Hyo-jin still occasionally shuts down, he does do a lot better than he did before. These days, he participates with confidence!

In fact,... 95% of the students in our "special kids class" have gotten stronger in class participation and have been consistently raising their hands to give answers during normal class! It's as if a bit of attention has given them all confidence that they can improve and succeed.

Can two good apples can sweeten the barrel of bad?
Um,... yes. These days, due to the fact these two students are making improvements, the entire energy and mentality of the class has shifted. The mafiosos are shaping up and are more attentive in their learning-- they try and participate. My girl bullies are showing themselves to be intelligent "girlie-girls" and my slow students are making visible improvements.  My worst class is now my best class of the semester-- my diamond in the rough.

Always get the bad students on your side and the rest will follow. 

I guess my mom was right after all...   Have you ever had a bad class go good?

The Special Ed kids in my class will surprise you.

The Special Ed kids in my classes will surprise you. Honestly. They surprise me!  Korean schools don't separate special needs students from normal students. They're mixed into the class along with the handicapped, but the only teacher that really pays attention to them is their Special Ed teacher. Me? My favorite students are the special ed and slow students. Why? They're the most challenging yet, they're the ones I've seen the most marked improvement in if I show them a little extra attention. And I find, I can sometimes speak to them on a more normal level than my normal students. Unfortunately, my special students' grades won't reflect it and their performance is based on their moods and
tempraments, but on a speaking level, they're beginning to surprise me. Many have been coming out of their shell.

"Shona"- Special Ed, 3rd grade,
aka My Wild Child
That's the closest I can come to her name, because that's how it always sounds when my co-teacher calls her. She's one of my special students who is dramatically shy and many times, verbally incomprehensible. She might be a bit autistic; her nose is always running. She screams and hides from you in a violently playful way when you say Hi, and she's highly sensitive... but she likes receiving attention. She attends an English after school program in our school, though she can't apply any of her knowledge to class, so her classmates think she's stupid. That doesn't mean English words aren't in that little 3rd grade brain of hers. She often raises her hand to answer a question and when I pick on her, I can see the vague impression of words still reeling, trying to form in her head. 

Somewhere in the middle of the year, she's shown a slight improvement. Is she really learning or just developing confidence? It's one or the other. She surprises her classmates by occasionally having the answer and when she does, I make a huge "astonished" show of it... so does her classmates; and this is enough to keep her trying for more.

I talk to Shona more than I do a normal student and I do so in a way which is almost like me, talking to my 3rd grade self... who understands English! As my unpredictable wild child, I don't expect her to respond. She talks to me in Korean, I talk to her in English. Neither of us really understand each other and that's okay. We act like we do. But sometimes, outside of class when we're alone (ie I'm leaving school and she's leaving school too) , the pressure's off,  I talk to her and if she has difficulty understanding the gist of what i'm saying, I might sprinkle in a word of pocketbook Korean.  She responds either in English or Korean.. but she responds correctly, like we're having a casual "conversation".  It's kind of eerie but also cool and I'm proud of her!

Me: Shona, are you going home now?...
Shona: Yes. (and then continues talking in Korean)


It may sound like a little but compared to my normal or shy students, sometimes, it's a lot!

Ba-ul,  Special Ed 5th grade,
aka My kite flyer, future astronaut and lunchroom interviewer.
As my student enigma, Ba-ul often loses focus and concentration in class. He's connected to two worlds-- ours and his own, out in space. My first introduction to him was during my 2nd week of school- he was talking loudly to his neighbor in class while I was reviewing lesson vocabulary and so I marched up and said-- "Seeing as you boys like talking, can you tell me what this is?..." (I was mimicking my mom, who's a retired teacher & this was one of her classroom management techniques)  My co-teacher quickly ran up to me and with embarassment, whispered-- "That's Ba-ul, he's "special"... just ignore him!" The class laughed-- I was now "in" on the joke... That was the first time, I realized we had Special Eds in our classes.

But I don't ignore Ba-ul. From time-to-time, when he's floating out in his own world, I occasionally reel his kite back into the textbook. I practice pronunciation with him or make him write. For Ba-ul, words are like pretty, day-dreamy kites, floating in the sky. So, I try my best to give them tangible meaning and connect those flying words through human interaction, speaking, writing, a friendly pat on the back when he connects and does good. When he concentrates, he actually writes nicely, enunciates better and more sweetly than some of my normal students. Also, he occasionally surprises me when I talk to him. If he doesn't understand, he says sweetly "Teacher, I don't understand"(and not the typical "Mollayo" that I get from the rest of my students).

*Note of interest-- Ba-ul's one of the students that comes up to me during lunch, but unlike many who just tell me Hi, he asks me

"Teacher, how is your lunch? ...Delicious?"

Me: Yes Ba-ul, very delicious.
Ba-ul: Good. Bye.


Today after doing this routine with me, he turned to my 4th grade co-teacher and without a stop in flow, addressed her with the same question... in Korean! Switching language channels like that is not easy-- maybe its one of those genius signs of autism, as well-- but it nearly dropped my jaw. Despite being Special Ed, he has the potential to be a better student than many average ones.

Okay, so these are just 2 of my wonder students, but the fun doesn't stop there. I'll write more later about my  favorite class-- the one that "used to be" my worst!

If looks could kill, you'd be his next victim. Welcome to 6th grade...

Notes from a Talking Recorder

I try to make it a point to talk to my students outside of class. Sometimes I can tell if it's working; sometimes, I can't. I hear Korean students were shy about talking and I know from experience that it takes a lot of courage to talk to your teachers- foreign teacher or not. Saying Hi to me in the hallways is one thing... it's automatic and an expression out of respect. But if they come up to me at lunch while I'm eating amongst the other teachers to say Hi, that's a different level entirely.


If they do initiate a greeting to me while I'm eating lunch, I do what's probably impolite to the teacher who's talking to me or the group at the moment; I turn around and tell the student Hi and answer their questions if they have any. I've not asked my co-teachers if this is rude or annoying to them, I probably should. But getting my kids familiar or confident with using English outside the classroom on a casual basis is one of my priorities.

... Even though it's been a little over 8 months, some of them are still shy.

What happens when the words run out?
Good question. Sometimes, I get tired of the monotonous Q & A routine-

Student: Hello Teacher.
Me: Hello,...Good Morning,... Morning,...

Student: How are you, teacher?
Me: I'm Fine, Great, Fantastic, So-So, Okay, Awesome, Tired, Not bad

...I've used them all. Now what? Anyone know of any more?...

I know my vocabulary is larger than that (I think,..) and I can't stand that I'm sounding like a broken record.

Solution: Why not ask them a question back?
Or maybe not... I've tried it. My students are great at initiating a question but responding to one is a different story.

Me: How are you?
Student: (deer caught in the headlights look, embarassed, shy... giggle and runs away)

Me: How's your lunch?
Student: (stunned, shy, looks around at other students, doesn't know what to do...)  Uh, mollayo. (aka: the Korean "I don't know")

I haven't found ways to deal with that yet, so I lead them with:

Me: Good? Delicious? Great?
Me again:... Chowayo? (Korean: You Like?) Mashisoyo? (Korean: Tasty?)

It's on the last two words, I get that  Ding! Idea is now registered. They laugh and nod, embarassed. But they still ...don't answer. We practice Hello, How are you today? (Lesson #1) at the beginning of each class, but outside of class they either don't know or are still too shy to apply it!  A bit frustrating and I'm not sure what to do to get them to feel more comfortable with using English outside the class in other situations.

Help! If anyone knows of any solutions or anymore responses I can give them, please let me know...

Why I think Speed Games are great for my slow students

I'm a big fan of speed games, especially when it comes to using them as class warmups on a Monday morning.

For me, there's nothing better than a surprise attack that will pop open my elementary students' crusty eyes and get their little hearts and adrenaline racing with a game, which forces them to think on their toes.