A student lost her cool in class today. She believed strongly that our teacher has neglected her learning needs and she was not afraid to show her disgust in class.
"I don't know what other students may think but I cannot understand what you are teaching. You are going so fast without explaining those difficult grammars using simpler examples. If you are not helping me to understand, it defeats the purpose of me paying to attend class."
Personally, I think our teacher is doing a great job in teaching. It is just unfortunate that the student is not seeing the fact that she is not at all ready for intermediate-level Korean despite putting in her best effort.
As a third party, it is quite obvious to me what is the cause of the problem and the best solution to it. I empathise with Korean teachers who have had bad experiences teaching Singaporeans especially when the social status of teachers in Singapore is not as high as what is accorded to teachers in Korea.
My belief is that teacher is always dedicated to teaching until proven otherwise. Money that I paid for lesson is for a learning opportunity and not for a training service. I value what my teacher teaches because I trust that my teacher knows the best. In class, I am much better off behaving like a student rather than a customer.
This is my first encounter of such unhappy incident though previously I have heard about cases of students walking out of class and demanding for refunds when their teacher is not whom they like or could not translate Korean to English. I always find such incidents regrettable.
"I don't know what other students may think but I cannot understand what you are teaching. You are going so fast without explaining those difficult grammars using simpler examples. If you are not helping me to understand, it defeats the purpose of me paying to attend class."
Personally, I think our teacher is doing a great job in teaching. It is just unfortunate that the student is not seeing the fact that she is not at all ready for intermediate-level Korean despite putting in her best effort.
As a third party, it is quite obvious to me what is the cause of the problem and the best solution to it. I empathise with Korean teachers who have had bad experiences teaching Singaporeans especially when the social status of teachers in Singapore is not as high as what is accorded to teachers in Korea.
My belief is that teacher is always dedicated to teaching until proven otherwise. Money that I paid for lesson is for a learning opportunity and not for a training service. I value what my teacher teaches because I trust that my teacher knows the best. In class, I am much better off behaving like a student rather than a customer.
This is my first encounter of such unhappy incident though previously I have heard about cases of students walking out of class and demanding for refunds when their teacher is not whom they like or could not translate Korean to English. I always find such incidents regrettable.
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ReplyDelete세상에 나쁜 선생님이 없다.
오직 나쁜 학생만 있다...
선생님들의 도움이는 어디까지만 주실 수 있는데... 나머지는 전적으로 학생의 마음에 달리지 않을까 싶어...
Hi Equinox
ReplyDeleteWith all respect for you, I just can't help to comment on the point being discussed.
Blind trust and believing in whatever your teacher teaches are right and the "teacher knows best" attitude is for the Confucius age in ancient China.
In the knowledge age, we have information explosion. Everyday we have new knowledge discovered. Look at your website, for example. I learned a lot from your blog too. We cannot go back to our good old industrial economy we had once upon a time anymore.
Students should be encouraged to be innovative, to question and challenge the established knowledge and discovered new knowledge and applications. Teacher should take a more innovative approach in achieving effective learning among his students.
Today many teachers have forgotten that they should be teaching in class. They feel so insecure and their insecurity is manifested in them being too keen to show how clever they are to their students. As a result, students cannot achieve effective learning. Students who are concern and care about their progress got extremely frustrated. The indifferent student who couldn't be bothered will remain indifferent.
Regret that I do not agree with your views although I have great respect and thankful for your contribution and sharing.
Thank you
The teacher is not capable in explaining the lesson within the vocabulary of the student which is the cause of this unpleasant event.
ReplyDeleteHave you tried teaching Mathematics to primary school children? The challenge is not to solve the Mathematics problem but to explain how to solve the problem to the child using only his limted vocabulary and understanding. This is an even more challenging task than solving the problem and get the correct answer.
Are teachers able to do that?
Everyone has their point of view.
ReplyDeleteI shall not go further to agree or disagree. Every belief will lead to a certain outcome and the outcome will take care of the belief itself.
I am sorry if my reply falls short of any expectation but in this instance, things are better left the way they are.