When and if I use Korean in class, I use formal language -- 조용해요, etc.

And I certainly don't accept 반말 from children. I don't expect them to treat me any differently than they would a Korean teacher in the same position. A lot of kids want to be rude or treat foreign teachers as less than Korean ones, and that's a messed up thing to leave unchecked. So I make a big deal about it when they do -- not flipping out, but making it clear that it's inappropriate and won't be accepted.

It's okay to make a scene and draw a very clear line when it comes to students' behavior. It's the very first step in creating a productive, cooperative classroom environment.

lecture or address entire class -formal
address a single student in front of entire class -semi formal
1:1 / groups -formal/non formal

Students must speak one level higher when addressing a teacher at school.

Never use slang unless you are also coach or kpop dance teacher and did army service here.

lecture or address entire class -formal
address a single student in front of entire class -semi formal
1:1 / groups -formal/non formal

Students must speak one level higher when addressing a teacher at school.

Never use slang unless you are also coach or kpop dance teacher and did army service here.

What's the stigma with slang? I mean I don't use it in the classroom, but outside the classroom I'll use it here and there, at least when appropriate and only the little that I know. Hell, my students have taught me more slang than I've learned on my own.

Quote from: sejongthefabulous on June 02, 2015, 07:21:38 am

lecture or address entire class -formal
address a single student in front of entire class -semi formal
1:1 / groups -formal/non formal

Students must speak one level higher when addressing a teacher at school.

Never use slang unless you are also coach or kpop dance teacher and did army service here.

What's the stigma with slang? I mean I don't use it in the classroom, but outside the classroom I'll use it here and there, at least when appropriate and only the little that I know. Hell, my students have taught me more slang than I've learned on my own.

It's also hard to know what is/isn't slang. Like, my old Korean teacher had said that 아싸 (or maybe it's 았아; they'd be pronounced the same) was slang and my coteacher used it and said it was not slang (though she's younger).

What if a student or teacher refers to you as "waygookin' in the class?

Is that impolite?

The people who speak the language, Koreans, probably have no opinion on whether that is "impolite" because they would never be referred to as waygookin.

It's actually quite common in Korean to refer to someone by their role rather than they name.  For example, students use "선생님" when we'd use their name, and employees might say "부장님" instead of their boss's name.

However, I really wouldn't put "waygookin" into this category, and it could mean the students will respect you less for it.  So, I'd ask them to call you by your name or "teacher" or both.  It's often times lost on CTs that students will tend to respect foreign teachers less than Korean teachers or that they should correct that tendency.  Maybe that's because they don't think about it, or perhaps they think we're not deserving of that designation because we're not "real teachers" (and, to an extent, that's true).  However, students need to respect the NETs as teachers, especially if the NET is expected to teach classes alone (which most of us are).  So, I think it's best if students are expected to treat the NET the same as any other teacher.

Are you sure they're calling you waygookin and not weoneomin (원어민)? The latter is always translated at my school as the Native Teacher, though I guess foreign teacher is closer. No one addresses me as 원어민, but occasionally students refer to me as that, or 원어민 선생님, which isn't rude.

Every teacher at my school uses banmal, with students and with one another, in class and out. No one does with me, though, haha.