...and all that jazz!
I handled my first case of inappropriate touching in the classroom today (except, of course, for dong-chim, because it's standard to let that shit slide). The issue was with my pre-K students, 5- and 6-year-olds. It's a small class of 9 children, but they need individual help, so I trust them not to burn the classroom down for several seconds at a time. I came back around the table to help a boy and wondered for a moment why I hadn't noticed he was left-handed before. It was because his right hand was in a girl's tights. Well, hell. This isn't in the teaching manual!
I told him to stop, moved his chair further from hers, and kept a closer eye on the two of them for the remainder of class, telling him to stop as necessary. I told the kid not to do that at school but didn't want to punish hiim, yell, or otherwise give the kid a complex about touching girls. After class, I notified the teacher who acts as the go-between for the native and Korean teachers that someone needs to talk to these kids, someone who isn't me.
I'm hoping this was the right action to take. Have you other teachers dealt with this before? How did you handle it? (Now the other native teacher is referring to this kid as "The Molester." Sad lol.)
I say kudos on being careful not to give him a complex. I think someone just needs to explain to him that there is a time and a place -- and also, maybe wait until you're a bit older? I'm no expert, but that seems like the best thing to do. What an awkward situation, but I think you handled it well.
ReplyDelete