Before talking about discipline techniques we need to look at how to make your lessons interesting because if your classes arn't interesting you will probably have problems no matter what. The good news is that in Korea (unlike some other countries like Taiwan or back home) you don't really have to teach them as such. After all you have a Korean teacher for that purpose who alternates with you except for the adult classes. All your employer typically requires is that you engage the students, keep them reasonably quiet, that the students enjoy coming, and that you appear to be teaching the students.
Now this is very different in practice from actually trying to seriously teach them. Eg talking with the students in Korean is often fine (as long as you are also using English) and you can improve your Korean this way. It also engages the students, they enjoy it if you joke around with them and you can keep it vaguely course related. All you have to do is make a pretense of covering the course material. No one is going to care if you are actually talking about a lot of other stuff. You are there for "conversation practice" so its fine. And also if they are getting too noisy you can quieten them down with a spelling test or written exercises. Its also fine to play lots of educational games like races to write a list of words where the last letter of the first word has to be the first letter of the next word. Lots of games like Bingo can be adapted for educational purposes. See Daves Cafe for a hugh long list of similar games. Some can get them a bit hyped up so you can mix them with quieter exercises like Find A Word which can keep them happily occupied for 10 minutes or so (some classes will insist on this activity, others are apathetic).
How effective in practice is most of this stuff for learning English? Actually not very for a lot of it. So why not try to teach them (the kids) properly and in a more disciplined fashion? Because the kids won't like it, you will be unpopular, they will complain to their parents, who will complain to the director who will tell you to make you classes more interesting. The odd person has tryed to teach seriously and succeeded in Korea but its not easy and you need to have the personality to pull it off. Its like you have to compensate for the extra strictness in other ways. Basically they are just so used to Hagwans being like a holiday, at least as far as the foreign teachers go, you're swimming against the current to try and change it.
So lets look at teaching styles and ways of keeping your classes interesting. But first the cream on the cake. A reward system of some kind will make a hugh difference to how your classes respond. I give points for each student which they redeem for candy or icecreams. When they behave inapproapiately they get points taken off and if they do extra well they get points added on to the five points or whatever they get as standard. Its basic but used well it will transform your classses.
Specific teaching tips for different age groups: For the Kindergarten classes most people do plenty of drawing and other arty stuff. Also singing is very very useful and if you can't sing you will be somewhat at a disadvantage. Another important thing is physical exercise. They have lots of physical energy and they need to use it one way or another. So you need to direct it along constructive lines. The best way I know is to combine it with song to really involve them in the activity. Obvious ones are songs that express the actions like "sit down, turn around, turn around...". However you can also combine language and actions in a random fashion. Eg in a baseball song they pretend to hit the bat when they say "baseball, baseball" but when they say "I like baseball..." they have to raise their hands in the air in a certain way which has no connection with the language. They love it as the song gets faster and faster and they have to try and keep up. You play the music that goes with it and theres lots and lots of these sort of songs to use or you can just make them up.
For elementary school kids they are starting to get a bit old for this sort of stuff but you can still use them in the younger grades. Also using songs for other purposes like closure can be very good. Eg I know of a teacher who always finishes elementary classes with the "if you're happy and you know it..." song and they just love it. They like some structure at this level.
For junior high (middle school) you're getting well into the Bingo and other type of educational games that keep them busy and happy.
At high school level they tend to have become somewhat cynical and uninterested in this kind of stuff. You may still be using a textbook but really you will be relying on your personality to both win their respect and to keep them entertained. Lots of teachers have trouble here, those with the personality of a wet dish cloth need not apply.
Adults will almost universally in Korea insist on "free conversation" in classes. Those that don't will get drawn into it by their friends. Basically after studying English (grammar!) for several years they have no interest in any more serious study and mostly just want to practice what they already know. You might cover some new words in class but eg trying to get them to improve their pronunciation of those new words is mostly a waste of time, they just want to have fun. Unfortunately however often their English just isn't very good and you may find that your elementary age kids can often speak better English than the adults. Why? Because they start at a much younger age in Korea these days when its easier to learn a new language. So speak slowly, give them lots of games and activities and try not to stretch their English capabilities too far. Also try having movie and music days etc. The main thing you will need though is an entertaining personality to keep them coming.
So what about discipline? Its most effective to take a carrot and stick approach. Many teachers give out candy etc to good students. Actually the best reward system I've seen uses points which they can use to "buy" various things at the school when they get enough. Its doesn't have to be expensive and if its educational related stuff like rulers you should be able to get the school to pay. If they write each day on a record sheet how many points they get its also a way for their parents to get feedback each day on how they are doing which can give you better control if they reprimand their children for poor scores.
For the stick side of the equation, at the kindie level it really helps a lot of you can speak Korean because their English is so poor. They are really best taught by Korean teachers but if they want to pay us to babysit their children...
To keep kindie and elementary age kids in line the first step is to admonish them but bear in mind that for the young ones they might not understand. Usu for the girls shouting at them is enough. Also you can separate the talkers from their friends; basic but effective. The next level that the Korean teachers usu use (esp for the boys) is a smack. You may not be comfortable with this however and it is illegal so what I do is fairly lightly hit them on the head with the student book that you will have handy nearby. Now the purpose of this is not to cause pain and if you are causing pain you are doing it too hard (on the other hand it needs to be more than a light tap). The purpose of doing it and in particular on the head is rather to shame the student and it is quite effective in Korean culture where the head has a special significance. The next step often used is to get them to stand silently in front of the class. However unless you can speak Korean its unlikely you will have enough control to accomplish this.
This brings us to the most effective technique that I have encountered: "time out". For this they have to leave the class and stand in the corridor by themselves for a period of time, usu up to 5 mins. I have found this to be by far the best technique for the worst student. Often their bad behavior is just a way of getting attention. When they realize that this behavior gives them the opposite of what they are after they let up a lot. It can take a long time for them to develop positive ways of getting attention though. A lot of this problem can come from bad parenting at home and theres not a lot you can do about it. Another plus with this method is that it doesn't build up resentment like other methods can. There is a limitation on this method though and that is that its not popular with management and thats because the parents complain about you pulling their kids out of class and since schools only real concern is getting their money they arn't keen. Thats why you can only use it for short 5 minute or so stints. Usu thats enough though if used regularly. Finally you can pass misbehaving students on to the director who may admonish them, smack them, or phone their parents etc. These techniques can be used for kindie and elementary school kids but remember that most of the support for a well run class will have to come from an interesting instruction program.
For middle school and up you can't really use techniques like "time out". They just refuse and you can't really do much about it. The older they get the more you have to rely on being able to dominate the class through your personality.
So try putting some of these ideas into practice if you havn't already and let me know what you are doing that works so we can all be better teachers. Best of luck!
Other possible disciplining ideas. Mail your suggestions!(I'll acknowledge your contribution) :
(1) Punishment via some boring and monotonous activitry. Get them to write out something over and over. Best used only occasionally since it tends to build up resentment.
(2) Withdraw rewards like candy, refuse to give them end of week or whatever game or movie time. Can be done on an individual or class basis. Best used only if the class has been really bad. Remember if your classes arn't fun they will complain and then you may get complaints!
(3) Humiliation. Best reserved for only very serious cases. If you feel you need to put the whole class through this then you may need to look at other techniques. The idea with this approach is to humiliate a serious problem child either into changing their attitude or leaving the class. Approaches can include getting them to stand with their hands in the air, stand with their arms outstretched holding two books for 5 minutes, balancing a box on their head for five minutes (with the box carefully positioned to fall off after a couple of minutes). The idea is that initially often these things are presented as a challenge. This they like at least initially (if they refuse to do it kick them out of the class) since they get to perform. Of course it shortly becomes very difficult, the other kids laugh at them and they become humiliated. Other techniques include getting them to wear some embarrassing sign and take them around from class to class so the other kids will laugh at them.
(4) Chew them out. Mentioned previously for younger ones but can be used effectively for middle school and even high school if done right. Just take them outside and loudly rip into them. The Korean teachers will then hear and hopefully add their support.
(5) Corporal punishment. Some schools will allow this but as I understand it its illegal. Be careful if you do use corporal punishment via a stick or whatever. Some people have accidentally caused damage like a broken nose and have had to leave the country. Having said all that if you feel comfortable twisting their ears or whatever it can be very effective and a whole disciplining strategy unto itself.
(6) Peer pressure. If one student is extra bad you can deprive the whole class of some reward but explain why. That student will be hammered by the others.
