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Korean Job Discussion Forums "The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
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Skywalker26
Joined: 13 Jun 2003 Location: Up the Kyber Pass
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2003 5:15 pm Post subject: Teaching in Korea V's teaching at home |
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I'll admit, I am going on my fourth year in Korea! Hell, I'll probably be in Korea for the next couple of years. I love it here.
I am just wondering though, how many actual teachers here, those who teach in their own faraway lands, prefer teaching here than at home? I know I do.
I mean let's face it. I get pretty much the same money (if not more), than I do at home. The school I am at treats me with respect (i'm not just another cog in the education machine). I have a great apartment. I work with great people. They feed me all the time. I get feedback on my teaching. I get to muck around with the kids. More importantly I get to act like a clown and still get paid. Now, I may be lucky to be at a good school, but even at the not-so-good schools, you still don't have to worry about taking work home with you, spending hours on prepping for the next days classes. Not to the extent anyway if you were teaching at home.
Teaching in Korea is sooooooooooo much easier than teaching in Australia IMHO.
What does everyone else think? |
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kylehawkins2000
Joined: 08 Apr 2003
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2003 9:23 pm Post subject: |
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I would have to agree.
Teaching in Canada is a highly stressful job. I feel like I'm on vacation here. Mind you I'm only working about 17 hours a week here....for full pay. (20hr/wk contract).
Class sizes are way smaller.....and there is much less responsibility. After all we are not the primary educators in these kids lives. They have teachers in their real schools that are more concerned with 'educating the whole child'. And think of how easy the assesments and planning are here. |
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bugs
Joined: 09 Sep 2003 Location: Classroom
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2003 9:50 pm Post subject: |
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While I have vacationed in Korea and have seriously considered teaching on a short-term basis, I do not regret teaching in the states. Financially, I can probably do better in Korea, but I would not want to give up my freedom that I immensely enjoy in the U.S. However, these are some of the negatives of teaching at an inner-city school in the states:
1. low salary
2. large class sizes - 25 - 35 students
3. disciplined issues with inner-city kids
4. a very diverse ethnic backgrounds with a very diverse languages and
learning styles.
5. excessive amount of time preping for classes, plus grading and
preparing quizzes and tests on your own time, usually weeknights and
weekends.
6. educational system run by a bunch of bureaucrats
7. during summers, taking expensive grad-level, college courses at your
own expense to maintain your teaching credential.
8. very little support from parents; at least in Korea parents care about
their kids' education.
9. very little support from administrators; due to almost a socialistic form
of ed. system, they will continue with the status quo.
10. mediocrity created by the seniority system better known as the
teachers union; once you earned your stripes, no amount of
incompetencies can get rid of you, unless you do some heinous acts.
Oh well, jobs in Korea's looking much better. |
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OiGirl
Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Location: Hoke-y-gun
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2003 3:58 am Post subject: |
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You also need to compare being a clasroom teacher back home to being an English (ESL) teacher. You can definately "muck around" with the kids and act like a clown. |
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BTM
Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Location: Back in the saddle.
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2003 4:21 am Post subject: |
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I taught high school back in Canuckada, on a half-year contract to replace a teacher who was sick. Almost put me off teaching forever. Did a bit of subbing at elementary school level, too, which was perhaps the most traumatic work experience of my young life.
If I ever go back to Canada, I may teach, part-time, to make beer money, but I'm not going back (if ever) until I have enough money to effectively retire, and won't work more than a couple hours a day - nuh uh. |
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anae
Joined: 13 May 2003 Location: cowtown
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2003 4:23 am Post subject: |
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I am a public school sub in Canada. Teaching five years of kindergarten and elementary in Korea was a thousand times easier, no question. |
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Clutch Cargo
Joined: 28 Feb 2003 Location: Sim City 2005
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2003 5:59 am Post subject: |
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Easier on all fronts here. I taught public elementary for a year in Oz and the work load is huge compared to Korea. More prep, almost daily meetings and planning sessions, evaluations, take work home, work on weekends etc. Some schools have special esl classes and they're cool to work in. My eventual aim is to return and teach migrant adults. No hurry though. The money is around the same here but the low taxes, free rent and generally inexpensive living costs make it far more attractive than home, and the work is directly related to my career...fancy that! |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2003 1:10 pm Post subject: |
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I teach adults only here. In addition to most of the factors mentioned by others, the thing that makes teaching here much, much easier than back home is that my students are self-motivated. Hurray for that miracle!
The other thing that makes life and work here better: I am living abroad. At home I tended to fall into the rut of daily life. Here, daily life is more of a challenge and is more fun because of it. |
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Clutch Cargo
Joined: 28 Feb 2003 Location: Sim City 2005
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2003 5:08 pm Post subject: |
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What Ya Ta said about living abroad is a great way to help soak up the workload because it seems to blend in to the mix of being in a foreign country and doesn't get rutty like home can. Good point Ya Ta.
Aw yeah, and the kids (almost forgot ) are heaps more fun here. |
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The Den
Joined: 26 Jan 2003
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2003 5:56 am Post subject: |
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I guess I am going to have to be the one teacher on this thread to disagree and vote for teaching back home (Canada). While the conditions that some of you have described do exist in schools back home they are not so prevalent in my area nor at my school. Yes, I have loads of preparation, I teach grade five and I teach all subjects in a French immersion program. I am responsible for making sure that every aspect of the curriculum is fulfilled and I am held accountable to administration and parents. I am responsible for student evaluation and I am responsible for making decisions that affect lives. I derive a lot more professional satisfaction from doing that kind of work than the hagwon drivel I spout every day. Here is a list of reasons that may explain my viewpoint.
Teaching in Canada VS teaching in Korea.
-In Canada I work five days a week although I usually go in for the better part of Sunday to prep. In Korea I work 6 days a week. Elementary school is never boring. There is coaching extra curricular activities, planning field trips, planning exciting learning activities, working closely with parents as a team, etc.
-In Canada I get about three months vacation. (Summer, Christmas, Spring break and Easter) In Korea I get two weeks. Plus national holidays.
-In Canada I have a house with a yard, and a storage shed in the back. There is grass and I have a car, I get to play hockey in the winter, go skiing, camping in the summer, the rockies and all that stuff.
-In Korea I live with my parents in law in a space about half the size of our house in Canada.
-I have greater faith in Canada's education system than Koreas (for my daughter)
-There are many wide open natural spaces in Canada. Korea has beautiful scenery also but the cities are dirty and crowded.
With all that said you are probably wondering why I am here. I am visiting relatives. I worked at my job for 4 years. My job is waiting for me when I return to Canada. I respect all the reasons that the previous posters named for being here and I have done my time. I feel I have gotten as much out of Korea as I can. I would not consider living/working here for an extended period of time. |
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The Man known as The Man
Joined: 29 Mar 2003 Location: 3 cheers for Ted Haggard oh yeah!
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2003 11:14 am Post subject: |
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You don't get stared at in Canada unless you're naked. |
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kimcheeking Guest
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2003 2:46 pm Post subject: |
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BTM wrote: |
I taught high school back in Canuckada, on a half-year contract to replace a teacher who was sick. Almost put me off teaching forever. Did a bit of subbing at elementary school level, too, which was perhaps the most traumatic work experience of my young life.
If I ever go back to Canada, I may teach, part-time, to make beer money, but I'm not going back (if ever) until I have enough money to effectively retire, and won't work more than a couple hours a day - nuh uh. |
Hey man we gotta get together... I"m always looking for other long-term minded ex-pats. Right now I have no plans to head back for at a minimum of 5 years, but it could be longer.
to stay on topic, I have never taught in public school in Canada |
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shawner88
Joined: 01 Feb 2003
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Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 5:09 am Post subject: |
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Yeah me too. I'll probably be here at least 3-4 more years in addition to the 3 I've already been here. I've considered teaching in Japan for 6 months just to check it out.
I was also a certified English teacher back home, in NY. There the pay is pretty high. Starting pay is about $37,000/year in the suburbs of Syracuse, my home city. But of course after taxes, car payment, apartment, it's still less than here. I was stressed to the gills when I taught back home. After one year I wanted out, badly. The good thing was the vacation time. But you can get that here at a University.
I prefer to live comfortably as I do here. I don't dread going to work anymore. I don't have to wear a stuffy shirt and tie every day and act like a super confident professional hero. |
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Austin
Joined: 23 May 2003 Location: In the kitchen
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Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 6:15 pm Post subject: Korea by far... |
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Teaching in Korea is enjoyable. I wake up almost everyday, and I am excited about what the day is going to bring. The students are excited about having class with me, and the energy is contagious!
In Washington, teaching was a chore. Though I have a passion for my subject area, the school environment "sucked" it out of me. Practically everyday, I did not want to go to school and teach. My students were apathetic at best, though there were some great kids in every class. At the end of the day, I felt completely drained.
From administrative paperwork, IEP's, assessments, discipline procedures, interventions, conferences, etc. the days were long. The drug use in my school was very high, and the students had trouble just attending, forget about doing any work.
My middle school gig in Korea is cake compared to the states, and I make roughly the same salary. However, I am able to save roughly eight to ten times more here. It is a no-brainer, since I do not have to deal with any of the no-teaching related tasks back in the states.
Other teachers situations are sure to be different, but that is for them to decide. |
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bugs
Joined: 09 Sep 2003 Location: Classroom
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Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 7:12 pm Post subject: |
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Hey Austin,
Were you a teacher in WA D.C. or the other Washington?
Seems like you were a Special Ed. teacher, having to do IEPs back home? |
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