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Why the hell won't they tell you anything in advance?!
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Stalin84



Joined: 30 Dec 2009
Location: Haebangchon, Seoul

PostPosted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 6:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

gay in korea wrote:
The South Korean economy is one of the most inefficient in the developed world. Your story is a major reason why. The level of disorganization is obscene. Attribute it to whatever you want, but it's not a good thing: k-culture, DPI etc.

When I was working at a middle school I never had class before 9:20, and most of the time it was 10:30. But there would be random days where the schedule was accelerated and I had class right at 8:30, but no one ever told me. I don't blame the culture, it's just plain incompetence. But it will require a wide-scale cultural shift to correct.


Its plain ridiculous.

There are situations in life where adapting quickly is necessary. In those situations, I expect rapid change and adjust to it, like when I'm driving. Thats a situation where adapting and changing constantly is an accepted and expected practice.

However, teaching is not driving. I could come in and prepare a lesson plan as fast as I could as if there was a gun to my head. I could. But its absurd, why should I? They knew there was going to be class last week, why didn't they tell me? Why give me crap when I've done nothing wrong?

Its the fact they force me down the path of most resistance that annoys me. They give me shit when they don't need to. If a job I worked at back home did this I'd quit. Here, quitting is more difficult so I find it best to just bite my lip and chalk it up to "cultural differences".

No wonder public schools here are well known for their low quality teaching. Good lesson plans can't be spun up on a moments' notice. What are they even preparing us for by making us come up with lessons on the fly? Is the god of teaching going to make us pass a battery of tests that all require speed and the ability to pull lessons out of our ass?

Anyway, yeah. I agree. This drives me nuts. In one month from now I'll be working in Japan. I hope its not the same there. I really hope...
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teacherinseoul



Joined: 18 May 2008

PostPosted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 7:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

seoulsucker wrote:
Yup, South Korea ranks in the top 5 countries in what sociologists call PDI or power-distance index. This type of of behavior is a classic example.


Thanks for the heads up on the PDI. I'm not a sociologist or cultural anthropologist, but Hofstede's indices are fascinating.

Edit: http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_south_korea.shtml
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The Gipkik



Joined: 30 Mar 2009

PostPosted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 8:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Knowledge is power in terms of prevention as well. I know that schedules are often last minute here, even ad hoc at times. Keep a file with emergency lessons in it. Lessons that can function as a review or as fun add-on material. Use this for days when the unpredictable happens. Also keep a series of activities that can be adapted at a moments notice with new vocabulary, target language or whatever. This keeps stress at bay and lets you at least have some sense of control over the impending chaos.
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hockeyguy109



Joined: 22 Dec 2008
Location: Daegu

PostPosted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 11:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

teacherinseoul wrote:
seoulsucker wrote:
Yup, South Korea ranks in the top 5 countries in what sociologists call PDI or power-distance index. This type of of behavior is a classic example.


Thanks for the heads up on the PDI. I'm not a sociologist or cultural anthropologist, but Hofstede's indices are fascinating.

Edit: http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_south_korea.shtml


What are the other top 5 countries? I'd like to know so I can avoid them at all cost.
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ThingsComeAround



Joined: 07 Nov 2008

PostPosted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 11:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Stalin,

I completely agree with your assessment that the public school system is FUBAR, unfortunately no one will raise a finger to change/improve things. Most of the time they don't care if you do show them a movie, they are trying to get a rise out of you emotionally- trying to piss you off and see if you take the bait.

It happens because most people here are
A) on power trips
B) ignorant that this is not how the rest of the world conducts business
C) they just forgot to tell/translate for you

(apologists please save your "this is Korea, do things the Korean way")
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broken76



Joined: 27 Jan 2008

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 12:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

For public schools the calendar is almost definitely on the internet and available for anyone to log into. Now chances are the average foreign teacher doesn't know how to do it.
In most cases everyone makes an assumption and your stuck not knowing what's going on. You assume that someone will tell you while everyone else assumes someone told you.
Now the kicker is what should Koreans do? Should they treat the foreign staff like babies and handhold them through everything? Or should they treat them like adults and have them follow the same thing everyone else does?
Now for someone who's been here for three years to still need someone holding their hand throughout everything seems a bit excessive.
I know that I'm being overly harsh in this reply but I've had a long day.
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conrad2



Joined: 05 Nov 2009

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 12:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

broken76 wrote:
For public schools the calendar is almost definitely on the internet and available for anyone to log into. Now chances are the average foreign teacher doesn't know how to do it.
In most cases everyone makes an assumption and your stuck not knowing what's going on. You assume that someone will tell you while everyone else assumes someone told you.
Now the kicker is what should Koreans do? Should they treat the foreign staff like babies and handhold them through everything? Or should they treat them like adults and have them follow the same thing everyone else does?
Now for someone who's been here for three years to still need someone holding their hand throughout everything seems a bit excessive.
I know that I'm being overly harsh in this reply but I've had a long day.


If thats the case, then we foreign teachers can read the schedule, see that the entire month of Januray is off, and not come in and desk warm after all. Right? No hand holding there.
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Stalin84



Joined: 30 Dec 2009
Location: Haebangchon, Seoul

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 1:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

broken76 wrote:
For public schools the calendar is almost definitely on the internet and available for anyone to log into. Now chances are the average foreign teacher doesn't know how to do it.
In most cases everyone makes an assumption and your stuck not knowing what's going on. You assume that someone will tell you while everyone else assumes someone told you.
Now the kicker is what should Koreans do? Should they treat the foreign staff like babies and handhold them through everything? Or should they treat them like adults and have them follow the same thing everyone else does?
Now for someone who's been here for three years to still need someone holding their hand throughout everything seems a bit excessive.
I know that I'm being overly harsh in this reply but I've had a long day.




I've asked my school about the magical "online schedule" numerous times over the years. They've told me that A) it doesn't exist and B) if it did, it would never be accurate as things change pretty frequently. If it did exist, as everyone knows I'm computer literate and know the school's network, I would have been told about it or I would have discovered the file/site myself.

A lot of people complain about this phenomenon and we can't all be "babies." I have asked for schedules, repeatedly. I have Cool Messenger on pretty much the whole day. I generally try to read the messages in Korean that pertain to dates, vacations and class changes. In these situations, I hadn't received any information and I asked my head teacher (the department head) on Friday whether or not there would be class on Monday. She told me that there would be no class and that I didn't have to come in until 9:00am. Another teacher ("Whitey wrangler") this time told me that he didn't know, then made himself unreachable afterwards (he took his vacation).

This is a chronic problem with a lot of schools. A lot of people are brazen enough to ask for a schedule or even demand one. I've heard the "oh, we assumed so-and-so told you" excuse before from co-workers but when it comes down to it, having urged them to tell me so many times, I'm honestly starting to believe they're conspiring against me. Which is absurd, but it is definitely more believable than "oh, we were busy and we forgot to tell you." In most cases I ASK THEM and they tell me that they don't know or they tell me the opposite of what the case actually is.

When I know something might be different in the school in the near future, I always ask someone about it. Sometimes they tell me about it but its usually like today, where I see something happening and I ask about it while its happening (all the students showing up for example).

Seriously, its not me (us)... its them. I speak Korean pretty well too and they know that. When I'm not enjoying the silence of the English classroom I'm in the main office. I make a habit of asking the department head about scheduling stuff regularly, too, as this has been happening for the year and a half I've been in public school.
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broken76



Joined: 27 Jan 2008

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 1:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Stalin, thanks for clearing things up for me and I must say that I jumped to a conclusion that in your case isn't true. But it does seem strange that everyone in the school would be feeding you disinformation.
If it is the case I would specifically tell your principle exactly what happened. Tell them I asked so and so and they said this. I asked "Whitey Wrangler (love the term btw" and then he told me this and disappeared. If it really isn't your fault tell your principal. Instead of laying blame here where it's going to be a bitch fest place the blame where it's due. Your coworkers are definitely gonna be ticked off but in the long run they should learn their lesson. Now I'm only saying this is it were intentionally done, if you feel that it wasn't then explain things to your coworkers.
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Stalin84



Joined: 30 Dec 2009
Location: Haebangchon, Seoul

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 1:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

broken76 wrote:
Stalin, thanks for clearing things up for me and I must say that I jumped to a conclusion that in your case isn't true. But it does seem strange that everyone in the school would be feeding you disinformation.
If it is the case I would specifically tell your principle exactly what happened. Tell them I asked so and so and they said this. I asked "Whitey Wrangler (love the term btw" and then he told me this and disappeared. If it really isn't your fault tell your principal. Instead of laying blame here where it's going to be a bitch fest place the blame where it's due. Your coworkers are definitely gonna be ticked off but in the long run they should learn their lesson. Now I'm only saying this is it were intentionally done, if you feel that it wasn't then explain things to your coworkers.


Yeah, that's a good idea. If I wasn't leaving in a month I'd follow through on it, haha. I was going to express my difficulties in hopes of them being easier on the next NET however it seems most of the staff, including said "whitey wrangler" is rotating to different schools come March.

I guess the post was a vent more than anything. I just want to know the 'why'. When I went to the GEPIK orientation there were a lot of people who raised their hands when this issue was brought up. Some of them were the kind of people I know would get on their employer's case about it yet we all had the same problem. Its very strange, in any case.
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Cerberus



Joined: 29 Oct 2009

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 2:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Op I can't help myself , your post simply begs for it.

You just don't understand Korean culture!! Very Happy

turning serious however, you can easily learn the school schedule by simply asking for it. if you're in a regular PS and you didn't know the regular school day started today then you're way way way out the loop.
Stick your nose into it and learn what you must.
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