Korean Job Discussion Forums

Boodleheimer

i'm so annoyed with my school i could spit. in fact, i will.

<ptah!>

not sure i'll sign again. yesterday i would've in a minute. that was until i was told about all the sitting on my ass during winter vacation days i was expected to put in. i negotiated it to something reasonable, but i feel like a wreck.

Crying or Very sad

i'm just too sensitive.

Son Deureo! · Joined: 30 Apr 2003

Too sensitive? Hardly. Asking you to come into the office to do nothing when every single teacher and student is on vacation just because they have hired you for a certain time period and have no way to actually productively use you is 100% BS. Perhaps the only way those public schools who can't fill their own demand for FTs to learn that it's BS is for them to lose a few hundred more perfectly good and dedicated teachers.

ilovebdt · Joined: 03 Jun 2005 Location: Nr Seoul

Boodleheimer · Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2006 10:21 pm Post subject:

yep, high school.

i feel like your avatar, ilovebdt.

edit: not to mention the stupid speeches/reminders throughout by my "minder" about how i need to devote myself to my students (but apparently only once a week, for 50 minutes per class-- no, you can't teach them twice a week! they're too busy studying!) and how *he* stays at work until 11pm and *he* goes to work on saturdays.

i should have said "yeah, and when was the last time *you* saw your family?"

venus · Joined: 25 Oct 2006 Location: Near Seoul

ilovebdt · Joined: 03 Jun 2005 Location: Nr Seoul

Aren't you doing any winter camp or classes?

ilovebdt

ilovebdt · Joined: 03 Jun 2005 Location: Nr Seoul

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

I love my school. They know the school district really pissed me off last year and do everything they can to reward me, especailly things that cost them nothing.

kat2 · Joined: 25 Oct 2005 Location: Busan, South Korea

I don't mind working during winter vaca. (I still get at least 4 weeks off a year.) The main trade off is that I don't have to come in on Saturdays. For me, thats worth it. I really need that two day weekend. I'll trade winter vaca for no Saturdays with no problems. My school schedules conversation classes during Winter vaca for me. ITs the best teaching I get to do all year, because there is no Korean teacher involved at all. Just me. Its great.

Kwhitehead, what was in your contract as far as vacation time? If you are supposed toget it off, I would throw a tantrum.

Boodleheimer · Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2006 11:23 pm Post subject:

poet13 · Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 12:59 am Post subject:

Im with you on this. You can read a thread I started, "I'm so freaked I dont know what to write in ....."
Exactly the same thing. They have this rich fantasy that involves me sitting in an empty office for the month of January when I could be with my wife and baby son. I don't know yet what I am going to do. There are so many benefits to staying and being able to have my family here more often, but at the same time, regardless of what the contract actually says, it is infuriatingly non-sensical to have us coming into the office every day for an hour to do nothing at all. To be sure, I will have lots of work to do, lesson plans to prepare, worksheets to write, etc. But incredibly, I have a computer AND the internet at home where my son is. What's even better, is I can understand the language on my computer at home.
You should find out who is making that requirement. The school, or someone in an office at the provincial level. In my case, it's an idiot at the provincial level.

Junior · Joined: 18 Nov 2005 Location: the eye

Boodleheimer · Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 2:31 am Post subject:

additionally, during summer break they had me coming in for 7 hour days writing a complete textbook for three different grades.

do i have any lesson planning to do? no, it's in the goddamn book already. i wrote it. it's done. i already spend my "office hours" cross-stitching, reading random crap on the internet, posting at dave's (natch), and working my way through books. what the holy living *beep* would i be doing during those hours during "vacation"?

spliff · Joined: 19 Jan 2004 Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand

I have to do 2.... 1hour classes in the morning and then I can go home. No problem, the students are great and there's no pressure from school or parents...game time!

Missile Command Kid · Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Location: Daegu

This is the way Korea is. People (well, Koreans, but this translates into foreigners too) are expected to put in time on the job. May I make a suggestion? Show up in the morning, rush around for a while, leave for a few hours, come back at the end of your shift, and say goodbye to everybody. Now, I work at a hagwon so I actually have to work this month, but when I have no classes and am expected to be at work, I bring a book. I love it. It's quiet, it's heated, I can get away from the screaming kids for a few hours, and I can have some quality time by myself. Not a lot for me to complain about. My wife, on the other hand...