Korean Job Discussion Forums

[rawiri]

I work at 2 different public elementary schools, one school i teach all the classes aside from 2nd and 3rd grade by myself, planning, do all the discipline, the whole nine yards. The other school i work at i have a supervisor who obviously hates me for some unkown reason, i have to share a smallish office with her, we say hello in the morning and goodbye at the end of the day. She is the official school english teacher and i'm the native speaker so it's a by the textbook type relationship, the first class this morning she blabbed away in korean the whole class not having a thing for me to do. Second class i had about 3 minutes of repetition after which she gave me the keys to the office and told me to leave as she could do the rest of the class herself. To top this crap off, i have been teaching with another teacher for just over 11 months, i usually teach about 25 minutes and he teaches the game for 15. Just today he told me that he's teaching a demo class to the other teachers at our school, my part consists of about 3 minutes of repetition with the kids and he's doing the rest.

GEPIK your system is phucked, some of your teachers are complete and utter kunts, you should just replace native teachers with tape recorders. I hope you get the native teachers you deserve, boring mindless alcoholic middle aged drones who are capable of nothing more than repeating monosyllablic words from your crappy crappy texts. Whankers.

And to think i would be done in 19 days if i hadn't of signed up for another year.

[JD1982]

More power to your co-teacher.

Let him/her do what ever she wants. I wouldn't worry about it. I would just simply sit in the back and do nothing if that's what they want.

Although I love the kids and want them to learn Englishee, it's their show, not mine.

Just kick back and relax. Look for something productive to do like reading, surfing the net, watching tv/movie, professional development, plan your next travel, etc.

Don't worry, be happy.

[rawiri]

Yeah i did that today, just stood up the back of the class sneering at her occasionally with a look of "wtf are you doing?" on my face. This school in particular replaced my supervisor from someone who is fluent in english, has a great personality, knew the curriculum inside out, to this old bag. Freaks, some parts of their system really seem to make little to no practical sense.

[ED209]

It's always tempting to sit there and do nothing, to be the human tape recorder. But I want to be good at my job, I want to be a good teacher. Sitting around getting money for nothing is just going to turn me into a slob. I need to be engaged in what I'm doing, not wheeled in and out of classroom. No one doesn't like being a good teacher.

[rawiri]

Thats right, i hate it. the fact that for 11 months iv'e been the opposite of that in the 5th grade teachers class who has now decided i should be exactly that and nothing more, for this demo lesson in front of all the other teachers and principal etc. pisses me off to no end. I think it's a loss of face for me and he's trying to make himself look better than he really is. I could just sabotage the thing, change my airplane ticket and leave at the end of the month actually.

[bosintang]

What's up with this..quite a few posts lately from elementary school teachers talking about how the KET is doing 90% and the NET is only doing 10%.

Why do they bother having a foreign teacher?

I feel like this at work sometimes. I feel like I'm a pain in the ass for them. My co-teacher is also a homeroom teacher and has not time for me. So if they're always too busy and I'm so much work, why do they bother? What's in it for them?

Sometimes I secretly wish that after I finish this contract hey get some knucklehead who can't tie his shoelaces properly let alone prepare and teach a class.

[pkang0202]

It just depends on the KT at your school. Its the same with with any job.
For example, 2 Mcdonald's right next to each other. One with a cool boss and one thats anal retentive.

Fornunately, I got cool KT's. We get along like 95% of the time.

[bosintang]

[mehamrick]

I had that problem once.. Just start f**in with the kids. They all watch your every move anyways.. I had them laughing so hard one day they were crying and everytime the K-teacher looked at me I just had this dumbfounded look on my face and shrugged my shoulders. They got the picture pretty quick.. Or just walk down the hallway when you dont have class and they are in there it shuts that whole class down in a heartbeat when they all see you... well it does at my school...

If not kick back and enjoy the ride. I know it sucks but could be worse.

[spliff]

[sojourner1]

Do not worry if your getting your money and know there are no questions about your severance pays, unlike in a hagwon where you have to negotiate everything with the director as you progress through the year with uncertaintanties gnawing away at your mentality. I know I am earning my Won at a hagwon teaching a solid 30 hours a week classroom time with no Korean teachers to help with translation and discilpline. It's a real job that makes you yearning for weekends and holidays which are so few....

If you want a real job that asks of you, find a solid hagwon. If you want to take it easy with guaranteed execution of the contract, go to a public school. I do not have the public school experience, but to my understanding, it's safe and easy as long as you can live without having foreign co-teachers and willing to take it easy. If you truly want to work hard, while having co-foreign teachers, then look for a hagwon.

Personally, I think it's a better deal to go for a public school job. If I had known I could had started at one before teaching hagwon, I would had took it up. I thought it required at least 1 year teaching experience. At least I would not be going through this year with uncertainties regarding monies owed at the end. I know I am talking alot about money, but it is so very important when you need it and you have no loved one to cover you in the event of a crisis such as getting screwed or losing employment, so that makes me very very money motivated in life despite the fact my true interests lie elsewhere outside of money and business.

[dolano]

my korean co-teacher who i've actually had to teach how to command the class even though it was supposed to be her job lets the kids walk all over her. then when the supervisor is angry over kids leaving. she makes out its all my fault. the killer is now that she had all the skills i have taught her and has become much better at commanding the class and now i'm getting slack over not doing my job! this is my third year here. i know i am still new but i fell like the koreans are walking all over me too sometimes. it make me angry because i don't want to be bitter and twisted which i feel like i am now sometimes. But if i sit back and relax and have fun they tell me i'm not doing my job. its a no-hoper!! V

[rawiri]

Update- We did the demonstration class. I didn't have 3 minutes teaching, it was more like 1. It was a role play class and the teacher (once again, the guy iv'e been teaching with for 11 months with about a 70/30 split) asked if i could be so kind as to LIE STILL ON SOME DESKS as the role play was about gullivers travels and he wanted me to be the giant. not only was i expected to say bugger all, he also wanted me to play possum. This was in front of all the other teaching staff, and also being videotaped and photographed to show "co-teaching" in action.

[Mosley]

OP: I have to agree w/you about the BS nature of demo classes but I have to ask: is it only the "middle-aged" who are "boring, mindless, alcoholic drones?" Am I boring? Undoubtedly. Mindless? Debatable. Alcoholic? Well, that's served me well in Korea & Japan. A drone? I prefer "droid". But I'm middle-aged...hands down. You've been in Korea a while...are you seriously telling us you've never met a 25-year old boring, mindless, alcoholic [English-speaking] drone?

[cdninkorea]