Korean Job Discussion Forums

[nomad-ish]

[yingwenlaoshi]

I'd just buy a heater, plug it in, and teach from my chair right beside it. I wouldn't even move a hair. If I had to move, then I'd make sure the heater had an extension chord where I could move it around with me.

My heater, my rules. If it looks unprofessional then they can be professional and turn the goddamned heat on.

I'd make a big joke out of it, too:

"Hello students. Do you like my new dog? His name is Heatty. He's my best friend. Be careful when you pet him because he's very hot. Come Heatty! We have to go to the board now."

[South Jeolla Blues]

There were a number of classrooms which I taught in that had extremely poor air conditioning. And to make matters worse, when I would turn up the air conditioning, more often than not, someone from maintenance or administration would turn it down when they passed by. (At the beginning of each class period, one of the school staff would walk past all of our classrooms to make sure the kids were behaving and everything was fine.) As soon as they left, the air conditioning would go back on high again! But for some classrooms, it seriously didn't matter. You could have the air conditioning turned up all the way and it would STILL be a sauna.

[The_Conservative]

In every classroom I go to, the heat's cranked unbelievably high. I always end up taking off my suit jacket or opening the windows. Everybody else sits there muffled in a parka and scarf complaining that they're cold.

[nobbyken]

The cultural section of the lesson plan for Gepik elem 4th grade, lesson 8 says that Koreans are more sensitive to the cold than Westerners.

[Easter Clark]

[idonojacs]

My experience is different.

When fall came and it was no longer hot out, the students complained: Cold! Cold! I was still in short sleeves.

When it did get cool, many showed up for class in down parkas, etc. OK.

Then when it actually got cold and I put on a sweater, the school turned on the heat to the radiators in the classrooms. And what did the students do? They promptly opened the windows in the classroom. The windows in the hallways also were open, making it very cold in the hallways. And the main doors were left open.

So there I am showing up for class in a sweater and coat. I close the windows and what do the students do? The moment I turn my back they open the classroom windows again. This occurred several times, until I finally gave up. I got some warm, insulated slippers to go with my sweater, jacket, etc. Maybe I will wear one of those knitted ski caps with openings for my eyes and mouth, if I can find one?

But what they heck was going on with all the open windows? I tried asking some co-teachers but got nowhere. The teacher's lounge, by the way, is over-heated, and the teachers have electric pads for their chairs and some even have electric heaters by their desks!

Are Koreans afraid of running out of oxygen in a closed room, or something? They seem terrified of being in a closed room.

The strangest experience was being in the local supermarket when the weather turned cool. Normally, supermarkets are heavily air conditioned. But they turned the heat, way up! While I was in there I became afraid I was getting the flu and was feverish. But when I went outside, I realized I was fine.

Weird place.

[Zaria32]

When my classroom reached 39F I went to my Director and said "You have to turn the heat on!" Turned out that they had disabled the big heater (cut the end off the plug to the electric start) She gave me a little heater, brought the room to 42F after a couple of hours.

She gave me a second heater...by then it was getting dark, and with two heaters going, temperature fell. She moved me to another room, but whenever I walk out of the room, she goes in, turns off the heater, and opens the window.

I told her she was wasting electricity, because as soon as I go back in I'll close the window and heat it up again, but she doesn't get that.

A couple of kids have actually cried it's so cold.

[little mixed girl]

huh, guess korean schools aren't too different from japanese ones.
the classrooms have these huge heater things, but the heat is usually off or it's on very low.
kids are wearing coats, and have heat packets in their pockets.

the auditorium is worse. no heat at all, then they pack 130 kids in and have them sit on the floor.
the weird thing is that a lot of parents let their kids, especially daughters, leave the house in super short skirts or shorts (elementary school kids).

anything for fashion i guess...