Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Kidmn]

Hi everyone,

I'm in a bind. I went through a recruiting agency that one of my friend recommend. I got a job teaching at a public school except it's not the one that they told me about. The original post was a public middle school job in Gimpo. Instead the job is an elementary school in the the middle of the countryside, located between Incheon & Gimpo. I emailed my recruiter but she told me that it was my fault for not being prepared.

I just arrived in Korea about 5 days ago. I have not started teaching at the school yet! The first week is just me sitting in the office learning completly NOTHING! Currently I want to break my contract. I just recently found a better job in Ilsan that was offered to me. I've already read in previous posts that I need to do "Letter of Release" form.

In my typical GEPIK contract it says I need 1 week of orientation/formal training. I didn't get any formal training at all. Instead they just stuck me in an empty room with a computer. Should I still give them my 30 day notice or just ask them to do the "the letter of release"?

Also the problem I have is that Korean Immigration has my passport for my Alien Registration Card (ARC). I'm suppose to get it next week. Should I wait to put in my "letter or release," until I get my ARC back? Also the school still has my original college diploma. I don't think they need it anymore so I want to ask for that back!

What other things or information am I missing to "break my contract"

1. get back original college diploma
2. get back my passport
3. get school sign "letter of release"
4. ??

[cbclark4]

When you signed the contract did it have the schools name on it?

Did you keep copies of all your corresponsences?

Who was your recruiter?

[Kidmn]

When I signed the basic GEPIK contract, it didn't have the school name on it! Also I have kept all the email contacts I've had with my recruiter. The recruiter I went with was TOS. I don't want to bash their company since they have been good to me other then what has just happened!

[cbclark4]

I dunno you signed a blank contract.

Your recruiter took advantage of your naivety.

May I ask what degree you have and which college you attended?

[I-am-me]

[ttompatz]

Let me understand...

You are in a public school.

You have housing.

You are getting paid to sit at your desk. You will get paid, they won't go broke and leave you out in the cold next week.

It is the 1st week of the new school year so as the English teacher there is nothing scheduled for you to do.

You will have your ARC next week - also means your medical book should arrive before the end of the month so you have your medical insurance.

And you are ready to pull the plug and leave - why?

Stop and take a deep breath. Your panic attack is normal and will subside.

Help yourself a bit here.... you need to get busy doing something...

Ask your co-teacher / minder for copies of the teachers guides, student books and teacher's CD.

Get on the GEPIK website and download the ENGLISH versions of the teacher's guides and lesson plans (the books are mostly in Korean).

Read them and prepare for the classes you will get next week. Learn how to play the games (they are lame but the kids won't have the language for anything more complex or even to understand what you are telling them).

You will need to say and do to get them to understand. Prepare your materials for the next couple weeks.

Dig out or look for supplemental material that compliments the stuff from the books or you will end up with 20 minutes of dead time in a 40 minute class.

Make some powerpoint slide shows to supplement the classroom material. Use photos from home or the net. It will amuse the kids and keep their interest while you all get to know each other.

Learn the songs from the CDs. Think up some actions to go with the songs.

Make some masks and/or props for the characters and roll-plays that are part of the book.

Learn how to use the local bus system and get one of the teachers to help you learn how to read Hangul (takes about 2-3 hours) so you can read the sides of the buses. It will make getting around so much easier.

Get a map of your city and learn the place names of the different areas so you can get around and do your shopping and exploring. Then get a bigger map of the province and Seoul city so you can start exploring farther afield.

Spring is coming and there is lots to do. Take a walk around the school yard, talk to the kids, GET OUT OF YOUR OFFICE and check out your surroundings.

You will be fine.

[Atavistic]

To add to this ^ post:

I strongly suspect you've never taught before. So you are probably going to have issues with management. Even if Find some good games you can use for a classroom when there's down time. Silent math, ESL versions of I Spy, whatever. Look up "word wall" and "dolch sight words" and get to work.

Research classroom management strategies. Even if you are SUPPOSED to always have a coteacher, you won't. And you want to be able to control the students without always running to a Korean.

Grow up. Your contract was blank. Any bit if reading and research here and you would have found out that GEPIK can put you wherever they damn please. Furthermore, under the new immi rules I suspect you'd be royally screwed trying to transfer your visa. Is your new job willing to wait 4 weeks while you go through everything all over again? (And that's assuming your job would let you leave tomorrow.)

[MollyBloom]

Ttompatz is right:

Just relax. Plenty of schools do not give formal training. I experienced the same thing, albeit it was a hagwon and not a public school. Do what Ttom says and get books, study methodologies, get familiar with course books. A lot of getting organized is motivating yourself, because they sure aren't going to show you what to do or how to teach.

The first couple of weeks at my first school I just used the internet and printed up, literally, hundreds of writing and speaking activities and compiled folders for all the exercises I was going to use in class.

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/activities.shtml

http://esl.about.com/

http://www.tesol.net/teslact.html

http://www.esl-galaxy.com/

http://bogglesworldesl.com/

Hope those sites help.

[dmbfan]

You would not happen to be at either Suk Jung or SuNam Elementary school, would you?

[nomad-ish]

i would give it some time, yes it's not where you originally intended to be, but the placements with public schools are not usually guaranteed (so your recruiter is a bit of a jerk for not mentioning that!)

as for the orientation for public schools, they aren't that useful, and not many of us get actual training. do you have access to the internet in your room? i'd spend this week researching the websites others gave you and also try this one (lots of powerpoints):

http://www.esnips.com/user/gepikteacher

it's completely normal to feel stressed when you get here and even more when/if you realize that something that was told to you isn't true. do some research, make an INTRO POWERPOINT for your kids (name, favourite food/sport/colour, pictures of you, family, home country, any special animals your country has, etc.). these are elementary kids... very easy to please!

[mrsquirrel]

OP welcome to the world of ESL.

One presumes that this is your first time out of your home country and all the uncertainness of things are making you panic that you are in a bad position.

I myself have just spent nearly three months on my arse doing nowt. Again today I am on my arse doing nowt. That is what we do. They pay use to sit around doing nothing.

You are lucky there was no orientation. You don't have to suffer listening to lots of freaks talking about their problems.

Buy a copy of Learning Teaching read it from cover to cover. Forget half of it and jump into it.

All the advice you have been given by people here is good. If you don't listen to it you might as well go home now and back to Tesco/Walmart stacking shelves.

[KYC]

Ya, definitely stick around & see what it's like first!

Ya, the first week is basically sitting around while administration figure out what the heck is going on. Be alert though. They may ask you to teach anytime. I was told I had this week free, but yesterday I was asked to teach. Then today at least 2 teachers have asked why I didn't come to teach their class I bet some of the teachers at your school are new and don't know what's going on with the schedule either Don't sweat it...tis Korea after all.

[bassexpander]

Great, now we have recruiters pulling hagwon-like tactics with the public school jobs. Sorry to hear that. It used to be that you knew what school you were going to, and now you have to worry about being bait-and-switched with another school out in the boonies.

Newbees, take note of this thread, and make sure you don't end up in the same situation. Don't sign a "blank contract" for EPIK/GEPIK, or whatever. Insist that the name and location of the school is on it.

One more wonderful landmine for newbees to worry about.

What recruiter did this to you?

In any case, as far as immigration is concerned, you have no rights until the 9th month (possibly the 10th). You won't be able to change schools, or even get a release letter from your boss (if they'd even give you one) accepted by immigration until then. You're stuck there. They won't transfer you elsewhere. The only choices you have are to:

1. Tough it out for a year.
2. Pull a runner and pay for the flight on your own dime. You won't be able to come back for at least a year (until your current contract expires) and they may try to blacklist your name for running and screwing them out of the money they paid to fly you over.

Remember, that in 95% of cases, you need a release letter from your current school before you can move to another school (even if you quit) or immigration will not authorize your transfer to another school. Fat chance of getting that. In Korea, they still follow a loose slave/laborer type of contract situation. It's unconstitutional, but nobody has the money to take it the length that it needs to be challenged in the courts, so the rule stands. Now, thanks to new policy changes, immigration won't even look at a signed LOR (letter of release) until month 9 or 10.

Keep in mind that your school is likely following standard gov't procedure and deducting a large portion from your first check (deposit) to cover the cost of your plane flight, should you decide to run. Why do they do this? Because so many have run in the past!

If you really hate it, then just leave. Go home. You end up screwing the recruiter who screwed you in the first place (they will lose their pay for placing you), and that will, at least, give you some revenge.

I'd wait for the first paycheck, then leave, if you really want to leave. Just pack up, turn out your apartment lights, lock the door and leave the key in the mailbox, quietly withdraw all of your money from a bank branch not near your home, and hop on a flight out of here. Don't tell a soul you're doing it. Be sure to give the immigration agent your ARC card when you leave, and tell them you won't be coming back to Korea.

If it were me personally, though, I'd probably try to tough out the year. You might come to enjoy it. I've never pulled a runner.




This is yet another reminder of why I started the, "Newbees, don't bother coming here" thread. As per the old rules, you had few rights. Now, under new visa policy changes, and immigration procedural changes, you have NO rights to change jobs until the 9th or 10th month. Some say I'm just being negative for pointing these facts out, but here is yet another example of how someone fresh-off-the-boat can be lied-to and has no chance of defending themselves.

[Ukon]

speaking of GEPIK.....why do people choose gepik positions through recruiters instead of simply going through GEPIK directly? Is there any benefits?

[Roch]