Korean Job Discussion Forums

[riverboy]

yes I'm prime canadian bacon. It can get frustrating over here, but I really think the women and the food compensate for the greasy little buggers who we usually work for.
I did luck out and am treated more like Kimchee, where I have a variety spices and am allowed to ferment untill I am ready to be comsumed

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

[ryleeys]

I think I'm a hot dog... oddly tasty, yet you don't really know what you're getting... plus I usually have ketchup on me.

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

I'm chopped liver

[wylde]

[quote="kiwiboy_nz_99"]

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

Real hours teaching at high school back home?

A lot, probably about 45 to 50 ... I was new and so didn't have a lot of resourse that you gather over time as you refine your lessons. The older teachers didn't do that much.

[simulated stereo]

Mmmmmm. Organ meats.

[adventureman]

[riverboy]

There is serious dichotomy in teaching over here. The first is that you take your teaching seriously and are atrue professional anout it, then more often than not, you will be very frustrated with the bad practices your hogwan want you to do wich ends up making you work more hours for little effective purposes. One example is the Wonderland phone test, a totally useless script which is done to satisfy the parents and show that thier kids are actually speaking english.
More often than not ,when you phone, the student does not have the script and you have to phone back several times. Or, the old Harmony scenario happens with granny answering the phone with about a dozen or so"yobeseyo's and hangs up on you. The script is usually useless conversation and poorly written(often by the supervisor). One question which I refused to ask was "what do you thing love means more than hope?"
Now i am not saying that the idea of a phone test is bad, but Wonderland considers this volunteer work and you do not get paid. The major problem is it is a monotone script reading. I suggested at one point, to engage the kids in a series of predeermined questions and answers by the teacher. I would give the kids a chance to improvise. My director looked at me wide eyed and ran away.

[Starperson]

YOu could think of it as...you're a selection of meats. You can offer the steak, or you can offer the packaged ham, or the liver. Offer less of yourself, don't get so stressed out.
Or perhaps it's the other way around, offer your best and have less stress?

I don't know which one it is. But I've seen teachers whose motto is, this is just a job, it's a way for me to get money, have a good time in Korea then go home. Others obviously see it as their career and take pridei n their teaching.
Who fares better?
Depending on the hagwon, the less serious teacher probably satisfies the hagwon - teach kids a bit of English, satisfy the parents, keep the business running, all the while having a decent life in Korea.
The committed teacher would probably be unsatisfied and become the husk or the...shell that the OP described, UNLESS he or she's working in an institution that has equally high standards.

I am ham.

[sadsac]

YOu could think of it as...you're a selection of meats. You can offer the steak, or you can offer the packaged ham, or the liver. Offer less of yourself, don't get so stressed out.

Personally, for a hogwan I would be pet mince. There are some places out there where you would be Grade A prime rib, though not many.

[riverboy]

let's not forget everyone, we are living in a country which considers dog a delicacy