Korean Job Discussion Forums

[nizpaz]

Firstly hello to everyone from a newbie to the board and Korea.
I have a question for peeps who can offer some constructive advice/opinion. Sorry to bore old timers with the delicacies of Korean interactions!

Briefly; I was very pleasantly surprised by how welcoming and seemingly friendly almost everyone at my public school has been. I mean really friendly. I'm talking group hugs almost.

Except on day 3, one of my CT's took me to a classroom and told me this was to be my room and that the department teachers room where I'd thus far been prepping classes was for the "special" teachers and wasn't "my place". She was quite blunt/offish about it but as I've come to know her better, I think she was a bit embarrassed at being the messenger. Or maybe I'm just hoping she was. I also put her choice of words down to lost in translation.

Now this special room is for non homeroom teachers comprising 3 English teachers and 2 PE bods. So no brain surgeons lurking. It's an elementary ps too. I admit I was a bit miffed but then looked on the plus side of being able to do what I please during those long long afternoons, without big brother watching.

However on Fridays my classroom is used by another teacher and I have no classes. I asked said CT where I should go and she told me the prized teachers room. Now six weeks in, still having them fight over me to my new best friend, I've twice been asked to leave said room as I was quietly planning my classes. All done with great politeness but still, a sober girl doesn't need chucking out of any room twice. The last time came from a CT who's been really friendly and I confess (I'm human) it really bugged me. It's bugged me so much that now it's affecting how I feel about these people and their "friendliess". This room also houses the kettle, water machine and printer and I�m so sick of feeling a *beep* asking to use the facilities, I�ve found alternatives. But it shouldn�t be that way should it? Why is it ok to print in the VP�s office but not in the department teacher�s room?

Why am I am being such a baby about a flippin' room? Well although I'd rather spend the majority of time in peace, it�s that invisible barrier I�m sensing, that little girl knocking on the headmasters door. Being EXCLUDED. Or am I just being oversensitive? Perhaps being alone all those long afternoons is giving me cabin fever. I�ve been a teacher a long time and always had a department teacher�s room. Sometimes you just need some company. It�s also being a part of the faculty, not some thing tucked away on the top floor alone. Now, if they�d all been cold bleebs from the get go, I�d be dealing with it better. But how can a CT invite me to dinner at her house one day and chuck me out of the office the next?

SO, is this some hierarchical, Confucian thing I�m not getting here? Is it cos they all like to sleep and don�t want me to see that? Is it an intended exclusion? And why does a well balanced person give a damn, is it the result of being driven to PS isolation-induced vudoo-mind?

I�ve currently set up camp in the school gym on Fridays because I refuse to be booted out again. No doubt sometime soon someone will see me and then the gossip will start.

Advice please�.I want this school to work.

[poet13]

Wow. I don't think you're overreacting. It really sounds like some kind of childish power game.
I have an idea. Bring a big plate of cookies in. Go around and offer cookies only to a select few, while vocally uninviting others. Think about that...is that adult behaviour? Nope....but they might get the message.
Asking permission to print? If you need 500 copies, then ask if the school has print request forms. They send those out and they are done on cheap paper. Otherwise, dont' ask permission to do your job.
Camping out in the gym? No way! Come winter time, the gyms are generally not heated. You need to establish with your vice principal that you have a work area that is yours whether it's monday or sunday, noon or midnight. Without it, you are not truly effective, and the students are being cheated of their education...at least that's your story.

You want it to work, adn that's great, but if you do the best you can, and they still play games, then they need to instructed on ways to violate themselves.

[Countrygirl]

In my school, my co-teachers often have to leave their rooms because of extra classes. This is not unusual. I think things got lost in translation so don't take it personally.

It is normal in Korean society for the older person to tell a younger person what to do without explaining why it has to be done. This might be what is irking you. Sometimes an older person will even grab me to make me do something, ie. sit down and eat etc. From their point of view they are teaching you so they are being polite. But never expect them to explain why they are doing something. It's frustrating but that's the way it is.