Korean Job Discussion Forums

[dmbfan]

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[tenchu77491]

I am the only foreigner at the entire school.

My Korean co-workers talk to me (those that can speak English), and the others say hello in Korean and bow every day.

[ChinaBoy]

It's offensive to rate other people (especially your equals) to make yourself feel superior.

I wouldn't ask you about your weekend either if this is the way you treat people.

[dmbfan]

[fromtheuk]

It depends on the definition of professional. I think I'm professional i.e. alway submit lesson plans on time when requested, I'm never late to work or class, I do whatever my co-teacher asks etc.

At my new school, I've helped out other teachers with their English. They've approached me first, but I've helped them out. In my case, that's going the extra mile.

[Snowkr]

this is a cool thread, OP. Good question too.

I feel really blessed right now where I work. (12 expat teachers incl. me). I'm not best buddies with them by any means but they are by far the most professional and admirable foreigners I've met in this country in 3 years.

I honestly never knew this level of professionalism existed among NET's in South Korea.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

I haven't worked with a fellow expat in four years and can't say I miss it. The other FTs in my school district range from 'I'd love to see what you manage in your classroom' to 'I'd hate to see how useless you actually are in the classroom' based on talking to them and seeing some demo lessons.

Back when I worked with other FTs I'd say that the guy who barely managed to make it in by 2PM after another weeknight on the town, who did nothing but play ball games with the kids, was giving the boss more than he deserved.

[NightSky]

have none (of any nationality) and haven't had for two years. and am happy to keep it that way, for while I've made some cool friends, I have also worked with some crazies--the ratio of coolness to craziness was about 30/70.

[bassexpander]

Our school has hired some very attractive people as of late (not me -- I've been here a while). It's quite a hoot to hear their stories about students attempting to get dates with them, and to read the notes they leave.

One particularly beautiful foreign teacher recently had something hilarious placed on her desk. It was a photo of her next to a photo of the student who left it, along with his phone number. We all got a laugh out of that.

[Steelrails]

Man...send the beautiful foreign teachers over to my EBF neck of the woods. The closest thing to an attractive non-Korean woman is the poster of Audrey Hepburn at the local cosmetics shop and the underwear ads. You know you're going crazy when you actually remember things like that and take special note of them.....

I don't have any FT co-teachers, but the other FTs here are a mixed-bag. Most are older and married and mean well. The old single ones seem to mean well also, but also come don't seem to be much of a teacher. The TALK kids mostly are a joke. The one 25-32 year old guy here is solid tho...

A bunch of mixed nuts, (emphasis on nuts) thats what we are.

[dmbfan]

Yeah, I thought this thread might be interesting.


I've worked with some decent expats.......planned lessons, put effort into delivery, contributed to the schools resources,etc. But, I've also worked with (currently) with those who just........don't do anything. YET.....the Korean co-teachers don't care, don't mind. I guess it helps feed their perspective of expat teachers.


I would have to say, the best team I worked with .....

(and I use the word "team" because that is what we were. We worked together, shared ideas. had trouble shooting sessions on how to handle different language points with a certain age group, helped one another with ideas/resources.........and said "Thank you, for that"...................something Koreans can't quite grasp.....there was a passion for the job)

......was in China. They were the best expat teachers to be around. Everybody contributed. Not only that, we all felt that we were apart of something and we received due praise and thanks from the Chinese staff (well....things changed down the road with the Chinese management but that is another story). Hell......working with the Chinese co-teachers was even awsome. Why?

1. No insecurity.
2. They really wanted to work with us because it was about making the
students do better.
3. Spoke English.
4. Actually taught English in the classroom (while speaking in English).
5. They actually went out of their way to talk with us, about why we were
in China, our hometown, our families, etc (unlike Koreans).


That is something I really miss.....working with a solid teaching team. I have yet to find that in Korea.

But, I still make my flashcards, plan my lessons (well....not as good as I would like....I'm getting worn out), try and be creative in the classroom, etc. When I do these things, I get no responses, no "thank you's", nadda. It appears that I am just in everyone elses way.

But, one does learn what kind of working environment he/she does best in. Some people are at their best by themselves. Others really thrive being apart of a group that is in it together, as a team of teachers.

dmbfan

[harlowethrombey]

One of the only things I miss from my Nova days is having some Brits, Aussies and fellow Americans around.

But no Canadians, though. Ew *shudder*.

j/k

I dont have any foreign co-workers but most of the foreign teachers I know have experience teaching here or in Japan so they're probably doing a little something right.

Put it in perspective. My third part-time job in the states was working for Pizza Hut with a bunch of high schoolers. I dont think I'll complain if Stacy the Kiwi seems a bit lazy with her lesson plans.

[Tobias]

[Insidejohnmalkovich]

I was working with one incredibly hardworking, effective teacher (and a good fellow too) until this month.

Now I am surrounded by nothing but drunkards, whiners and politically correct turds. The Koreans on the other hand are quite friendly and nice.

[Oreovictim]

I've worked with lots of part-timers, and they were always on their best behavior. It's probably because they were making 35,000-40,000 an hour with the kindy kids. They didn't want to ruin a good thing.

As far as full-time coworkers. I've worked with four different guys. They all had their good and bad points. We'd hang out lots of times, sure. But I had a hard time respecting most of them. Three of the four guys were serial cheaters; two would use foul language around little kids, one would show up literally a minute before class, and another would show up to work with hangovers a couple times a week.

Let's take this a little further. Who here can list their own faults? What things do you do that might annoy your coworkers? I tend to zone people out at work. When I'm on my break, I like lots of "me" time. I get away from the office and study Korean, listen to my MP3, draw, whatever.