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oyaboy1978
Joined: 10 Aug 2009
Location: Lexington/Seoul
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 Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 3:35 am Post subject: Thinking of doing a runner! |
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I worked in Korea for two years at a hogwon. At one of the dreaded Wonderlands, funny enough my Wonderland was actually a nice place to work at. I wanted to stay a third year in Korea but wanted something more professional something that looked like I was advancing in the field of ESL teaching. So after a nice summer break with my family back home in the US, I applied for a job with SMOE. I am quite realizing that this was a mistake.
Here's the deal. I am not qualified or have anywhere near the training or capablities to do my job at this time. I don't blame the school and actually feel sorry for my co teachers that they have to train me. As I heard one say in a bruising tone. "This is not an internship why do we have to teach with an intern." She later apologized for her comment and said that she really is pissed at SMOE. for giving them a teacher who other than 2 years at a hogwon has no background of any sorts in Education.
I am currently so overwhelmed with the load that was placed on me, 44 individual classes in a 2 week block, swamped with trying to learn the culture of the office environment that is vastly different, that I have come down with a severe throat infection and cant speak.
So my post is this. Should I do a runner or can others on this sometime vitrolic forum help me prevail.
looking forward to hearing your answers whether they be positve, indifferent, helpful or cruel. |
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Epicurus
Joined: 18 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 3:46 am Post subject: Re: Thinking of doing a runner! |
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| oyaboy1978 wrote: |
I worked in Korea for two years at a hogwon. At one of the dreaded Wonderlands, funny enough my Wonderland was actually a nice place to work at. I wanted to stay a third year in Korea but wanted something more professional something that looked like I was advancing in the field of ESL teaching. So after a nice summer break with my family back home in the US, I applied for a job with SMOE. I am quite realizing that this was a mistake.
Here's the deal. I am not qualified or have anywhere near the training or capablities to do my job at this time. I don't blame the school and actually feel sorry for my co teachers that they have to train me. As I heard one say in a bruising tone. "This is not an internship why do we have to teach with an intern." She later apologized for her comment and said that she really is pissed at SMOE. for giving them a teacher who other than 2 years at a hogwon has no background of any sorts in Education.
I am currently so overwhelmed with the load that was placed on me, 44 individual classes in a 2 week block, swamped with trying to learn the culture of the office environment that is vastly different, that I have come down with a severe throat infection and cant speak.
So my post is this. Should I do a runner or can others on this sometime vitrolic forum help me prevail.
looking forward to hearing your answers whether they be positve, indifferent, helpful or cruel. |
relax a little.
what makes you think that you with just a degree and 2 years of experience in a hogwan makes you unqualified or underqualified by SMOE standards?
I'd wager you are above average. Typical SMOE is probably degree with one year of experience (maybe I'm wrong, just a guess). Since when are SMOE ps jobs full of people with "experience in education" (some of those people are crap teachers btw.. and have the intelligence of a flea, I've met them stateside)
2nd - SMOE is not all the same. Are you in elementary, middle or high school?
foreign language HS or technical?
those are huge differences in milieu, workload and expectations.
are you following a preset curriculum and supplementing it with your own stuff? (this is the easiest, IMO)
or do you have magically produce lessons and a semblance of a curriculum by pulling it out of your rectum on a weekly basis? (like many HS teachers, especially at vocation or lower level schools?)
if that's the case, then a different lesson plan for a different class 22 times a week yes, that can be very stressful. Why wouldn't it be more like 3 or 4 different lesson plans at most? since you'll probably be teaching say no more than 3 different year levels at most, with potential track levels which would make for more work.
perhaps if you'd explain the situation a little better, people would have more to go on to help you with their opinions.
and don't worry too much about the "office culture" - it basically doesn't apply to you. In fact, you don't want it to, or you'll be trapped into doing all kinds of ridiculous things you want no part of (see thread about sleeping in same tiny room on the floor with 4-5, 6 plus drunk chain smoking adjosshis, only to go "clim the mountain" the next morning) 
Be aware of the hierarchy and follow it. That's the only culture you need to be aware of and follow. Otherwise, always use the SNIP method whenever in doubt (smile, nod, ignore, proceed) |
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seonsengnimble
Joined: 02 Jun 2009
Location: taking a ride on the magic English bus
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| Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 4:40 am Post subject: |
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If you want to leave, then hand in your resignation. Unless they are being unreasonable or not paying you, there is no reason to run. If you think that you can't handle the job or that this will be a year of hell for you, explain this to them, and it should work out considerably better for you than pulling a runner would. The atmosphere at work may be terrible if you resign, but in the long run, this will work out a little better for you as well as the students and your co workers.
If you were in a situation where your contract was continually violated and you weren't paid, I'd say run, but it doesn't sound like anyone is screwing you over from what you described. |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 4:43 am Post subject: |
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| The OP could politely and (maybe not so) quietly remind the teacher who made the "intern" remark that her education and experience don't qualify her for a teaching credential in the OP's home country. |
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Epicurus
Joined: 18 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 4:47 am Post subject: |
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| CentralCali wrote: |
| The OP could politely and (maybe not so) quietly remind the teacher who made the "intern" remark that her education and experience don't qualify her for a teaching credential in the OP's home country. |
or you could do a follow up on mine and add:
that education majors were very rarely the sharpest tools in the shed at the uni.
that should shut her up fairly quickly.
Frankly. the basic worldy intelligence levels of primary school teachers stateside are probably not much beyond triple digits.
They're glorified babysitters.
Only at the secondary levels and obviously beyond, do I begin to respect a teacher for being "smart" and "educated".
(that's not to say there aren't some brilliant and highy educated individuals teaching 2nd or 4th graders (or even 8th graders) but they'd have to prove it to me)  |
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cherrycoke
Joined: 13 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 4:52 am Post subject: |
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what a joke.
This is what I would of said.
"please, you pay for what you get. If you want a trained professional working with you, go find a person with a B.Ed. that's willing to work in a foreign country for 2.1 million won"
That's not even me being rude. Just honest. |
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Epicurus
Joined: 18 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 4:56 am Post subject: |
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| cherrycoke wrote: |
what a joke.
This is what I would of said.
"please, you pay for what you get. If you want a trained professional working with you, go find a person with a B.Ed. that's willing to work in a foreign country for 2.1 million won"
That's not even me being rude. Just honest. |
I wouldn't have said that.
People with a B of Ed stateside start in large urban school districts in overcrowded schools with large groups of not only disinterested but physically violent and threatening individuals who'll be happy to "cap your ass") at little over 30K USD a year.
No housing allowance.
Federal, state and other taxes.
if it were me, I'd come to Korea |
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Bucky
Joined: 19 Jul 2009
Location: Vancouver (formerly Yongsan-gu, Seoul)
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| Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 4:57 am Post subject: |
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I don't have all the details, but from what you've said, I think you might be stressing yourself out a bit. I have even less experience than you (no teaching experience, armed with only an English degree) but I'm handling things fine after a bumpy first week.
The "intern" comment was indeed out of line... My school just let me try different things for a week and my co-teachers give me feedback on what they think is working and what they think isn't working. They didn't really need to hold my hand in terms of teaching (but I needed some hand-holding for some things like where to buy garbage bags, how to pay Korean bills, and so on).
As Epicurus said, I think you need to relax a little. |
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cherrycoke
Joined: 13 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 5:03 am Post subject: |
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| Epicurus wrote: |
| cherrycoke wrote: |
what a joke.
This is what I would of said.
"please, you pay for what you get. If you want a trained professional working with you, go find a person with a B.Ed. that's willing to work in a foreign country for 2.1 million won"
That's not even me being rude. Just honest. |
I wouldn't have said that.
People with a B of Ed stateside start in large urban school districts in overcrowded schools with large groups of not only disinterested but physically violent and threatening individuals who'll be happy to "cap your ass") at little over 30K USD a year.
No housing allowance.
Federal, state and other taxes.
if it were me, I'd come to Korea |
You and I both know a real teacher back home wins out eventually. Let's not even have this discussion. |
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Epicurus
Joined: 18 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 5:08 am Post subject: |
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| cherrycoke wrote: |
| Epicurus wrote: |
| cherrycoke wrote: |
what a joke.
This is what I would of said.
"please, you pay for what you get. If you want a trained professional working with you, go find a person with a B.Ed. that's willing to work in a foreign country for 2.1 million won"
That's not even me being rude. Just honest. |
I wouldn't have said that.
People with a B of Ed stateside start in large urban school districts in overcrowded schools with large groups of not only disinterested but physically violent and threatening individuals who'll be happy to "cap your ass") at little over 30K USD a year.
No housing allowance.
Federal, state and other taxes.
if it were me, I'd come to Korea |
You and I both know a real teacher back home wins out eventually. Let's not even have this discussion. |
of course, especially if they eventually land a nice triple digit salary in a desireable suburban school district.
but for newbies, I'd prefer Korea.
and if you wanted to keep the discussion "fair" then you'd have to consider the track of Korean teachers vs American ones.
Which might make for an interesting discussion.
Anyways, the comment was remarkably over the line. I would have verbally slapped around a person who'd dare make such a comment to me.
(of course I'd also bet there's a significant age difference between the K that said it and our NET, which made it "ok to say" in their mind) |
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ippy
Joined: 25 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 5:15 am Post subject: |
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dont take the intern comment to heart. If i was to take a guess, (and also project directly from my own first year experience of a rather difficult co teacher), id assume two things. First, you could be following in the footsteps of a very very competent super predecessor. Secondly, she might be quite inexperienced herself so not only has a warped idea of what you should be able to do, but is maybe also feeling a lot of pressure from her own catastrophic lessons.
Of course its just as likely that none of this is true and that she is just a bit of an ass with unrealistic expectations. The person who mentioned the Smile. Nod. Ignore. Proceed. offers genuine sound advice. Just do your best, it may take you a year to get your head above water, it varies for different people, but in the meantime pillage the net. Theres a bazillion lesson plans out there. A great resource i used in japan for instance was this one:
http://jhsenglipediaproject.com/jhs_allgames.aspx
And if that fails, find some typhoon cards |
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ESL Milk "Everyday
Joined: 12 Sep 2007
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| Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 6:38 am Post subject: |
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To tell the truth, it sounds like you're taking it all way too seriously, and the best thing you could do right now is lighten up.
I'm sure the whole 'intern' bit was probably less her venting about your actual teaching, which is rarely important anyway, and more about her not wanting to have to deal with all the doubts that you seem to have.
Nobody wants to be burdened, especially when they probably don't like speaking in English anyway. This is a much bigger deal for the typical female KET, much more than their actually caring about your qualifications. If you're acting like a dependent, they're going to resent you.
As soon as you admit a lack of confidence, they will feel uneasy, and jump on you. From now on, just keep your mouth shut, play a few stupid games, and things will get better.
I don't know what you mean by 'individual classes', but if it's just 22 a week, you should have heaps of time to get everything ready and do everything. Just stop whining about not knowing what to do-- that's what will sink you.
The truth is that the KETs always think they're awesome, and they're often (but not always) resentful of you for one reason or another--but really all they do is follow the plan that they've been given- that utterly absurd CD-ROM deal with all the pre-packaged animations, songs, props, visual aids, sound bytes, videos and easier-than-easy language targets. I don't know what it's like at your school, but at mine, they don't do ANYTHING special or effective enough for me to be impressed, or to make me think they're even as qualified as I am to do this job. |
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Juregen
Joined: 30 May 2006
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| Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 3:37 pm Post subject: |
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TBH
If you are two years in a job and still don't know how to handle it, it might not be a problem of your training. |
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Manuel_the_Bandito
Joined: 12 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 4:42 pm Post subject: Re: Thinking of doing a runner! |
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| oyaboy1978 wrote: |
I worked in Korea for two years at a hogwon. At one of the dreaded Wonderlands, funny enough my Wonderland was actually a nice place to work at. I wanted to stay a third year in Korea but wanted something more professional something that looked like I was advancing in the field of ESL teaching. So after a nice summer break with my family back home in the US, I applied for a job with SMOE. I am quite realizing that this was a mistake.
Here's the deal. I am not qualified or have anywhere near the training or capablities to do my job at this time. I don't blame the school and actually feel sorry for my co teachers that they have to train me. As I heard one say in a bruising tone. "This is not an internship why do we have to teach with an intern." She later apologized for her comment and said that she really is pissed at SMOE. for giving them a teacher who other than 2 years at a hogwon has no background of any sorts in Education.
I am currently so overwhelmed with the load that was placed on me, 44 individual classes in a 2 week block, swamped with trying to learn the culture of the office environment that is vastly different, that I have come down with a severe throat infection and cant speak.
So my post is this. Should I do a runner or can others on this sometime vitrolic forum help me prevail.
looking forward to hearing your answers whether they be positve, indifferent, helpful or cruel. |
So .... so, so, so ... you have two years of EFL experience and you can't figure out how to prepare and present lessons you repeat every other week? No offence, but perhaps you should consider a different field of work.
If you do leave, please at least do the right thing and serve proper notice. |
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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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| Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 4:49 pm Post subject: Re: Thinking of doing a runner! |
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| oyaboy1978 wrote: |
Here's the deal. I am not qualified or have anywhere near the training or capablities to do my job at this time. I don't blame the school and actually feel sorry for my co teachers that they have to train me. As I heard one say in a bruising tone. "This is not an internship why do we have to teach with an intern." She later apologized for her comment and said that she really is pissed at SMOE. for giving them a teacher who other than 2 years at a hogwon has no background of any sorts in Education.
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First of all, NUT UP, DUDE! Basically, you're being made into some sort of fall guy, IMHO. She sounds like an anti-foreigner union nut who obviously WANTS you to fail. The schools are well-aware of what should be expected from you. It's quite obvious that this woman thought low of you before she even met you, and quite probably, feels extremely embarrassed/offended that the government puts you in her classroom in the first place. She's running a mind game on you, convincing you that you are not needed or incompetent. What you need to do is start correcting her English in front of other Koreans at the lunch table, and in front of students. Put her in her place!
| oyaboy1978 wrote: |
I am currently so overwhelmed with the load that was placed on me, 44 individual classes in a 2 week block, swamped with trying to learn the culture of the office environment that is vastly different, that I have come down with a severe throat infection and cant speak.
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Then call in sick. Take the time you need to get better. Go get a doctor's note in the process.
By your comments about "learning the culture" it seems like someone there has you over a barrel expecting you to become Korean in a short time. You're not Korean, and you're not subject to all of the office culture foolishness as a result. There's nothing wrong with being a good coworker, doing your part, etc., but if they are expecting you to do much else, then you need to bone up and politely tell them you're a foreigner and THEY need to meet you halfway. For example, at my previous high school, they were in the habit of springing it on us that everyone was expected to attend a mountain climb at 6am the next day. I made it clear that I would not be attending any mountain climbs on such short notice. I had to let my handler turn blue, but that was that. I figured that if they wanted to fire me over something so trivial, then let them. They never did.
| oyaboy1978 wrote: |
So my post is this. Should I do a runner or can others on this sometime vitrolic forum help me prevail.
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No. Put in your one month notice, tell them it's because of this old hag, and then go home. No need to do-in your future possibilities at another hagwon job. You'll be done with SMOE for leaving, but who cares, right? |
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