Korean Job Discussion Forums

[airrazr23]

I teach at a middle school with a connecting high school. Last semester, a high school math teacher came by once in a while (maybe three times a month, at most) to ask me questions about English phrases that he didn't understand. He's pretty fluent and would come with printed out news stories that he was reading. I didn't mind helping him and he would come to the English Zone during my free periods to ask questions.

This semester, he has come every single day. He's abusing the privilege and I can't get away from him. I've started sitting in the teacher's room during free periods just to have my free periods to myself for planning and such. It's getting out of hand: a once-in-a-while "Sure, I'll explain that to you" gesture of goodwill has turned into a full-on daily Q&A session.

Yesterday, I started sitting in the teacher's room to avoid him. Yesterday, he caught me in the hall and was running after me to ask me about the difference between candidate and candidacy. Today, I avoided him too and stayed clear of the English Zone except when I was teaching. His response? To wait outside of my classroom during my last period until the students left.

I don't mind helping, but I don't like being taken advantage of. I also don't appreciate that this guy doesn't consider that sometimes I have my own sh*t to do during my free time. How do I get him to go back to coming a couple times a month?

[Ramen]

[jvalmer]

Are you a guy? Do you drink? If it's yest to both, go on a boozer on some random Friday with him and while drunk tell him to tone down his Q&A sessions. It's better if you take another K-english teacher with you.

If he takes it too personally you can blame it on the booze. If he still doesn't get the message then you're out of luck and will have to suffer the rest of the year, and you'll have to request a different school.

[ThingsComeAround]

You should start asking him questions.

Or tell him you are "busy". Don't come here, I'll call you

[winterfall]

Welcome to Korea


Ps. I get the same stuff too. The key is drawing the line. Worse comes to worse you can get snappy with them. I had one crazy guy that would just not leave me alone. Kept playing me video clips of the latest Obama speech he was memorizing. Obamas nice to listen to but not if you've heard the same speech 15+ times in 2 hours. So I just started to use ebonics on him and now he just won't talk to me anymore

[Patrick Bateman]

Why not just set up a reoccurring time to help him?

You say he is fluent, so just tell him, "How about every Xday(s) you come to me and we can talk for X time?" Let's say it's 15 minutes every other day or something. That wouldn't be too terrible and at least then you will know when to expect him. Tell him to have his questions well thought out to maximize time, and that will also minimize your work/stress.

[thegadfly]

Start studying Korean, and make a series of questions/statements, and have him explain how to say it in Korean -- maybe use an MP3 player or whatever to record his pronunciation...if he doesn't like to give what he takes, he will quit coming around...and if he DOES go tit for tat, then you have an easy way to learn a lot....

In my own experience, when the shoe is on the other foot, most folks tone it down a bit...and from those that didn't, I have learned a lot.

Win-Win.

[cdninkorea]

[AsiaESLbound]

When they say they want to talk to you lots more, do explain you are very busy with a full schedule and it's extremely important to do lesson planning during that 1 or 2 periods a day you don't have students. It's best if your co-teacher is there, because she'll say it in Korean. This explanation put a stop to a new Korean teacher asking me many basic questions about English with no interest of starting a real friendship. If you are busy teaching 5 to 7 periods a day, you don't have time to monkey around until the sun goes down. I don't mind helping someone out a bit, but I don't have time to tutor nor the desire to do privates though I'll be your friend to talk, hike, fish, and joke with if you want that. I wouldn't call it stalking, I'd call it a selfish pursuit of knowledge.

[captain kirk]

That's really comical the Kteacher following the OP around eagerly. Very energetic. I'd be careful. That same high energy of pursuit of you, rebuffed, could turn into high energy behind the scenes networked slights towards you, an anti-foreign teacher propaganda campaign. Like most Koreans this fellow is proud and he knows he is using you. And he'll use you by slighting you among the other teachers should you cease to be his, what?, 'free English lesson dispenser'. Get sloppy having beers is a great idea to buffer the tension now. Consider it a long term relationship. You're 'trapped' to be on good terms at school and have unfortunately come up, a huge BLIP, on his radar. It could be worse, he could be sucking English and, in exchange, attempting insertion of TOTAL CHRISTIANITY, hahaha

[yaeyae]

too bad for the op, I don't see any way out of this..he's used to u helping already so if u try to run, that'll make him stalk as he already has done.

[misher]

[SpiralStaircase]

[airrazr23]

[sluggo832004]

wow. Stalked by a teacher. lol