Korean Job Discussion Forums

[some waygug-in]

I was applying for a job last week, and talking to the leaving teacher I was told that the school didn't provide marker pens for the white boards.



What supplies do you think are essential?

I mean really, I worked at a place last year that wouldn't give me a copy of the textbook- only a used one, sometimes not even that. Some classes didn't even have a whiteboard, we had this little 2 foot square thing that we we supposed to carry in.

I swore never again, if a school is too cheap to provide even these basic supplies, there's a really good chance they are not going to pay you.

What do you think?

cheers

[Mr. Pink]

I think you are right: If they are too cheap to get necessary things for the classroom, you will prolly end up getting screwed!

Necessary things for me:

Copies of ALL books I am expected to teach (access to teachers guides and tapes)
Whiteboard markers/chalk should be something they provide. Otherwise I wouldn't be writing on the board.
Paper for the photocopier. If they expect me to make tests/supplements, then I need paper and a photocopier.

In the classroom: desks/chairs/some type of board/window (no sunlight makes me nuts)

[ryleeys]

Access and paper for photo copier
Adequete numbers of books
Markers/chalk
Scantily clad attractive women
Guidelines on what they expect from lesson plans
Notebooks for the children to practice writing
Chairs, desks in sufficient numbers


That's all I can think of for now.

[cacheSurfer]

[Grotto]

I always make sure that in my contract it says they will supply all teaching materials. If they dont supply it I go out and buy it and give them the bill. This method has worked for 2 years running now. If they give me any lip I pull out my contract and show them the clause.

[Dawn]

School supplies pretty much everything teachers could possibly want --copy paper
colored paper (large and small sheets)
white board markers
board erasers
pencils and erasers for the kids
markers (thin and wide-point)
colored pencils
scissors
glue (sticks and liquid)
play dough
crayons
paints
paintbrushes
pastels
laminate and laminator
all manner of arts and craft supplies
assorted science supplies

As far as actual teaching materials go, they supply every teacher with copies of all textbooks, teacher's manuals, flashcards, cassette tapes or CDs, and whatever else goes with them. They also have a fairly large resource library with a huge collection of children's story books, a nice assortment of English videos and song tapes/CDs, instructional software, educational games, and a decent selection of teacher resources.

Beyond all that, they go out of their way to help us find the sorts of odds and ends you wouldn't really find in any school supply closet. Asked for worms yesterday so I could construct an ecosystem with one of my classes and was told no problem. On a more normal note, they're supplying us with seeds, pots and dirt for a theme unit on plants, eggs (2-3 per kid) for an Easter egg coloring contest, etc. Need I say how much I like my boss?

[some waygug-in]

So is there any chance that I can work there?

It doesn't hurt to ask.
cheers


My contract had the clause about the school supplying all teaching materials also, but when it came to enforcing that ..... good luck.

The thing is, I don't mind buying some stuff for the school, extra books for resources or whatever, but come on........board markers!

[aussie col]

I worked in a school that would buy a few pens for the teachers about once a month. In total there were about 18 teachers and we would get about 15 pens. Teachers would climb over each other to get to the pens, what a sight. I couldn't be bothered and would just buy my own.

The really crappy thing was that there were no teaching resources... NONE! Only the class textbook. I would have to make all my own worksheets ect.. or download everythying from the net. The cheap director told all the teachers to stop using the photocopier because it was costing too much. All the korean teachers stopped but I just kept using it. I was waiting for the director to tell me to stop but i guess he knew that I had to teach something. I was waiting for it so i could ask him for a few hundred thousand Won to spend on some resources.

I mean really, is one extra book or a set of flash cards too much to ask for?

But at least we had lots of chalk.

[kangnamdragon]

I think they should supply everything you need.

[some waygug-in]

Should, yes. But a lot don't.

The place I worked actually took away the extra textbooks and workbooks that I had bought for myself and sold them to new students!
They did this while I was busy in another class so I couldn't see what was happening.

They also took some from my desk and put them with the school's supply of new books (they had lots of them!) Then when I went to get them back, they accused me of stealing them.

Luckily for me, I had written my name on them beforehand.

And people wonder why there are so many complaints on this board!

Cheers

[shawner88]

MY boss is MR. Cheap, yet I do get paid on time. I'd rather have it that way then flush with supplies and no pay.

Here's what he won't buy:

Pencils. The kids always forget them and we have nothing but short stubs of pencils left and 1 sharpener for the whole school.


Crayons. He bought 30 sets! - 2 years ago. Most of them are gone or almost gone. We know how important crayons are.


Board Markers - he buys them but not very often. They're almost always out of ink.


Books - kids have had same English books for 2 years and he wonders why I keep making copies of things off the net and giving puzzles, etc.




I shouldn't complain about these petty things though. We have a computer in the office with the internet and a printer that works and there's always paper in the copy machine. We've had a good copy machine, nothing special but it rarely jams or malfuntions. I've never not been able to make a copy in almost a year, whereas at my previous school we had this giant Xerox machine that cost 10,000,000 won and broke down once a week because my ex boss, Mr. CHEAP-A-HOLE photocopied the Lets Go series books on a non stop babsis rather than buy them.

[sadsac]

After 3 years of always trying to make do, I found a little stationary store going out of business and had everything at 70% discount, so I basically bought all her stock. I've got enough supplies to last me for the next three years. Though my new school has no problems supplying whatever we need, which is nice.