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Some days make you want to rip your hair out
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nathanrutledge



Joined: 01 May 2008
Location: Marakesh

PostPosted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 10:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

creeper1 wrote:
nathanrutledge wrote:
I moved into my apartment and found a used condom IN the bed (after they had supposedly cleaned).


.


Looks like the waygook teacher before you was a party guy Laughing .

He probably left it there for the Koreans as a courtesy.

How can you find a reason to blame your employer for something that was quite clearly your predecessor's fault?


Because the employers were the one who took me there when I arrived and told me quote "we cleaned the apartment." On the surface, it appeared clean, but it was a pit. The condom in the bed was the most egregious. The air conditioner was clogged with dust, the bathroom was moldy, the kitchen flood was covered in crap from the washing machine, the floor under the bed was BLACK with dust and mold...

It's not that they didn't clean it (that does bother me somewhat), it's that they specifically said they did. Either they didn't do a thing (highly probable) or their standards of cleaning are insanely low (which, is also very probable, judging from how they maintain our office).

Definitely, the guy before is pretty classy for leaving it there, but still, saying you've done something when you clearly haven't... ugh.
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interestedinhanguk



Joined: 23 Aug 2010

PostPosted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 11:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Illysook wrote:
I'd love to test out the typical apologist's skills in speaking Hangeul.


I can speak Alphabet pretty well. Rolling Eyes
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ESL Milk "Everyday



Joined: 12 Sep 2007

PostPosted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 11:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think this thread should not be allowed to die and should continue to exist as a gripe thread!

So here goes:

Today, I learned the results of the English test my second graders took yesterday.

Out of 32 students, 12 got 50% or above.

Before you start blaming me or blaming the foreigners, I've only been here for 4 months... and the results for math were exactly the same-- 20 failures and 12 passes. Science was slightly better with a mere 14 failures. I think it's pretty obvious that I'm working at a really tough school.

On the other hand, Korean had only 4 failures!!!

I know what they think of me already, so I asked the kids what they thought of their math teacher, and they said she was 'cute'. Then I asked them what they thought of their Korean teacher, and they said she was strict and powerful. I know the lady-- she really is intimidating... mostly because she has grace, confidence and obviously has very high standards that to most would seem impossible to meet... but you know she also holds herself to those standards.

It kind of makes you wonder if there's a lesson to be learned here.
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stevieg4ever



Joined: 11 Feb 2006
Location: London, England

PostPosted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 3:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

when you have one of 'those' days just remind yourself you are not the first....
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Wiltern



Joined: 23 Sep 2009

PostPosted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 12:58 pm    Post subject: Re: Some days make you want to rip your hair out Reply with quote

Xylox wrote:
Ugh, they specifically recruit people who don't speak Korean. Its kind of like having a mine boss who barely knows anything about mining. Quit your crying douche.


No sh|t sherlock. I don't expect English teachers who come to Korea to speak Korean. Why not just say it was a bad day because there was a language barrier. But the OP was complaining about a native Korean living in Korea whose english is "crap." But, if you think you're entitled to go to other countries and complain about the 'crappy' english of the natives, then it says a lot about you.
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ReeseDog



Joined: 05 Apr 2008
Location: Classified

PostPosted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 4:37 pm    Post subject: Re: Some days make you want to rip your hair out Reply with quote

Adios_Corea wrote:
Xylox wrote:
Wiltern wrote:
iamthecheese86 wrote:
....because his English is crap.


Maybe it should be a question of your Korean being crap. What country are you in? I was in Italy not long ago and met Italians whose english was 'crap', which made it harder for me. The nerve of them!

The sense of entitlement some Westerners in Korea exhibit is downright pathetic. You should have just said there's a language barrier.


Ugh, they specifically recruit people who don't speak Korean. Its kind of like having a mine boss who barely knows anything about mining. Quit your crying douche.


+1

I love these people who think that you can go from speaking zero Korean to being able to explain fairly complex ideas in Korean in less than 1 year.

It isn't as though we've all immigrated to Korea and refused to learn the language....we were all INVITED here, and in many cases lured here by beneficial salary packages. The onus in this scenario is on the employer to be able to communicate in English....at the supermarket, sure, we need to be able to speak Korean or not complain, but at our workplace we should be able to speak in English to our boss, or at least have someone present who can translate for us....very few teaching jobs in Korea require that their employees learn Korean.


+2

Yeah! What he said!
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SinclairLondon



Joined: 17 Sep 2010

PostPosted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 7:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Days when students cry and scream and kick and hit and don't do their work, no matter what you say.


Rip your hair out? More like throw yourself in front of car. What is needed is a few stools, a few friends and a lot of beer.

Had a tough time my first year, but found a really good gig my second, which turned out to be 18 months. A strict boss with great English and cool coworkers makes a HUGE difference.

But I'll never teach Korean kids again. Whining, crying, princes and princesses.

Quote:
Days when you find out your planned five-day vacation overlaps with one day off for everyone and your boss tries to tell you it's too bad for you it still counts as five days of your vacation.


Every year Wagooks try to get away with this one. Schedule the 5 day vacation over a 4 day work week, hoping to pick up an extra monday, making it a 10 day vacation: Sat, Sun, M, T, W, Th, F, Sat, Sun, M

Makes perfect sense where we came from (but so do taking sick days when you are sick), but it aint gonna happen.

Quote:
When you were trying to find out for a MONTH beforehand when the school vacation is, and this day happens to be NEXT Friday. Not some far-off date a month from now or something. And when you try to communicate about it it just causes more confusion because his English is crap.


Beer.
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NYC_Gal 2.0



Joined: 10 Dec 2010

PostPosted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 7:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

SinclairLondon wrote:

Every year Wagooks try to get away with this one. Schedule the 5 day vacation over a 4 day work week, hoping to pick up an extra monday, making it a 10 day vacation: Sat, Sun, M, T, W, Th, F, Sat, Sun, M

Makes perfect sense where we came from (but so do taking sick days when you are sick), but it aint gonna happen. .


I'm taking 2 of my vacation days the week of Lunar New Year. Those 3 days that everyone has off don't count towards my vacation pool. The bosses who dock days when everyone has off are thieves.
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Who's Your Daddy?



Joined: 30 May 2010
Location: Victoria, Canada.

PostPosted: Sat Dec 25, 2010 12:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

ESL Milk "Everyday wrote:

I learned the results of the English test my second graders took yesterday.

Out of 32 students, 12 got 50% or above.


Really usually in PS like 60% of students get 90+%. Totally worthless tests.
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