Korean Job Discussion Forums

[myenglishisno]

A lot of you guys have been here long enough to know that if it's not in the contract, you can refuse. I wouldn't say that for the little stuff but it seems to me that some hagwons will make teachers call students for hours on end. Just say "no" and contract + the bosses' face.

[RMNC]

That works too. I thunk a lot of people are scared of talking on the phone so they worry about doing this, but in reality it's just incredibly futile and boring.

[West Coast Tatterdemalion]

Tomato, haven't you been in Korea for over 10 years? Phone teaching is what you will be doing and if it is not in your contract, I would tell them "no." That is a word that you should have learned by now after all of your years in Korea. You should know better by now. C'mon, man.

[austinmc86]

[myenglishisno]

Then say yes but only if they pay you extra. You're basically doing hours of unpaid work that isn't directly related to your job (ie: teaching classes in X hagwon from X to X time).

If you roll over and do it then the next thing you know, you're going to be doing all sorts of extra stuff for free.

[tomato]

Just in case the rest of you are wondering how it turned out, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Every morning, my supervising teacher comes up to me and hands me my schedule for the day. (She's my supervising teacher because the director can't speak English.) I was to call up all the students between 3:00 and 4:00 this afternoon and speak to each one for 2 minutes. That was a relief, because that's during my regular working hours.

However, I was to have the usual morning schedule of teaching out of the student book and the workbook. I didn't assert myself to the point advocated by West Coast Tatterdemalion, but I pointed out that this was all new to the students as well as to me. Therefore, we needed time to practice. (The school opened up about 6 weeks ago.)

The supervising teacher then conferred with the director. The director called all the students together for a meeting. At this meeting, I had a dummy conversation with each child while the remaining 21 students fidgeted. When the students failed to answer half the questions, my point became obvious.

After this meeting, I was given permission to type a sheet for each child on the school computer while the other teachers went about their usual duties. During free play after lunch, I approached each child for another dummy conversation, this time using the sheet.

When the time came, most of the conversations were held in one of the classrooms, using a toy telephone and toy furniture to simulate a home environment. The director stood by to usher the children in and out. I had actual telephone conversations only with the children who has gone home by that time.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this thread.

[Whistleblower]

I don't about other teachers here but I find it more difficult to speak a foreign language other the phone rather than face to face.

This type of telephone teaching is useless to a large extent. You could try to call them but most of the time:

a. They are doing homework
b. They are having dinner
c. They are at a different after school club

Like others have mentioned, you can phone them and then you have to contend with the parents explaining why their NT is calling (usually their English is crap). Once you get through, the student is not really engaged and wants to get back to the PC, TV, etc. They will do the ropes but will not really engage with the teacher and if parents are in ear-shot, they will cause more stress for the student. Best of luck with your phone calls. It is utterly useless and I hope you get more from 3 year olds than "Hello?" "Yes!" "Hello?"

I would never agree to do this and tell the hagwon owners to get lost.

[Whistleblower]

[tomato]

Whistleblower, I thought the same thing.
But the school had a big 모집 about six weeks ago,
families from all over town showed up, and they all signed up.
And they must be paying bookoos of dinero, too, because the school is in a brand new building in a new part of town, has lots and lots of textbooks, picture books, arts and crafts materials, and computer and audiovisual equipment.
Maybe they are so overawed with the physical plant that they forget to ask about anything else.
Or maybe they don't know about the director's English because they only speak to her in Korean.

As for the students, they are all preschoolers except for a small group of first and second grade after-schoolers.
So they probably don't know whether she can speak English or not.

As for me, that's one reason I like the job.
I like writing letters in Korean to her whenever I have something to communicate,
I like the challenge of listening whenever the teachers speak to me in Korean.
I like the practice in listening to them every time they addresses the children in Korean.
I've wanted second language experience ever since I came to Korea,
and now I found it.

[PatrickBateman]

Somehow it's become mandatory at my school.

We don't get paid for it.

I don't like it.

End of story.

[RMNC]

Garth, that was a haiku!

[sojusucks]

If schools do this, they should pair you with a Korean teacher to explain the situation to the parent(s). That would make everything smoother. So much for the schools thinking about these issues in advance.