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Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
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shifty
Joined: 21 Jun 2004
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 Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2011 9:39 am Post subject: |
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| World Traveler wrote: |
| Those with plum jobs are overrepresented here. They have extra time to surf the internet. Those who have hagwon jobs with long hours may not have the time or energy to post on here. And they may not even know about this site, as most expats in Korea do not. |
Most interesting view, never thought of it like that.
A Daves profile might reveal a P.S. poster whiling time away from classes and insufferably happy with his lot.
This is what poster World Traveler essentially is saying.
I know from formative times that the overwhelming majority of hakwon teachers were totally unaware of Daves. And their ranks were decimated by runners, left right and center. Those that remained weren't short of moans and complaints.
So I think we should look into idea that Daves is frequented by the tier that is happiest in Korea.
That we should look anew at the bad tidings on this board where they occur, and with large grain of salt. Very possibly it's a whole lot worse.
"We can see the top, but so hard to see the bottom." |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2011 2:07 pm Post subject: |
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| shifty wrote: |
Ah well, I've come away fairly disillusioned.
The flagship site on Paddy's list 'galjimin' seems to be moribund.
The one for Busan looks alright, doesn't grab me by the throat and not let go, however. Any rate it's only for Busan and not Korea as a whole. If I had no other alternative I still wouldn't go there, that's how staid it looks.
Maybe these places are being supplanted by facebook.
The one in Canada I left alone, I don't know if I did the right thing..
I thought b/c I'm not Canadian I get a pass. |
GalBi Jim, and it's still very functional. |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2011 2:32 pm Post subject: |
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| shifty wrote: |
| World Traveler wrote: |
| Those with plum jobs are overrepresented here. They have extra time to surf the internet. Those who have hagwon jobs with long hours may not have the time or energy to post on here. And they may not even know about this site, as most expats in Korea do not. |
Most interesting view, never thought of it like that. |
Most English teachers in Korea work in a hagwon. On this board, it seems there are more public school teachers than hagwon teachers. And there are quite a few who work in a university here- a greater proportion than would be found in the teaching expat population as a whole.
I also tend to think message boards tend to attract intelligent people. Message boards involve reading, writing, and discussing.
I don't believe the "The internet attracts negative people" line, because I've been to message boards where the overwhelming majority of posts do not contain complaining, for example, here: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/ Once in a while a person complains that a language is so darn difficult to learn- often times it is Korean  , but overall, the posters are educated, helpful, and positive.
The line about the internet attracting complainers is a line used as propaganda on recruiting websites. I see it all the time, and hear it parroted by apologists even more.
Which reminds me: another reason this site is not a representative sample is it is so full of shills- recruiters in disguise and other people who benefit financially from people coming here who are playing up the good aspects of working here while downplaying the bad. Is PatrickGHBusan an example of one such person? I don't know. But he runs a business in Canada that works with recruiters that send people to Korea. Does he benefit financially, directly or indirectly, from more people coming to Korea? He could say no to this question, but we still wouldn't know with certainty the truth.
Another skewer towards the positive is this site is a business. Write something negative about a school or recruiter that pays for advertising on the site and the thread is deleted. Also, members of waygook.org have complained that on this site, those critical of ESL in Korea have been banned at a much higher rate than apologists. I wouldn't doubt it. I mean, this is a money making site, right? Look how much madoka violates the terms of service. And he is still around. But long time poster cruisemonkey: banned. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if I get permabanned soon. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2011 6:07 pm Post subject: |
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| World Traveler wrote: |
[
Most English teachers in Korea work in a hagwon.
I also tend to think message boards tend to attract intelligent people. Message boards involve reading, writing, and discussing.
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Any links to back up that claim to "Most English teachers work in a hakwon"?
I ask because a while back someone posted a newspaper article which stated that there were around 6000 hakwons in South Korea give or take.
There are a lot more public schools in South Korea. True, big hakwons may have more than one Foreign teacher, but then again so do some big public schools.
As for your claim that message boards tend to attract intelligent people? I've seen plenty of message boards on the internet which prove the reverse of that claim.
And plenty of posts on these forums over the years tend to go towards disproving that claim as well..although there are some intelligent people on this forum. |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 8:17 pm Post subject: |
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Maybe some hagwons do not register themselves because they want to avoid paying taxes?
It is possible, as bootlegged material is sold openly on the street in South Korea. It seems as though some laws are not followed to the extent they are in the U.S.
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| According to the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology on the 11th, there were 2,456 native speaker English teachers in public schools nationwide at the end of September 2006, and that increased to 3,693 in 2007. Last year that increased by over 1,700 to reach 5,417 by the end of September. |
http://asiancorrespondent.com/23535/yonhap-unfit-foulmouthed-drunken-english-teachers-running-rampant/
Check out this graph of E2 numbers- 23,000 last year
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zk6ig_Ba1mo/Thx1pN8NC4I/AAAAAAAAHaM/l_m6KQbAxR4/s1600/graph%25282%2529.jpg
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
As for your claim that message boards tend to attract intelligent people? I've seen plenty of message boards on the internet which prove the reverse of that claim.
And plenty of posts on these forums over the years tend to go towards disproving that claim as well... |
Maybe you are right... 
(I've become more and more disillusioned with this board lately.) |
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jeremysums
Joined: 08 Apr 2011
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| Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 11:33 am Post subject: Re: so MUCH hype about teaching in Korea & I join this f |
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The way I see it, korea is an opportunity to see and try different things. Later in life if you're not happy at home, andreagee it may be, you can pack your bags and go.
| ducaticanine wrote: |
| much of what i read are about difficulties and problems. makes me wonder. i had this idea that there were plenty of jobs in Korea and quite simple to find.. |
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