Korean Job Discussion Forums

[steroidmaximus]

Korean kids take turns at their regular schools to do the cleaning. Ask em. Sometimes it's the grade 4's, or the grade 6's etc. They swap back and forth every week or two. As such, I never felt bad about making them clean, especially if one of dared to use the floor as a garbage can. They soon got the hint, and I had one of the cleanest classes in the school. (ya! Tae-Sub! next time gum under desk, you use tongue to clean, got it? Yes teacher)

The director at my school never made the teachers come and do the cleaning on a Saturday. He understood that asking the teachers to do that kind of thing only fostered resentment from everybody for the reasons already stated. He also earned big points from the Korean teachers for not making them come and clean. The bus drivers / secretaries did most of it, and once a month a crew would come in and do a heavy cleaning.

[OiGirl]

I'm not going to clean my classroom on a regular basis. If the school is not going to have it cleaned, it will look crappy and student and teacher morale will go down.

But -- if it is messy because of something special I did (craft project, snack party, etc.) AND it is bothering me, then I may clean it. And I may get the kids to help. If you make it sound like a special treat, they will help willingly!

[Kristsoy]

it's a saturday, if he's not paying u tell him to go to hell, you arent a korean teacher u dont need to act like they do.
there's no way id be doing that and my boss would never ask us because he knows all 3 of us would tell him to f*ck off

since it's a saturday...

TIME = MONEY

no $ then no time he's totally on a power trip I agree, next he'll be saying clean the school or ur fired

[paul]

I am a little suprised and quite heartened to see the response to this seemingly obscure post. Cleaning has never really been discussed on this board and I've certainly never seen a poll done on it.

I also clean my classroom up from time to time because there is only one cleaning woman here and she is actually part of the administration.

I'd like to add that before teaching and journalism I was a blue collar worker and it's very strange not having to go to the sawmill every day and break my back as a wood worker like I did for the better part of my younger years. So when I took a break from teaching last year, I applied to a labor agency just to get my hands dirty for a while and it felt great!

Mind you, I was getting paid for it.

That being said, if in fact your director wants you to come in on your day off and clean (two things that are probably not in your contract: doing a specific task unrelated to teaching and working on a Saturday for free), then I would seriously consider refusing. If you give 'em an inch they take a mile.

Most of the replies on this post are referring to general tidiness, not commiting to a day of cleaning when you are supposed to be off.

[ryleeys]

I'm required to clean my room every day... what irks me about it though is that of the 5 teachers at my school (me the only foreigner and only English teacher), only myself and the youngest Korean teacher are required to clean. We both have to clean half the school, including rooms that we don't even teach in. Actually, two of the rooms I clean, NOBODY teaches in.

I'm not happy about it, but I do it. Lord knows why... damn work ethic and all.


But I would refuse to come in on a Saturday.

[sadsac]

I'm allocated a different room every fortnight to clean. My only complaint is that I ensure that whatever room I teach in is left clean after class, but the Korean teachers certainly don't respond in kind. It's an ongoing source of irritation between the foreign teaching staff and them.

[paperbag princess]

no way would i do it. is your boss going to come to your house and help you clean it on his free time? i doubt it.
i hate that we are deemed as being lazy when we won't bend over backwards as our korean colleagues do.

[peppermint]

On paper, the kids are responsible for cleaning the classrooms at my school. In reality- I do a lot. Being the only foreigner means that it's a novelty to come to my classroom and hang out, and that's what they do while they're "cleaning"

[VanIslander]

This weekend I cleaned out the air conditioner in my classroom and helped the director clean the office one. That was doing my share of the work, given I'm the one who uses them the most.

Then I washed the windows in my classroom door from all the funny faces my next hour's students make to see me laugh as I try to teach.

And I cleaned my desks, which didn't have much writing on them because the students know that if I catch a student doing it, the student will have to clean them all.

It all took less than an hour. And I maintain a good relationship with my director (though it's not the reason I do it, it is a benefit).

I don't see the big deal.

Maybe those certified teachers with Master's degrees and years of experience feel it's beneath them to clean up their rooms. But the posters who previously spoke of ESLing in Korea as being like working in 7-Eleven should consider a little clean-up as par for the course.

[JacktheCat]

Cleaning up my classroom for half an hour at the end of the day

..... no big deal

Coming in on the weekend and spending the whole day cleaning the entire school

...... big deal

[kangnamdragon]

[JacktheCat]

Cleaning can be quite meditative and helps one relax after a long day.

If I didn't clean ... I'd be going for a walk in the park or exercising to wind down at the end of the day anyway.

You kind of need that "wind down" period after a full day of teaching.

[VanIslander]

That's the fact Jack, though I prefer cleaning before classes. It gets the juices flowing and gives me that time to, as you say, meditate.

[just because]

At my first hagwon i didn't clean....
At this one i don't clean......

Call me lazy but nothing has ever been indicated to me to clean.

[mishlert]

For those of you who clean. What would happen if you refused? Will you be fired? Fired for not cleaning. Oh no, you were the reason for to school's reputation going down because you did not clean
If you do the math you will see that the school has more than enough money to hire a cleaning lady, or crew. By not doing so it show how cheap the owner is.