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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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bmaw01
Joined: 13 May 2013
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 Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 1:26 pm Post subject: My friend has to wear clown attire on Fridays. |
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My friend who is currently teaching in South Korea was approached by his director. The school has been losing students so the director is a bit worried. I can sympathise with his boss. The ESL market can be very difficult, and it's very frustrating to please Korean mothers.
Anyway, the boss wants my friend to wear a clown costume on Fridays! He has to put on the baggy pants, paint his face white, and learn to juggle! He has about 3 months left on his contract. I told him to hang on and to finish out the contract. He's obviously pissed. He looked over his contract and it didn't state that he would have to put on a clown costume.
The boss said that the children he teaches are bored with his teaching style. They want fun, fun, fun! I think it's ridiculous. He doesn't even know how to juggle!
What would you guys do?
PS... I know it sounds like I'm trolling. I'm not. |
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tob55
Joined: 29 Apr 2007
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 2:02 pm Post subject: Re: My friend has to wear clown attire on Fridays. |
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| bmaw01 wrote: |
My friend who is currently teaching in South Korea was approached by his director. The school has been losing students so the director is a bit worried. I can sympathise with his boss. The ESL market can be very difficult, and it's very frustrating to please Korean mothers.
Anyway, the boss wants my friend to wear a clown costume on Fridays! He has to put on the baggy pants, paint his face white, and learn to juggle! He has about 3 months left on his contract. I told him to hang on and to finish out the contract. He's obviously pissed. He looked over his contract and it didn't state that he would have to put on a clown costume.
The boss said that the children he teaches are bored with his teaching style. They want fun, fun, fun! I think it's ridiculous. He doesn't even know how to juggle!
What would you guys do?
PS... I know it sounds like I'm trolling. I'm not. |
Finish out the contract and move to a better place. Obviously the boss has a pie in the sky dream to compensate for being clueless as to how to run a business and attract new customers. In the end your friend is thinking about teaching and the boss is ONLY thinking about the money.
When we first began our academy we had many students who had been coming to the place for a year or more. The moms quickly began complaining that their children were not having "fun" once we began to run the place. Within the first 6 months of our new operation we lost more than 95% of the students from the previous owner. They all cited not having fun in the academy as the reason for leaving, yet not ONE of the students who left were capable of saying much more than "Hi, my name is..." when they left.
My question and frustration was that the parents were on the "let's have fun" rant rather than being furious over the fact that after spending a ton of money for hagwon classes for more than a year, their little darlings couldn't even speak in English, not even a little!?! Well, it has been a year now and we replaced ALL but three students from the previous owner, in fact we surpassed the previous owner's numbers already this year, and operated in the plus side of business expenses after only 8 months of operation.
The bottom line is this, find students who really want to learn and cater to them rather than filling the place with kids who simply want to "play" when they come to the institute. |
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Stan Rogers
Joined: 20 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 2:29 pm Post subject: |
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| I'd quit. |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 2:40 pm Post subject: Re: My friend has to wear clown attire on Fridays. |
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| bmaw01 wrote: |
My friend who is currently teaching in South Korea was approached by his director. The school has been losing students so the director is a bit worried. I can sympathise with his boss. The ESL market can be very difficult, and it's very frustrating to please Korean mothers.
Anyway, the boss wants my friend to wear a clown costume on Fridays! He has to put on the baggy pants, paint his face white, and learn to juggle! He has about 3 months left on his contract. I told him to hang on and to finish out the contract. He's obviously pissed. He looked over his contract and it didn't state that he would have to put on a clown costume.
The boss said that the children he teaches are bored with his teaching style. They want fun, fun, fun! I think it's ridiculous. He doesn't even know how to juggle!
What would you guys do?
PS... I know it sounds like I'm trolling. I'm not. |
3 options:
1) learn how to teach in an engaging manner (CBLT, CLIL, etc). Little late for this one but it would put him in good stead for his next job.
or
2) put on a clown costume and learn how to juggle. It is only 3 months.
or
3) Quit and go to China. He is unlikely to get a LOR so staying in Korea and finding a new job (until his ARC expires) is not likely to be a viable option.
. |
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Smithington
Joined: 14 Dec 2011
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 4:53 pm Post subject: |
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He could just go it then, after some experience, get a role in a yogurt commercial.  |
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bmaw01
Joined: 13 May 2013
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 5:37 pm Post subject: Re: My friend has to wear clown attire on Fridays. |
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| tob55 wrote: |
| bmaw01 wrote: |
My friend who is currently teaching in South Korea was approached by his director. The school has been losing students so the director is a bit worried. I can sympathise with his boss. The ESL market can be very difficult, and it's very frustrating to please Korean mothers.
Anyway, the boss wants my friend to wear a clown costume on Fridays! He has to put on the baggy pants, paint his face white, and learn to juggle! He has about 3 months left on his contract. I told him to hang on and to finish out the contract. He's obviously pissed. He looked over his contract and it didn't state that he would have to put on a clown costume.
The boss said that the children he teaches are bored with his teaching style. They want fun, fun, fun! I think it's ridiculous. He doesn't even know how to juggle!
What would you guys do?
PS... I know it sounds like I'm trolling. I'm not. |
Finish out the contract and move to a better place. Obviously the boss has a pie in the sky dream to compensate for being clueless as to how to run a business and attract new customers. In the end your friend is thinking about teaching and the boss is ONLY thinking about the money.
When we first began our academy we had many students who had been coming to the place for a year or more. The moms quickly began complaining that their children were not having "fun" once we began to run the place. Within the first 6 months of our new operation we lost more than 95% of the students from the previous owner. They all cited not having fun in the academy as the reason for leaving, yet not ONE of the students who left were capable of saying much more than "Hi, my name is..." when they left.
My question and frustration was that the parents were on the "let's have fun" rant rather than being furious over the fact that after spending a ton of money for hagwon classes for more than a year, their little darlings couldn't even speak in English, not even a little!?! Well, it has been a year now and we replaced ALL but three students from the previous owner, in fact we surpassed the previous owner's numbers already this year, and operated in the plus side of business expenses after only 8 months of operation.
The bottom line is this, find students who really want to learn and cater to them rather than filling the place with kids who simply want to "play" when they come to the institute. |
True. When you stick to your guns it will evidently work out. It always does. What I don't understand concerning Korean mothers is I thought they put education first. If this is the case then why do they insist on their children having fun in the classroom. As an educator you can do fun and exciting lessons. Still, a classroom that is always fun isn't really a classroom that's being productive.
I told my friend to wait it out. If the school wants fun then give them the fun they desire. If the mothers come back and complain I told him not to say a word. Hopefully he can last the 3 months without blowing up at the director. |
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bmaw01
Joined: 13 May 2013
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 5:40 pm Post subject: Re: My friend has to wear clown attire on Fridays. |
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| ttompatz wrote: |
| bmaw01 wrote: |
My friend who is currently teaching in South Korea was approached by his director. The school has been losing students so the director is a bit worried. I can sympathise with his boss. The ESL market can be very difficult, and it's very frustrating to please Korean mothers.
Anyway, the boss wants my friend to wear a clown costume on Fridays! He has to put on the baggy pants, paint his face white, and learn to juggle! He has about 3 months left on his contract. I told him to hang on and to finish out the contract. He's obviously pissed. He looked over his contract and it didn't state that he would have to put on a clown costume.
The boss said that the children he teaches are bored with his teaching style. They want fun, fun, fun! I think it's ridiculous. He doesn't even know how to juggle!
What would you guys do?
PS... I know it sounds like I'm trolling. I'm not. |
3 options:
1) learn how to teach in an engaging manner (CBLT, CLIL, etc). Little late for this one but it would put him in good stead for his next job.
or
2) put on a clown costume and learn how to juggle. It is only 3 months.
or
3) Quit and go to China. He is unlikely to get a LOR so staying in Korea and finding a new job (until his ARC expires) is not likely to be a viable option.
. |
Thanks for your comment ttompatz. I will tell him what you said.
Thanks again. |
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tiger fancini
Joined: 21 Mar 2006
Location: Testicles for Eyes
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 7:47 pm Post subject: Re: My friend has to wear clown attire on Fridays. |
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| bmaw01 wrote: |
| The boss said that the children he teaches are bored with his teaching style. |
Surely it would be much better to
| ttompatz wrote: |
| learn how to teach in an engaging manner (CBLT, CLIL, etc) |
than
| bmaw01 wrote: |
| wear a clown costume on Fridays! He has to put on the baggy pants, paint his face white, and learn to juggle! |
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Stan Rogers
Joined: 20 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 8:38 pm Post subject: |
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| The customer is always right! |
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Mr. BlackCat
Joined: 30 Nov 2005
Location: Insert witty remark HERE
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 11:35 pm Post subject: Re: My friend has to wear clown attire on Fridays. |
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| bmaw01 wrote: |
What I don't understand concerning Korean mothers is I thought they put education first. |
Hahahahahahahaah! Good one.
No, Koreans will say they put education first, but their idea of education is to be in a building or room that describes itself as 'educational' with books in the vicinity. What they really want is a babysitter, but they can't say this because it'll make them look like the lazy parents they are. Instead they say they're sending their kids off to 'learn'.
I'm sure some Korean parents care about education, just like there are some Koreans who work hard at their jobs. But most wouldn't know what either of these concepts looked like if they bit them in the behind. |
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Handsome Boy
Joined: 03 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2014 1:13 am Post subject: |
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| SPOT ON! Mr Blackcat. |
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schwa
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Yap
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| Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2014 1:23 am Post subject: Re: My friend has to wear clown attire on Fridays. |
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| bmaw01 wrote: |
| PS... I know it sounds like I'm trolling. I'm not. |
Too obviously, yes you are. |
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Nester Noodlemon
Joined: 16 Jan 2009
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| Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2014 2:52 am Post subject: |
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Can already imagine a pissed off clown moping around school all day.
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Troglodyte
Joined: 06 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2014 5:04 am Post subject: |
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He really only has to please the boss for 1 month. Once he's in the 11th month then the LB will offer some degree of protection from being fired. The bigger concern should be whether the school itself will last 3 months. He should really keep an eye out for signs that the school is going under.
If it was me and I was in the same situation (assuming that I was a new teacher like your friend) then I'd probably just put on the clown costume and wait it out. I would probably also try to negotiate something in exchange for this, something small like pizza or chicken on costume days. Alternatively, I would come up with a different idea for fun classes. Clearly the objective at the moment is to entertain the kids so put aside any lofty ideas of reforming the school. |
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basic69isokay
Joined: 28 Sep 2014
Location: korea
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| Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2014 7:04 am Post subject: |
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I would absolutely quit.
But that depends how much money u have, what visa you're on, etc...
Your "friend" is being treated poorly, and for what? 2 grand a month?? Dang, you could go back home and work at tgi fridays and make that much. Or, as previously stated, go to China, make more money, and learn an actually useful language. |
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