Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Paddycakes]

I insist on being called the Duke of Wellington.

About half my students and korean co workers abide by it.

#jesuisquincy

[cj1976]

I like to be addressed as 'The Falcon'. Has a real rugged tone to it.
Seriously though, when a Korean guys says 'call me Mr Kim', I immediately think: A) no way am I calling you that, and B) I'm never going to talk to you again.
Korean guys are so hard to be friends with.

[andrewchon]

[yodanole]

It is within the purview of an English teacher's function to adress the manner of polite address in the use of the English language. And it is true that how you are addressed is a means of teaching by example. Teaching children, I introduce myself to them as "YodanoleTeacher". If they just call me by my given name, that's fine too. I'm more concerned with teaching them the whole speaking English as a whole thing. I'm not their parents nor am I part of their primary educational system. Having been here a while, I still remember considering it a success when students did not run screaming from the room at the sight of me.

The situation of adult students calling me by my given name while asking me to call them "Mr. Kim works for me because I address people in the manner in which they introduce themselves to me. It is no surprise that they address me as I have introduced myself to them. Even so, they usually provide a Mr. to go with it.

The concept of teaching Koreans "to be polite and have manners" ( as if they have never contemplated this ) is simply ethnocentricity at best and on the slippery slope to cultural imperialism.

I'm not on a mission, nor do I hope to change the world. Not even a regional part of it. I receive my paycheck & am generally content.

[No_hite_pls]

[Roman Holiday]

Well I had a guy in the Korean office, of similar age, suggest in a friendly chat that I just call him Byongju. Next day I walked into the office and did just that only to be promptly marched out and given a right bollocking.

[Jake_Kim]

Indeed, Korean teachers/lecturers would address each other as Kim/Yi/Choi/etc. seonsaengnim. Or sometimes full name plus the suffix, if there are multiple Kims/Yis/Chois/etc. within the same group.

As long as you're there as a professional - as opposed to, say, as a friend or within similar 'private' capacity - equal in rank to your co-workers, you should ask to be addressed by 'your surname + seonsaengnim' or 'Mr./Ms. surname' or at the very least by your surname like in the anglophone militaries or professional organizations.

Unless you can call your Korean counterparts equally by their given name only, about which they'd more likely than not start feeling outright uncomfortable, allowing one-way first-name basis amounts to allowing yourself demoted within the hierarchy of your workplace.

[drcrazy]

As I previously posted, although I have a PhD, I want everyone to call me by my first name. And I have taught everything in Korea from Pre School to Post Doctoral students. Some of my earlier universities had special programs (e.g., kid's classes).

When it is a question of being polite, having good manners and showing respect, you do these things by calling someone what they want to be called. I make it clear the first day of every class what to call me. Often the kids used teacher, and nowadays many use professor, then I remind them what I prefer to be called. I do this to have a friendly atmosphere in the class. Students feel closer to me and work much harder. As a result kid's class's- university classes, I always have hard working students and receive very very high student evaluations (and yes, even the kid's classes had to do them).

As for kids, they all had an English name (e.g., Tom) and I called them by their names and they called me by my first name. They all did very well, and I never had the terrible problems with kids that some other teachers did.

And when my university students do their evaluations, they often write about the friendly atmosphere in my classes and one way or another say what I call "Establishing a sense of community where the teacher is a member of that community and we all work together to help each other as much as possible". I do my best to help them, they do their best to help me and to help each other.

LOOOOOOOOOONG ago when I was doing my BA, of course I called all of the prof.s Dr. ......... Because I was a French major, I went to college in France my Junior year. So, I was a student in a French as a Second Language Program. All of the professors (they were all French and they all had PhD's) wanted to use first names only for BOTH students and professors. The head of the program who lived in France (but was American) also wanted first names only for her and us.

When I returned to the USA, I went back to the old system. But then, when I got into ESL/EFL I saw many teachers using first names only for both teachers and students. It reminded me of how friendly and successful my classes were in France. Therefore, I always want to be called by my first name. I know this is not the only reason why I have had such success with my classes that I love teaching so much, but I do think it does plant a seed the first day of class; a seed that grows and produces its crop in abundance.

I, however, am not saying others should do it my way. NO NOT AT ALL. If I were to say do it my way, it would contradict what I said earlier in this post: "When it is a question of being polite, having good manners and showing respect, you do these things by calling someone what they want to be called."

[schwa]

I'm in almost total accord with the above post, thats my personal style too. Very few in any my schools, staff or students, have ever even heard my family name & I'm good with that. Simple & friendly. If they want to tag on -teacher or -saem, thats nice but I dont insist.

Yes of course its different from my own educational background & if any of them should go abroad to study, they'll learn the normal formalities there quick enough. Meanwhile, I am certain I am not disrespected over my naming choice here.

Younger teachers here though, beware. Kids might misconstrue a first-name basis as an invitation to speak banmal to you, which is not okay. Squelch that.

"Almost" total accord -- I think giving english names to students is stupid & disrespectful to them, but thats probably a different thread.

[drcrazy]

[SHGator428]

First name basis. Don't see the point in anything more.

[drcrazy]

Also in the many MANY teacher training programs I have done (pre-service and in-service) they all already had English names when the program began and wanted to use them. I think it is "getting into the spirit". As I said before, I call them what they want and all of the kids and all of the teachers wanted to use English first names.

[SHGator428]

I'd add that having clear rules and making it known from the get go that banmal is unacceptable is important, like schwa said.

[nicwr2002]

I was mainly focusing on the professionalism in the workplace. Like I said before, I never even thought there could be a hidden meaning behind coworkers not adding "teacher" to the end of my name. It may be that the other coworkers just want to be friendly with me or, since they know English, they know that westerners use first names when calling each other.

On the other hand, the hagwon I worked at before was owned by a married couple who called each other Wangjangnim instead of their names to keep the workplace professional. Even teachers who have know each other for a long time still called each other "teacher" while in the workplace.

I just wanted to see what others thought about the workplace professionalism when using just first names or using "teacher" at the end of your name when speaking to you. My Korean wife believes that the other teachers should call the foreigner teachers using the suffix, but I just wanted to hear other people's experiences and see if she's just being too much of a stickler of the rules.

[drcrazy]

I just reread the op, and see it is about coworkers. In me getting close to 20 years in Korea if a coworker ever said: "Hi Matt Teacher" or "Hi Matt Professor" Instead of: "Hi Matt" That would be one of the strangest things I have ever heard.