Korean Job Discussion Forums

marista99 · Joined: 05 Jun 2004 Location: Incheon

I was offered a contract by a school, and asked for contact info for a former foreign teacher. They gave me the e-mail of one who they said had worked there 2 years ago, and who was Canadian. So I emailed her, and got back an email that was barely comprehensible English. The person was obviously not a native speaker--or if she was, she was incredibly stupid. I mean this was seriously terrible writing. So all I can figure is the email was not to a former teacher at all, but to her or another Korean, who was going to try to make the school sound good. And the email she sent me was incredibly positive about the school and director, with nothing negative at all. If the English had been remotely decent she might have pulled it off.

Anyways, do you guys want me to post the name of this school and director, or would this fall under the "secondhand information" category where I shouldn't be dissing a school I didn't teach for?

fidel · Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Location: North Shore NZ

How about pasting the letter here so we can read it.

marista99 · Joined: 05 Jun 2004 Location: Incheon

Here's the letter:

"Hello

Accomodations were excellent they are 5 minute walk from everything including the school. on 18th floor of a secure building, a 2 bedroom place very nice! i hope its the same anyways, computer and access everything furnished.

the kids were fine, its teaching! kids are kids, i did have some rough days , but made friends with the other korean teachers and they soon put the kids back in order.

as for a corriculum well there wasnt any in place really they followed a book and thats it , i think thats what made it kinda boring and thats why you have to be very creative and bring extra materials for them to do, and games for good behavior and play. remeber that these kids are there to learn english in a fun way they sometimes do not want to be there and they find it rather useless ..... but make it interesting and fun , basically you have a lot of liberty in making a corriculum yourself. i find that bringing book for extra reading and other english games helps. they were limited in props , but Mrs ____ loves her kids and is dedicated in helping them so if you need things she will provide it for you. if you can sing bring music for them tolearn that is the best way music as always the key.

things are very expensive , and well groceries stores arent like home so have an open mind for new food, but in deagu you can go shopping at cosco happy !!!! theres is lots of time in between for fun and travelling , i did the whole parts and even when to small islands around korea! i learned how to read and write quickly its fairly easy and to speek you have to try and practice. overall koreans are very friendly and kind , compared to .....well i willnot mention......i had a pretty bad experience somewhere else. korean contract are better than other places as well the money is well worth it.

well i hope i answered some of your questions .... if its your first time overseas , remeber cultures shock will happen , and then it will pass.

take care,

_______"

peppermint · Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2004 3:39 pm Post subject:

Umm- if that's barely comprehensible, I hope you arent teaching adults. The fact that they gave you a contact from two years ago is a little dodgy, but I wouldn't be so sure that's a Korean. Many Koreans speak fluently, very few write even that well.

Ask for a phone number of a current teacher.

Son Deureo! · Joined: 30 Apr 2003

I agree with peppermint, whoever wrote that email impresses me as a dumb native speaker who writes like she talks and can't type, not a Korean. Korean writing is much more labored.

Harin · Joined: 03 May 2004 Location: Garden of Eden

kangnamdragon · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Location: Kangnam, Seoul, Korea

marista99 · Joined: 05 Jun 2004 Location: Incheon

Hmm...then I don't know what to think.

It just seemed like such a coincidence that the email was really super positive AND the English was bad.

Skarp · Joined: 22 Aug 2003

Could be a patch up of an e-mail form a real teacher from a few years ago. Some if it sounds genuine. Some of it doesn't.

Anyway - if none of the current teachers will give a clean bill of health, don't go there.

peppermint · Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2004 5:54 pm Post subject:

prosodic · Joined: 21 Jun 2004 Location: ��

I agree that this was not written by a Korean. The writing is bad, but in an uneducated or sloppy native speaker way rather than in an ESL student way. I'm currently teaching a freshman writing class in NY and the grammar in that former teacher's email is no worse than the grammar in papers that I've graded recently. Sad, but true.

If I had seen no correct uses of definite and indefinite articles, then I might have agreed with you about it being written by a Korean. Another indicator would have been overuse of the auxiliary verb "to do." The last item on my short list would be strained syntax. While the sentence patterns in this email are truly horrible, the reason is that the writer does not understand punctuation and not because the syntax is horrible.

I taught composition in Korea from 96 to 98, and it doesn't take long to learn the most common mistakes of even the best Korean ESL students.

P.S. the name of the author quoted in my signature is Emily Dic-inson (replace the hyphen with a "k"). The profanity filters keep beeping it out.

prosodic · Joined: 21 Jun 2004 Location: ��

peppermint · Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2004 7:21 pm Post subject:

Newfoundlander · Joined: 29 Dec 2003

If this "Canadian" said that the place they didn't like was Japan... It's a Korean. Regardless, not enough proof to make any judgement... but I'll make one anyways, cause this is Korea.... It's a korean.

Write back and ask where the person is from. City and Province, ask what University they attended. If your curious.... see what errors pop up.

Granted... it could be a Newfoundlander.... our education system is riddled with holes... I never learned anything about the English language until i began to teach it.

Pyongshin Sangja · Joined: 20 Apr 2003 Location: I love baby!

I have done this before. I've been certain that I was looking at Korean writing and had it turn out to be some mouth-breather from some backwater. Like New York City. Here's a question: why are you so sure that a foreigner is less likely to lie to you than a Korean? This hypothetical foreigner wants their severance and to get out of the contract without any complications. The thing about Koreans being better than____ is a bit fishy, but some people do have horror stories about working in other Asian countries as well. Personally, I think that if the director can't speak enough English to tell you about shopping and lesson plans you are already getting off on the wrong foot. Anyway, thanks for the laugh. Corriculum! Core.....ick...........you......lum.