Korean Job Discussion Forums

[lepid gecko]

[seoulonmind]

[prosodic]

[seoulonmind]

Easy done, I am easy going and make friends easily (luckily).......one of my reasons of going to Korea is to immerse into the culture. To do this I have to make lots of good Korean Friends. I did that in Spain, and after 5 months or so, I was just like a Spaniard (well almost, except for the blonde hair and light skin). I hope Koreans warm up to americans as well as the people of Spain did in 1990 and 1991 (and that was during the first gulf war)

[lepid gecko]

[seoulonmind]

lepid gecko

FLEXIBILITY LIKE THAT is a good quality

[prosodic]

[peppermint]

Be flexible, don't expect anything to be like it was at home, and follow the status quo. Everytime I've run inot trouble here it's because I asked for something that the other teachers didn't. Mind you, in one case all I was asking for was medical insurance.

[chronicpride]

Remember one thing. You will have your own Korean experience. Not one like anything that anybody else has on here. Because we are different to each other in our perspectives and thousands of other ways.

Add to this is the tremendous amounts of variables that go into living and working here (or just call it 'life').

Also factor in that there are about a few hundred regular posters here reflecting their views and experiences through their eyes, when there are between 15-20,000 other ESL teachers in Korea that we are not hearing about. And say about half of those people are here for one or two years and then a new one comes in. And it's been that way for years.

My point is, that there are and have been tens of thousands of people that come through here. If it was all bad or even if the majority of cases were bad, then you would hear a tremendous amount of bad press about Korea and a massive amount of bad reports about schools. Far more than what we are seeing online.

You'll come here and meet people in the flesh and who are happy and content. In fact, you will find more people are content, than disgruntled. As mentioned previously, people who are wronged are more vocal than the one's who are content. Besides, if you are working at a good gig, you are less inclined to shout and tell the world about it, because you don't want every average joe teacher knocking on their door. You'd rather refer it to people you know or know of, and who you'd want to work with.

You can comb thru all of the paranoid, brinkmanship tactics, 'be a hardass' advice. But just come here, bring your common sense with you, and be yourself. Trust your own gut. Just like you would anywhere else. You know your instincts better than any anonymous person on the net. And there's no real mystery about watching out for the crooks. You can spot them from a mile away, if you are not too gullible.

[Son Deureo!]

[chronicpride]

[Gollum]

I agree with choronic on that. I always tell people to come here first and see the job they're going to take.

Some people cry, "But I don't have enough money."

My response to that is: Dont come. If you're not financially capable of taking the risk, then don't take it. You could easily end up penniless and trapped in Korea.

[chronicpride]

[Grotto]

My first year in Korea was in Suwon with ECC, the curriculum was a joke, one page a day...but I also had the flexibility to spice it up as I saw fit once that one page was finished. The hours were 3-8 M-S but after 6 months they changed it to M-F The kids were kids, no better or worse than any others. The class sizes were fairly small, no more than 8 and as small as 2. The Korean teachers were some of the best I have seen in Korea, friendly, helpful and their English was excellent. While I had some minor problems I would say that overall it was a good experience. I did get screwed out of 1/2 my pension money and they tried to tell me that they had overpaid me 100,000 won on my last payday! They picked me up at the airport and took me back there no problems.

My second year has been with REI in Taebaek. It started off kind of wierd! I was met at the airport by a recruiter who told me what bus to get on...made me pay for my own ticket....and off I went...I was dropped off at the bus depo in Wonju at about 12:30 AM. The person who was supposed to meet the bus wasnt there Here I am in a dark parking lot, with no phone, in a strange city/country. Being the adventurous soul I am I flagged down a passing Korean and through mime I got him to dial the number I had. Oh you're here, I'll be there in about 20 minutes. Then followed the slowest drive I have ever experienced..what should have been a 2 hour drive was stretched into a 3.5 hour drive. I was dropped off at my apartment and left to my own devices...

I woke up the next day and took a look around, breathtaking mountains, nice view, large spacious apartment. The apartment had the TV, VCR, fridge, an oven , microwave. But that was it! No toilet paper, soap, food, etc....except for a rotting chicken stuffed into the tiny freezer and an almost empty jar of strawberry jam.

My next door neighbor I was told was the other English teacher. So about 10 AM I went over to introduce myself. A note on the door I have done a midnight run so sorry I didnt like it here I enter the apartment and it is empty. I loot the place thoroughly, taking the good fridge, several plates, cups, knives, forks, spoons, TOILET PAPER, some good chairs etc. Swapping the crappy things in my apartment for the better stuff in the other one I liked my apartment because of the OVEN Once I had looted it to my satisfaction I called the director and told him the situation.

Hmmmm my first day in Korea and the only other foreign teacher did a midnight run after just a week? What had I got myself into?

Over the course of the next several months things went pretty smoothly, the director turned out to be a backstabbing moron. He would come to me and complain about the other foreign teacher and then go to the other foreign teacher and complain about me. Like we dont talk to each other being the only other foreigners in town(that we knew of). The curriculum was okay, if a little boring.

Then the insanity began The school decided that the diary writing program I had started was too difficult for the students and told my students that they didnt have to do it anymore. Of course they didnt consult with me at all

We were told not to give tests, too stressful for the students. Do more games Dont ask for any reading or writing, this is a speaking listening hogwan Dont actually teach them anything just speak lots of English in the class.

Then extra duties started getting piled on...call each student at least once a month....staff meetings every Thursday...classes changed from 40 minutes to 45....extra classes added...schedule changed to a spread shift...more demands for making programs...etc. The list was endless. At the start I was flexible and tried to go with the flow. Big mistake! As the demands became for frequent and the hours at the school increased without any overtime I got ticked off and finally just said NO! No money no honey! You want more work, I want more pay. No pay No work! Pissed them off pretty good, the last 3-4 months have been pretty bad. About 2 months ago I started counting the days..sad but true..3 more teaching days and I am free

[seoulonmind]