Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sistersarah]

i see my students once a week, so i have about 225 students.

that means they only have 4 classes with me per month.

i am required to write reports for all of these kids MONTHLY.

so i have to fill out a full report (the circling 1 - 5 thing on various topics) and then i have a comment box where i have to write about 3 or 4 lines about him/her. sometimes i just don't know what to say because i see the kid only 4 times, or if they're absent, then 3 times! it's ridiculous. it takes me forever to do, the parents can't read them. the kids are supposed to have their parents sign it and bring it back to me, but how many actually do....

so i recently approached my boss and asked about doing it every other month instead, because i'm wasting a lot of time on this stuff. at first she said, ok. then the next day she came back and said, no, sorry, you have to do them every month. the parents like to see them and it makes it look like the teachers here work hard.

yeah, so, huge time waster. this school also has me photocopying for all 225 students instead of them having them buy books.

so, i spend more time at the photocopier and writing reports than doing any class preparation.

what do you think? am i whining? or is it as stupid as i feel it is?

oops, better get back to the reports...

[ryleeys]

No, you have a legit gripe...


I'm pissed just cause I have to do 40 a month. Although I'm expected to write about 10 lines in the box (no, seriously, they put lines in there for me and I have to fill at least 10 of the 15 available).

[oneiros]

I can top that. My report cards have the usual eight or so categories (ie speaking, listening, writing, grammar, etc), but instead of giving them a grade, I have to give written comments for each area. You try making written comments on the grammar of a kid who's working on "It's yellow."

Two more days.

[Eazy_E]

70-80 students and 4 lines each. Yep, monthly. It usually takes me three nights to finish them. The annoying part is trying to find something different and detailed about each kid. I also have to give a letter grade to 20 distinct attributes. I don't know how I'm supposed to remember whether little Billy capitalizes correctly or not.

They should be taken seriously, though. When I took over this job, the previous foreign teacher at my school hadn't finished the report cards before he left for home. I hadn't been there long enough to comment on the kids, so the Korean teacher was forced to write the comments in English. Next thing you know, the parents are on the phone complaining about the piss-poor English in the written comments. The Korean teacher was gone a couple of weeks later.

I guess the parents can understand a lot of the English written on the evaluation even if they can't hold a conversation with you. For that reason I never dumb down the language and always vent on the bad kids' report cards!!!!

[ryleeys]

[jazblanc77]

Are you under the impression that report cards, among most of everything else you do at a hogwan, are anything but a performance that you put on for the parents?

Your head teacher will usually not even understand what you write so don't expect the parents to read your report cards and take anything in.

DOn't worry about writing anything specific, accurate, or special for any given student, it's a waste of time. As long as you fill up the space provided, noone gives a crap about what you have put there.

Hogwans are just businesses, they are not schools so think of report cards as an alternative form of advertising and don't get too ruffled about them.

[Paji eh Wong]

I used to have to do 60 to 80 a month. Start a word file with 30 or 40 stock sentences and then slap them in at random when you can't think of anything. That cut my time down by 2/3's.

[Eazy_E]

[sistersarah]

i'm glad i'm not the only one wasting my time....makes me feel a little better....

but really......225 per month...i can't believe i'm doing this....

[ryleeys]

Yeah, mine are handwritten...

I'd change it, but I've only got 2 sets left to write and I'll probably slag off the last one.

[oneiros]

[Grotto]

Once again the question is 'Is it in your contract?'

Do you get paid for doing these reports?

Call me a hardass but when schools hand out STUPID extra work I tell them that that exceeds my 30 hours a week and will need to be paid for that time!

Why do so many of us cave in to the stupidity of the korean hogwan owner/director? Learn to say NO

Lets see 225 reports taking me on average 5 minutes to complete 1125 minutes which comes out to just under 20 hours a month

Hey if you are (excuse the expression) STUPID enough to do all this extra work for nothing then shaddddup

If its not in my contract or exceeds my contract hours I demand payment, cash, money, greenbacks, shinola, filthy LUCRE

[ryleeys]

Yes, I am a moron... I signed a contract with this clause:

[The Lemon]

[Grotto]

Yes you signed a contract with all that stuff in it.....but where does it say that you will do all this extra work for free?


'The Academic Director is responsible for establishing standards of performance relative to the Employee and empowered to take necessary steps to assure that those standards are met.'

To ensure those standards are met they should be authorising overtime!
Once again I say if you want all this extra crap done....no problem..just pay me! I work the standard 30 hours a week and only that...that is all they are paying me for! They want report cards that require more of my time...pay for it!

I dont mind donating about 1/2 an hour a day of my time but over and above that they have to pay me! Stand up for yourself and demand payment for the work you are doing!