|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Seoul Skye
Joined: 28 Feb 2003
|
 Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2004 10:55 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
| So many hagwon teachers are new to teaching English as well as being new to Korea. I think it would be quite useful if the recruiters paid for the teachers membership in KOTESOL and provided the monthly meeting place/dates/times of their local chapter. I picked up some valuable teaching tips by attending chapter meetings and met some great people my first year in Korea. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
ActionInternational
Joined: 17 Aug 2004
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2004 1:24 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Seoul Skye wrote: |
| So many hagwon teachers are new to teaching English as well as being new to Korea. I think it would be quite useful if the recruiters paid for the teachers membership in KOTESOL and provided the monthly meeting place/dates/times of their local chapter. I picked up some valuable teaching tips by attending chapter meetings and met some great people my first year in Korea. |
Sounds really great, Seoul Skye! I've never heard anything about that. Would've been really good for a lot of teachers in korea, especially those just starting out, as they can get heaps of info and support from other teachers & members too. Can you tell me more about that if possible? Membership cost and duration? Location of meeting place? Where to get more information about that? Is KOTESOL the only club, or are there others? Thanks! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Dalton
Joined: 26 Mar 2003
|
| Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2004 8:10 am Post subject: |
|
|
Who has experience with Actioninternational? A google search for actioninternational korea reveals nothing but 2 - yes that is two - links back to Dave's. Two Posts on this board?
Recruiting companies and the law
A sample:
1. Are you registered with the Korean Labor Board? What is your license number?
2. Have you personally visited the Employer and ascertained the working conditions?
3. Have you personally seen the proposed premises and accommodation?
4. Do you have authority to negotiate contractual changes, or merely convey them to the Employer?
5. Most importantly, ask if the recruiter/company is actually part of an education Franchise, and are you being recruited for a school within their own franchise system, thus their independent objectivity may be biased.
6. Some recruiters have comprehensive web sites, though some of the information is somewhat different to reality, however, these recruiters are to be preferred over those who hide behind mere e-mail address
So actioninternational can you answer those 6 questions? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ActionInternational
Joined: 17 Aug 2004
|
| Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2004 2:56 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Dalton wrote: |
Who has experience with Actioninternational? A google search for ActionInternational korea reveals nothing but 2 - yes that is two - links back to Dave's. Two Posts on this board?
Recruiting companies and the law
A sample:
1. Are you registered with the Korean Labor Board? What is your license number?
2. Have you personally visited the Employer and ascertained the working conditions?
3. Have you personally seen the proposed premises and accommodation?
4. Do you have authority to negotiate contractual changes, or merely convey them to the Employer?
5. Most importantly, ask if the recruiter/company is actually part of an education Franchise, and are you being recruited for a school within their own franchise system, thus their independent objectivity may be biased.
6. Some recruiters have comprehensive web sites, though some of the information is somewhat different to reality, however, these recruiters are to be preferred over those who hide behind mere e-mail address
So ActionInternational can you answer those 6 questions? |
Answer: Nobody.
Let's clear up something up first. I'm not a recruiter. So, nope, no website for "ActionInternational". Nope, no one posting about "ActionInternational" anywhere on this world wide web. "ActionInternational" is JUST my username that I signed up with few days ago (Aug 17 2004 to be exact), and at the time of your post, I had a grand total of 4 posts on eslcafe's forum. A newbie in posting here. That's probablyyyyyy why nothing came up on your search. Anyway, thanks for the link to the EFL Law and your efforts in seeking my eslcafe username via the google search engine. Interesting stuff.
And you also posted this same message at Canucksaram's topic at http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=25625, adding something about finessing free advertising on the site, hmmm... thanks for advertising my username.
And the 6 questions you cut and pasted from the EFL Law website - nope, I have no idea about them. Sorry about that. I'm not a recruiter (again), I have no idea about the korean legal system, and hopefully, someone with this knowledge can enlighten us regarding these queries. I, as much as many other teachers, would like to know more about that. That's why we posted topics such as this on forums such as these. I'm interested to know what can be done to protect the rights of teachers, as well as give recruiters the avenue to help teachers too. I would guess to question 4 that the recruiter have no authority to negotiate anything about the contract.
Dalton, I read your views about recruiters. You really don't like dishonest recruiters or recruiters who SEEM to not care about teachers. Me too. I've taught in korea and heard some horror stories about other teachers. But sometimes it's about the system that recruiters work in. Not all recruiters cheat or lie. There are somethings they can't do. There are somethings they can. This applies to recruiters from all around the world. Blaming doesn't work, proactive action does. Anyway, I wrote about my views on that at Canucksaram's post.
Later. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Dalton
Joined: 26 Mar 2003
|
| Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2004 4:18 am Post subject: |
|
|
You don't make any sense at all.
You've devoted more ink to apologising for recruiters actions than offering any explanation as to the purpose of your posting here as the officious' actioninternational'. You haven't offered any help or suggestions for teachers screwed over by recruiters. You haven't even stated that you plan to offer help. All you've offered so far are very feeble explanations of why recruiters do what they do.
This board and the hard working teachers who post here deserve more respect than self serving vagueries and evasiveness.
Who are you?
Why are you posting here? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ActionInternational
Joined: 17 Aug 2004
|
| Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2004 1:48 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Big thanks to everyone who replied. MOST gave really constructive feedback on how recruiters and schools can help new teachers settle into teaching and living in korea. Small things that can be a big step in improving teachers' experiences from the very start. Hopefully recruiters and schools can make the effort to read threads such as these and get a some idea of where to begin in providing good service for foreign teachers.
| SweetBear wrote: |
| Simply being paid on time and in full would go a long way toward easing tensions and difficulties for many. Recruiters and hogwans who abided by this principle would find that ultimately it's a win-win situation. |
Very important issue. Getting paid on time and in full. Cause, if nothing else, this is what it's all about in the end. Anywhere I've worked, I can tolerate extreme arrogance & rudeness, frugal living & eating, loneliness & discrimination at times, but I still gotta be paid! Sincerely working hard and doing's one's best, and then getting cut on the deal. Not good.
One thing recruiters can help the teacher with is suggest or help with adding this to the contract --> If the genuine teacher is not paid on time or in full, the teacher can give immediate, a week's, a fortnight's, or a month's notice to quit and legally find job somewhere else without any interference from the school. (In this case, we assume that the school's bad and the teacher's genuine.) So the teacher can now find another job, alone or through the recruiter. (Again, we assume the recruiter tries to find a good school to the best of their knowledge.)
So what if this bad school 'blacklists' the teacher to immigration and/or other schools for quitting? This can make it really difficult for the teacher to gain rightful employment or reapply for another teaching visa, right? If the teacher successfully gets another job, good. If not, then the recruiter's role can at least be to help backup and support the teacher, and give this teacher credibility and trustworthiness to others.
This way, recruiters have the opportunity to help teachers with the payment issue.
Possible? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Dalton
Joined: 26 Mar 2003
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2004 6:18 am Post subject: |
|
|
| I don't know. Is it possible for you to comment on my last post? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Demophobe
Joined: 17 May 2004
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2004 6:51 am Post subject: |
|
|
| ActionInternational wrote: |
Very important issue. Getting paid on time and in full. Cause, if nothing else, this is what it's all about in the end. Anywhere I've worked, I can tolerate extreme arrogance & rudeness, frugal living & eating, loneliness & discrimination at times, but I still gotta be paid! Sincerely working hard and doing's one's best, and then getting cut on the deal. Not good.
One thing recruiters can help the teacher with is suggest or help with adding this to the contract --> If the genuine teacher is not paid on time or in full, the teacher can give immediate, a week's, a fortnight's, or a month's notice to quit and legally find job somewhere else without any interference from the school. (In this case, we assume that the school's bad and the teacher's genuine.) So the teacher can now find another job, alone or through the recruiter. (Again, we assume the recruiter tries to find a good school to the best of their knowledge.)
This way, recruiters have the opportunity to help teachers with the payment issue.
Possible? |
Don't miss the point here, friend.
The pay thing comes from respect. If they truly respect you, then they wouldn't be late paying you. Furthermore, if they respected you from the beginning, then the teacher would easily find some forgiveness for a tardy payment, if it happened occasionally.
Respect is the answer to almost very problem here. If it is given then it is usually recieved. If the foreign teacher gets it, they too will give it...
That is not a win-win situation, but a "nobody can lose 'cause it's not a game" situation. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ActionInternational
Joined: 17 Aug 2004
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2004 1:36 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Demophobe wrote: |
Don't miss the point here, friend.
The pay thing comes from respect. If they truly respect you, then they wouldn't be late paying you. Furthermore, if they respected you from the beginning, then the teacher would easily find some forgiveness for a tardy payment, if it happened occasionally.
Respect is the answer to almost very problem here. If it is given then it is usually recieved. If the foreign teacher gets it, they too will give it...
That is not a win-win situation, but a "nobody can lose 'cause it's not a game" situation. |
I know, Demophobe. Honor. Trust. Respect. Ethics. Principle. Once upon a time, one's word is one's bond. Today?
I wrote: "Cause, if nothing else, this is what it's all about in the end." Mutual respect is ideal, but don't expect that. At the end it ultimately boils down to business, as anywhere else in the world. If schools can respect teachers enough to pay them properly, excellent. If not, then it's just an idea to 'encourage' schools to pay teachers on time and in full, for those who's not getting it. Otherwise, if not satisfied, the teacher can opt to quit and seek employment elsewhere. Don't forget, there are bills to be paid. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Dalton
Joined: 26 Mar 2003
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2004 5:37 am Post subject: |
|
|
Who are you?
Why are you posting here?
Is there any particular reason you won't answer these questions? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
