Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mack the knife]

Kermo,

You're the "Dancing Queen"?

Nice moves!

[Gollum]

[manlyboy]

[Grotto]

Well I can answer the Elvis question for you. Met with him today and he is doing fine, he likes his new school and co-teacher.

Myself on the other hand

Today we got dragged away from the school, departure time 2 PM drive pretty much from Choam to Osan for a very important meeting with some self important beaurocrat. About 4ish we arrived at the other school(where Elvis is working) wait around for about half an hour for the other teachers to show up....some people had already been waiting an hour or more.

Once everyone is there and wearing their appropriate name tags the meeting started and ended in about 10 minutes. Then we were whisked off to be paraded in front of the District chief of education. After being sat down, then stood up, then paraded around the office being introduced to everyone and their pet dog we were whisked out for a tour of the local farmers market...whee seen one seen em all.

Then another twenty minute drive to a traditional Korean restuarant. Good food and more Korean speaking. Then we get informed that this will be a weekly meeting every Wednesday. We left at 2 PM and I got back home by 8:30 thats six and a half hours of my time wasted. Well technically only 4 hours wasted because between 8:30 and 4:30 is their time.

Next week when we go I will pull out my contract and tell them that any time outside of the 8:30-4:30 will be overtime and that includes travel time or I will not attend any more of these ego stroking meetings. I had hoped that I had put the 'your time means nothing' crap behind me when I left hogwan hell.

To summarize: ARRGGGHHHHHH

[Demophobe]

[canukteacher]

First week went ok. My co-teacher is young, and she really isn't muct of a teacher, but I guess that will improve over time.

Few things that I am finding difficult:

The nine to five routine. I had hoped that there would be some flexibility,. but it seems that they are very anal about the hours. If you want to leave the school for any reason (even during lunchtime) you must fill out a form.
Not sure when a person can do any banking, since all the banks are closed
on Saturday.

Lunch. Having lunch provided is nice, but it would be nice if it was an option. The thought of eating lunch with the P. VP, and head teahcers for an entire year is a little depressiing............haha (but hey cuts down on the food bills!)

No English classroom: Going from class to class is a bit much. Plus, the students don't have the opportunity to put their work on the walls etc. Some of the rooms are set up so that alot of students do not face the teacher! When I commented on this I was told that the seats could not be changed! Have to work on this one.........kids facing a wall or window are not going to learn much.

Teachers and students are very nice though, and I am sure all of these things will work themselves out, and hey what's a year when your having fun..........haha

CT

[peppermint]

The seating arrangements can be fantastic in blocks. It's really good for team games, and stuff like that. When I was teaching a lesson on buildings, I made each block a building and had the students guide me through the "city" Use a little creativity and remember- you're a guest in someone elses classroom in this situation.

[kermo]

[mack the knife]

So far, in most of my classes I am indeed a "teaching assisstant", which suits me fine. Basically I'm an English mouthpiece, and it works well with the Korean teachers and students. However, I've been saddled with one teacher who is, how shall we say, less-than-effective at classroom control. Frankly, it's a bummer. I don't mind taking charge of discipline in my own classroom, but with somebody else's runts? Problem is, the teacher is relatively new at this school (4 months in) and I guess she hasn't earned the respect of the students yet. Too bad for her. She has to deal with them all day long. Fortunately for me, I only have to see them once a week.

So, it looks like I will have to assume the role of disciplinarian in this particular classroom. The biggest problem is incessant chatting and noise level, so I plan on buying a bell (cow bell?) which I'll ring when the going gets rough.

[manlyboy]

My main co-teacher is an excellent disciplinarian. The problem is, she enjoys it just a tad too much. She does zero prep, doesn't like kids, and really doesn't like being a teacher!
Ummm, apart from that, she's pretty cool. In dier need of a vacation maybe.

[canukteacher]

I only have 1 co-teacher, and she is young and loves to teach. I do more of the assistant thing as well. But I am not adverse to helping her with the discipline if need be. Most of the kids are great, but there are always a few that have to be reigned in.

I teach a special class and a teachers class, which keep from dying of boredom.

My biggest challenge is getting used to the 9-5 routine. It feels a bit like prison.

I think I've settled in, and we are just rolling along.

CT

[Teufelswacht]

How many of you EPIK or GEPIK teachers out there have male Korean co-teachers? Is there any difference between male Korean and female Korean teachers in establishing working relationships? Just wondering. Thanks.

[Seoul Skye]

Bonding with your co-teachers: In 1996-98, when I taught in EPIK, I talked 4 of my co-teachers into attending a KOTESOL conference with me and the rest of the year sailed by quite smoothly.

They were impressed that I cared enough to spend my own money for professional development and they enjoyed the conference. We ended up co-writing some effective lesson plans based on materials and sessions presented at the conference.

The following year, the vice principal allocated enough money so that we could attend the conference and only pay for our meals.

[Pangit]

As far as bonding goes, it seems that homosocial relationships are the easiest to initiate and maintain in my school. Granted, the male teachers far outnumber the women teachers here, but I've noticed that the female teachers have their own group just as the male teachers do. I co-teach with the respective teachers of each grade for the parts of the day that are designated as following the 7th national curriculum for teaching English in public schools. The grades that don't have any curricular English are 1 and 2. The 1st grade teacher is a woman and the 2nd grade teacher is a man. I found that the 1st grade teacher is less accessible when it comes to discussing lesson plans and such. The 2nd grade teacher easily volunteers information and has even given me full control of a class at one point.

I've taken up calligraphy under the 3rd grade teacher (a great opportunity because he's a famous calligrapher - so I gather from the conversations that we've had). The 3rd grade teacher is male

The 4th grade teacher, also male, likes to practice his small talk with me.

The principal often visits me - at least once a day - to check up on how I am (I've been sick, and he's been giving me lots of tomatoes).

The easiest exchanges I've had have been with the men, but I think the law of averages would apply - out of the six grades at the school (excluding kindergarten), five grades are taught by men.

I had to get to know the school nurse, who is the only woman at school willing to talk to me about non-educational matters, out of necessity - I've had a problem physically adjusting to Korea, what with this cough I've had for the past three weeks. Turns out she's studying English after school, and my being an English teacher has become a good reason for us to maintain the working relationship. She approaches me when she has something to discuss about learning English.

The men have been more easy-going with me, but I haven't exactly made much of an effort to strenghten the ties between myself and the women teachers. I'd only be working with one, anyway.

[CanadaCommando]

Just a question for all you Gepik folk:

Does your school term start in September, or did you guys come in second semester? Just curious, because my school term started in March, and thought that most others did too.

Maybe a difference between Elementary/Secondary? Or a regional difference?