Korean Job Discussion Forums

[schwa]

Maybe I'm opening myself up for ridicule here but I'm speaking at the epik orientation this august & thought I'd run the outline of my remarks past the collective wisdom of this board for comment. It will be a disparate group of up to 190 new recruits most of whom I suspect have never heard of daves.

I've had a good run with this gig & I know quite a few others who also have, but I know it aint so easy some places. I dont mean to whitewash the program but I dont want to send people running out the door. I intend to be a little more blunt with my off-the-record comments.

Critique? Important stuff I've overlooked?

Warning: longish.


LIFE AS AN EPIK TEACHER


Intro

I was in your same position in this same lecture room four summers ago, wondering like you probably are: What on earth have I gotten myself into? Welcome to Korea, to EPIK, and to what will undoubtedly be an adventure in the year ahead. My aim today is to give you a range of practical tips to help you cope once you leave this orientation.

You are about to be tossed into deep water and expected to swim. You��ve been hired to work in a professional workplace and your attitude and efforts will be scrutinized from day one. Settling into your community will present another set of challenges. On the other hand, it��s really not so difficult. With a modicum of self-confidence, flexibility, and cultural sensitivity, most of you will do fine.

I��ll leave time at the end of this talk to invite questions (I��m sure you have many!) at which time I��ll do my best to give you straight and informed answers.


1) Everyone��s experience will be unique.

The ��national�� aspect of EPIK ends when you leave this campus for your individual postings. The program is administered independently from province to province, from district to district, even from school to school. Duties and expectations will vary widely.

This can work to your advantage. It opens the door for your initiative and creativity to help define your role.

Some of you will be sent to districts with established programs and experienced co-teachers, but others among you will find yourselves in a position where no one has any clear idea what you are expected to do. You need to be prepared to take the lead. It is definitely to your advantage to start gathering some firm ideas now, at this orientation, as to how you are going to approach your job and your first classes.


2) Welcome to the bureacracy.

Your first task will be to meet a variety of provincial and local education officials. This is purely ceremonial and first impressions are important. If you appear presentable and pleasant you can win some powerful allies, but your relationship with these people will always be indirect.

Stick to pleasantries. Should you have questions, concerns, or complaints, raise them at some other time with your co-teacher or immediate supervisor only – it��s their job to mediate.

Never contradict or argue with a superior in front of others! There are other ways to work within the system toward resolving problems. Ultimately, your biggest bargaining chip in any dispute is to first establish yourself as a calm and valuable team-player.

Keep in mind that some ��problems�� are simple miscommunications. Seek clarification before responding confrontationally. As a rule, it��s safe to assume that no one is out to deceive you or deliberately treat you unfairly.


3) Getting along with your co-teacher.

Your relationship with your co-teacher will have a major influence on your time with EPIK. His or her duty is loosely defined as directing you in your teaching role, acting as your liaison with supervisors, as well as helping you settle comfortably in the community.

The more self-dependence you can muster the better. Understand that your co-teacher is a busy full-time teacher (likely with family responsibilities too) and receives no extra consideration for time spent with you. Some are willing and eager to take on the role, others are saddled with it. Ask for help judiciously and show your appreciation. A co-teacher befriended is a definite plus.

Reasonable expectations outside school might include assistance setting up a bank account and paying for utilities (the first time), help arranging internet or cable service, maybe newspaper or water delivery. Assistance if you need medical or dental care. Help locating a gym or other special needs, etc.

Your co-teacher can also help you with visits to the immigration office, but likely knows little about such things. Ultimately it��s your responsibility to learn about visa status, alien registration, re-entry permits, etc, and to stay on top of it.


4) Getting along with your supervisor.

This will be your main go-to person in your district office of education, your official overseer. This person will determine your schedule, monitor your performance, be the conduit for official documents from provincial headquarters, and generally be your boss. He or she may or may not speak English.

Your supervisor is not a high-ranking official and juggles numerous duties. His or her biggest hope is that you will settle into your duties smoothly and effectively. It is your supervisor��s job to address your problems, but choose your battles -- don��t quibble about trivial stuff. If your supervisor likes you and finds you easy to get along with, various extra benefits can come your way.


5) Staff outings

Expect to be invited to staff after-hours ��meetings.�� These events typically involve eating and drinking, and are purely social. It��s maybe best to think of this as part of the job (Korean teachers do) and to go along with it, at least at first. Your participation will have a positive influence on your acceptance in the workplace.

It might be in your interest to let your co-teacher know that you wish to be included in staff events.


6) Expect surprises.

You will experience last-minute schedule changes, sudden requests, and genuine uncertainty about the near future. Korea is not noted for longterm planning. Resist the impulse to get flustered – it��s system-wide. Just do your best with equanimity within the time constraints and you will be applauded.

You will also experience situations that seem to defy ��common sense.�� But know that what you may think is self-evident logic often does not apply to the Korean way of doing things, for a variety of deep cultural reasons. You��re not here to change the system.

Don��t be too quick to label Korean behaviors ��rude.�� The rules of your upbringing are not necessarily universal. Consider too that second-language speakers often omit the polite nuances that you are accustomed to. A comment may seem abrupt or intrusive but likely no offence is intended.


7) How��s the teaching? (Why we��re here, after all ��)

Some of you are experienced teachers but most, I guess, are not. Stepping up in front of 35 or 40 kids might seem daunting but it��s entirely doable and it can be a lot of fun.

Your students will be excited to meet you (in fact you��ll be greeted as a celebrity). They will overlook your initial shortcomings while you figure out what works in the classroom. Korean students for the most part are nice kids, politer and more respectful than their counterparts in, for example, my home country. But as with kids anywhere, you��ll have to work to sustain their favor. They will be especially cooperative with a teacher they regard as ��kind.��

You will probably meet students once a week with the expectation that you will encourage speaking and help them with listening and pronunciation. Korean kids have a lot of English text-learning but most have had little or no opportunity to interact with a native speaker. Their productive abilities are small. Keep your games, activities, and lesson plans really simple. Pitch your speaking easy, slow, and repetitive. If you��re naturally soft-spoken, you��ll need to endeavor to amp up your volume.

You will have students at all levels in each class. Easier said than done, but try to include something for everyone in your lesson plans.

You��ll likely have a team-teacher in the classroom with you but if you can get the students following your untranslated instructions, all the better. Endeavor to not be boring. Your students will respond well if you bring creative energy and humor to the classroom, which will also minimize discipline problems.

Once you have a handle on your students�� abilities and needs, you��ll have more than adequate office time to search out and develop lesson material.

The more consultation you can manage with your team-teachers, the better. Try to set up regular planning meetings -- ongoing discussions serve everyone well.

Some of you will have the good fortune to have conversation classes for teachers among your regular duties. This has a two-way value. It can help you gain a lot of insight into Korean culture and the education system, and it��s an effective means of spreading your expertise, at least indirectly, to a greater number of students. If your district doesn��t have such a program in place, it��s worth suggesting.


Getting along in the community.

Your work is done for the day, or the week – now what?

Hopefully your district has come up with a nice-enough apartment for you to come home to and relax in. It won��t take you long to find a convenient supermarket and various shops for all your basic needs. You��ll find shopkeepers friendly and honest.

Beyond that though, each of you here will develop your own strategies to deal with personal time outside the job. You may find yourself in a town of 20,000, 200,000, or 2 million. You might be surrounded by rice paddies or urban concrete, in the mountains or by the sea. There may be some room for negotiation with your provincial supervisor about placement before final assignation – think about what might best suit you.

City or small town, there��s a sameness throughout Korea, but every region has some claim to fame. Wherever you end up being placed, you��re never far from anywhere else, and the transportation system is amazing. Do get out and explore.

By all means cultivate local Korean friends – they can be your passport to understanding and appreciating Korea.

Wanting to meet other foreigners is natural too. You will find other expat teachers throughout Korea. If not in your immediate vicinity, at least in a nearby regional center – you��ll find them. You might be well-advised to set up future contact with friends you make at this orientation. Someone an e-mail or a short busride away and going through a similar situation can really help ease feelings of isolation you might have.


Conclusion

EPIK is one small part of a broad project to bring the English language and greater global awareness to ordinary Koreans. I have witnessed remarkable progress in my time here. Your local impact may feel small and inconsequential but know that our cumulative influence here is making a difference.

Best luck in the year ahead.

[Cohiba]

Why do you do it? I hope you are 21 or 22 and fresh out
of university, because if you aren't then you are putting
yourself through a lot of BS. Whatever, if you like that sort
of nightmare then more power to you.

[Hater Depot]

Great advice schwa, especially about dealing with co-teachers and bureacracy. I wish somebody had said all this to me when I first came.

I would only add that handling classroom discipline isn't always as easy as being humorous and full of energy--you can't afford to teach your kids that your class is about having fun--they need to know it is about having fun by speaking English. I made this mistake and spent a semester paying the consequences, with no help from my co-teachers.

Oh, and you might want to look up the definition of 'assignation'.

[Draven]

Not being involved in EPIK, I can't speak to those ideas directly related to that program, but some of the general concepts about working and living in Korea are relevant to anyone coming here to work. I wish somebody have given me the advice that you made in your post, Schwa; it would've made for a much easier transition. It should be required reading for all newbies. Great job, I'm sure you're speech will go over well.

[schwa]

[Cohiba]

Yes, you are right. My comments were not very constructive.
However, if you always play the game the Korean way, then
they will never learn that globally, what they are doing, is just
NOT acceptable. I think one big problem in this country is that
Koreans do not accept "ideas" from other, more established,
places. I work for an electronics company in Korea part time.
They hired me for the simple reason that 1/ I speak English
2/ I have business experience in a western country. I don't teach
there I do marketing. I have told the president to his face that we
have lost orders because him and his staff are doing things that
90% of the global business world find totally unacceptable. At
first I met resistance, but now this company grows at about 10%
per year. Just because there is an accepted way of doing things
does not make it right. Sorry pal, but I stick to my guns. This
country wants to be an international hub. It will never happen
if we kowtow to out-of-date, redundant, obsolete practices. If
we do, then the Koreans think this is the norm.

I think you are trying to be helpful here and this is a good thing.
I disagree with your following statement:

[rumpolestitskin]

I only speed read your post so if i've missed something ignore it.

Things to put in:

1) Don't think of your only purpose being to teach English. You are as much a cultural Ambassador as an English Teacher. Most Korean school children have never left Korea.

2) Make sure your co teachers always turn up, it is there responisbility to do so. If you let them start to slip it will only get worse.

3) Try and get agreements and details via E-mail so if theres a mis understanding vin communication you can easily sort the problem out.

4) As bad as it might seem remind them of how many people leave EPIK before their contract is up. (From what I understand its about 35%) and the amount of people that don't renew for one reason or another. Then tell them that everything about life in Korea is half of what they make it and half chance.

[livinginkorea]

Great job schwa, I think that this should be made a sticky for the newbies or anybody wanting to take part in the EPIK. Great advice.

[Hater Depot]

[rumpolestitskin]

[schwa]

Thanks for the suggestions, they've been helpful.

A big lapse was glossing over team-teachers & class control in one paragraph that was poorly thought through. I've changed the wording to this:

You should have a team-teacher in the classroom with you. Some like to take an active role in the class, others will be more passive. There are no official guidelines for team-teaching – it��s something you need to work out with your partner. With good co-operation, a team approach has a lot of potential benefits.

Your students will respond well if you bring creative energy and humor to the classroom, and you can in fact plan more fun activities than regular teachers who are bound by the curriculum. But be careful. If the kids get the idea that your class is more about playing than studying, control will become a problem. Let them know early on that you have a strict side too.

Thats still simplistic, of course, but I can elaborate some when I'm speaking.

Cohiba's objection to my comment that "You're not here to change the system" is well-taken & I've given it a lot of thought. But I'm going to let it stand. A new EPIK hire here for a year or two who thinks they can reinvent the Korean school system is going to hit a brick wall.

The "cultural ambassador" comment is correct but I know they already make a big hoohaw about this at the orientation.

This was fun to add (thanks for the idea):

You��ll also notice snacks or beverages showing up in the staffroom from time to time and everyone happily partaking. Sometimes it��s a gift from parents or more usually from a teacher celebrating some good fortune or special event. It��s a nice ritual. Take a turn one time and bring in a box of fruit or goodies from the bakery, enough to go round – you��ll be a star!

[fusionbarnone]

I was in your orientation . Glad to hear someone from the class of 2001 is still going strong.