Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Karabeara]

A collegue got this, and I expect to receive the same soon. I am thinking I will be quite honest. If you received this, what did you say?

Improving the Native Teachers Environment

Working time
�� The number of hours worked per week were (enough, overwhelming, not enough)
�� The number of days off were (enough, overwhelming, not enough)
�� The number of hours worked overtime (club activities, after school activities, special teacher��s class) were (enough, overwhelming, not enough)

Pay Schedule
�� Was the pay schedule fairly organized?
�� Were you fairly compensated as agreed in your contract for your work, including overtime hours?

Scheduling
�� My weekly schedule was (consistent, inconsistent)
�� The scheduled classes were (ideal, scattered, too condensed)

Colleagues / Office Environment
�� Were you provided with basic office equipment and supplies?
�� Do you have adequate space to conduct business?
�� How helpful was the administration, including the principal and vice-principal, in your adjustment?
�� How helpful were your colleagues in helping you adjust to the environment? Were they effective in explaining the working environment to you?
�� How accepted did you feel in your community of administrators and colleagues?
�� Did the department head or vice-principal foster a respectful and collegial working environment?
�� How much communication or curricular exchange/student behavioral concerns/cross-curricular exchange occurred between yourself and the other teachers in your department? Did you find this arrangement helpful, detrimental, or not applicable?

Curriculum
�� Were you required to teach from the textbook? If so, how comfortable were you teaching from the book?
�� Did the curriculum fit the needs of the students?
�� Was there enough time to finish the curriculum?
�� What did the majority of your lesson plans focus on (i.e., grammar, conversation, writing, reading, American culture, etc.)?

Students / Classroom environment
�� Were you satisfied with the level of student attention in your class?
�� What percentage of the classroom time was spent on classroom management?
�� Were students engaged and actively participating in the lessons?
�� Was the classroom set-up conducive to learning?

Resources
�� Were you provided with adequate resources?
�� Were you able to find the proper administrators to obtain resources necessary for your class?
�� Were the materials you requested correct and delivered in a timely manner?

Outside Enrichment
�� What opportunities did you have for further enrichment of teaching or of English?
�� Was your school supportive in allowing teacher enrichment and further job-related education?

Others
�� Other comments, questions, concerns?

[crazylemongirl]

I get a survey of some kind once every 2 months. Chance of something happenign out of your responses 0.0000001%

[Hater Depot]

I got a similar one last spring, during vacation. In fact I had to get out of bed with my girlfriend to go and fill it out. I should have told them where to stick it but didn't feel that would be wise.

I was totally honest but not brutally honest. My survey wasn't as detailed, but it did focus a lot on what I thought should be improved about English education in Korea. Of course, two lines isn't enough to fully answer a question like that.

[JacktheCat]

Gyeonggido has supposedly sent one out to every public school teacher in the province.

However, as CLK said, given the minute number of people in the Gyeonggido ministry of education who can read English and the even smaller number who would actually listen to the suggestions and complaints of a waegukin, nothing will come of it.

Most likely they are getting the survey back, checking off that X teacher has completed the survey, and then throwing it in the trash.

[Pangit]

I bet it's from a graduate student doing some "research," so it doesn't matter at all.

[sarahsarah]

Yeah, got it.

I was told the answers were going to be used for some website being developed for those of us teaching in public schools in Gyeonggi-do. Something called KITE, I think.

My co-teacher also asked me for some information that was going to be used as a profile for me on said website. I'm not really sure what's happening or when we'll actually get to see it though.

[Hobophobic]

Ah yes...the KITE survey...its more of a project actually...very symbolic...

They take all the completed forms and build a giant kite in the shape of an albino monkey in a clown suit to fly about Gyeonggi-do thus showing they don't give a flying fork about the answers....

...another make work/paper trail for some sap to look busy and productive no doubt...

But that's just my guess...

[antoniothegreat]

[antoniothegreat]

almost forgot, does anyone else think "please understand" should actually be translated into "i want you to bend over and take it without lube, because i think you cant or wont do anything about it?"

[TheUrbanMyth]

Haven't got it yet. At least not to my knowledge. It could be sitting on a desk at my school somewhere until one of the teachers remembers it and gives it to me.

[Francis-Pax]

I got the survey and I told them very honestly about my thoughts relating to their questions. However, I don't think my opinion will matter very much. I think that we are not taking very seriously. The Korean co-teachers have all the power.

[ilovebdt]

Not a small tweeting bird. However, as someone else said I might have one but my supervisor hasn't remembered to give it to me yet.

[blunder1983]

My coteacher is doing his masters in education and looking at how foreign teachers are used in the classroom. So he'll be sending something like that out to all the teachers of Incheon.

[crazylemongirl]

[BRYGUY]

Actually, I helped edit this questionnaire because my Korean lead English teacher is in charge of collecting them and trying to find a solution. I might add that he takes his job very seriously and is very concerned about making several changes. He is very open-minded to foreigners' ideas. He sees the need for reform in the public schools. I work in a rural school setting and have had some terrible experiences in my classroom and had to approach him about a problem with one of my co-teachers. He immediately took care of the problem. He is not weak in any sense of the word, so please put down your thoughts. He reads them carefully and has asked me to explain what two of you have written. With the way some of you (you meaning all people on the ESL forum) respond and talk on this forum, I wouldn't bend over backwards for you because you find every little thing wrong. You never have anything good to say about Korea or Koreans. If some of you changed your attitude, you might find that you like it here. Some of you are just here to make money and live a wild life and you give the rest of us a bad reputation. I'm glad that immigration is cracking down.