|
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 |
Matman
Joined: 02 Jun 2006
|
 Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 1:09 pm Post subject: SMOE orientation week: what's it like? |
 |
|
| I'm thinking particularly about the accomodation. What's it like? Private en suite rooms or is it a bit more basic? And what's the training like? Basic stuff like welcome to Korea and the basics of teaching (yawn, been there, done that) or something more challenging? |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
austinfd
Joined: 14 May 2006
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 6:57 pm Post subject: |
|
|
join SMOEworld.com
when you get signed up, you'll be able to see a bunch of stuff about SMOE orientation that vertrans have posted! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Matman
Joined: 02 Jun 2006
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 3:08 am Post subject: |
|
|
Thanks, I joined that forum but it's awaiting activation. Someone here must be able to answer my question  . I'm having last minute second thoughts about this SMOE position because I get the feeling you just get herded around like cattle. Orientation center, winter camp, summer camp. Come on someone, orientation center - is accomodation reasonable or is it a slum? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Bibbitybop
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Location: Seoul
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 3:29 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Rethinking a public school position in Seoul? For what, a hogwan? I hear that you stay in a resort in Suwon for 5 or 6 nights. You get to meet SMOE administration, old teachers and new teachers. Much of it focuses on orientation to teaching in the schools, but they also give you downtime and an introduction to cultural traditions. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
austinfd
Joined: 14 May 2006
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 5:44 am Post subject: |
|
|
until you get activated... here are some posts from smoeworld..
| Quote: |
The orientation is good, overall. You will get to meet all the other new teachers, which will be a great way of meeting new people, Seoul being a big city it's harder to meet people. You'll get an introduction to some Korean cultural things, an introductory lesson on reading the language, on touring during holidays in Korea, some classes on teaching, history of english language training in Korea, classroom management. I guess this year they'll be giving more lessons on "co-teaching".
When you get to your school to teach, the Korean teacher will be in the classroom with you, though as the native-speaker you should be doing most of the talking (though some would disagree).
As any teacher knows, the best way to learn how to teach is to go into the classroom and teach, but most people found the training week a good experience, if for nothing more than for meeting some new people.
You'll also be eating mostly Korean food at the training centre, so be prepared for a lot of rice! You don't really need to bring anything specific to the training centre. You'll have all your stuff there with you as you'll be going straight there from the airport. (Most people won't see their appartment until about a week after they get to Korea, when leaving the tarining camp).
I guess a power convertor would be useful, people who brought laptops or hairdryers needed them, and there was a shortage last year. The energy usage is 210 or 220 volts here, two-pronged plug.
Maybe bring a hefty bottle of whiskey and a guitar too, to while away those evening hours and get to know the other teachers! It's early starts each morning at the training centre, 7 am or something, but I'm sure you'll be ok... |
| Quote: |
You pretty much don't get to leave the training centre at all, except in a bus to some school for class observation, and maybe one or two nights you'll go down the town for a few cheeky drinks.
Korean teachers will have already started school by the time training finishes for you guys, so your principal will be anxious for you to get started.
Most likely (though not for everyone) what will happen is on the last morning of training you'll pack your bags and head off on a coach with other teachers who'll be working in your area. You'll all stop off at a school together, and meet your new co-teacher and have some brief welcome speech and stuff like that from your district supervisor. Nervous but excited nods goodbye to your new friends, and off you go.
Then you'll head off with your co-teacher in her/his car and be taken to your new school, to meet your principal and maybe be introduced to all the Korean teachers. (not person by person, just as a group, with you standing at the front bowing and waving foolishly).
After some time there you'll be taken to your appartment, dump your bags and stuff and maybe be taken for lunch by your principal and co-teacher. The order of these things could be reversed, or some of them may be omitted.
After that you should probably say how tired you are, so you can be released to go back to your new appartment and contemplate your new situation, what you have ahead of you for the next year and make plans for the next day.
Don't worry about the teaching itself. If you're an elementary school teacher the bones of the curriculum is laid out before you as we all use the same book, you just add your own little insights, additions and flourishes. Middle school I'm not so sure of, but we all use a textbook, so most of the lesson is take from that, in co-ordination with your co-teacher.
Start off smiling and polite with your principal and co-teachers, give them a good impression of you, like the begining of any job at home, and life will turn out much easier for you. First impressions and all that.
Don't worry with the last-minute stuff. Just expect that kind of thing, and Good Luck! |
| Quote: |
Remember also to co-operate with your new co-teachers from the start. It's really important to gain the trust of the teachers at your school as quickly as possible and it will make your year much easier. Many Korean teachers have had little contact with westerners so remember you are representing not just you but your country.
Also a big emphasis is put on food. Koreans are very proud of their food so even if it's not your thing try to put up with it for a while. It's amazing how impressed Koreans are by foreigners eating their food. |
| Quote: |
i wish i could do orientation again, and perhaps give a speech about what it is really like in class.
the workshops they have you do is for nothing. they have you make lessons and do them in front of class with another native teacher. that native teacher isnt your coteacher and you will be amazed at how low some of the english levels are at school. it is nothing what you expected while at orientation.
that being said, get a lot of won converted before you reach orientation and buy soju and beer in the basement (thats if theyre holding it at the same place as last year). soju is cheap and it works well, if you dont like the taste, get a 1.5 lt of juice, empty half of it and pour in 2 bottles of soju, viola you have sojuice.
so skim thru the daily activity sheet and see what you find interesting, duck out of the boring stuff and get trashed. you'll make a lot of good friends there. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ddeubel
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 6:41 am Post subject: |
|
|
Good post Austin.
this should be memorized and mumbled as a daily prayer the first month!
| Quote: |
Remember also to co-operate with your new co-teachers from the start. It's really important to gain the trust of the teachers at your school as quickly as possible and it will make your year much easier. Many Korean teachers have had little contact with westerners so remember you are representing not just you but your country.
Also a big emphasis is put on food. Koreans are very proud of their food so even if it's not your thing try to put up with it for a while. It's amazing how impressed Koreans are by foreigners eating their food. |
DD |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Matman
Joined: 02 Jun 2006
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 10:12 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Thanks for that. To be honest it's just what I feared: locked up in a camp for a week, being taught stuff I already know, only allowed to escape for "a few cheeky drinks", sharing a room with a clueless 22-year-old guitar-playing Canadian who has never eaten rice, tasted soju, seen a Hangul character or indeed left Canada before. It sounds to me like SMOE herd you around like cattle. I have an alternative option in my own country so it's a difficult decision I have to make very quickly... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
austinfd
Joined: 14 May 2006
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 10:52 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Matman wrote: |
| , sharing a room with a clueless 22-year-old guitar-playing Canadian who has never eaten rice, tasted soju, seen a Hangul character or indeed left Canada before. |
Really?..Everyone is Canadian, and only 22? You're right. If that was the case, it WOULD be a shame.
| Matman wrote: |
| It sounds to me like SMOE herd you around like cattle. I have an alternative option in my own country so it's a difficult decision I have to make very quickly... |
So let me get this straight...you're thinking of backing out of your SMOE contract just because of the orientation?
Any teaching job can be expected to have some sort of lame orientation, including all the stuff you already know: classroom management, lesson planning, etc....Even in the states. If an experienced teacher moves to a new district, or new grade level, he can expect to attend a 2 week-long indoctrination hell, along with all the brand new teachers...(at least in the district I left after two years) |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Matman
Joined: 02 Jun 2006
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 11:11 am Post subject: |
|
|
| austinfd wrote: |
| Matman wrote: |
| , sharing a room with a clueless 22-year-old guitar-playing Canadian who has never eaten rice, tasted soju, seen a Hangul character or indeed left Canada before. |
Really?..Everyone is Canadian, and only 22? You're right. If that was the case, it WOULD be a shame. |
I was using exaggeration as a rhetorical device  . The clueless young Canadian is perhaps as close as we get to the typical new English teacher in Korea. My point really was, do you get your own room or do you have to share?
| austinfd wrote: |
| Matman wrote: |
| It sounds to me like SMOE herd you around like cattle. I have an alternative option in my own country so it's a difficult decision I have to make very quickly... |
So let me get this straight...you're thinking of backing out of your SMOE contract just because of the orientation?
|
Like I said, an alternative option has come up and I'm just weighing up my options. The orientation week is one factor to take into account. I've had several teaching jobs but I've never been locked away in an "orientation camp" for a week and only been allowed out for "a few cheeky drinks". |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
austinfd
Joined: 14 May 2006
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 11:53 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Matman wrote: |
I was using exaggeration as a rhetorical device . The clueless young Canadian is perhaps as close as we get to the typical new English teacher in Korea. My point really was, do you get your own room or do you have to share?
|
This raises an interesting question, as exaggeration does have to come from some basis in fact....
I wonder why the majority of ESL teachers are Canadians? At least, that's the way it seems. Or Aussie.... I get the feelig that Americans are the minorty in the expat commnity in Korea (except the Army).
Personally, I think this is a good thing. I'm thrilled to make friends from all over the world...I just wonder why it is disproportionate. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Matman
Joined: 02 Jun 2006
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 11:59 am Post subject: |
|
|
| I'm sure it's something to do with the employment situation in Canada. Canadians seem to think that 2 million won a month is LOADSAMONEY. I think most USers and UKers just don't want to work for that because there are better opportunities back home. Also I get the impression that international travel is not that common for young Canadians, so they think going to Korea will be some great cultural experience. Then again, there are loads of UKers teaching in Japan and Thailand. Why would so many Canadians choose Korea? No idea. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
austinfd
Joined: 14 May 2006
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 12:30 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Interesting...
I really was noticing more the absence of Americans. It doesn't have to be Korea, it just seems that fewer Americans are up for it....As far as $$, I will be effectively making more in Korea, because my salary is roghly eqivalent to waht I took home here, and THEN had to pay rent, and such....without those obligations, I'll be living like a KING as opposed to the palty lifestyle new year teachers have in the USA..
I think it must have more to do with the fact that Americans are blissfully ignorant of the world at large. Other countries simply aren't in our cultural frame or reference. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ddeubel
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 6:37 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
| Thanks for that. To be honest it's just what I feared: locked up in a camp for a week, being taught stuff I already know, only allowed to escape for "a few cheeky drinks", sharing a room with a clueless 22-year-old guitar-playing Canadian who has never eaten rice, tasted soju, seen a Hangul character or indeed left Canada before. It sounds to me like SMOE herd you around like cattle. I have an alternative option in my own country so it's a difficult decision I have to make very quickly... |
Matman,
Based on this "take" of yours, I very forthrightly would recommend you stay where you are. Living in Korea as a teacher has many great advantages BUT only if you aren't negative and are ready to not demand and ready to roll with the punches and last minutes changes that always occur.....If not that type of person, you'd best remain where you are.
I say this after seeing too many train wrecks and getting many emails from teachers who "just don't get why......" . They don't try to understand a culture or why things happen to them and just demand and take a negative stance, instead of looking positively (or even neutrally) and rolling along with things. One should only rarely in Korea stand up and pick one;s battle. Rarely or you'll be headed into a world of disappointment, angst and anger....You probably know all this, thought I'd remind you.....
By the way, orientation is a blast, even if with a young 'cheeky" 22 clueless Canadian in the same room. It's an adventure! Plus its paid and even negative things, boring things are time for reflection and a learning opportunity.
Dd |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
R. S. Refugee
Joined: 29 Sep 2004
Location: Shangra La, ROK
|
| Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 5:48 am Post subject: |
|
|
| What is SMOE? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
austinfd
Joined: 14 May 2006
|
| Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 6:42 am Post subject: |
|
|
Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education
http:/etis.sen.go.kr
Pubic school contract |
|
| 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
