Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Canerican]

Ta-dah. GEPIK Orientation for elementary teachers, October 2008, is now feeneeshedu.

Re: the last conversation -- first up, thanks to all of you that provided directions; after about a week wandering around and exploring the subway lines I feel much better about navigating such a ginormous place. The bus system still seems crazy as all get-out, but between the subway, metro, and good ol' taxis (as well as my own two feet) I'm pretty sure I can get around without too much hassle.

Wenise was absent for the conference, I know someone was asking about that. Dain Bae was present and did some 1-1 sessions with people as well as a sort of video presentation. Lee was there and did some things as well. I got to speak with her directly re: my current situation, and hopefully the next round of contract revisions or at least orientation coverage will start to take into account what could happen in the event of a teacher losing everything when they get here and/or having to switch apartments while the last one is still being paid for. I know it's a rarity, but when bad stuff happens, there should be a plan for it. Even if it's just token.

I feel a bit better about teaching here just knowing that lots of other people are in the same boat. Making connections, getting to talk to other people and exchange ideas and phone numbers (and NOREBAAAAAAAAAAAAANG) was a good time.

Darren Ng probably had the most helpful part of the conference; honesty about the situations we're in really helped. We're NOT in classrooms where we can play games between 3-4 people while everyone else watches. Or pay for props for 40 students. And a lot of us HAVE to go by the curriculum sections; we can't cram much extra in or go off on our own course with the lesson planning. The videos shown in another part of the conference -- a 'bad' team teaching and a 'good' team teaching -- were absolutely useless because they didn't adequately display the situations most of us are in. I'd love to see a video that showed a good team teaching using those Elementary English books and videos But Darren presented some good materials, and he was a great guy to listen to, really active and funny and definitely understanding the reality of teaching in the GEPIK program.

All in all, some things useful, some things not, but a good time. The Hyundai learning center or however it's spelled isn't a bad place, either. We finally got one key per person instead of one between the three of us, and the GEPIK staff were some good people. Showed a good movie; there's pong and an exercise room and some other things in the training center as well, good hangout time with the other teachers. The food was meh, but there's a convenience store down at the bottom of the training center that makes things much more bearable. (When did 'western breakfast' mean salad??)

But I honestly think we get the most out of the conference just by being around other GEPIK teachers and getting to talk to them. A chunk of time where we get to discuss course materials, lesson planning, and activities just between the lot of us or within our smaller groups would probably accomplish more than some of the lectures within the conference did; particularly in terms of making us better teachers.

Any thoughts on previous conferences/this one?

[jadarite]

They should promote or get the word out earlier about their orientations. My school knew nothing about it until 2 weeks ago when we met with 2 other schools in Songtan. By then, it was too late. The school already had a schedule in place and couldn't send me, which I can kinda understand.

I am just glad I don't have to teach out of those crappy GEPIK books. Maybe next year.

[Misera]

I thought Wenise quit?

[Fishead soup]

Did you have fun with the fire extinguisher?

[icnelly]

Did anyone get pissed on this time?