Korean Job Discussion Forums

Godhasbeengoodtome · Joined: 28 Nov 2008

This public school I am at has a free after-school program for kids. They want me to teach the normal public school classes plus the free after school classes. 22 hours max for the whole thing but I have never heard of a free after school program.

This is not what I was told before I came here. I was not told I would have to do both. So is there such a thing as a free after school program? And they want me to come up with a curriculum for that. And they want me to take my 7 vacation days in February when that little break occurs. 7 days including Saturday and Sunday.

It seems I have landed in a little hellpit here. Yikes.

Do I have any options here of quitting this job and getting another while I am here. I just arrived but none of this is what I signed up for.

Yes, and God has been good to me and is still good to me despite Koreans lying to me so no wisecracks, eh? God is faithful and good no matter what.

antoniothegreat · Joined: 28 Aug 2005 Location: Yangpyeong

i have heard of some school doing free after school programs, but usually most schools require kids to pay for it.

lesson one: recruiters will lie their ars off to get you to come here, so it doesnt matter what you were told, only your contract matters.

i assume you are new here. so making a lesson plan yourself on top of your regular classes will be very hard. are you teaching alone? what kind of help can you get from your coteachers? that sounds like a lot of work for a newbie.

they cant force you to use your vacation at a certain time. well, they can force you to use it during vacation, but not on a holiday, sat/sun. they can refuse to let you take your vacation if they have classes scheduled, but they cant just say "your vacation is feb.1-8."

going on, free after school programs suck. why? there is no grade or punishment for the kid. in a normal class, if a kid is bad, he gets a bad grade. if his mom pays for the class and he is bad, his mom is upset, he is wasting money. free classes have little motivation. so it comes from either you or the students.

maybe use the extra classes to test ideas? how long will it be? just during vacation? the whole year?

Draz · Joined: 27 Jun 2007 Location: Land of Morning Clam

afsjesse · Joined: 23 Sep 2007 Location: Kickin' it in 'Kato town.

My school's done the same sh!t to me too! I have 2 weeks of FREE AFTER SCHOOL CLASSES with 35 middle schoolers... and their parents in differen classes. Shocked

The fist one starts at 1:20 and I am not happy. I have no co-teacher and will be doing them alone. And yes, I have requested a co-teacher but they said touch sh!t. Later on they offered to have the VP sit in during my classes but I refused that crock of bs.

Evil or Very Mad

sobriquet · Joined: 16 Feb 2007 Location: Nakatomi Plaza

is it after school as in outside of your working hours? or is it after school as in kids go home at whatever time and you are still in your normal working hours 8:30-4:30 or whatever it is.

If it's the latter, suck it up.

As for the holiday thing. tell them to stick it up their arse if they try an tell you that a saturday is a holiday.

obviously God is testing you though.

nomad-ish · Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 7:41 pm Post subject:

i don't think there's much you can do if it's within your 22 hours a week. i had to do the same bit last term (i don't know if mine were free though, and i wasn't paid obviously).

dean_burrito · Joined: 12 Jun 2007

I do an after school program which counts towards my 22 hours as well. I still finish by 430 so it's no big deal. If I were you though I'd definitely take that after school class without complaining. I have a good bit of fun and the class sizes are quite small. Much easier to control than the classes with 40 or so kids. I've never been asked to turn in a curriculum though. I just play board games, watch videos, chat, and just hang out with the kids. I suspect your kids that will show up will want to do the same.
Sucks you are losing you vacation but at least you will be gaining some easier classes to teach.

suki · Joined: 10 Oct 2008

It says right in the contract we may have to teach extra classes - to other teachers or parents or kids - whatever. If it's up to the 22 hrs. we are obligated to do it.

But I feel ya on the vacation. Always wondered how the hell we are supposed to schedule our vacations when there are the camps to work around as well...

Look forward to hearing how you resolve this!