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Steve Schertzer
Joined: 17 Jul 2006
Location: Pusan
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crusher_of_heads
Joined: 23 Feb 2007
Location: kimbop and kimchi for kimberly!!!!
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 Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 3:31 pm Post subject: |
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| Duty calls, but I await Steves's perfect prose with baited breath. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 3:37 pm Post subject: |
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So a school didn't like their FT and found an excuse to sack him.
So a loser, with very little experience in Korea, desperate to be published wrote a poorly organised article on his Thai blog based on a lot of second- and third-hand info giving all sorts of lousy advice and irrelevant information.
So what? |
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Bibbitybop
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 3:38 pm Post subject: |
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The article is better and less condescending than you last few. You are right about Korean teachers' mentality. I don't agree with this:
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| Talk about my culture? I'd rather pluck my eyes out with a chopstick! |
My school, the teachers and students, thrive on learning about culture. To communicate with foreigners, students and teachers need to know about culture. It gives the language meaning.
I agree that teacher "A" was wrong to teach the students about drugs without proper consent from the school, but the students see and hear drug references in the media. Most teachers don't know the difference between marijuana and heroin. Hell, children wear shirts with a marijuana leaf picture on it and the teachers have NO idea what it is. One teacher thought it was the Canadian flag. Teaching about drugs doesn't mean that a teacher is promoting drugs, but I wouldn't teach it without proper consent from the school. |
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hubba bubba
Joined: 24 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 3:57 pm Post subject: |
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Why do you have to be so condescending?
I think somewhere in there you might have a point, but it's hard to sort out through all the rambling insults. Try to focus your writings more. And remember, nobody takes a jerk seriously. |
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Billy Pilgrim
Joined: 08 Sep 2004
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| Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 4:02 pm Post subject: |
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Friendly tip: get to the point
If you have one. Rambling nonsense. |
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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 4:06 pm Post subject: |
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| WTF is this idiot Schertzer anyway? |
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tob55
Joined: 29 Apr 2007
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| Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 4:17 pm Post subject: What was said... |
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Not personally acquainted with SS, but from reading the article it doesn't appear that I will put any effort into meeting him...While I appreciate the candor with which the article was written, it really isn't any different than the myriad of other things being written about Korea and Koreans in a negative slant...
Yes this isn't the paradise most people expected, but really, if you dislike a place so much and have only bad things to say about it, then it is probably past the time that you should have found greener pastures in another place...
I have much to complain about, but I seldom vent simply because I believe my quality of life here in Korea is better than the same conditions I faced in the USA. I am not going to defend the inappropriate things taking place and I have no time for discrimination and intolerance that comes from the faction of Koreans that think the earth revolves around them, but for the most part, Korea is a good place with good people...
SS is placing a name on his opinions and calling it news, but it is the same old thing that usually comes up when someone is upset over something they went through personally or to someone they know personally...We all have stories to tell, and thankfully we keep them to ourselves so we can share them with friends on a night out when we want to wind down from the grind of laboring in this country...SS just felt he wanted to share his with the world...I can't fault him for that... |
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Billy Pilgrim
Joined: 08 Sep 2004
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| Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 5:40 pm Post subject: Re: What was said... |
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| tob55 wrote: |
| Not personally acquainted with SS, but from reading the article it doesn't appear that I will put any effort into meeting him...While I appreciate the candor with which the article was written, it really isn't any different than the myriad of other things being written about Korea and Koreans in a negative slant..... |
It's not just Korea, he is slagging ESL teachers as well. Basically, unless you are SS, you are a sub-human piece of waste who will only truly function in society if you follow the learned teachings of the wonderful SS. Pity those teachings come encoded in pages and pages of utter drivel. We plebs need a translator, stat! |
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crusher_of_heads
Joined: 23 Feb 2007
Location: kimbop and kimchi for kimberly!!!!
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| Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 5:48 pm Post subject: |
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It would be nice to single out that teacher who swore at the kids-raising your voice, doing pushups yes.
Swearing at students---> moronic retard. |
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Juregen
Joined: 30 May 2006
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| Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 5:57 pm Post subject: |
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| He is just a man with an opinion. |
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Unposter
Joined: 04 Jun 2006
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| Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 6:43 pm Post subject: |
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Personally, I find Steve's writing interesting. Certainly, not academic polished material but who cares? He did a much better job of being balanced in this article and while none of the issues he raises are fresh, he nails many of them.
One of the important ones is the idea that many Korean teachers are not your friends and they look forward to your failure. This is a much needed warning to innocents out there.
There are plenty of FTs who shoot their own feet. But they are handed the gun by a willing Korean. |
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bosintang
Joined: 01 Dec 2003
Location: In the pot with the rest of the mutts
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| Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 7:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Unposter wrote: |
One of the important ones is the idea that many Korean teachers are not your friends and they look forward to your failure. This is a much needed warning to innocents out there.
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Mindboggling, isn't it? We're hired without any teaching or work experience, with no teaching or cultural training, and stuck in public schools to be "assistants" and managed by people who have little interest in seeing us succeed, or in fact, may have more interest in seeing us fail. But when the "native speaker" turns out to be a screwball, it's just a foreigner acting like a foreigner after all.
I've asked before. But how long will this charade last and what direction will it go in when it clears? |
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anyway
Joined: 22 Oct 2005
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| Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 8:22 pm Post subject: |
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I would agree with many of the things Steve had to say. In fact, I couldn't have said some of them better myself. It's hard to express the dilemmas and paradoxes of any (but especially this) country...
I would disagree with Steve on one point towards the end. The reason why Korea might be losing competitiveness is not lack of English skill (except for that one diplomat recalled from Geneva a while back because no one could understand him).
The reason is Korea's horrific productivity. A study (UN?) which was posted on this board not long ago listed Korea at the same levels as nations such as Bangladesh, Nepal, etc.
Frightening stuff and also directly related to the problems of hiring two (or more) teachers to teach one English class. |
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Steve Schertzer
Joined: 17 Jul 2006
Location: Pusan
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| Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 11:31 pm Post subject: |
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| bosintang wrote: |
| Unposter wrote: |
One of the important ones is the idea that many Korean teachers are not your friends and they look forward to your failure. This is a much needed warning to innocents out there.
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Mindboggling, isn't it? We're hired without any teaching or work experience, with no teaching or cultural training, and stuck in public schools to be "assistants" and managed by people who have little interest in seeing us succeed, or in fact, may have more interest in seeing us fail. But when the "native speaker" turns out to be a screwball, it's just a foreigner acting like a foreigner after all.
I've asked before. But how long will this charade last and what direction will it go in when it clears? |
Well put, Bosintang and Unposter. But it's not just some co-teachers who seem to take a perverse pleasure in watching the foreign teachers fail. Like I said in my column, in my district of Busan 70% of certain teachers, (the senior ones, I was told, but I find that hard to believe), failed the first of three observations and evaluations. 70 percent!
I've been railing for months about the poor quality of the foreign English teachers here in Korea but, strangely, I do not feel vindicated by this. In fact, I have a horrible feeling that the powers that be in their $500.00 suits are fixing it so that many of us fail in our duties. I can't prove it (YET), but I would love to. I wouldn't put anything past them.
But rest assured, I will continue on my quest to find out. |
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