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soul rebels
Joined: 19 Nov 2008
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 Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 5:42 pm Post subject: improvements would you like to see from GEPIK |
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Ok so my suggestions are probly going to have a snowballs chance in hell of happening but at least this post is making me feel more constructive about the situation...
orientation
- should happen as soon as you arrive in the country and before you start work like the jet program in japan
- should include teacher training for first time teachers who probly make up about 50% of gepik teachers
- should have a serious basic(survival) korean language intro lecture
and comprehensive handouts with vocab - hospital, doctor, police,
teacher, school, numbers, time of day, basic taxi/shop instructions
(left, right, straight ahead, stop) how is this/that....
and links to wbsite were you can learn more.
- ongoing (once a month) meetings with gepik teachers in your sub region of gyeonggi-do to excnage ideas an create more of a social network help remove the isolation that many people experience.
Circiculum
basically thier isnt one so if they had one wouldnt be a good idea, this vague incorporate world culture into your classroom by making up whatever you want dosnt cut the mustard especially for people new teacher who even if the know what the want to teach have no idea how to go about it!
Co- teaching
-remove the idea about developing lesson plans with your korean english teacher as it almost never happens. your on your you have to make a lesson plan thiscoteacher lesson planing together is an illusion that caused me to feel angry as it is in the contract. i didnt no what to do an no korean teacher ever help me plan a lesson even getting suggestions for ideas was like grinding blood from a stone.
just spellit out in plain english your on your own this idea is promoted i believe to make new teacher believe they will have help developing lesson plans...
i could go on for days but ive got a class in 5min
-have offically defined roles |
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Otherside
Joined: 06 Sep 2007
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| Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 6:31 pm Post subject: Re: improvements would you like to see from GEPIK |
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| soul rebels wrote: |
Ok so my suggestions are probly going to have a snowballs chance in hell of happening but at least this post is making me feel more constructive about the situation...
orientation
- should happen as soon as you arrive in the country and before you start work like the jet program in japan
- should include teacher training for first time teachers who probly make up about 50% of gepik teachers
- should have a serious basic(survival) korean language intro lecture
and comprehensive handouts with vocab - hospital, doctor, police,
teacher, school, numbers, time of day, basic taxi/shop instructions
(left, right, straight ahead, stop) how is this/that....
and links to wbsite were you can learn more.
Agreed, the Orientation for the March intake of teachers was in June, meaning most had been here 3months when the orientation happened. I knew a couple of guys who arrived in late 2007 (just missed the September 2007 orientation) and had been here as long as 8-9months. Waste of time. Either have the orientation during the last week of Feb, before the semester starts, OR during March would be ok (giving teachers 2-3 weeks to get settled and get a vague idea how the system works before giving them some tips and helping them to improve).
Survival Korean would be helpful, but really that's up to the individual teachers. What the should do is, offer optional classes on a regional basis, i.e. once or a twice a week at about 5 different locations for teachers who do want to learn. After a couple of months, they can wind these classes down or pass the teachers off onto another program.
- ongoing (once a month) meetings with gepik teachers in your sub region of gyeonggi-do to excnage ideas an create more of a social network help remove the isolation that many people experience.
I don't know where you teach, but my city has these meetings every 2nd month or so. (I think we've had 5 this year). Normally not much is achieved, but the effort is there.
Circiculum
basically thier isnt one so if they had one wouldnt be a good idea, this vague incorporate world culture into your classroom by making up whatever you want dosnt cut the mustard especially for people new teacher who even if the know what the want to teach have no idea how to go about it!
Elementary has a pretty fixed curriculum. My co-teacher's idea of lesson planning is following the curriculum to the letter, that means no work for her, no work for me, and thanks to the teacher's guides, we are both on the same page even if we struggle to understand eachother. I don't know about Middle or High school though.
Co- teaching
-remove the idea about developing lesson plans with your korean english teacher as it almost never happens. your on your you have to make a lesson plan thiscoteacher lesson planing together is an illusion that caused me to feel angry as it is in the contract. i didnt no what to do an no korean teacher ever help me plan a lesson even getting suggestions for ideas was like grinding blood from a stone.
just spellit out in plain english your on your own this idea is promoted i believe to make new teacher believe they will have help developing lesson plans...
My co-teacher's are responsible for 90% of the lesson planning. So in that regard they've been a boon. Granted, for the GEPIK classes we just follow the curriculum, but still, the only time I'm slugging away prepping lessons is for summer/winter camp
i could go on for days but ive got a class in 5min
-have offically defined roles |
You've touched on some good issues. From a benefits point of view, GEPIK is getting better. The new contract offers an expanded pay scale, and most of the benefits are geared towards teachers ALREADY in the programme who decide to renew. That's a step in the right direction - rather pay more to keep current teachers, than have to pay to hire new ones and then go through the hassle of training and acclimatising them, only to have a large number leave at the end of the year (or sooner).
A couple of things I'd change:
1. Buff up the salaries, the base entry level position (level 3 - BA degree) has remained stagnant at 2.0mill won. That should be bumped by 150K-200K and then the higher levels should be moved up accordingly.
2. Stop being tight with vacation. Yes, they've improved the offering from 14 to 20 days, yet schools have about 60 working days of vacation (taken from my school's schedule). Subtract the 10 days for renewal, and that leaves 30 days to play with - Perhaps 2 weeks of camp each vacation, would be appropriate: No seat warming. This would serve to a) make the positions more attractive, b) Reduce the amount of animosity created by some teachers getting the whole vacation off for free, while others have to teach, desk warm or work in the principals garden.
3. Get more people working the GEPIK office. Traditionally, they've had 2 people working there - 1 for middle/high and 1 for elem. According to the GEPIK website, there are 550 elem teachers working in GEPIK this year. 1 person to manage that is inadequate. Many people here can attest to mission it is to get hold of some one in the office to resolve your problem.
4. Finally, create a program to allow teachers to have a stake in the education here. Offer optional workshops, courses, etc which are related to elementary/middle/high teaching in Korea. I don't mean, 1 day workshops where you listen 2x45minute lecutures, but rather intensive courses which will improve the quality of teaching. Teachers who attend those courses and "pass" will be promoted to a higher level. While this should NOT be compulsory, it would allow the people who are serious about teaching IN KOREA, to better themselves and move up the ranks, while those looking to kill a year after college can still do that. |
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nomad-ish
Joined: 08 Oct 2007
Location: On the bottom of the food chain
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| Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 7:57 pm Post subject: |
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1. orientation and training is a must. also they should have mandatory training seminars throughout the year to help new teachers improve their skills and get help from experienced teachers. they do have workshops now and then, but often our schools don't let us go or just forget about them. they should not be allowed to happen by the POE
2. our job titles should be changed to simply foreign english teacher, no more of this co-teaching nonsense. by all means have a korean teacher in the class so the school isn't breaking any laws, but let's all be honest, the majority of us don't co-teach, therefore we should have a different title and a higher salary as well. i'm not talking by a huge amount, but at least make the base minimum in metropolitan cities to be 2.0
3. develop a vacation incentive program. take into account evaluations by the korean english teachers, students, head teacher, and how many days we've been late or sick, our preparation of materials, extra-curricular activities, etc. teachers that work hard should not be punished by getting more work to do, they should be able to work towards an extra day or 2 of vacation
4. increase our vacation time by at least another 7 days (so that 21 days is the base for vacation, extra can be earned throughout the semester). all they are accomplishing by having us have few vacation days and lots of work & seat-warming during the school's break period is increasing the tension between schools and their native teacher.
5. decrease sick leave. we really don't need 15 days.
6. allow early leave (without deducting it from our vacation days) once a month so that we can get to the bank to pay our bills. |
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alex83
Joined: 03 May 2007
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| Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 8:04 pm Post subject: |
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| nomad-ish wrote: |
6. allow early leave (without deducting it from our vacation days) once a month so that we can get to the bank to pay our bills. |
They deduct that from your vacation?? WTF?
Not at my school.
Also, can't you just give your bills to your admin department and have them pay it? |
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nomad-ish
Joined: 08 Oct 2007
Location: On the bottom of the food chain
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| Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 8:10 pm Post subject: |
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| alex83 wrote: |
| nomad-ish wrote: |
6. allow early leave (without deducting it from our vacation days) once a month so that we can get to the bank to pay our bills. |
They deduct that from your vacation?? WTF?
Not at my school.
Also, can't you just give your bills to your admin department and have them pay it? |
my school last year didn't, but my school this year will; it's a toss-up. that's why they should make a clause in the contract so it's standard practice.
i probably could just give my bills to the admin, but i transfer money home and to my university every other month or so, so i want to do it myself at the bank. i'm sure a lot of other foreign teachers do the same |
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Otherside
Joined: 06 Sep 2007
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| Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 12:10 am Post subject: |
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| nomad-ish wrote: |
1. orientation and training is a must. also they should have mandatory training seminars throughout the year to help new teachers improve their skills and get help from experienced teachers. they do have workshops now and then, but often our schools don't let us go or just forget about them. they should not be allowed to happen by the POE
2. our job titles should be changed to simply foreign english teacher, no more of this co-teaching nonsense. by all means have a korean teacher in the class so the school isn't breaking any laws, but let's all be honest, the majority of us don't co-teach, therefore we should have a different title and a higher salary as well. i'm not talking by a huge amount, but at least make the base minimum in metropolitan cities to be 2.0
Base pay for GEPIK has been 2.0mill for a while, recently they've added internship positions starting from 1.6mill - but those don't even require a degree
3. develop a vacation incentive program. take into account evaluations by the korean english teachers, students, head teacher, and how many days we've been late or sick, our preparation of materials, extra-curricular activities, etc. teachers that work hard should not be punished by getting more work to do, they should be able to work towards an extra day or 2 of vacation
4. increase our vacation time by at least another 7 days (so that 21 days is the base for vacation, extra can be earned throughout the semester). all they are accomplishing by having us have few vacation days and lots of work & seat-warming during the school's break period is increasing the tension between schools and their native teacher.
It's been bumped to 20 days from September 2008.
5. decrease sick leave. we really don't need 15 days.
Why? The 15 days is a very generous contract clause. While the vast majority would be fine with less than that, It's comforting to know that if I'm in a serious accident, I'll have money coming into my account for another 2-3 weeks - and won't have to rush my recovery. It's obvious that the 15 days aren't there for taking when you are hung over or have the sniffles, but rather to cut you some slack in case of emergencies
6. allow early leave (without deducting it from our vacation days) once a month so that we can get to the bank to pay our bills.
All the teachers I know get this time off. My school says that I can take up to 8hours a month off for 'personal time' (The same rule applies to the korean teachers too).
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nomad-ish
Joined: 08 Oct 2007
Location: On the bottom of the food chain
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| Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 12:54 am Post subject: |
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^ whoops, sorry  i sometimes forget GEPIK has slightly different policies than IMOE. i was giving my opinion more on metropolitan cities where the base is 1.8 and (in my city) 14 days vacation. |
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sojusucks
Joined: 31 May 2008
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| Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 3:15 am Post subject: |
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I would like GEPIK to actually care about foreign teachers.
This includes making meetings more useful, better in-country support and conflict resolution between schools and teachers, and so on. GEPIK only seems to help schools cheat teachers nowadays. It used to be a little better. |
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hang10
Joined: 11 Nov 2007
Location: Asia, Twice the sex half the foreplay
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 12:08 pm Post subject: |
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Some help would be nice.
The usual response from GEPIK is:
"hummm, ahhh, humm Ill get back to you on that"
Then they dont.
Ha, BS if i every smelt it. Its just a silly name they give to some thing they have no intention of backing up with real help. They get you here, slap you in a job, if you like it then great, if you dont....spin.
They are not interested in complaints. Koreans dont complain.
The only reason most of us put up with this place is the cash. Guess what it anit there any more = Bye bye.
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