Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Julius]

Has anyone ever worked a year with a male co-teacher? Are they easy to work with? How was it?

One of my stipulations before I take a job is that I work alongside a woman coworker. If its a Korean man I will not accept the job in the first place.
I have never actually had a male co-teacher in Korea except once or twice briefly at camps. Just from my general impressions they seem quite threatened by foreign men. I wouldn't like to spend a year helping one to overcome their insecurities. They also seem to lack the commitment and skills of the women. They rely on their priveledged status in this society for their job security, rather than actually having to learn any skills.

I've usually found the women to be easy and enjoyable to work with however.

Am I wrong?

[greasypeanut]

whoever can speak english the best

but i think it also depends on your gender also.

[OculisOrbis]

my experience is that the men are happy to just leave me alone and let me run things as i see fit....(read: be invisible or absent)

the female co-teachers i have worked with are more likely to want to be involved, and sometimes try to control everything, although some are happy to just sit back and watch.

[climber159]

All of my co-teachers have been female except for one. The male co-teacher was one of the most pleasant to work with. He accepted me as an equal in the workplace whereas several of the female co-teachers seemed to feel the need to prove themselves as teachers and flex their perceived English teaching prowess. But, I've also had female co-teachers who have been great to work with. I don't think gender does a good job of predicting co-teacher character; there are many other factors involved in that equation.

[son of coco]

My main co-teacher is a male and he's a tool. An egotistical control-freak who is God's gift to English teaching and a legend in his own lunchbox. Not that that refkects in any way on male co-teachers as a whole.
He's off to the army soon anyway, so hopefully he'll receive the necessary attitude adjustment and realise the Gucci manbag and Tommy
Hilfiger shirts aren't any use when you're running drills.

The female co-teachers I've taught with have been ok though. One of them is really good. The other two are older and have an indifferent attitude towards coming to class/don't mind texting while they're there or leaving and returning multiple times.

[rationality]

[T-J]

Bump

[T-J]

Bump Bump

[some waygug-in]

I've only worked with 2 males over the years.

One is great, let's me run the class when I'm there,
the other was as bad as any female I've had. Trying to be the "boss" all the time and ruining any chance of having good lessons.

Of the 10 or so female co-teachers I've worked with, most are pleasant enough, but only 2 out of the whole lot of them actually let me teach.

The rest all want me to play second fiddle to whatever they are doing.

Even when they want me at the front, they are always trying to interrupt what I am doing and change it somehow.

So going by the ratio I have experienced, I prefer male co-teachers.

[T-J]

I don't mind working with women. Some of my best friends are women.

I don't mind working with Asians. Some of my best friends are Asians.

I don't mind working with Blacks. Some of my best friends are Black.

I don't mind working with....Oh you get the point....Even if some don't...

[Julius]

[some waygug-in]

I don't mind working with women (or anyone else for that matter) either.

The point I was trying to make is that for whatever reason, they don't want to work WITH me. They want to work against me. They want to act as if I'm not there, call me up to say a sentence or two here or there, but for the most part they want me to stand by and be an English monkey for them.

When I tell my Korean friends about what is going on, they just shake their heads and say what a waste.

[Julius]

[Milwaukiedave]

When I worked at a public school and hagwon I preferred female co-teachers because they usually spoke better English. The one exception to this was a co-teacher in the public school I had to work with the first two months who was ice cold to me and I really disliked working with her. When we went on vacation it was announced she was pregnant and she was going on maternity leave. I think I was happy for both of us. The teacher that replaced her was MUCH more pleasant and spoke English quite a bit better then she did.