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Demonicat
Joined: 18 Nov 2004
Location: Suwon
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 Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 1:24 am Post subject: 2 months notice |
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Back ground: I have been teaching for almost 6 years. The last two years have been teaching university in China and Mexico. In a desire to come back to Korea, I accepted a reasonably well paying job teaching kindie in Suwon.
This has not gone over well. While I am able to do the paperwork and navigate the cultural issues, I am NOT a kindie kinda guy. The director has remarked on this in her daily calls/emails to me- asking me to make many, many changes that are very hard to comply with. Today my Korean teaching partner overheard her talking about firing me if I am unable to make all the changes she wants- immediately. This is not devastating as I want to leave the school. I do not want to leave Korea though, and instead want to get a job teaching older students (high school, university, business).
Questions:
1) Is there any particular way to write my contractually stipulated 2 month's notice that will minimize potential issues (withholding LOR, not canceling visa, etc.)
2) My contract states that I will have to pay the cost of the working visa if I leave, how much does that cost?
3) How negatively will potential employers look on me leaving a job as stated above?
4) Should I go ahead and submit my 2 months, or should I wait to be fired (its coming)?
For your sick entertainment (you don't have to read this, but I get a kick out of this- its from yesterday)
The most recent list of changes I must make
1) Teacher must follow curriculum exactly as written.
2) Teacher must make worksheets to add to curriculum, as well as additional activities not in curriculum.
3) Kindergarten classroom must never be noisy or chaotic
4) Teacher must not have a deep or loud voice.
5) Teacher must not challenge students. 7 year old's must not be encouraged to do addition.
6) Never use computer in class (director often emails me with demands to attend meetings immediately after class- while I'm in class)
7) Do not send worksheets home when complete, collect them in a binder, laminate them, and send them home at end of month.
 Class must be easy for even slowest student
9) Teacher must not excite kids, as kindergarten class should have no excitement.
10) Do not play with kids during break time.
11) Interact with kids during break time
12) Only be "sweet and nice" while writing progress reports. Do not mention trouble areas or problems students are having. |
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Draz
Joined: 27 Jun 2007
Location: Land of Morning Clam
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| Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 2:22 am Post subject: Re: 2 months notice |
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| Demonicat wrote: |
Questions:
1) Is there any particular way to write my contractually stipulated 2 month's notice that will minimize potential issues (withholding LOR, not canceling visa, etc.)
2) My contract states that I will have to pay the cost of the working visa if I leave, how much does that cost?
3) How negatively will potential employers look on me leaving a job as stated above?
4) Should I go ahead and submit my 2 months, or should I wait to be fired (its coming)? |
1. Just tell them you won't leave unless they give you a LOR.
2. This one is weird. Most people have to pay for it when they get it. Maybe they mean airfare too? It's 60,000 won for a work visa, but I'm not sure if that's what they mean.
3. Not at all. Just say it was a bad match. Or kindy was more challenging than you expected. Or something.
4. I'd try to negotiate before signing/submitting anything. You can pick a time to leave that's convenient for you and them. Maybe they actually want you to leave sooner. |
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Mr. Pink
Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Location: China
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| Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 2:56 am Post subject: |
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| Sounds like they have no clue how to run a Kindie program. I would have either quit or been fired long ago. I can't sit by and let the K-logic steam roll me. I would have opened my mouth, made my boss look like an idiot and been fired or had them hate me for life. |
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greedy_bones
Joined: 01 Jul 2007
Location: not quite sure anymore
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| Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 4:41 pm Post subject: Re: 2 months notice |
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| Demonicat wrote: |
For your sick entertainment (you don't have to read this, but I get a kick out of this- its from yesterday)
The most recent list of changes I must make
1) Teacher must follow curriculum exactly as written.
2) Teacher must make worksheets to add to curriculum, as well as additional activities not in curriculum.
3) Kindergarten classroom must never be noisy or chaotic
4) Teacher must not have a deep or loud voice.
5) Teacher must not challenge students. 7 year old's must not be encouraged to do addition.
6) Never use computer in class (director often emails me with demands to attend meetings immediately after class- while I'm in class)
7) Do not send worksheets home when complete, collect them in a binder, laminate them, and send them home at end of month.
Class must be easy for even slowest student
9) Teacher must not excite kids, as kindergarten class should have no excitement.
10) Do not play with kids during break time.
11) Interact with kids during break time
12) Only be "sweet and nice" while writing progress reports. Do not mention trouble areas or problems students are having. |
After reading this list, I would definitely give my two months notice. 1 and 7 are understandable, but the rest are insane. I especially like "Do not exite the kids" and "Never use a deep or loud voice". Just sit in the corner speaking in a quiet falsetto and hope the kids are all sleepy. |
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lifeinkorea
Joined: 24 Jan 2009
Location: somewhere in China
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| Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 4:47 pm Post subject: |
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Tell them you feel there wasn't a good match between you and the school. Stay around until they get a new teacher and in exchange they give you a letter of release. They don't fire you, you don't quit. Just go your separate ways. Transfer locations and move on.
There is no need to fight them. |
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michaelambling
Joined: 31 Dec 2008
Location: Paradise
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| Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 4:59 pm Post subject: |
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| lifeinkorea wrote: |
Tell them you feel there wasn't a good match between you and the school. Stay around until they get a new teacher and in exchange they give you a letter of release. They don't fire you, you don't quit. Just go your separate ways. Transfer locations and move on.
There is no need to fight them. |
If only it were that easy...you're assuming his employer will be reasonable. When I suggested this to my current employer, they screamed at me, "you think you make the rules? I make the rules. You are my employee! If you leave before your contract, I will report you to immigration!" |
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cruisemonkey
Joined: 04 Jul 2005
Location: Hopefully, the same place as my luggage.
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| Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 5:01 pm Post subject: Re: 2 months notice |
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| Demonicat wrote: |
| ...I accepted a reasonably well paying job teaching kindie in Suwon. |
You were obviously temporarily insane.
Give notice as per your contract and seek help.  |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 5:55 pm Post subject: |
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| michaelambling wrote: |
| lifeinkorea wrote: |
Tell them you feel there wasn't a good match between you and the school. Stay around until they get a new teacher and in exchange they give you a letter of release. They don't fire you, you don't quit. Just go your separate ways. Transfer locations and move on.
There is no need to fight them. |
If only it were that easy...you're assuming his employer will be reasonable. When I suggested this to my current employer, they screamed at me, "you think you make the rules? I make the rules. You are my employee! If you leave before your contract, I will report you to immigration!" |
It IS that easy. NEVER cave into threats. What is Immigration going to do? You simply tell them you quit, show your ticket and board the plane. |
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michaelambling
Joined: 31 Dec 2008
Location: Paradise
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| Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 6:03 pm Post subject: |
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| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| michaelambling wrote: |
| lifeinkorea wrote: |
Tell them you feel there wasn't a good match between you and the school. Stay around until they get a new teacher and in exchange they give you a letter of release. They don't fire you, you don't quit. Just go your separate ways. Transfer locations and move on.
There is no need to fight them. |
If only it were that easy...you're assuming his employer will be reasonable. When I suggested this to my current employer, they screamed at me, "you think you make the rules? I make the rules. You are my employee! If you leave before your contract, I will report you to immigration!" |
It IS that easy. NEVER cave into threats. What is Immigration going to do? You simply tell them you quit, show your ticket and board the plane. |
I'm still pretty nervous, 'cause I was offered a very, very good job in Seoul that starts in August (5 months' vacation, huge hourly rate, practically bilingual students), and I don't want to get denied another E2. |
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lifeinkorea
Joined: 24 Jan 2009
Location: somewhere in China
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| Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 7:48 pm Post subject: |
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| If you leave before your contract, I will report you to immigration! |
You can either start with being nice to them or you can jump to being mean. I packed up all my stuff and moved into a goshiwon. Then I got a call the next work day. Same threat. They wanted me to take a taxi to Seoul from Pyeongtaek, LOL. I told them they were crazy.
After 20 more minutes of arguing back and forth they said they wanted me to come back until they got a replacement. So, that's what I did. I put myself in a position where they didn't want me (I was now a flight risk to them), but I was willing to go back. So, they used me, I used them. I took control and gave it back to them. But when I gave back the control, I gave it to them under a different premise. |
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Tobias
Joined: 02 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Fri May 01, 2009 1:35 am Post subject: |
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| Demonicat wrote: |
....I accepted a reasonably well paying job teaching kindie in Suwon.
.....
This has not gone over well. While I am able to do the paperwork and navigate the cultural issues, I am NOT a kindie kinda guy..... |
Did you know you aren't a bratty-kid-kinda-guy before arriving at the job? I was in this situation once, but only because the bossman of the hogwart lied to me about the ages of my learners. I came to the job, saw he was a liar over the course of four days, and was on a plane outta there on day 5. Good luck. |
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Demonicat
Joined: 18 Nov 2004
Location: Suwon
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| Posted: Fri May 01, 2009 1:47 am Post subject: |
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Well, I was told that I would be teaching elementary school children math and science. I thought this was great because I really am tired of teaching English. I got to the school and found out that, no I will instead be teaching Kindergarten students English in 3 hour block classes. I teach 2 kindie classes a day for 6 straight hours, have an hour where I get to eat with the kids (today's lunch- pickles, cold french fries, and rice!), and then an hour to teach literacy to 7 year old's.
Yeah, I feel a bit deceived, and more than a bit disappointed. |
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cruisemonkey
Joined: 04 Jul 2005
Location: Hopefully, the same place as my luggage.
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| Posted: Fri May 01, 2009 2:04 am Post subject: |
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| Demonicat wrote: |
| I get to eat with the kids (today's lunch- pickles, cold french fries, and rice!) |
I don't believe you... the K-ids won't be able to 'fight off' the swine flu without kimchee. |
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Tobias
Joined: 02 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Fri May 01, 2009 2:49 am Post subject: |
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| Demonicat wrote: |
Well, I was told that I would be teaching elementary school children math and science. I thought this was great because I really am tired of teaching English. I got to the school and found out that, no I will instead be teaching Kindergarten students English in 3 hour block classes. I teach 2 kindie classes a day for 6 straight hours....
Yeah, I feel a bit deceived, and more than a bit disappointed. |
I was told I'd be teaching "young high school students" at a wart job, and that is what I saw...in one class. The problem was this class was only 1 of 6. During the first three days, the ages of my learners kept decreasing. I think late on day 3 I saw five-year-olds. At the beginning of day 4, the boss showed me the toddler room and the diaper changing table. I was on a plane outta there the next day. It was a classic case of the ol' lie of omission. And I waited over 6 weeks for this job, a job that lasted me about 80 hours. |
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Sector7G
Joined: 24 May 2008
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| Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 10:00 pm Post subject: Re: 2 months notice |
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| Demonicat wrote: |
Back ground: I have been teaching for almost 6 years. The last two years have been teaching university in China and Mexico. In a desire to come back to Korea, I accepted a reasonably well paying job teaching kindie in Suwon.
This has not gone over well. While I am able to do the paperwork and navigate the cultural issues, I am NOT a kindie kinda guy. The director has remarked on this in her daily calls/emails to me- asking me to make many, many changes that are very hard to comply with. Today my Korean teaching partner overheard her talking about firing me if I am unable to make all the changes she wants- immediately. This is not devastating as I want to leave the school. I do not want to leave Korea though, and instead want to get a job teaching older students (high school, university, business).
Questions:
1) Is there any particular way to write my contractually stipulated 2 month's notice that will minimize potential issues (withholding LOR, not canceling visa, etc.)
2) My contract states that I will have to pay the cost of the working visa if I leave, how much does that cost?
3) How negatively will potential employers look on me leaving a job as stated above?
4) Should I go ahead and submit my 2 months, or should I wait to be fired (its coming)?
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I can really empathize with the Op. I also left the older students and adults to take a higher paying job teaching a k-6 hogwan. I have also discovered that I am not really cut out for it, and am finding it very stressful. The difference in my case is that they seem to be happy(or at least ok) with the job I am doing.
There is actually a very similar thread out right now that relates to this one. In it someone wrote:
If you want to make a clean transition, you should resign according to the terms of your contract. If you give the required notice, you are not breaking the contract. You are operating under its terms.
Yes, of course they can still make it difficult to the point of living hell. But if you give the proper notice immigration will eventually allow you to cancel even without a LOR. At least that is what immi told me.
And to add my 2 cents on the specific questions:
1)Just try be diplomatic as Draz and LifeinKorea have advocated;
2)Never heard of schools seeking repayment of this but I am pretty sure it's under 100k won;
3)I agree with Draz on this one, it should not be a problem;
4)Sounds like you want to go so I would definitely submit it and put the ball in their court. You have nothing to lose here.
Speaking of giving proper notice, can anyone tell me what the minimum proper notice would be if the contract does not say anything about leaving early? I have looked and asked elsewhere but still have not found the answer. The contract stickies show some contracts requiring 30 days notice and some wanting 60. My contract says nothing about it. I am betting it's 30 days. |
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