Korean Job Discussion Forums

[winnie]

Today, I witnessed my first ever "fire drill" in a public school here.

My coteacher says today you can go to class alone, the teachers have a fire drill preparation....

All other classes were free to do as they pleased during this time....I was the only "teacher" not participating in this drill of course.

So I go to class, glance outside, and see all the staff out there with these crappy signs, made of cardboard with some hangul on em. They are lined up in teams. Quite a funny site, in itself.

Then I look out again later(kids were not interested in my lesson, as all other students in the school were goofing off), and I see 4 of the teachers running with this makeshift stretcher(it was actually made to carry someone, but looked to be circa 1920)...it was hilarious. They were doing some relay race from what I could gather.

Then all of the sudden, I see 2 fire hoses being pointed at the school...windows all open of course, and they start spraying the school like mad. Kids shut the windows finally, and claim it's "fantastic!"

Finally, fire trucks arrive, and show the teachers how it's done. This took an entire 50 min period.

So, in the end, the kids have no idea how to deal with a fire....but the teachers do(I guess)!

I have been here all year, and this is the first I have seen of a "fire drill."

Couldn't they have done this during an after school meeting or something? Why during class time? Makes no sense...but then again....I find very little makes sense here.

Ah well, good for a laugh!!!

[deessell]

I hope my school has one...sounds like fun and a good way to waste 50 mins.

[Draven]

The did one at my school this year too, but it wasted much more time and it involved the entire school. Everybody had a specific job to do. The other foreign teacher and I were responsible for 'guarding' the documents carted out by other teachers. We even had pseudo casualties who needed to be stretchered out by gas mask clad teachers. Two fires were made in front of the school, one to be put out by fire extinguishers, the other by a hose. When the fire department showed up, they hosed both down with some high pressure lines.

Of course, the whole thing was choreographed and rehearsed for the better part of the morning so it would look good for when the fire marshall showed up to evaluate.

[mullethunter]

a few weeks ago the fire alarm at my school (i teach at an elementary school in gyeonggi-do) kept going off for no apparent reason. no one seemed to be doing anything about it, besides going out into the hallways and looking around. i asked my co-teacher if the school ever had fire drills and she said no.

[Derrek]

Cement doesn't burn.

My school is 99.9% cement, plus a few desks and some burlap for post-it boards.

[pest2]

While I was in Korea, I was in 2 buildings for 2 fire alarms. In each case, the people just pretty much ignored them and went on as if nothing was happening.

[trigger123]

[Derrek]

[d503]

Umm there is a good chance that there are wires running through the cement and that the ceilings in your rooms are covered with non-cement. While it may never burst into roaring flames, smoke is usually what will kill you in a fire. So practice away. Our school doesn't do fire drills, I think they are just hoping that should we ever have to evacuate that the 100 seven and under children will form lovely little lines and troop out, following the teachers who have suddenly been blessed by divine intervention, to understand the best possible escape routes of the building.

but hell my apartment manager explained that incase of fire I am to repel down the side of the building...so maybe that's the plan...

[TheUrbanMyth]

[Derrek]

Anyone here ever heard of a public/private school burning down in South Korea?

I can imagine one room catching on fire, but without some form of accelerant (gasoline, napalm, 1000 bottles of Everclear), I don't see the whole building going up in flames too easily.

[Hagwon Muppet]

[Homer]

winnie...dear...what would be the point of a fire drill if the students are not there?

Also, in any fire drill, what is wrong with teachers leading the way?

What would you rather have elementary students leading the way in case of fires?

A drill with only teachers so that you can get out of a teachers meeting?

Whats the point of a fire drill really? To make sure that in case of a fire the students get out ok by following teachers out of the school....

You consider that not making sense?

good god...here is hoping there are no fires at your school.

[peppermint]

Interesting points Homer, and I agree with you on them. The thing is, my elementary school has never once had a fire drill of any sort, in the 14 months that I've taught there. Come to think of it, I don't think I've even seen one of the levers you pull to set off the fire alarm at the school.

My school is right next to a new apartment complex that's not quite finished. Apparently the concrete drill sounds almost exactly like the fire alarm, so even if there was a fire, most teachers would assume it was noise from the construction site and keep on teaching.

[kermo]

If my school goes up in smoke in the next month, we are all goners for sure. There is a fire bell, but it is treated as a mild annoyance. Fire drills are unheard of.

Come to think of it, I've never seen a smoke detector or a sprinkler either, either in a school or a home. There was a chapter in an American textbook about fire safety, and I got a lot of blank stares.

It's good to hear that some schools are hep to the incendiary jive though.