Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

You know how we are almost always the last to know about these things? Sometimes I get snippy and persnickity about them and lie about having a 'promise' so I don't have to go. Other times, I have the 'Wahoo' reaction, as in, Wahoo, I don't have to cook tonight.

Today is a Wahoo day. All week the schedule for today has changed almost hourly while everyone but me prepared for a visitation by about 30 area school principals. It turned out they were only here this morning. They went to lunch early (then left) so our lunch schedule was 40 minutes late. That means that had I known I was going to be offered a free bulgogi supper at 4:30, I would have skipped my soup in a Thermos lunch at 1:00.

But who's complaining? Out of school early, one cancelled class and a free meal. Wahoo indeed.

[riley]

That's good news. I too am out of the information loop. I didn't know my 6th grade classes were cancelled until 2 days before.

[peppermint]

hahahah, got you both beat, a couple of weeks ago, I came to work expecting to teach grade 5, only to find out they were having some kind of sports day thing. this is not uncommon

[riley]

any suggestions on how we can get into the information loop? I'm guessing part of the problem is that I speak damn near zero functional korean.

[peppermint]

I got a sheet from the school with most of the big events mapped out for the next few months. They stick to that about 80% of the time. Is there anyone you can ask for something similar?

[Freezer Burn]

Not going to happen

In China while teaching at a public school at least once a week a class would be gone, some sports/communism parade or the like, luckily I lived on campus

How hard would it be to let us know though

[JacktheCat]

[EFLtrainer]

Try this:

Had a bit of a tiff with my boss because he won't listen to a thing I say. (Wants me to do speaking and listening tests as a *group* activity, for example... I think we still call those drills.) So, he calls me late one night to join he and his b-i-l, also his assistant, for some food and drink. Well, I'm older than he is, so outside of school I can give him the odd swift kick in the pants. He's forever invoking "The Korean Way" as an excuse for not taking my advice on anything. (Yes, let's teach English phonics through Korean script!!) So, I was blearily and cheerily giving him a gentle knock upside the head and happened to mention that excluding me from staff meetings, not having had a dinner when I arrived, and many other things, go against Korean culture, so what gives?

Natch, a week or so goes by and I get a call at 10:30 PM to come to a staff dinner... to welcome me... that they didn't bother to tell me about... even though I was sitting right there when they discussed it in the Korean-only staff meeting....

I'd already been out of work for 4 hours, had already eaten and was stuffed, had already had a few beers and was just getting ready to watch a DVD when they called. So... I was interrupted, irritated, couldn't really eat anything and couldn't really drink much.

[I_Am_Wrong]

pretty common:

I keep a novel handy at my desk for all of the surprise cancellations. Last week we had the school festival and they told us that we were going to have all of our regular classes up until lunch. Well, 5 minutes before the first class starts all the teachers came into the staff room and told my co-teacher that they needed more practise time so English class was cancelled for the day.
25 minutes later, someone phoned the staffroom and said I could go home for they day.
The next day the homeroom teacher for the first class told us we wouldn't have class because the students would be outside cleaning up the schoolground. 10 minutes into the period she came running into the staffroom to tell us that we did, indeed, have class.

I just found out this morning that we have a field trip to The War Museum tomorrow....yay! all classes cancelled!

[Ya-ta Boy]

Well, I wahooed just a tad early. A few minutes after I posted, the vice principal got in a shouting match with Mrs. Choi, who ended up running out of the office in tears. For lack of group harmony, the bulgogi supper was cancelled.

To the poster asking how to get into the information loop: the only possible way is to take JacktheCat's advice--ask the students. They don't know everything that is going on, but they know more than we do.

[Return Jones]

[Ya-ta Boy]