Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

The bomb was dropped and I've been 'offered' an 'opportunity' to take an unspecified number of high school boys to the Philippines for 7 or 8 days during summer vacation. Why the Philippines and not Hawaii or a safari in Africa you may ask? The new principal went to grad school there. Isn't that reason enough?

So I'm stuck trying figure out what 7 or 8 days in an English-speaking country, but not even one of the 7 'real' English-speaking countries, has to offer in the way of enough English experience to justify the school footing the air fare.

So far:

Day 1:
Lesson 1 at Inchon: Dammit! Get over here in line. (Listening practice and TPR)

Lesson 2 at Manila: Didn't you hear me? I said to get your skinny butt over here in line. When it's your turn, ask the Immigration officer if he had a good weekend. (Speaking practice.)

Day 2:
Lesson 3 in motel: Get back in bed and go to sleep.

Day 3:
Lesson 4 on the street: No, I am not going to teach you English sex words so you can talk to the w*ores. Use your dictionary. (Reading practice.)

Day 4:
Lesson 5 in restaurant: No, we're not going to eat at another Korean restaurant today. Shut up and eat your steak and baked potato. If you don't like butter, put sour cream on it. (Intercultural experience)

Day 5:
Lesson 6 at the beach: Get your hands off that little boy's p****. You're out in the real world now. You could go to jail for that. And you! Don't pee on that tree. You're not a taxi driver. (Learning about customs)

At this point, I've run dry.

I am at a total loss as to how to make this a worthwhile experience. Does ANYONE have ANY constructive ideas? Ya-ta is now a desperate Boy.

[pet lover]

Oh, but you HAVE to go so we can read about it later! You have some wonderful ideas so far...now you just need the opportunity to apply those plans and guess what? They are GIVING you the chance FREE!

[sadsac]

Ya-ta, don't worry there are plenty of men with pump action shotguns that will keep the kids in line for you. Even the 7-11 has an armed guard on the door. Shouldn't be a problem. Get your accomodation down on Manilla Bay, it's better than Makati and surrounds. Have fun.

[mack the knife]

Manila is a gritty, dangerous, wretched hive of scum and villainy. Good luck.

No. Really. Good luck.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

What dates? If it's the 20-27 of July I might be there the same time with my students if Canada turns out to be too expensive.

[I-am-me]

How lucky you are!!! There are a lot of nice places around Manila. Just do some research. Stay out of the city except for some malls in Makati. Too bad you are not going to Mindanao...I would give you specific places to visit. You could even camp out on my island property!!!

[Ya-ta Boy]

Dates? What dates are we going to be there? Are you kidding me? This is March. The trip is not till 'summer vacation'. Why would anyone know what the dates are at this point? I couldn't even get them to tell me when winter vacation started and ended. They'll probably come drag me out of bed and say, "Ya-ta Boy! Airplane ga yo! Didn't we tell you we were leaving today?"

Oh, the numbers '10 or 20' came up today.

The name Mindinao has been mentioned. Isn't that where the local Commie/Islamic terrorists hang out and cut off heads of errant waygookins?

Mr. sadsac,
Do the guys with pump action shotguns rent them out by the minute?

pet lover,

I can hear you chortling from here. It is not a becoming sound. You wouldn't be free to co-sponsor a crowd of hormone drenched high school boys to a terrorist infested tropical island in the midst of a tropical summer would you? Hmmmmmmm?

[Yu_Bum_suk]

If you check out my field trip thread you can find a few remarks about the Philippines, as well. I looked into vehicle rentals and it's actually quite a bit more expensive in the Philippines than in Canada (at least for new vehicles from the major rental chains).

Send you an email later today, Ya-ta.

[Ya-ta Boy]

Mr/Ms (?) I-am-me,

Ummm...the name Mindinao did come up in this morning's conversation (in highly broken English), so it is not at all clear if we are going there or just that our Principal has a friend there.

Any tips? (I prefer to avoid having my head cut off, if that is any guide.)

PS: Thanks for the offer of a camping spot, but I only camp under aircons. Do your palm trees come with aircons?

[Harpeau]

I love Boracay. White Beach is quite nice! Of course, it's boredacay when it's raining. Wow! Sounds fun! Play hard!

[TheUrbanMyth]

Must it be Manila? Cebu city's much nicer, safer, and (there are lots of Korean university students there) If you get a location around Alaya (sp?) mall, there are a lot of Western restaurants, bookstores and other things you could take them to and kill some time.

[Rteacher]

I second Cebu... I've never been there, but there's a Hare Krishna center there, and you could all visit for a Vedic cultural experience:

Cebu, Phillipines
Hare Krishna Paradise, 231 Pagsabungan Road, Basak, Mandaue City
Tel. +63 (032) 345-3590

[laogaiguk]

Hell, you're in the Phillipines. That's where most nannies come from. I am sure for about 5 dollars a day, you can find a reputable nanny to show the kids around and take care of them for the entire duration while you go somewhere else

[Hotpants]

Yep, I'll 2nd and 3rd the nanny and the Cebu idea.

What do boys wanna do? They would surely much prefer hanging out on a beach and playing games. Cebu has the nice option of the beach, mangrove reserve boat trips and curious museums, and is much safer and less dirty than Manila. It can cater easily for tour groups.

I've met quite a lot of Koreans who go to Phili to study English cus it's cheap. But, some of them come back with horrific pronunciation, and one student of mine recently came back after 6 months of studying there, and I cannot notice a single improvement from when I last taught her. Oh dear...

[Ya-ta Boy]

Cebu does sound like a winner. Thanks for all the vacation tips.

However, at this point in the planning (I use that in the Korean sense), this is supposed to be an 'English speaking experience'. There is a sad dearth of ideas in that department. That may well be because this gem of an idea is the child of a clueless administrator.

If anyone wants to BUY this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend an indefinite time period with an indefinite number of teenage boys in a tropical country during July or August, the bidding is open.

(I like the nanny idea, but wouldn't a woman of questionable virtue be more likely to keep the boys entertained and above all, tired? What's the gestation period of common forms of VD?)