Korean Job Discussion Forums

Alyssa · Joined: 15 Jan 2006

I would not suggest doing a coop here, , you must have a teacher supervisor, the supervisor teachers know nothing about the paper work, it has been frustrating, but over all I have gained some experience!Now I am almost finished! Wow, I think the greatest feeling is being able to just leave a country that I really did not connect with. I think it would be frustrating if one day I woke up and next to me was a Korean husband and I knew I had to be in this place forever, that is really my darkest nightmare, to always have to bite my tongue, always the fake smiles when koreans complement themselves for this or that, always having to be pushed, always having to live a fake life at dinners and other events where I must really pretend that this is such a wonderful place. And to walk around with so many anti foreigner people must be so hard, all the drunk soju men, the men who are jealous of white guys marryng �their women�, I must admit, those who get married here and stick it out, it must be an everyday contest!

I began to understand and guess this is one reason so many people post here, especially the married guys, I guess they need to find a world, a social world where they at least are in the same boat with others, and maybe that can help them feel comforted, Hey, they can comfort each other and take care of each others social needs! ha ha, but really, that might explaind a certain number of married guys who seem to be comforting each other.If I offended those married guys I really did not mean too, I heard once that if you learned the secret stories of those people who always insult you, it would make you want to cry because they have had hard and sad lives. So I hope I did not create hard feelings because I do let my opinions out sometimes too much Wink

A few more weeks and I am free! No hard feelings fellows!

billybrobby · Joined: 09 Dec 2004

What else you learned: how to spell inferno.

sock · Joined: 07 Oct 2006

I'm glad the miserable agonies you are forced to endure in life have enabled you to glean such powerful insights, Alyssa, but it occurs to me that all you ever claim to "learn" is how pathetic and sad everyone else's life is.

It's not that your opinions are truly offensive to others (because nobody cares what your opinion is); it's just that they make you look like an unhappy, condescending moron who is more interested in making incorrect, oversimplified, blanket-statement judgments of others' lives than in making your own dissatisfied life bearable.

Here's something else for you to ponder. I'm not sure who to credit, but I like the sentiments that are expressed. A wise man once said, "It's better to keep your mouth shut and let others think you're a fool, than to open your mouth and prove them right."

CBP · Joined: 15 May 2006 Location: Korea

What's a coop?

djsmnc · Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Location: Dave's ESL Cafe

I thought it was one of these:

Anyway, in conclusion, Alyssa, we salute you!

laogaiguk · Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Location: somewhere in Korea

Captain Corea · Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: Seoul

laogaiguk · Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Location: somewhere in Korea

JongnoGuru · Joined: 25 May 2004 Location: peeing on your doorstep

Happy trails, Alyssa. We all know that Korea's not for everyone. In fact, I'm forever amazed and disappointed that so many jackasses are coming here and won't go home. So you're okay in my book. But just because you're no longer in Korea doesn't mean you can't drop in whenever you're bored. We're the funnest wind-up toy on the internet. Dave's ESL Cafe Korea Job Discussion Forum. We won't forget you, so please don't forget us! Smile

thegadfly · Joined: 01 Feb 2003

I worked for Wonderland when I first came to Korea, a place famous for the grief through which it puts folks, but for me it was a pretty good experience...

...because teaching in the US is so much WORSE than the crap I went through at Wonderland. Student teaching was marginally worse than Wonderland (I had a fantastic master teacher who saved me from the worst of it), but my first job as a full-on, got-my-own-classroom teacher showed me what being skrood by a school REALLY meant.

Hakwon intrigue is a cakewalk compared to most gigs as a teacher in the US -- if a person can't hack teaching in Korea, I would give 5:1 odds that the person could won't last long enough to earn tenure in a US gig...was gonna say 10:1, as I was just trying to make a point, but in case I get some literalists pm'ing me, I needed to make it reasonable....

Good luck with whatever you do, Alyssa, but you seem to lack empathy, and do not adapt well to things you did not expect...two traits that bode poorly for a teacher...maybe another field of study before you are too far down the teaching path? I am not trolling here, I am being absolutely serious. Everyone deserves to be happy in what they do, but from reading your posts, I sincerely doubt teaching is that thing...until now, I did not realize you were in a teaching program, intending to be a "real" teacher...if you were just someone who was doing this to make a few bucks, more power to ya, lesson learned and move on. If you think teaching is going to be your career...well, I think you will find you will be terribly terribly unhappy as a teacher.

riley · Joined: 08 Feb 2003 Location: where creditors can find me

thegadfly, wow, what happened to make you say that teaching back home is 10x worse? My student teaching went fairly well, even the substitute teaching wasn't bad for the most part.

Satori · Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Location: Above it all

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

mateomiguel · Joined: 16 May 2005

thegadfly · Joined: 01 Feb 2003

I dunno Riley, what happened to you in Korea that makes you think it is 10x better in the US?

Hours of sudden, unexpected staff-meetings (without pay) in Korea per year: 6? Maybe?

Hours of sudden, unexpected staff meetings, without pay, in the US per year: 24 (Michigan) 90 (Texas)

Parents that yelled at me and called me names, to my face, for assigning "too much homework" in Korea: 0 (zero).

Parents that yelled at me and called me names, to my face, for assigning "too much homework" in the US: 10 (Michigan) 30 (Texas).

Number of times I was physically assaulted by students in Korea: 0 (zero).

Number of times I was physically assaulted by students in the US: 5 (Michigan) 8 (Texas).

Percentage of the class that didn't care about ANY kind of education, in Korea: 0 (zero) %.

Percentage of the class that didn't care about ANY kind of education, in the US: 10% (about the same in Michigan and Texas).

Parents that, when contacted, indicated that they absolutely didn't care about their child's performance, behavior, or problems in class, in Korea: 0 (zero).

Parents that, when contacted, indicated that they absolutely didn't care about their child's performance, behavior, or problems in class, in the US: 30 (Michigan) 60 (Texas).

Administrators that totally ignored suggestions for improving the educational atmosphere of the school, in Korea: 0 (zero).

Administrators that totally ignored suggestions for improving the educational atmosphere of the school, in the US: 1 (Michigan) 2 (Texas).

I have taught for 6 years in Michigan, 2 years in Texas, 3 years in Seoul, and almost 4 years in Pohang. These are my personal numbers, and from talking to other teachers from the US, my numbers are not that unusual, except the assaults...I had bus duty and lunch duty, where the fights break out....