Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jajdude]

A while ago I lost a job because the mothers of the kids wanted a female teacher. No complaint was directed at me, and the boss was apologetic but said he had to comply with the customers.

Recently I got complaints at my new job where I have students once a week, meaning I have met them only once or twice so far. Some of them are middle school students, but more than 65% are elementary. I have no complaints about elementary. With the middle school kids that I have met only once or twice, the complaint is that they could not enjoy my classes. These are "essay writing" classes or other "whatever" classes without books or with lack of decent material to photocopy. The boss knows there is a lack of decent material. I have offered to check out a bookstore for something useful.

My plea is that two classes is not much time to get to know the students and their ability. The kids seem to expect to have a good time and be entertained by the foreign teacher.

I'm feeling disserviced here. I like this job. But gotta keep the kids and parents happy. Entertain and make 'em learn English in a month? I'm getting shafted again. I know I am doing fine. But the boss is so worried about complaints. I say, let's find better materials. Some of the lessons may have been poor due to crappy materials or no materials or me not knowing what to do with kids I barely know--- don't know their abilities and lack thereof. She (the boss) talked of complaints coming from parents, from their kids, after ONE class with those students!

Well, one class! Could it have been I did not those kids were so weak compared to kids in the other class who did the same lesson easily? Could it have been there is no book, but I can photocopy from limited resources? Could it be I have an off day now and then and feel a little burned out or freaked out at yet another new situation with kids I barely know after just a week or two?

Anyway, I feel like it is unjust not to give me more of a chance. The boss freaked because I had a bad first day. Well, all was new and I had a lot of worries. All they want it seems, is for the kids to have a good time. And learn to be fluent in a month?

I'll talk to her later. This is silly. But if the kids compalin, the parents call the school, and voila, good luck in finding super-waygook-teacher!

[guangho]

There is no future in hakwon teaching. I have heard stories of teachers being fired for being male, not being a blonde, not having nice enough teeth, etc. My favorite though is the girl who was recruited from the West, flew to Korea and when they saw her at the airport (the recruiter and the school owner), they ditched her on the spot, leaving her right there at Incheon.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

On the brighter side, I'm sure Koreans are just as confused as to why we suddenly leave or decide not to renew. I would suggest that perhaps the OP should confuse his employer this way.

[jlb]

Official reason I lost my job: Too much Bingo. Unbelievable.

[crazylemongirl]

I'm being pushed out because my principal wants a guy. He can't fire me or not re-new me as I do a good job, but he's doing all he can to make things bad for me to re-sign. I don't care as I'm on to bigger and better things. Hell my vice-principal has finally made principal as she wants me to come teach at her school when she does.

[mind_body_and_seoul]

"My favorite though is the girl who was recruited from the West, flew to Korea and when they saw her at the airport (the recruiter and the school owner), they ditched her on the spot, leaving her right there at Incheon."

Damn that is nasty! What was so bad about her? Was she fat? Vegetarian?

I sure hope hagwons have no future. I don't know why the parents complain so much. What do they expect from a crappy hagwon with limited resources that doesn't even train new teachers or give them any lesson preparation time? If teachers have to work 30+ hours a week or 6+ hours non-stop Mon-Fri how are they supposed to prepare for their classes? I know the parents pay a lot of money to these hagwons (and they get SO ripped off! What a waste of money!), but if they really want their kids to learn English they have to realize that things have to change!

At the hagwon I used to work at, I felt really sorry for the middle school students who used to come to my evening classes and beg me to let them sleep because they were so tired after being at middle school and however many other hagwons all day. But if they really want to get good at English they have to realize that they can't just sleep and play games every day.

It's really sad when kids who have been attending hagwons for years and don't even know how to ask permission to go to the bathroom go to Malaysia or Singapore for just 6 months and come back practically fluent. I don't know why these parents even bother sending their kids to hagwons. Just to fit in with the other parents I guess. I think they should save their money!

[flint]

My old school, Ivy English School in Cheongju, actually told someone I was fired because I didn't prepare for classes. Which was different than what they told me, and others. I think there were 4-5 different reasons, one as much of a lie as the last.

Mind you, that was the least nasty thing they did. They used that as a pretext for an 11th hour firing, screwing me out of my bonus and ticket home.

I hear they are looking for a lot of teachers now. If you are looking for work you could do much better than there.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[SuperHero]

[schwa]

With all due respect jajdude, how many jobs is it now in all your years in Korea that youve left early or been fired from? Have you in fact managed to complete a contract?

If youre bent on sticking with this work, you might well find some kind of tefl training helpful & energizing.

[Homer]

Bad news there jajdude...

Then again, I gotta go with schwa here..how many jobs have you had in how many years here and how many contracts have you completed?

Perhaps some courses are in order to help you improve or some workshops with other, more experienced teachers. Who knows.

As for the bingo comment made in here...I would tend to agree that playing too much bingo in class is indeed one of the good reasons to fire a teacher.

Finally, Yu_Bum_suk, as for Koreans trusting westerners to teach the right way. It is true that many bosses here feel control is more important. However, the flip side is that they often end up with westerners who don't know the first thing about teaching and who come here looking for a quick buck (this is of course related to loose recruitement standards here). There are two sides to that coin Yu_Bum_suk.

[Mashimaro]

[Homer]

[jajdude]

I guess my main frustration about this is that it seems unfair to judge me on just a few classes before I get to know the students better, and get suitable materials to match their abilties, hopefully not too boring for them. Plus I was told I have done well with the elementary kids. And I checked today, about 170 out of about 210 of my students (all once a week) are elementary. That's 23 of 29 weekly classes that have gone well for 2+ weeks. Those classes have books. With books I can teach! Do a page or 2 or 3, do something else perhaps, and that to me can be at least an adequate class. It's silly to expect great classes all the time. Well, I guess I'll hit the bookstore and buy some stuff to photocopy. Maybe with my third chance I'll do better, though I feel like I've already been deemed not interesting enough or whatever by those expert kids and their even wiser mothers.

You'd think maybe the boss would back you up if 80% of your classes are going well, and you show promise of improving in the others as well? Doesn't it take a few weeks or a month to adjust?
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(Yes, I have finished contracts. But I have had some bad luck as well. And some times I really could not tolerate a situation or else just screwed up because I didn't like or care about the job or didn't like the area I lived in, etc...)

[cruisemonkey]

It's sad but true that we exist here only at the whims of our K superiors (I use the term loosely). Grounds for dismissal can be trivial or ficticious; and we have no effective recourse. Choose your battles carefully!... and once entrenched, NEVER conceed or compromise - either will be interpreted as weakness.