Korean Job Discussion Forums

[passport220]

Public School camping trip.

Have you ever been? I can go on a 3 day camping trip with the first grade class or stay and teach 3rd grade. Frankly, I don�t care for teaching the 3rd graders (they are rude). I am not keen on camping but I am trying to decide the least of two evils.

Anyone ever been on a public school camping trip? What should I expect?

[Ekuboko]

Stay in cabins, not tents.
I didn't go, but my co-T said the kids were occupied with activities taken by camp people so the teachers had quite a bit of free time to lounge around.

[pkang0202]

I want to go on the trip with the 5th graders next weel. I can't cuz I have 3rd and 4th grade classes to teach. On top of that I have my open class. Also, I'm sure the school would shoot me down if I asked.

[jvalmer]

I don't know about elementary kids, but I've been on a public school 'camping/field' trip with middle school boys. Half of them stayed up all night running around in the hotel. Yes, we stayed in a hotel/motel on our camping trip. On the 1st night most of the teachers, plus the vice-principal, went to a nearby norabang and we came back to the hotel, drunk, at 4am. There were still a lot of boys horsing around. For those two nights, I had maybe 4 hours of sleep. But, it was fun...

[pest2]

Went hiking -- 1 day only -- with my middle school class to the top of Dae jung bang (the highest peak on the mainland of S. Korea, apparently.) It wasnt so bad because I wasnt expected to discipline or control the students. I dont speak Korean (enough) to do that... It was kind of annoying in other ways. The principal -- a 65 year old dude who looked straight out of one of those Korean war movies -- hiked 1/2 km in front of the students alone because he didnt want to be bothered by them. Most of the students couldnt keep pace with the principal, anyway... but about 20 students wanted to catch up to him but couldnt because the math teacher was blocking thier way. So there was a horde of students at the front stepping on each other's faces...

Near the top, mostly because the teachers were getting tired and not the students, we had to stop every 10 minutes or so for a 20 minute rest. The hike could have taken 2 hours 1 way, but it turned into a 5 hour ordeal. The last km, a bunch of students bolted for the top to be first one up ... I said, "race!" and ran past them.... none of them could match my awesome aerobic conditioning so I smoked them to the top... but then when they got there, they pointed out that I hadnt actually made it to the TOP... I still hadnt touched the marker at the summit so they outsmarted me by touching it first... hehe...

On the way back down, since I had driven my own car there, I didnt wait for them. It was already 4 pm. I made it down at 530.

I saw the bus carrying all of them driving through town at about 8pm... I think it was a hell day for the teachers since we had left the school at 6 am...

[Binch Lover]

I went on one with elementary grades 3-6 a few weeks ago. It was great fun... there were specialised camp people there to look after them so we pretty much spent 3 days eating sleeping and drinking. The food was great, everything was free and I got to see a (beautiful) part of Korea I would never have travelled to otherwise. I also got to know my coworkers much better as people rather than just "coworkers".

I actually volunteered to go. I think they just assumed I wouldn't want to go since none of the previous teachers had, but it was definitely worth it. I feel much more included in the school now than before since they know I'm a decent human being.

[pkang0202]

I volunteered to go to mine too. I got shot down.

I'm pretty sure if I were still a new teacher then they would've let me go. Since I've been here a while, the novelty of a native teacher has worn off and I don't get any special treatment.

Sucks, I really wanted to go.

[bosintang]

I went on my class field trip. Nothing special, just tagged along as a special guest. Basically just followed the gaggle around, ate and drank and did whatever. It's a good time to just get away from the routine of school for a couple of days if you have nothing else to do. I'm at a big, busy school and don't really get a chance to talk to any teachers outside my department, so it was a good opportunity to talk to some of the other teachers I don't normally have much conversation with at school.

The kids were running around the hotel at all hours of the night on my trip too, and were all tired and cranky during the daytime. They didn't have forced lights out.

[passport220]

I have been on a few outside activities with the teachers I work with. They are nice enough people (in their own xenophobic way). I have two teachers who are very interested in improving their English. I give them props for this, I am just worried it will turn into an intense 3 day private English lesson. I will try and screw on a positive attitude and give it a try.

[Scouse Mouse]

I went on a similar camping trip with my school and it was awesome. SOme crowd control people kept the kids in line. Teachers did whatever we wanted and drank ourselves stupid every night.

Even the 'camping' wasn't so bad... my school were considerate enough to have the hotel we were camping in line up a bed for me.

[passport220]

[icicle]

[YoshaMazov]

I went on a three day field trip with my second grade class about 3 or 4 weeks ago. We went down south to various cultural and historical sites. It's a good time if you're interested in Korea, although I think we probably spent more time riding on the bus than actually visiting sights. We stayed in a resort not unlike La Vie D'Or, if you've been to the public school "orientation." All the teachers (especially the vice-principal) stayed up until 3am drinking soju. That was fun for a while, but sitting around a bunch of increasingly inebriated Koreans speaking rapid Korean can grow tiring quite quickly.