Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ulsanchris]

My day hasn't been so great so far. Didn't get a good nights sleep woke up tired and realised i didn't take out my recycleable garbage out last night like I should have. NOt so bad too far. Had my morning kindy classes. Went pretty well. The girls only made of their number cry once. Those little girls are so cruel. I think they are going to give each other complexes and will need to go to councilling later on in life because of it. Go into the afternoon. Earlier in the Summer I was told by the then korean teacher that i was to have an extra day off for chusok. I was supposed to have five days off for summer vacation and only got four. i was told that I would get an extra day off at chusok. Today I had the new korean teacher ask my boss when I would get the extra day (tuesday before or the monday after). The dikheadtator said i wouldn't get an extra day off for chusok. Well when will i get it? I asked. THe director looked up in my contract to see how many days of vacation i get. Then he started whining in korea (i heard the word mula(?) (I don't know) and he then walked out of the office. Still don't know when I will get my extra vacation day. I have the impression that he never intended to give me my full vacation. ON monday I will ask when I will get that extra day of vacation and ask him every day after that until i get an answer or just tell him when i will take it.
Also yesterday I was supposed to get a new (or at least different) fridge for my apartment. The old one is slowly dying. He didn't get around to going out and buying one. I was supposed to get one today. Didnt' happen. I am now supposed to get one tomorrow. I'm not too impressed. What a lazy bast*rd. He hardly does anything at the hagwon and isn't there most of the day. THe only work I ever see being done is by his wife. Most of the time I see him at hte hagwon he is either reading the paper or sleeping. He could have very easily have gotten off of his lazy buttocks yesterday and got me my new fridge.
Then my classes today. Oh dear. We have airconditioning at my school but the director doesn't want us to use it. The entire hogwon is hot. (When it is hot and humid like this I am pretty short tempered unfortunately.) From the start I dont' feel very motivated to teach because I am not getting my extra day of vacation like i though i was and i'm worried that my pay might be late this month like it was last month. I get to my classes. kids don't have pencils, one or two kids don't want to play the games I came up with that reinforce the lesson (all the other kids want to play). I ask a girl to come to the front of the classroom (like I asked all the other kids to do) and she gives me a dirty face. A kid running out of the room to look at the clock outside (when kids ask me what time it is I just say Its class time). He knows that he shouldn't do that. I shut the door on him when he tried to walk back in (don't worry the door didn't hit him). In my next class all the kids are extremely late. In the class after that the kids all hate me (they hated me at first sight and this class contains the boss's son, who once sent me an email that said I was a son of a bitch in Korea). Won't go into this class. Finally my last class of the day. Usually has just one middle school student who is as willing to talk as rock. Walk into class and he is chewing gum. No gum allowed in my classes. I ask him to spit it out. He doesn't want to. Why does he have it in the first place? I've told him many times in the past not to chew gum in class. arrgh. Finally he spits out the gum. Sits back down and tries to go to sleep. I'm doing the slow burn here. I try to ask nicely several times for him to wake up. He doesn't of course. End up shouting at him. finally he wakes up. Try to make conversation for the rest of the class. He tries to answer all the questions in either nods or at least one word answers.
My big question is why do things have to be so hard? Why can't my boss just give me what my contract says with out me having to hound him for it. Why don't the students behave better? Why don't they just listen? Why can't they try? Why does my job suck? Why can't I win the lottery and spend the rest of my life travelling the world?

[rawiri]

HARDEN UP!

[rapier]

I think your little rant has just summarised the experience of 99% of hogwon slaves. Almost a work of art.
Why complain? because we all know that things should, and easily could be, a whole lot better.

[Skarp]

This would drive me to the edge too...

Maybe teaching kids isn't for you? The behaviour you mention is entirely typical and will never go away. You certainly shouldn't take it personally. You are a teacher and an adult and that makes you the enemy.

I spent one term of TP in a state school in the UK during my teacher training and swore never to go back. I've had occasional spells teaching teenagers in Language schools in the UK. Not as bad but still not much use. I hate fighting with the little devils. Sadly - it's hard to avoid them cos the Summer season when all the spoilt Eurobrats turn up is when the schools make their money.

At least with adults they have paid to be there so if you have a decent lesson plan they will usually have a go. It does get embarrassing if you have rubbish material though.

I can deal with a student who is shy or has genuine difficulty learning.


Anyway - things will probably get better, but if you have a lot of these days make some changes.

Skarp

[ulsanchris]

I think the heat is why my classes seemed so difficult today. the heat and the humidity make me ill tempered and things that wouldn't normally bother me did. The fact the couple of students didn't behave well didn't help. But most days are better than this. Wedsenday went great. Just a lot of little problems that are chronic at my hogwan popped up to day and it got to me.

[Skarp]

There are probably some good things about teaching kids too...

Basically I hate working. I resent the loss of freedom and control over my day. No amount of money will fully compensate for this. I think I'd like to be an artist. I'm not very good at art and none of my stuff would sell, but I could handle the long hours alone trying to produce work I was satisfied with....

Dream on

Skarp

[sandstorm]

ulsanchris - I know the feeling. Somedays all you want is just the smallest thing and it would make up for all the shit you have to put up with. Hang in there. I think you should just take Monday the 15th off anyway, regardless of what your boss says

[The evil penguin]

[kelly]

You need to harden up exactly, they need you so don't let them get away with anything if you're entitled to a days vacation make sure you get it, its just too easy for them to walk all over us, and if they do its no ones fault only our own!

[lesza]

Have an awesome holiday!! You deserve it. Sounds like you are a littel under-appreciated by your boss. Hope he realises how valuable you are before it's too late... see you on the beach (doesn't even have to be a beach, just outta here!)

Lesza

[captain kirk]

ulsanchris, you crack me up. especially the bit about the kid (son of the boss) sending you an email once that said, in korean, 'you are a son of a b*tch'; i wonder where he heard that? (boss muttering, 'that son of a b*tch wants a new fridge'). and a middle school student, one, at the end of the day as willing to talk as a rock. i had those yesterday, three of them. it's the same for the korean english teacher( female, 25). i told her i threw the dictionary up at the ceiling and told them to say in a loud voice, 'i don't know!' or 'yes, I know!'. i met one in the hall and reminded him, 'are you going to talk to me tomorrow, you know, talk?' and he smiled and nodded. they learn to lay low in big classes at the public school. where they don't learn much, and so have to go to the hagwon. but they lay low at the hagwon. at the hagwon awaits the foreign teacher, who is coiled like a panther, seething with inclination to teach effectively, and there is no escape. they try to do some ninja stuff and 'look like an empty chair' (immobile, silent) but foreign teacher isn't fooled, and determined to teach as a cowboy branding cattle. thank the open range you're not a korean english teacher. the korean teacher told me today that one of the parents called her on her cell when she got home from work (the parent figured teacher would be too busy while at work to talk about little fuzzball) and talked about little fuzzball for an hour. nobody talks to the foreign teacher, except kids.

[ulsanchris]

After I did my little rant on here I started to feel better. Went to dinner with my gf and one of her friends. Felt even better. Went to a jimjilbang. Got changed went down to the main room and got a drink of water from the fountain. THe water fountain is next to where the computers are and there were a bunch of kids there. They see me and are like "oooh a foriegner." Thats not so bad, I can deal with that no problem. THe problem started when this little brat pointed at me and started laughing his head off. Then all the kids start laughing. grrr. not so bad yet i just ignore them and drink my water. Then the little brat, while i'm not looking, comes up behind me and hits me in the back, this gets all the kids really laughing. All the bitterness I had gotten out of my system returned with a vengence. I was so p*ssed off. One of those I hate korea and everything that's in it moments. Unfortunately I don't know how to say bugger off you little sh*t in korean so all i was able to do was glare at him.
a couple minutes after the brat hit me I see him with his mom, who didn't see what happen. When my gf finally joins me and I tell her what happened she went off to tell the boys mother. The mother laughed. Laughed. Didnt' look embarressed, shocked or astonished. Just a look on her face that looked like she found the whole thing funny. It didn't even sound like an embarrassed laugh. This got me really steamed as well. Took me about half an hour to regain something that somewhat resembled a good mood.

[captain kirk]

hmmfff. obviously those kids don't yet know just WHO they are dealing with, huh?!