Aaron's Super Long Accumulated Post

Class Stories

The students come up with some funny things sometimes...

One of the first level advanced students pulled up an English word on her cell phone. It said, "ooze." So, I was like, "okay, where are you using it?" She points to a question that says what's your favorite sound... and my teacher explains that she likes the sound of a small stream of water... I couldn't help but enjoy the humor in it, she likes the sound of ooze.

I did a lesson on summarizing movies based on plot, characters, etc. And sometimes the students ask if they can use certain movies. So, my normal response is, "yes," of course I just want them to actually start doing the worksheet. So this one student asks if she can use a certain movie and I'm like sure go ahead and they start giggling because as she explains after I ask her why, it's an adult film involving homosexuality. I'm, of course, put back a bit, I don't think U.S. students back in middle school would even mention a porno-ish movie. Then they ask if I want to watch it on their mobile player device, I'm like no, lol, not besides the fact that its in the middle of class.

Foreign Food Restaurant - 3 Strikes

We went to the Foreign Food Restaurant on Monday, it was a little bit of a bad experience. We saw a coupon for free tea at the Foreign food store (for the restaurant) and tried to use it at the restaurant. They said it was not available. Then I asked for the kabab sandwich that they have on their window for 5,000 won. They said that was also unavailable. Lastly, I asked for a mixed plate on their menu, which includes hummus. That was also unavailable... lol. When we did eat, it was something decent and different, slightly pricey, but understandable for 'exotic' cuisine. Although, it was retarded that I had to ask for 4 things to finally get something they had available. I think they call that a 'bait and switch' con.

Teaching and pleasing the crowd

My 1st level teacher told me that the students think my lessons are not fun, and she felt like reminding me (a few times before as well) that the "fun factor" is very important, lol... like I care. It comes down to the simple fact that I can't make too many different lessons from scratch. Also, if I think about it logically, I'm there to make them practice English by speaking or writing, I couldn't care less if they don't think its fun and jolly all the time. It's not elementary level anymore and I haven't the tiniest bit of training to make it any less stressful than it already is.

I read in another blog that even teachers in most civilized countries don't have to make lesson plans from scratch, they use books from Ph.d.'s. It's retarded to even think that thousands of untrained people, in other disciplines than teaching, can do it correctly.

So in actuality, I have too many teachers that each want something different, my 2nd level seems to think i do well, my first level thinks I'm not fun enough, my other 2nd level and the 3rd level don't say anything...

Korean relatives

So, my Korean relatives dropped by after going to some family reunion (that we didn't go to, but it's okay). It was sort of awkward. It was 5 people, two of my mothers sisters and one brother plus one husband and one wife. So only one of the Korean husbands spoke fluent English because he's taken many business trips to America. So, I was pretty much talking to him the entire time about our experiences and other random things. Really nice to meet them overall, although. I don't really remember them too much at all, the last time I saw them was when I was like four or something.

It was really nice because they brought a bunch of stuff that my mother requested on my behalf. A Korean table, a fan, some pots (smaller pots - not requested but nice), and a bunch of fruits, juice, and ramen. They also helped us figure out how to use the air conditioner which has a discrete on/off switch. I realized a day after that the air conditioner remote that we thought was broken also had a hidden battery compartment which was empty... but now works.

Taking a sick day

Ah, the inevitable sick day. It is highly contested on whether these are easy or difficult to take according to your contract and Korean culture. So, my contract says I can take 15 sick days. It is not as easy as calling in sick and saying, "Hey, I'm taking a day off for sickness." Because, of course, no one tells you how to take a sick day.

My situation was like this: I was feeling very sick from a flu (local ENT doc thought it was a bacterial infection and kept on giving me amoxicillin [an anti-biotic]) (after 2 months of living in Korea). So, I did take it coincidentally around midterms where we have two days off as well. So, I think everything is fine and dandy when I come back, but rumors already started to spread around that I may be "faking it" (just taking the days off for a longer vacation) just like the last foreign teacher here who took many sick days off before he was fired or quit after five months. I wasn't told about what this last teacher did until after I took my sick days, probably meant as an example to scare me into not using anymore. Also, when I found out the VP of the school was comparing me to the last guy, I told two of my 4 Korean teachers that I found it quite insulting.

Then about a week passes and then the 1st level K-co-teacher decides it's a good time to talk about the "sickness situation." So, she described how it looked very bad comparatively. Then, I said how I have no way of knowing how to take a sick day "correctly" since I wasn't informed of such. I asked her before I took my sick day, "How do I call in sick?" She said to call her, so I did. She told me later it was okay for one day, thereby implying that the second was not okay under those terms. The second time she told me I should tell the vice-principal, well I told her that my cell was dying (Btw, I also leave the charger at school.) So, this, she tells me, leads to a bunch of random assumptions about how I'm some type of evil teacher, lol. As I've read on some forums, 15 paid sick days are for show and not for using. There are many people who run into hassles trying to use them. Supposedly, it is okay to take one sick day, but if you take two, its like something is horribly wrong.

So I asked her why she didn't tell me about how sick days worked when I first asked her how to use one, she said she didn't want to offend me... I was like it's not going to offend me, it's going to be worse when I come back to work and everyone thinks I suck from taking two contiguous days off. She then went on to say if I was a Korean teacher and missed days, I would have to make them up... I flat out told her that I wasn't a Korean teacher, which she didn't really respond to. It makes sense though because we as foreign contractors aren't here to follow the traditional spiel (else I'd be doing some extra duties all over the place), we're here to help the students speak English period.

This is a general representation of how I understand it to work in Korea: You dying, come into work in a zombie-like state. Start chewing on your bloated ego of a vice-principal to get permission to go home. Go to the hospital, go home, rinse & repeat daily until not a zombie. Let's compare to the American way: Call in sick.

My co-teacher the Rumormonger

So, apparently my 1st level Korean teacher loves to lament about how other teachers and admin are thinking certain things... I shall nickname her the "spreader of dismal tidings" or "rumormonger." She just mentioned to me that for the first two months before I was sick people thought I was doing a good job and spoke of me highly to other schools (yes, word travels around). Now, after my sickness (which has only been a week, lol) I have not done so well and the teacher regret their comments, lol. I can explain this minor change that is mentioned. In the beginning I was quite afraid of working in Korea, spent ridiculous amounts of time (at school and at home) making very visual presentations to entertain, babysit, and educate. After some time, I realized that it was eating up every waking moment of my existence to create these masterpieces (and making me very cranky). So, I switched over to simpler ESL handouts online and made accompanying PPT's to go with them. I am still teaching the students English, but I am not keeping them captivated every living moment. I'm still teaching English, I'm just not a spectacular wonder-teacher anymore apparently.

Teachers Day

Today, May 15, I was told there was no classes in session, therefore I sit in my classroom. I hear a commotion outside that goes on for about 30+ min and then finally my co-teacher comes out and tells me I should attend. I ask her how much is left of the "ceremony" and she says five min... oh joy, lol.

Superintendent and splitting classes

So apparently, there was a meeting with the superintendent in my classroom. I, of course, had to use my basic knowledge of Korean to get an understanding of what was going on and then pretty much forced one of my K-T's to explain what was happening. So, in the contract for this room there were only supposed to be 20 chairs, but they added more (i don't really have to guess why), they are going to be taking ~10 students from all of my classes prob in September (they've already taken ~10 from my first levels), so they are hiring outside teachers to teach the students that go into those classes. It was explained to me that they always have the option of splitting the KT & NT teaching (i.e. they take half the students and I take the other half and alternate) but they don't want to do it. The logic is that right now they do all of nothing in the class... if I split them, they would actually have to teaching/do something...

Co-teaching contest

My second level co-teacher wanted to do a co-teaching competition, so I asked her why. She inevitably told me that it was so that she could get a promotion. How nice and likewise demotivating for me. So, it's a big ball of super ironic madness because the teachers in this school (and a lot of middle and high schools in Korea) don't know anything about co-teaching in the least.

I had to look over the script/lesson plan for the competition and I had to try to hold back any logical connection to the real-world teaching that actually occurs comparatively. One thing about it as well, it's way too scripted -- everything down to what we say and do, it's like we've never met before and don't know how to work together. It's amazing what three months experience can do.

She is doing the lesson with them at least twice before the competition and it's already a really boring lesson to begin with...
I can just imagine their gleam less eyes as we drone on through our act. I feel bad for the students because they're subjected to this idiocy as well.

My Liason

So, when you go to a school in Korea, you should have a teacher that is your liason and that helps you transition and with any problems you may encounter. Well, mine sucks a lot. She doesn't make the time to talk to me nor does she actually do any of the things I ask her within a reasonable time. I have heard too many "I forgot" and "I am busy" responses from her, so I once resorted to posting on my wall until it got accomplished. It worked once before and it will work again, no doubt.

Bus Incident

We we're taking an express bus to Seoul from Gangneung and as usual the bus driver makes sudden stops... During one of these sudden stops, and out of the blue, a semi-elderly lady comes flying down the aisle... I first thought she was standing and couldn't brace herself, but she was actually sitting in the center-back of the bus which has raised seats. She "flew" about halfway along the interior of the bus, along the aisle, head first. We were sitting the row that she landed, and it was sort of shocking in a way. She slowly got up and went back to her seat; she didn't really want to be helped probably because she was already embarrassed and didn't want any more attention. Fyi, the buses do come with seatbelts, but most people don't really use them. It just made me think about the center-aisle back seat as a hazard to avoid if possible.

My Korean Co-teacher and the illusionary-student problem

I have ~800 students, but they started to take some remedial students out of my classes starting with my first levels sometime in April -- Which cuts down the students I teach to ~720. So then, my KT came up to me during class yesterday (in June) and was like, we need to test all the students with the same test... I realize she means the remedial students that haven't been in my class for the last month and a half and told her it didn't make any sense because I they haven't been taught by me nor have they even seen my class room for the last long while. She actually had to think about it and was like, "yeah, that makes sense", lmao. Apparently, there is some rule that all the students of a same level have to take the same test, but of course when you do things the Korean way and screw everything up in the middle of a semester, it's pretty impossible to follow that rule. I had to pull out the logic card and correct that nonsense...

The morning arrival time

In my contract, like many Gepik'ers there is a stipulation that you work for 8 hour days, not including after school. So, my school, of course, is the exception to the rule and my co-teacher asked me to come in at 8:10 - which is when all the students and teachers seem to arrive. Well, I've been getting sick of following the traditions that don't seem to have any logical basis anyways so I mentioned it to my co-teacher she says she'll talk to some one about it. So I figure I'll just start coming in later (i.e. 8:30) and just wait for someone to say something about it. The next day, I walked in about 8:15 or so and the VP (the ridiculous overlord that he is) decides to try to impede anything that I want as always. He tells one of my KT's to ask the principal about it. The principal was actually walking around in the hallways at the time and so (although I didn't want to be there at the exact moment they asked...) he in Korean said that it was okay to do (The principal is such a jolly man btw). Therefore, now I can come in later with no retribution whatsoever, yay! If only I can figure out how to catch the erratically timed buses without coming super early or dare I say, late.

Representatives of Gepik

Asking Gepik reps for help is like talking to a biased person who doesn't really understand/remember what it's like anymore. Most reps are multi-year veterans (which is uncommon) that have found a way to survive/endure the Korean educational onslaught. I asked a rep (won't mention whom - Simon www.eatyourkimchi.com/ - just look at their blog and you'll see how much they love their rare and cushy jobs...) about my time thing (i.e. coming into work at 8:30-4:30, as per contract, instead of (8:10-4:30) and he was like, "then it['ll] look like you're not that serious, like you're just punching in a clock at a Subway job or something," I think that's a pretty retarded response because if you can't follow your contract then where do you draw the line when it comes to disputing your working conditions... That rep is in a cushy position/school and loves his job, hell... if I loved my job I would come in early and help the teachers in their morning routine also, but that's not most of the people teaching in Gepik middle (and perhaps high school), in fact, its exactly opposite, most middle school people hate their jobs because there is no order the madness, your job is insanely more difficult than elementary school (even though you have the same exact contract). In middle school you have to create all your lessons from scratch and have KT's that do absolutely nothing and its the same story that everyone tells when going to orientation. Don't get me wrong, I might understand if I was explicitly hired to teach and be "the English teacher," but alas that is not the case, I was hired to be the assistant and/or co-teacher (plastered over front of contract) hence the disgruntled westerners. I think it's left intentionally vague so that it tricks people into coming to the Korea with the thoughts of training and a supportive work environment. All the while, once in Korea, contracts are ignored, and presumably unread among most of your co-workers. Along the same thought, I won't even mention the average turnover that Korea has with it's native English teachers...

Another person said that you do more work but get to develop relationships with your students... I don't think a middle school relationship will be of any use to most people. I'd rather do less work and be able to enjoy Korea by dreaming I wasn't working in it's innards. There are many common issues that people have with Korean education and how it variably deals with Native English Teachers... but it seems to be a game of hang-on until a cog falls out of the machine and something changes... As I see it, everyone knows what the problems are, but they aren't going to be fixed anytime by Koreans nor Westerners alike because everyone likes taking their piece of the educational money-pie - where everyone wins except the students.

Some people that came to Korea actually read their contract and it says things like "2. To do lesson planning and develop teaching materials with a Korean co-teacher." Ha ha ha, that never happens at the middle school level.

For most of the people that are here teaching in Korea, it isn't a lifelong dream nor a career choice to teach in Korea, it's more like a step-stool on to better things. Also most people don't have any training and training is not something that the Korea Educational system does well. It frustrates people to be thrown into situations where there is very little if any help for problems that arise and to look at their contract as not worth the paper it's written on. Most "suggestions" from others are to bite your lip and follow the system no matter how terrible it is. Yeah, great advice... not!

The Actual Co-teaching Competition

A while back a KT asked if I would do a co-teaching competition with me and said that she would make the lesson plan. It occured on June 5.

So I did my competition thing with my KT it was pretty funny, the KT was very nervous and ended up rushing her lesson and then realized there was 15 min left and made up an activity (i.e. memorizing) lol how creative... I think I did my part pretty well but the KT was super nervous and kept on apologizing for not planning enough and trying to make it up at the end. She also missed some of her own cues and totally forgot that the board is a touch screen - the students did presentations (with totally new miniature white boards) and kept on leaning them on the white board screen which made it change to the next slide numerous times...

The students were ultra prepped and were mentioning ice-cream at the KT before class so I had my suspicions to their motivations for following the script and their unusually better behavior. They were also given chocolate during class for answering questions... Overall, it was a complete farce. The desks were totally rearranged into group structure which I'm still trying to figure out if I want to keep or not. There were two judges and they sat in the back. There are supposedly 10 contestants for this "co-teaching competition" and I surely hope the others pull out better or else I'll weep for the future education of Korea's youth.

It seems funny to me that there are so many things that a KT would be willing to do or experiment with during a competition, but when it comes to the everyday teaching, they won't say or suggest any changes whatsoever. So much for learning anything from them...

Buying Books

My KT after 3.5 months asked me to help her spend the English education supply school budget (800,000 Won). Apparently, the 4 Korean Co-teachers don't know how to spend it (so much for being highly educated and trained in English education but unable to figure out what resources to help teach it...). So, I went to work finding books that people recommended on forums and what other people recommended.

I gave my KT a list (printed pages off the internet of books) before on Friday (by finding most books on www.kyobobook.co.kr or book.daum.net). I gave her two lists, one a little later on Monday and my KT was in the middle of re-searching for all of the books herself (and ordering them I'm assuming)...

She was telling me a method to conserve paper by using some korean-screen capture program and she was like, "you should install it..." and I was like, "How many times am I going to print out a bunch of paper to hand to you?" lol.

To receive the books, at first, she told me it would take 2 weeks and that quickly changed to roughly 4 weeks, and that is just the beginning of many delays, I suspect.

Upcoming Demo class

Some teacher from some other city came for the demo that was rescheduled for later, but he didn't get the memo regarding a change from the office of ed, lol, so i was like whatever and my co-teacher was like he's not going to come again because they had to reschedule his classes... pshh i told her "so what, i get my classes rescheduled all the time"...

Co-Teaching

Apparently Korean teachers and the education system know nothing about what actual co-teaching means at the middle school level.

There's a survey that I found for SMOE (Seoul English Teachers). In a range of 0-100: <50 a poor co-teaching relationship, 51-75 a satisfactory, but in need of improvement co-teaching relationship, and 76-100 healthy co-teaching relationship; I rated most of my co-teachers at 37. Yay!

I posted a link to the survey, I modified the answers to have a "never" answer (which is worth 0 points) because it needed it. Click here to read more

Foreigners in Seoul, Spicy Rice Cake Festival, and Mystery Pills

So today is Saturday, so yes, another trip. This time we went back to Seoul.

We took this express bus, which cost a little bit more, but it was really nice and roomy. Across a row, there was one seat, aisle, and two seats. We could prop our legs up and lean back and everything. We had bought some steamed buns (two packages of them of four each for 6000 won only. Or about 4.50). They were pretty yummy.

We had TWO boxes of this for 4.50

At Seoul, first we went to the so-called foreigners' district, Itaewon. We didn't really do too much, other than check out a foreign food's market, where we found plain oatmeal(!), ricola, and some other random things like Indian curry mixes and nuts and spices. We checked out a phone store for me, but I wasn't sure yet so I'd think about it. Itaewon is interesting because it is full of foreigners everywhere, and the signs are mostly in English. I almost felt like we weren't in Korea anymore.

I think they are trying to imitate starbucks

Next we wanted to check out a "topokki" (I'd rather write dukbokki myself, but that's what the signs said, romantized Korean is so confusing) festival. Dukbokki is pretty much rice cakes in spicy red sauce. We got to the festival ok, didn't get lost, but wow was there a lot of people there! We didn't expect this many people, honestly. There was a line to get into the festival room, and then we waited in this superlong line for a bowl of dukbokki that we had to buy anyway. The dukbokki was alright but it was too spicy for me, and I've had lots of dukbokki before that wasn't. I think they made it super spicy. Anyway, the festival itself was ok, lots of vendors displaying and selling their foods, and a stage where there was dancing rice cakes and some break dancers. It was an okay event but not worth the long lines and the crowds, in my opinion.

line to get inside the room

and crowds inside the room

fancy rice cakes

dancing dukbokkis

and breakdancing...

aaron is a dork

too spicy dukbokki

So then we took a bus back home and didn't get back until 8 or so.


In other news, I had been slightly sickish the last two days. On Thursday I woke up with a horrible sore throat, but later in the day it was okay. And then yesterday I woke up again with a sore throat that was almost swollen and hard to swallow or breathe, but during the day the throat was better (still a bit sore but better) but later that night I felt really achy and cold, so I wrapped up in a blanket for awhile. Aaron went to a pharmacy yesterday to get me some medicine, and the Korean pharmacies are interesting. They gave him this packet of random pills, and we still don't know what exactly they are. I guess that people here must really trust the pharmacists a lot because they just take a cocktail of random pills without knowing anything about it. At least it did seem to help because I feel better today.

random cocktail of pills, oh joy!

Click here to read more