i hate my job

Sent: Saturday, December 13, 2008 8:24:03 PM
Subject: Re: In need of some advice

Hi Sorry to bother you but I need some advice on teaching English in Korea. I have been here 3 months and I am not happy with my employers and feel duped to be honest. I teach at a private school and this is my first teaching experience in Korea so I am not sure what is normal or what to expect. Firstly, My working hours as stipulated in my contract is 30 hours but I work 35 hours per week with NO extra pay. Secondary, they have no regards to your personal well-being. I was put in an apartment (I had moved from a smaller one to a bigger one) with no furniture and left there over night. When i say nothing i mean I had a matress with no sheets, no cup, no plate, no knife, no folk, no spoon, no chop-sticks, nothing. I was told that a bed, cooker, fridge were to be delivered later on that day and that they (the directors) would be back with the basic such as cups, plates, pots etc. I had food but nothing to cook the food. No-one came back until the next day to bring me to work....business as usual. Thirdly, they dont support or help you if you have problems and I mean problems pertaining to the job. For example, I have to prepare my students for a x-mas play for their parents, for one of my classes the wrong books were order and i informed the manager and he said he would sort it out. 2 weeks later he told me (quite bluntly) that he was not ordering any more books but i must also teach them a dance routine to go with the performance, wasting my time and the students time. I have also been told not to continue with particular books the student use until Feb 2009 and that i could design my own lesson plans which I have. In the last staff meeting he told me the parents want to know why I am not using these books. Remember he told me not to continue with these books until next year. I feel like a yo-yo. When things go wrong they want to blame the foreign teachers but when i ask them for help they dont want to know. When I use my initiative they ask me what I am doing and the new ideas/material are not suitable. They also have a reputation of sacking foreign teacher b4 the end of their contract to avoid paying return flight home and severance pay. I did some research on the school and received e-mails from 2 ex-employees, everything they said about the school has so far proved to be true. In my second week at the school a foreign teacher was sacked on a monday and re-hired on tuesday, they had mis-calculated the time he had been at the school and realised that they couldn't sack him weeks before the end of the contract. I feel that they are unreasonable employers and they expect you to do the job with or without the proper learning materials. I have been there for 3 months and I am fed up with them already. What do you think??? Can I ask you??? -do you work for a private/puplic school? -are public schools better than private? -is this the korean way of doing things? -do you have any tips on teacing in Korea? I would really appreciate some feedback. ================= Sent: Monday, December 15, 2008 10:50:35 AM Subject: Re: In need of some advice My working hours as stipulated in my contract is 30 hours but I work 35 hours per week with NO extra pay. are you the only foreigner at the school? is this happening w/the others? have you talked to your boss about this? Secondary, they have no regards to your personal well-being. I was put in an apartment (I had moved from a smaller one to a bigger one) with no furniture and left there over night. When i say nothing i mean I had a matress with no sheets, no cup, no plate, no knife, no folk, no spoon, no chop-sticks, nothing. I was told that a bed, cooker, fridge were to be delivered later on that day and that they (the directors) would be back with the basic such as cups, plates, pots etc. I had food but nothing to cook the food. No-one came back until the next day to bring me to work....business as usual.this seems common. some jobs will take really good care of you, others do little for you to help outside of the classroom. when i moved into my apt, i wasnt aware that i'd have nothing. i bought a mat and a pillow and had only that until payday a month and ahalf later. did you have anything in your apt now? did they follow through on their promise later? Thirdly, they dont support or help you if you have problems and I mean problems pertaining to the job. For example, I have to prepare my students for a x-mas play for their parents, for one of my classes the wrong books were order and i informed the manager and he said he would sort it out. 2 weeks later he told me (quite bluntly) that he was not ordering any more books but i must also teach them a dance routine to go with the performance, wasting my time and the students time.this seems standard korean practice, last minute changes. but still, yes, that's pretty shitty. ive had to put up w/little of this at my job. each school is different, individual owners, you wont know what you'll get until you get there.... try to talk to the former teachers first, if you can, while keeping in mind that anything they say should be taken w/a grain of salt. I have also been told not to continue with particular books the student use until Feb 2009 and that i could design my own lesson plans which I have. In the last staff meeting he told me the parents want to know why I am not using these books. Remember he told me not to continue with these books until next year. did you confront them with this? They also have a reputation of dasffasdfsacking foreign teacher b4 the end of their contract to avoid paying return flight home and severance pay. I did some research on the school and received e-mails from 2 ex-employees, everything they said about the school has so far proved to be true. you didnt find this out until after you started work there? In my second week at the school a foreign teacher was sacked on a monday and re-hired on tuesday, they had mis-calculated the time he had been at the school and realised that they couldn't sack him weeks before the end of the contract. I feel that they are unreasonable employers and they expect you to do the job with or without the proper learning materials. I have been there for 3 months and I am fed up with them already. What do you think??? find another job, quit, get a letter of release: in that order. Can I ask you??? -do you work for a private/puplic school? i work for cdi. -are public schools better than private? according to some. i cant say, my job (private/hogwan) is the only job i've had.) -is this the korean way of doing things? it seems so most often. -do you have any tips on teacing in Korea? ah, well, depends on what youre teaching, the age of the students, etc. first, search the job boards and find another job. do you use elscafe? http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/ read the faq, there are tons of posts of people unhappy with their jobs; the advice for which is always the same: find a new job, then make steps to get a letter of release and quit. contact someone at global village for specifics once you find the job you want. http://theblackeslteacher.blogspot.com/2008/07/global-village-center.html do you post on facebook? shavon bogan just went through the same thing, leaving a job and starting a new one. once you find a job you want, you can maybe ask her some questions about her experience. she's on the group page, bro&sis of seoul ======================================== to find more of us in seoul: facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=25747883752 myspace: http://groups.myspace.com/seoulbrothasandsistas blackplanet: http://groups.blackplanet.com/seoul ========================================