Winter Camp rant

[#basedcowboyshirt]

Okay. We all know about 'Dynamic Korea' and how plans are never quite concrete.

However, after having done my past three camps in the English Zone, and after being told I would be doing this Winter camp in the English Zone, I thought it safe to assume that I would be in the English Zone.

So, I planned my 11 student Winter camp based around the assumption that they would be able to use the student computers in the English Zone, as they have for all of my previous camps. The camp was about using English online resources to plan things like travelling, studying abroad, research, etc. This had all been approved by my head teachers, VP, etc, who all said it was an excellent idea.

I have put upwards of 30 hours of planning into this camp making materials and lessons.

And now, today, four days before my camp starts, my head teacher sends me a message saying,

"As you know the building 2 will under the constructions in this winter holiday time. You will be having the winter camp class in the classroom 1-4"

No, actually, I didn't know that. And if you knew that, why did you approve my lesson that was completely reliant upon the use of the English room?


There are no computers available for students to use in the regular classroom. Also no TV or computer available for me to use in that classroom.

I now have an entire three-week camp to plan in 4 days, without use of a computer or TV or multimedia of any kind.

I am so, so frustrated.


tl;dr - planned an entire winter camp. School approved it. Then school made it impossible.

[Yegob]

i feel for you.

indeed, this is part of what makes Korea "dynamic". Most of us have been there, in one way or another.

[#basedcowboyshirt]

i feel for you.

indeed, this is part of what makes Korea "dynamic". Most of us have been there, in one way or another.

I mean, I've had a million minor annoyances and none of them get to me.

But when I have 30+ hours of work and preparation effectively nullified, it makes me mad because

a) it makes me lose face in front of students and teachers by having subpar material, and

b) it's pure incompetence or laziness if my head teacher and vice principle both read and signed off on my camp plan and told me that I'd have use of the English Room when surely they knew in advance that the entire building it's in would be under construction.

[gookway]

We're sorry to hear that news, but glad to know you're a hard-working teacher who diligently put the time and work in to plan the winter camp. 

Even though you won't be able to deliver the plans you set forth, at least you can know that you were honest and honorable in doing your duties.  Now, you'll just have to be creative and improvise something up.  It's not always bad.  Rolling with the punches can have great advantages as you may become more flexible and improvisational to adapt to the ever-changing circumstances that our out of our control.  I've had to change plans last minute too and that bothers me too, but I've also learned now to be flexible and have contingency plans, improvisational tactics to adapt to new plans rather quickly.    You might not feel this now, but there are many other options and other WONDERFUL ideas you can come up with/use/borrow to get your winter camp just as good or maybe even better than what you originally had planned.

Stay positive, you can do it.

[marchingocelot]

a) it makes me lose face in front of students and teachers by having subpar material, and

b) it's pure incompetence or laziness if my head teacher and vice principle both read and signed off on my camp plan and told me that I'd have use of the English Room when surely they knew in advance that the entire building it's in would be under construction.

Oh, well... I think it's pretty clear that neither of them bothered to read your camp plans at all and gave it a rubber stamp once they saw it was a file and had English in it. Not that this will make you feel better.

All the same, that blows. Are you sticking around long enough for summer camps? You could always save most of the material for then, and just try to plow through something you hash together in the next four days for this one.

[#basedcowboyshirt]

Thanks for the pep talk. It's appreciated.


I just hate anything that makes me look amateurish or incompetent, both of which this does.

And seriously, a three week winter camp with no computer or TV and four days to plan?

Ridiculous. I'm going to have to cobble together some sort of half-baked travesty and flail my way through this.

I'm usually pretty #based about everything but this is some wack business.

[waldron1983]

i can appreciate the part about them assuming you "know about this and that"....I recently had a run in with this. My resident card (originally) expired nov 2011-extended to feb 2012. well, i was not aware, and nobody told me, that once it expires I cannot access my korean bank balance online.

well, after numerous attempts, my coteacher told me "card is expired". well i complained, as anyone would as in saying "that sucks. why would they do that"  apparently that was an attack upon all of Korean culture and government. my normally calm and friendly CT went psycho and yelled at me telling me I always critisize korean govt/policy etc etc" I was like "where did this come from" 

I have complained about little things in the past, as any HUMAN in any country would about anything. I told him i meant no disrespect: i was bitching about the bank, nOT KOREA. i said "nobody informed me"...OH YOU ARE SUPOSED TO KNOW!!! he replied. "wow" was my thought.

he finally simmered down. but God Forbid, dont critisize ANYTHING here.

[Andyroo]

"As you know the building 2 will under the constructions in this winter holiday time. You will be having the winter camp class in the classroom 1-4"

I see the use of "as you know" when introducing new information all the time.

Cute and frustrating at the same time

[ganstar]

It's not a very big group, could you use the computer lab for the computer based modules?

[deanitsin]

I don't plan camps that involve computers anymore. Between winter construction and summer power outages, I just plan on not having electricity period. Don't even consider it an option, and then I don't end up upset when it doesn't happen.

That having been said, don't be afraid to make a few suggestions to get yourself out of this. A lot of the time co-teachers are so wrapped up in their own situations that they're not even thinking of the consequences delivering news like that to you may have. They just think, "Oh I let him know the location changed! Problem solved!" Don't be afraid to just politely raise the issue of the computers, and see if there isn't some way to work it out. Also, be proactive. Ask if, since there will be construction going on anyway, you can possibly move some of the student computers down to the other room. Things like that. You'll work it out.

Never take the first (or second) answer as the final answer. Haha.

[cnicolaou2]

Ahhh the joys of winter camp!

On a positive note, at least it was four days before and not on the day. Silver lining and all that!

[Davox]

Just tell them to get someone to move all the computers to the new classroom.  I mean, you need them to do your job, which is to do this one specific camp, which the VP and head teacher personally approved, so clearly the VP and head teacher must also want those computers moved too, right?

I'm not actually joking...you really should ask that they move the computers.  They sprung this on you with no warning, because that's how Korea works.  Fair enough.  However, you, as a teacher, are absolutely allowed to spring "all of these computers need to be moved to the new class by Monday" on someone else at your school.  Because that's how Korea works.

[Frozencat99]

The winter camp I'm running happens during the second week of February. Due to holidays right now, we can't address the problem that none of the heating works in the only English classroom we have (the one we're being forced to use, due to its multimedia and size). Today, during my co-worker's camp, a lot of the students had problems with the cold and we've brought for the problem only to have a "it'll be fixed sometime" answer. Ugh, not looking forward to a week of sick children and cold children.

I feel for you, man. That really sucks. This is one of very few things that actually bother me in Korea... it limits our professionalism, hurts us and the education the kids would get out of it, and really makes it hard for me to trust any of my plans.

Let's just hope they don't drop a "you should know your holiday schedule changed" bomb on me when I'm in Siberia.

[happygolucky]

Yeah, I was told last Friday that I will do a Engllish camp this week. It was the first I heard about it. I was also told that I had to submit my lesson plans (20 in total) on the Monday. Yes, last Monday...the day after Christmas. I'm also leaving for my home country on Saturday and my school is well aware of that. I was under the impression last week that I was done with teaching for the year. Little did I know. I feel for you basedcowboyshirt, as I feel I can sort of relate to your situation.

i feel for you.

indeed, this is part of what makes Korea "dynamic". Most of us have been there, in one way or another.

I mean, I've had a million minor annoyances and none of them get to me.

But when I have 30+ hours of work and preparation effectively nullified, it makes me mad because

a) it makes me lose face in front of students and teachers by having subpar material, and

b) it's pure incompetence or laziness if my head teacher and vice principle both read and signed off on my camp plan and told me that I'd have use of the English Room when surely they knew in advance that the entire building it's in would be under construction.

Yes, this. ^ Due to circumstances beyond our control, we look bad. ~big sigh

[plchron]

I made the mistake of telling my Ct that i could handle the winter camp myself. I have been so pissed off and stressed out this week. They are little monsters.

[jaysoon17]

Did you talk to administration about using the classroom you want if possible? I'm not sure what's the big deal about them letting use the classroom you want unless the classroom is a safety hazard.

I was told that I have to use 3-3's classroom, and some of my students complained about that. But I think they complained, because we can't be as active being that there are winter classes going on on both sides of the class.

Good luck. 

[popeye2u]

This is the time when the UNO cards and Twister games come out!   

[woman-king]

Damn.  I would be pissed.

I want to comment on your concern about having subpar material and looking incompetent in front of everyone, though.  It's hard to shake that feeling, since being an individual who can project competence and initiative is so important in Western work culture.  The standards are very different here--when it comes down to it, I have to assume that the quality of what I prepare is so much less important than so many other things here.  If you're contributing to (or at least not detracting from) social harmony at school, if you look good and present yourself well and seem curious about Korean culture, and show up in class with something prepared in English that keeps students entertaining, you've fulfilled most employers' expectations. 

Alternatively, have you tried the tactic of "OMG I didn't know that and I need computers for my camp!  Can I use the library (or where ever) computers??"  I think--others who have been here longer can disagree, but in my experience--freaking out a bit (not in a confrontational way, though) and asking for help from a superior is much more okay here than in the West.  In a way, it's their job to help you through the hurdles of being a junior member on staff and you're not so much expected to know everything as you are expected to be submissive and that can include soliciting a senior's wisdom or permission.  I have co-teachers who, when given a heavy task by the Principal, go to their favorite VP with a bit of a sob story about being so "burdened" with their workload and can they get this or that special favor and help with such-and-such?  They're women, though, and VPs are older men so that may be a factor, but you're still younger (I assume) than many of the high-up staff.  Could be an option, but I don't know your particular work situation so only you can say.

Anyway, good luck!  Honestly as long as students have something fun to do that is in English, it should be okay, and there are some good camp plans on Waygook. 

[weirdgirlinkorea]

This had all been approved by my head teachers, VP, etc, who all said it was an excellent idea.

I have put upwards of 30 hours of planning into this camp making materials and lessons.

School approved it.

Cowboy: I don't know your school or you co-workers BUT it's been my experience that no one reads the lesson plans/submissions. They see English and think, "Great, it's planned. Done and approved. NEXT!"

I had taught the second semester (4th grade) alone (but with homeroom teachers in the room), so I thought it would be a good idea if I submitted lesson plans to the one English speaking homeroom teacher and she could translate (which to my knowledge, she did). I would go into class and out of 5 classes only the translating teacher and the head teacher ever actually read them. Later I heard from a former CT (that I sit near) that the teachers say "Oops, I forgot to read the lesson plan". They always forgot to read them, four months of them. It certainly didn't interfere with my teaching as much as yours did (that's just huge btw), but I can't say I am surprised. I did start having back up games that didn't require a lot explanation because if the homeroom teacher didn't read the LP she couldn't explain the game.

I would definitely ask to use the computer classroom, or ask to have them move the computers. What level do you teach? How long is your camp?
I hope it works out.

[minamteacher]

Walking into my winter camp to find out that instead of 10 students I only had 6, one of whom was a student with special needs was definitely not fun. It was especially not enjoyable to scramble around for a new idea on the spot in order to fully integrate all of my students as my planned Mafia game was now not an ideal fit for the camp. I feel for you Cowboy.