I AM SICK OF IT - all my good work ruined.

[DWAEDGIMORIGUKBAP]

So I work at a hakwan that is branded as an International school.

We bought the franchise from an overseas IS, including texts and curriculums.

Now whilst one of the representatives from said company was here for two months overseeing the implementation of the programme, things have been excellent.

I have had my kids (a lot of returnees) doing amazing work that I am so proud of them for producing; amazing Xmas play sketches they wrote, devised and acted themselves; poems using Poetic Techniques I taught them from scratch such as - metaphor, simille, repetition, imagery and others.  Amazing posters advertising mythical creatures or creative products they designed themselves, wonderful, colourful and non dull, repetative speeches, and much much more.

The thanks I get?

The rep from the IS company has left now and the place has turned into a crapwon the moment he is gone, being told to 'be more funny' and 'don't push them' etc.

My Korean manager has started split teaching with me as we lost our other NET and he has sodding well ruined the kids to me as he speaks to them in Korean for the whole two hours, lets them shriek, scream and tear up paper and do no actual work for the whole TWO HOURS and then of course when I teach them - the guy who got them really communicating and using English in ways that astonished even me - I am now 'Mr Jemiobsoyo Seng' and they expect to not have to wok and turn their noses up at it and say they preffer his class.

In one week he has undone all the enthusiasm I built as well as all of the classroom discipline I built.   And the boss knows and doesn't give a damn.

I have gone from being a real teacher and enjoying my job and really utilising my skills for the first time in 7 yrs to a hakwon monkey overnight.

Sod this, just one of the many reasons I'm leaving Korea soon.

[confusedsafferinkorea]

Wow, that sucks big time. Good luck for the future. Hope you find happiness in your new country.

Unfortunately, we all know it is not what you do here, it is how good it looks, no matter the child is learning zero. Really hard to teach like this.

[DWAEDGIMORIGUKBAP]

Yup and I can no longer go through the motions doing the 'pretending game' anymore.

[Mountain Crocodile]

I think the first fundamental mistake is that you think you are a teacher. 

Hogwans don't employ teachers, they employ babysitters.

That's why your boss acts that way.  Don't let the motions or your 'title' fool you.

MC

[CDW]

I think the first fundamental mistake is that you think you are a teacher. 

Hogwans don't employ teachers, they employ babysitters.

That's why your boss acts that way.  Don't let the motions or your 'title' fool you.

MC

LOL, it has taken Dwaedgimorigubap 7 years to figure this out. 

[DWAEDGIMORIGUKBAP]

I think the first fundamental mistake is that you think you are a teacher. 

Hogwans don't employ teachers, they employ babysitters.

That's why your boss acts that way.  Don't let the motions or your 'title' fool you.

MC

LOL, it has taken Dwaedgimorigubap 7 years to figure this out.

Pee off ijits, I knew this from day one about the esl game here and am the biggest contributor of advice about it, mc knows jack all compared to me. 

Anyhow, this place is supposed to be different and if you popped in and had a look around you would think it was too.  It was never a hakwan, it is an international school setting and has an international school curriculum, management, classroom layout and is not in some cramped, crummy hakwan building but a governemnt run library, sports and education complex.

All that aside, it seems a hakwan is what my boss wants to turn it into.

Anyhow, why people like you have nothing better to do than make personal attacks and add nothing constructive to threads on the bloody internet beats me, you sad gits.

I just have to assume you are 15 and know no better.

[jurassic82]

I'm sorry to hear about your school. It is a story I have heard time and time again. I worked at Avalon for a year and a half and it was similar. Being told one thing one month and then the exact opposite the next month. It became extremely infuriating and often the hard work that was put in was completely ignored. Just remember though that crap schools exist everywhere. I have a close friend of mine that works at an international school in Thailand and has similar problems with inexperienced adminstration and unorganization. I wish you all the best in the future and good luck trying to make it through the rest of the school year. I've been there counting days and it sucks. Good Luck

[Yu_Bumsuk]

God I can't imagine how much that would suck. One of the reasons why I'd be so hesitant to work even for one of the few good hagwons is that it can change overnight. My public school will still be the same mediocre institution it always has been (but a lovely place for a foreigner to work 90% of the time).

[i_am_a_toaster]

OP have you thought about joining the educational profession back home?    Don't misunderstand my intention, it is just that you communicate exceedingly well and no doubt have the skills and personality to excel in a traditional classroom.    Are you licensed?   A licensed teacher can find work in U.S. Department of Defense schools making $50,000 starting teaching Army brats.     Perhaps my spirit is broken and I a fatalist it's just the system is set up to save face and not admit it's faults.  English Education is paid lip service here, when it comes to implementing meaningful relevant curriculum or providing developmentally appropriate lessons....

There are plenty of esl teachers who came to Korea who only want to pay down their student loans are are comfortable with the hagwon monkey role.  They know the game they have to play.

[Mountain Crocodile]

I think the first fundamental mistake is that you think you are a teacher. 

Hogwans don't employ teachers, they employ babysitters.

That's why your boss acts that way.  Don't let the motions or your 'title' fool you.

MC

LOL, it has taken Dwaedgimorigubap 7 years to figure this out.

Pee off ijits, I knew this from day one about the esl game here and am the biggest contributor of advice about it, mc knows jack all compared to me. 

Anyhow, this place is supposed to be different and if you popped in and had a look around you would think it was too.  It was never a hakwan, it is an international school setting and has an international school curriculum, management, classroom layout and is not in some cramped, crummy hakwan building but a governemnt run library, sports and education complex.

All that aside, it seems a hakwan is what my boss wants to turn it into.

Anyhow, why people like you have nothing better to do than make personal attacks and add nothing constructive to threads on the bloody internet beats me, you sad gits.

I just have to assume you are 15 and know no better.

If you 'knew the game' as you put it, then why are you so upset?  A week's work?  Do you really consider that significant?

Hogwans make more money than schools.  Hogwans that try to look like a school and keep up the image of a school can make even more money, though they often do lack real substantive substance.

So you're not working in a daycare, you're working up on a let's pretend we are at school daycare (but we'll even add +15% MORE awesomeness because it's wearing an international school badge).

But you KNOW the 'game'.

And now you're angry you lost a 'week's' work in which you have produced magical results.

Hmm...

Maybe you should work for Apple.   

MC

[Andyroo]

God I can't imagine how much that would suck. One of the reasons why I'd be so hesitant to work even for one of the few good hagwons is that it can change overnight. My public school will still be the same mediocre institution it always has been (but a lovely place for a foreigner to work 90% of the time).

I work at a public school but it's ever varying even though I have free reign in all my calsses.
Your really pushing it up hill if you think you can teach them properly if the other English teachers the students have access to don't care.

The teacher in charge of 1st grade is very professional and gives me some idea of what is expected, runs his own class well.
The teacher in charge of 2nd grade is completely different and it makes my job a lot harder, thankfully some of the kids are internally motivated.

[ytuque]

I think the first fundamental mistake is that you think you are a teacher. 

Hogwans don't employ teachers, they employ babysitters.

That's why your boss acts that way.  Don't let the motions or your 'title' fool you.

MC

Quite frankly, the same thing can be said about most unis here in Korea. 

[Cereal]

OP have you thought about joining the educational profession back home?    Don't misunderstand my intention, it is just that you communicate exceedingly well and no doubt have the skills and personality to excel in a traditional classroom.    Are you licensed?   A licensed teacher can find work in U.S. Department of Defense schools making $50,000 starting teaching Army brats.     Perhaps my spirit is broken and I a fatalist it's just the system is set up to save face and not admit it's faults.  English Education is paid lip service here, when it comes to implementing meaningful relevant curriculum or providing developmentally appropriate lessons....

There are plenty of esl teachers who came to Korea who only want to pay down their student loans are are comfortable with the hagwon monkey role.  They know the game they have to play.

Some of us work in public schools too 

[jaakked1]

"We bought the franchise from an overseas IS, including texts and curriculums."

WE?!NEVER claim your identity as a part of any institution here.

[DWAEDGIMORIGUKBAP]

Been here 3 months Ijit.

Mountain CrocoPiles, why do you enjoy trolling on the internet?  Surely there are better places to do that than a teacher's forum?

[lotte world]

Been here 3 months Ijit.

This is your way of saying 'idiot', so as not to offend others on this board?

Sorry to hear about what happened, but it can't be a complete surprise.  Hagwons exist solely to make money.  It is foolish to think otherwise.  Your job is to increase the bottom line.  That's it.

[DWAEDGIMORIGUKBAP]

Been here 3 months Ijit.

This is your way of saying 'idiot', so as not to offend others on this board?

Sorry to hear about what happened, but it can't be a complete surprise.  Hagwons exist solely to make money.  It is foolish to think otherwise.  Your job is to increase the bottom line.  That's it.

Reading comp guys.  It wasn't a hakwan.

Sigh, it never changes.

[Incredagogue]

Sorry that you experience has turned sour. I feel like there are some good schools here, but many are ruined by people not taking the English teachers seriously. Teachers are indeed "window dressing" to draw in customers in many cases. Unfortunately, this is a self-fulfilling prophecy: take away all of a teacher's input, responsibility, and ability to conduct the class and of course they will end up ineffective. Then, the Korean directors look at this result and think "These people are useless, better keep their influence to a minimum and just drum up their visibility to parents".

It's a form of racism that you just have to deal with here Korea. Want to move to another school that might take you seriously? Tough - the visa process is far too restrictive for labor mobility for foreigners. You sign your contract and cross your fingers. Very sad state of affairs.

[lotte world]

So I work at a hakwan

I did read it.

[Yu_Bumsuk]

So I work at a hakwan

I did read it.

If it's not a 학교 and they take money for teaching kids who go to regular school during the day I'm not sure what else to call it, no matter how different it is / used to be from other hagwons.