Mandatory NES Teachers workshop in Seoul, January 7-11

[lisadream]

Hi All,

My co-teacher informed me today that I have to go to Seoul for a Mandatory teacher's workshop from January 7-11th but couldn't give me more information than that, I guess they're sending a document with an itinerary? Is anyone eslse going to this workshop? Did you get more information about why/what it is we're going to be learning at the work shop for five days?

[incognito84]

Its a standard orientation deal for all Native English Teachers. Gyeonggi-do province has one and Seoul has a separate one.

The good: You get to meet and converse with a lot of other foreigners. You'll hear a lot of sound presentations about teaching and get a lot of advice from others (I'm assuming you're new-ish). If you have any complaints about your school's situation you might have an opportunity to bring them up. After 4-5:00pm you're free to do whatever you want. The culture classes can be a lot of fun and usually a few good Korean movies are shown. You get free food all three meals of the day and usually its of a much higher quality than the food at your school... there are actually vegetarian options (*GASP*!)

The bad: You have to meet and converse with a lot of other foreigners. If you're big into drinking then you'll have a good time. If you've actually finished college, mentally, then you might not unless you find the appropriate clique of well-balanced people. This experience will taint your opinions of foreign English teachers, unfortunately. Another downside is that most people forget everything they've learned within two weeks after the orientation. It simply isn't long enough. I almost forgot to mention: you have to sleep in a dorm room with two strangers, too.

...

Have fun!

[mtnbk13]

"if you've actually finished college, mentally"

too true.  my orientation "tainted [ed my] opinions of foreign english teachers".  be prepared.

[theaaronwile]

My orientation tainted my liver.  I'm not sure how the orientation in Seoul goes but the one in Jirisan was pretty good.  There were lots of good tips, a few sessions ended up dragging on, but to reiterate what incognito said, i'm sure you'll meet some foreigners that you'll have fun with. Have fun, take in as much as you can and meh, if there's free booze have a few on Korea

[Brian]

Pardon the interruption, this post caught my eye because it's something I recently wrote about in the Korea Herald:

* http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2009/12/02/200912020021.asp

* more commentary and comments here: http://briandeutsch.blogspot.com/2009/12/in-korea-herald-writing-about-mandatory.html

It looks like it's part of a drive to require foreign teachers to have training on Korean culture and practices, even though many have been here for a while, and even though "culture and practices" are not exactly practical.  I've sent out a few notices for information for a follow-up piece.  Certainly the people I've talked to are not happy about having to attend these things.  Given how they usually turn out, there's little to be accomplished and that week would be better served covering professional development, teacher training, workplace culture, and other things directly relevant to teaching English in Korea.  I'm sure by now most of you have heard about Korea's four distinct seasons and kimchi, and most of you use chopsticks so well. 

Most agree that training programs are a good idea, and Jeollanam-do was among the first to put on orientation sessions for new teachers.  But I question how useful a week-long session will be for teachers who are already here and who are looking for a little bit more. 

I'll reiterate that if anybody receives anything official they'd like to share, they can do so anonymously at deutsch.brian at gmail.  I'm preparing a follow-up next week, though I'm not confident people in charge are open to compromise.

[dporter]

Hi All,

My co-teacher informed me today that I have to go to Seoul for a Mandatory teacher's workshop from January 7-11th but couldn't give me more information than that, I guess they're sending a document with an itinerary? Is anyone eslse going to this workshop? Did you get more information about why/what it is we're going to be learning at the work shop for five days?

Are you in Seoul now?

[shambles2.0]

I've also been told I have to attend this and I am far from happy!!!    I have been here for over a year and think that I have a pretty good grasp on the basics of the language and the culture.  I arrived during an off period so there weren't any orientations available for me.  If they had asked me to attend an orrientation any time in my first 6 months here I would have happily obliged, but now, come on! 

If this were a workshop to further my teaching skills, and if it were fairly required of all teachers, I would also gladly attend.  Well, gladly might be a strong word since it's requiring me to spend a week in a dorm in Seoul, but I would have done it, no problem.  This though, seems like a waste of time.  While I'm always interested in learning more about Korea, there are better ways to do it then to spend a week with foreigners learning the basics of a country I've already spent more than a year in!!

Anyway, sorry for the rant.  I suppose I'll be seeing some of you in Seoul soon.

[lisadream]

Yeah, just to clarify, I've been here for over a year, so this is not part of Newbie Training 101 that people seem to get if they arrive in late April or August. Brian, I will definitely forward you anything I get from my school. I figure it must be pretty fricken important if they are sending me to Seoul for 5 days and 4 nights all the way from Suncheon (South Jeolla) right? Right?! Ugh.....the things these people spend their budgets on...

[dporter]

Yeah, just to clarify, I've been here for over a year, so this is not part of Newbie Training 101 that people seem to get if they arrive in late April or August. Brian, I will definitely forward you anything I get from my school. I figure it must be pretty fricken important if they are sending me to Seoul for 5 days and 4 nights all the way from Suncheon (South Jeolla) right? Right?! Ugh.....the things these people spend their budgets on...

Did you attend any training when you arrived?

[zachmokpo]

I've been here nearly 2 years and I was told I must go as well. I arrived in March of 2008 and had no orientation either. I don't really want to learn how to pour drinks for the principal. I see the whole orientation in Seoul as a large waste of $$$$$.

[akedizzle]

My coteacher tried to explain this same issue to me this morning, but there was a lot of confusion.  I've been here for 2 years and have gone through an orientation process both times.  The Government sent a long a spreadsheet with a list of all the Native English Teachers in Jeollanamdo along with the amount of training we've received.  I'm wondering if anyone has been told if there is a particular number of training hours logged that would permit you to skip this training? 

[kaymac]

i really hope they let us know soon. if we end up having to go from yeosu my camp will have to get changed/my vacation. i feel like i'll find out christmas day or something...

[dporter]

My coteacher tried to explain this same issue to me this morning, but there was a lot of confusion.  I've been here for 2 years and have gone through an orientation process both times.  The Government sent a long a spreadsheet with a list of all the Native English Teachers in Jeollanamdo along with the amount of training we've received.  I'm wondering if anyone has been told if there is a particular number of training hours logged that would permit you to skip this training?

You may have hit the nail on the head.

I logged 40 hours of training this year due to my EPIK orientation. My co-teacher asked me about the training almost a month ago I think.

I think 40 is the magic number. I remember telling him around 35 and he came back and said something about 40 hours and I said ok. I'm guessing he put me down for 40.

I guess looking forward the question is how do I make sure I get the required hours of training during the course of the year.

[Scott]

Wow!  I'm so scared I might get the bad news before the holidays start.  At first I thought this was a northerners problem but now I hear people are going from Suncheon!  Ouch!  I'm getting a really bad feeling that I'm about to experience the 'last minute notice' cultural phenomenon. 

Fingers crossed.

[Scott]

Well, I was wrong about having to go to the meeting from the 7-11 (for now!) but I was right about the fear of getting the 'last minute notice' smackdown.  Now it would seem that our '26 days of vacation in the month of February' is 'the 26 days preceding Feb 23rd'.  I have no problem with that as a policy.  Unfortunately, I do have a problem with the fact that this comes a few weeks away from the end of the semester.  I imagine most of us have already planned our vacations (and in our case, bought and paid for the tickets/hotel). 

I guess it's not over till it's over in Korea.  I'll try to keep a happy face on.  I only hope that whatever last minute news I get from here on in is good news and not worse news. 

[ThulsaDoom]

Haha, there are others like me.  I originally came a few days into the 2007 Fall semester at my public elementary school and never had any orientation. I was told, before and after arriving, I would attend training and was actually looking forward to it.  Flash forward to Oct./Nov. 2008, I had been at my public school for over a year (roughly 3.5 years in Korea total) and had to attend a one day training session, al with nets who arrived 2 months earlier  .  Two out of the three foreign guest speakers never taught Elementary level before.  Both taught middle school and one had moved on to a university that year.  Instant facepalm.  I will refuse any future "training" session.

Good luck to you all.  Hopefully you'll get something out of it.

[lisadream]

Wow! I acutally got an intinerary for the "2010 Additional In-Service Training" that a bunch of us are being sent to from January 7-11. We'll be staying in the Main Building and Dormitory of the National Institute for International Education (NIIED). The training consists of 34 hours of training broken down like this:
16 hours - Teaching Methods and Practices
4 hours - Co-teaching
7 hours - Understanding Korea
7 hours - Korean History & Culture

The days schedule runs from 9:00 AM to 9:00 pm with 1h 20mins for lunch and 1hr 10mins for dinner.

Thursday - after checkin and lunch we'll have "Introduction to Modern Korean History" and "Effective Classroom Management". After dinner 7:00 - 9:00 PM we'll be getting "Survival Korean (by levels)" - I sure hope that means that those of us who have been here longer will have an opportunity to learn some more advanced stuff.

Friday - 9:00 - 5:40pm we are doing workshops - 1) Lesson Plan 2) Classroom Activities 3) Teaching Methods - Reading/Writing 4) Teaching Methods II - Listening/Speaking. After dinner we have "Group Discussion and Lesson Plan"

Saturday - 9:00 - 12:40 We're doing workshops: 1) Practices of co-teaching 2) Class Analysis. Between 2;00pm and 5:50pm we are doing Lesson Presentation and Evaluation. After Dinner we have another evening of Survival Korean Lessons.

Sunday - Field trips! Going to the National Museum of Korea & The Warm Memorial of Korea, then watching the film "War & Peace", THEN going to see a performance of the NANTA! show. In the evening we are going to a seafood buffet.

Monday - There is a presentation called "Exploring Korea" then closing ceremony and lunch before being dismissed to travel home.

The package includes behavioural expectations, some explanation of each portion of the training and a chart for us to write down our body temperature twice daily as part of our self-monitoring for Swine flu.