EPIK wage increase

"Lots" or the more common "a lot" is a cliche. Someone teaching English should never use it when making an argument.

Yeah, todays posts went to some strange places, and that one in particular was creepy to the extreme. I agree, anyone thinking, let alone posting thoughts like that, should be ostracised and removed from teaching.

However, hangook 77 didn't say these words or thoughts as the poster, hangook 77. He denies that the poster who said such things was his previous handle. Who was it ...gook 74, or something like that.

I have no idea. I'd like to think that what he is saying is the truth, as I have no beef with him. Others swear differently. Witch hunts can be dangerous though and I hope for his sake that he didn't say this using a previous handle.

Well, it could be that he forgot his password (he says ID but I'm sure he means password) and someone found out his pw. right around that time. That person then wrote thousands of posts over years, under his handle. All sounding just like him. Hmmm, it's really difficult to decide what to believe...
Also interesting that the post in question was one of the last ones written under that handle. About a week after, it went silent. And on that very thread, hangook77 surfaced.

Does this sound familiar? It was written on the same day like that shocking post.

Let's hope less and less teachers come over here.  We haven't heard too much about any more foreigner cutbacks beyond what they already are.  Cuts seemed more in the news a few years ago.  Numbers have stabilized?  You see jobs here and on Dave's quite a bit for public?  Much more than before.  Guess numbers going down a bit are no prob if the number of waygook teachers coming to Korea has also dropped.  Many going back home, gone on to China, etc. 

The children are getting pretty good at English.  The next generation may be able to teach English well.  But, I think many kids and parents still want us around.  It's why we are still here.  Politicians are still politicians and will go in whatever direction they think they have to in order to get votes.  Very few of them have a Trump like ability to not care about opinion polls or approval ratings.  Ha ha. 

There'll still be jobs here.  Now raises and inflation might be another factor.  Wages can be had at a higher rate, but we still lose when inflation factored in.  Next decade will prob be another story.  We're not Japan yet; at least not for another few or several years.  When they get rid of housing and all flights as well as outsource the public jobs to scummy dispatch companies, then it's time to get out.

"Lots" or the more common "a lot" is a cliche. Someone teaching English should never use it when making an argument.

Not sure what are you on about, but I take it you never heard of the expression: ''a lot to unpack''.

Let me know if you want me to post a dozen quotes where you used ''a lot''.

Not sure what are you on about, but I take it you never heard of the expression: ''a lot to unpack''.

Let me know if you want me to post a dozen quotes where you used ''a lot''.

Perhaps he's confusing a lot with alot.  Otherwise he's not making any sense. 

Don't worry. I really don't think he's going to go to China. It's fine. It's not for everyone. I don't know what the guy's motive is.

I think his genius plan is to redirect all newbie teachers to China, so that the salaries and job security here go up for himself. He will then kick down the doors to his provincial office of education and give his demands. The rest of us are too scared to stand up for ourselves so he tirelessly crusades, posting comments on youtube and facebook in his downtime.

I think his genius plan is to redirect all newbie teachers to China, so that the salaries and job security here go up for himself. He will then kick down the doors to his provincial office of education and give his demands. The rest of us are too scared to stand up for ourselves so he tirelessly crusades, posting comments on youtube and facebook in his downtime.

That pretty much sums it up.  And when people, that agreed with his views on salary stagnation here, disagreed with his method of fighting it, he lashed out at everyone and called us apologists, trolls, recruiters and hakwan owners.  He could never wrap his head around the fact people were on board with the need for salaries to climb, just not with his cockamamie methods to achieve this.  And thus, we have today's dynamic of Hangook being the site punching bag. 

That pretty much sums it up.  And when people, that agreed with his views on salary stagnation here, disagreed with his method of fighting it, he lashed out at everyone and called us apologists, trolls, recruiters and hakwan owners.  He could never wrap his head around the fact people were on board with the need for salaries to climb, just not with his cockamamie methods to achieve this.  And thus, we have today's dynamic of Hangook being the site punching bag.

He can go to China if he really wants to. I just think his messages sugarcoat a lot of things, particular about how feasible it is. Schools that can afford to cover your start-up costs can afford to pay a recruiter to hire from in-country.

You must anonymously write comments under their videos saying how Korea really is.  So, that way, those who read the fine print, won't fall for a scam.  I do on a few videos myself.  Just to bring it down a notch.  Also, tell them about China, etc too. 

The problem with this is that one person, or even a few people, writing comments under the videos and saying how Korea really is might not exactly stop multitudes of Korea-crazed youngsters from coming over here, especially if this is all that they've ever fantasized about since middle school/high school, and went to Uni to get that B.A just so they could live it up in glamorous SK. Trust me on this one, my friends and I were  "Japan" obsessed anime, and J-drama crazed middle schoolers, and at one point, all we wanted to do was live in Japan.... and this was back when youtube was wither fairly new.. or before youtube, but we'd read all kinds of things about Japan on the forums and if there were some negatives, we'd brush it off and be like... nope.. Japan is magical... those guys must be lying...
However, some high schools and recent Uni grads can be just as immature though... and make sudden decisions without much consideration of the possible consequences...

 On the bright side, these types of people usually learn the hard way by getting stuck in a terrible Hakwon and then leave the country anyway after a year or two, and luckily they have been coming out with their own videos about leaving Korea and how things really are there... and this will hopefully have a lot more impact on the young and impressionable viewers, who are looking up to these YouTubers, than some random anonymous youtube comments... There are quite a few of these videos now where YouTubers are opening up about the abuse that they endured in their Hakwons, and many are telling their viewers that they weren't exactly honest with them while they were showing their life in Korea... as they wanted to be positive about their experience and not share the bad. As a teenager, I would have definitely related more to another teenager showing me their high school life abroad than to a random youtube comment, as there is not a meaningful connection there.

China is, unfortunately, going downhill ... and it's not only because of the Corona situation, but the reason behind it is the whole government instability and the shutting down of all of the "Hakwons" and online education in the blink of an eye ... sounds like it's a very unstable place to work for newbie teachers. I would recommend Taiwan though, especially to certified teachers with their teacher's licenses or sub-teaching licenses, as Taiwan also has a public school English program like EPIK, but it is only open to licensed teachers, and they get very similar benefits like housing, completion bonuses, and also they can make a starting salary of $3,300 USD a month."
That might be a very good program to work at, and could give the teachers an opportunity to level up to teaching at an International school either in Taiwan, Hong Kong, or even come here to Korea to try out for those positions.  It seems that Taiwan doesn't select teachers based on their youth or beauty but based on their credentials, as some of the Native English teachers there looked like they were in their late 40's ~ 50, and some could even be close to 60 years old.

Taiwan's program is fairly new... started in 2011, but they are using it to aggressively achieve the bilingual Taiwan goal by 2030!

I don't think China is in decline at all for job seekers. Even with training centers shutting down, the number of jobs exceeds the number of applicants by orders of magnitude. Even before Covid it wasn't a fashionable place. This is one thing hangook77 actually is right about. I think the biggest threat to foreign teachers is that they will become so rare that schools stop trying to hire them.

Sure does sound familiar. You just convinced me. I hadn't read any of weigookin 74 posts before, or none that I could remember. Yep, same person...same posting style...same old shtick, but now tainted with something special.
 

Just to be clear: He admits that he used that handle before. But he claims he only used it until 2015 and later ''someone else'' used it, not him.

Just to be clear: He admits that he used that handle before. But he claims he only used it until 2015 and later ''someone else'' used it, not him.

Makes sense

Just to be clear: He admits that he used that handle before. But he claims he only used it until 2015 and later ''someone else'' used it, not him.

That's pretty believable. 

I don't think China is in decline at all for job seekers. Even with training centers shutting down, the number of jobs exceeds the number of applicants by orders of magnitude. Even before Covid it wasn't a fashionable place. This is one thing hangook77 actually is right about. I think the biggest threat to foreign teachers is that they will become so rare that schools stop trying to hire them.

Maybe Native English Speaking teachers might become rare? I've heard China still accepts a lot of non-native English Teachers, especially the further away that you go from the big cities.

I'd be more concerned about schools just axing foreign teacher positions if they get too hard to fill and trying to make do without them. For now, only the richest schools can even afford to employ them because going forward they'll want guarantees that they'll be paid in the event of a lockdown. The ones who didn't get paid during lockdown sure won't be re-signing with their current schools.

I'd be more concerned about schools just axing foreign teacher positions if they get too hard to fill and trying to make do without them. For now, only the richest schools can even afford to employ them because going forward they'll want guarantees that they'll be paid in the event of a lockdown. The ones who didn't get paid during lockdown sure won't be re-signing with their current schools.

That makes sense. It seems that the way China has been handling the COVID situation and performing the lockdowns... there is a huge possibility teachers will mostly just up and leave... a lot have already been going over to Vietnam.
English education, as always, will once again be reserved for the Elite.

Yeah a lot of people are leaving. China doesn't have an end game here, no matter how hard hangook77 wishes for it. Still, if the airfares from Korea are reasonable and he could stomach quarantine, he could take a stab at it.

Yeah a lot of people are leaving. China doesn't have an end game here, no matter how hard hangook77 wishes for it. Still, if the airfares from Korea are reasonable and he could stomach quarantine, he could take a stab at it.

 
That's why I said wait until after covid.  Seems dense people can't read that.  As long as they keep the pay high, folks would migrate, barring some other unseen factor.