RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

I'm curious-- would you mind sharing what Japanese Kanji learning program you're using? I hope to pick up Japanese again during my 2nd year here, when I have more time. (I studied a little back in school but it fell to the wayside)

As for the rest... I know I need to focus on building vocabulary but I suppose I'm really disinterested in rote memorization. I enjoy going through online lessons and learning about grammar but when it comes to memorizing vocab... I guess I just don't like studying. There's not much Korean media I'm interested in either, so it's more difficult to be motivated. If I could have an in-class course of study, it would be best but I'm far too rural at the moment.

https://www.wanikani.com/

It's a great program, but it isn't free. I think there's a free trial period, but after that there's a fee. I paid a (hefty) one-time fee so I'll have permanent access to it, but there are  shorter-term, more affordable options.

It's fairly straightforward. It goes through the Kanji starting by teaching the most basic radicals first and then gradually getting into the more complex ones as you increase in level. The upside to that is you can progress more quickly as you build a solid foundation. The downside is that some super common words in Japanese have fairly complex kanji, so you'll find yourself learning some pretty random stuff before you learn more important things. I know the kanji for "testicle" but not "sleep," for example. 

It uses goofy mnemonic explanations to help you remember definitions & pronunciations, and review quizzes based on spaced repetition to help you retain what you've learned. It's working really well for me, so I'm comfortable recommending it despite it not being free.

Oh, almost forgot: You'll need to have your hiragana down pat to get any use out of it. That's the only writing system it uses to give you the pronunciations. Katakana have popped up a couple times, too, but only rarely.

EDIT: again a multitude of reasons could be causing your lack of interest in improvement.  It's really a complex psychological process and just to name a few factors: isolation, depression, alienation, etc... if you struggle with any of these then productivity really decreases.

That's pretty on-the-nose, I think. The problem there is that most of the solutions I can come up with to those problems would be made easier were I more fluent in the language. I'd be less lonely if I could meet more people, I could meet more people if I could speak Korean, I could learn more Korean if I weren't so lonely, etc etc. That sort of thing. It's frustrating. 

Well, first of all, I'll start with what annoyed me about South Korea, which would be feeling useless. I don't need to explain to anyone here that we ESL teachers are essentially babysitters. That can be a real emotional drain on someone; it was on me. I really cared about teaching and often felt handcuffed by the South Korean education system.

That being said, things like public transportation are absolutely reasons why I miss South Korea. It's just so much better than where I live now. Things were cheaper as well. I miss my friends and some of my better students. I miss being able to work with kids and see them develop as English speakers, even if I wasn't always able to fully serve in my capacity as a teacher. I lived in South Korea for nearly a decade, so it certainly grew on me in many ways.

I wholeheartedly emphathise with you on the feeling like a babysitter part!!! I also care a lot about my job and most of the time it's such a drain!!     However, I'm really sensitive so it's just extra challenging for me.  Yes I'm sure it's clear as crystal how good Koreans public transit is, but then again they are totally different countries in many ways thoughI certainly think the US can do better with its public services.    I'm over half a decade here now.  I've just realized how expensive it is to make a decent living  in a western country, I definitely don't take it for granted here anymore.

Thanks for sharing your views. :) 

Well, first of all, I'll start with what annoyed me about South Korea, which would be feeling useless. I don't need to explain to anyone here that we ESL teachers are essentially babysitters. That can be a real emotional drain on someone; it was on me. I really cared about teaching and often felt handcuffed by the South Korean education system.

That being said, things like public transportation are absolutely reasons why I miss South Korea. It's just so much better than where I live now. Things were cheaper as well. I miss my friends and some of my better students. I miss being able to work with kids and see them develop as English speakers, even if I wasn't always able to fully serve in my capacity as a teacher. I lived in South Korea for nearly a decade, so it certainly grew on me in many ways.

Oh, and I'll add to this previous statement, that being able to walk to 김밥천국 at 1 am when I need some food is a huge, but easily overlooked plus. I can't believe how many things close at 9 pm where I live now, don't deliver, or are too far to get to late at night.

HaLo,

I was told the same thing years ago, so I showed up and feigned interest.

After several weeks, I decided to stay in my office to see what would happen.

Not a word was mentioned.

Perhaps you could give it a try and see.

Hang tough.

Haha, I tried that for the last meeting two weeks ago and I got an urgent kakao message reminding me of the meeting. So unfortunately, that won't work, but thanks for the thought.

Try asking for a translation after every single sentence and saying you don't understand. Pretty sure after 1 meeting of interruptions they'll all agree that it's unnecessary for you to attend!

Hmm, thats annoying and petty enough it just might work!

@Mister Tim:

if possible i would really recommend taking an in-class korean class. i'm kinda the same, have no motivation at all to self-study korean but if a take a class it kinda forces you to study during the class periods.

to add to your post about Kanji, this book is supposed to be excellent:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sspUdoV9Il0&list=WL&index=33

Well, first of all, I'll start with what annoyed me about South Korea, which would be feeling useless. I don't need to explain to anyone here that we ESL teachers are essentially babysitters. That can be a real emotional drain on someone; it was on me. I really cared about teaching and often felt handcuffed by the South Korean education system.

That being said, things like public transportation are absolutely reasons why I miss South Korea. It's just so much better than where I live now. Things were cheaper as well. I miss my friends and some of my better students. I miss being able to work with kids and see them develop as English speakers, even if I wasn't always able to fully serve in my capacity as a teacher. I lived in South Korea for nearly a decade, so it certainly grew on me in many ways.

Oh, and I'll add to this previous statement, that being able to walk to 김밥천국 at 1 am when I need some food is a huge, but easily overlooked plus. I can't believe how many things close at 9 pm where I live now, don't deliver, or are too far to get to late at night.

It's gonna take more than Gimbap Heaven to convince me~

Well, first of all, I'll start with what annoyed me about South Korea, which would be feeling useless. I don't need to explain to anyone here that we ESL teachers are essentially babysitters. That can be a real emotional drain on someone; it was on me. I really cared about teaching and often felt handcuffed by the South Korean education system.

That being said, things like public transportation are absolutely reasons why I miss South Korea. It's just so much better than where I live now. Things were cheaper as well. I miss my friends and some of my better students. I miss being able to work with kids and see them develop as English speakers, even if I wasn't always able to fully serve in my capacity as a teacher. I lived in South Korea for nearly a decade, so it certainly grew on me in many ways.

Oh, and I'll add to this previous statement, that being able to walk to 김밥천국 at 1 am when I need some food is a huge, but easily overlooked plus. I can't believe how many things close at 9 pm where I live now, don't deliver, or are too far to get to late at night.

It's gonna take more than Gimbap Heaven to convince me~

Hey, to each his own. Living in South Korea was a huge part of my life. I can understand why some people don't like it, but it's easy to overlook a lot of the little positives over there.

@Mister Tim:

if possible i would really recommend taking an in-class korean class. i'm kinda the same, have no motivation at all to self-study korean but if a take a class it kinda forces you to study during the class periods.

I'd really like to, since I tend to thrive in language classroom environments. Unfortunately, the only class in my area that I know about is a 35 minute bus ride away on a Saturday morning. I have a desire to learn Korean, but so far my desire to not wake up early on Saturday to take a crowded bus to school seems to be winning. 

I might see what I can find by way of a tutor, though.

Well, first of all, I'll start with what annoyed me about South Korea, which would be feeling useless. I don't need to explain to anyone here that we ESL teachers are essentially babysitters. That can be a real emotional drain on someone; it was on me. I really cared about teaching and often felt handcuffed by the South Korean education system.

That being said, things like public transportation are absolutely reasons why I miss South Korea. It's just so much better than where I live now. Things were cheaper as well. I miss my friends and some of my better students. I miss being able to work with kids and see them develop as English speakers, even if I wasn't always able to fully serve in my capacity as a teacher. I lived in South Korea for nearly a decade, so it certainly grew on me in many ways.

Oh, and I'll add to this previous statement, that being able to walk to 김밥천국 at 1 am when I need some food is a huge, but easily overlooked plus. I can't believe how many things close at 9 pm where I live now, don't deliver, or are too far to get to late at night.

It's gonna take more than Gimbap Heaven to convince me~

I've been looking forward to going back home at the end of the school year but now you're reminding me of all the things I'm gonna miss haha

Still, not sure staying here is worth the loneliness and lack of job satisfaction.

EDIT: again a multitude of reasons could be causing your lack of interest in improvement.  It's really a complex psychological process and just to name a few factors: isolation, depression, alienation, etc... if you struggle with any of these then productivity really decreases.

That's pretty on-the-nose, I think. The problem there is that most of the solutions I can come up with to those problems would be made easier were I more fluent in the language. I'd be less lonely if I could meet more people, I could meet more people if I could speak Korean, I could learn more Korean if I weren't so lonely, etc etc. That sort of thing. It's frustrating. 

Well Tim, I hope you find waygook to be a good start for taking care of the loneliness part.  I struggle with it as well.  Community building is just that much more of a chore in this kind of setting and it's expected.

I'd really like to, since I tend to thrive in language classroom environments. Unfortunately, the only class in my area that I know about is a 35 minute bus ride away on a Saturday morning. I have a desire to learn Korean, but so far my desire to not wake up early on Saturday to take a crowded bus to school seems to be winning. 

I might see what I can find by way of a tutor, though.

iTalki is a pretty good place for getting a language tutor. I felt like I was making pretty good progress between self study and my online lessons that I had twice a week. I would have kept it up, but I really don't use Korean enough out in the wild to justify the expense.

@Mister Tim:

if possible i would really recommend taking an in-class korean class. i'm kinda the same, have no motivation at all to self-study korean but if a take a class it kinda forces you to study during the class periods.

I'd really like to, since I tend to thrive in language classroom environments. Unfortunately, the only class in my area that I know about is a 35 minute bus ride away on a Saturday morning. I have a desire to learn Korean, but so far my desire to not wake up early on Saturday to take a crowded bus to school seems to be winning. 

I might see what I can find by way of a tutor, though.

100% recommend finding a tutor. I pay 20,000 per hour for one and it's helped me so much. Its nice to have someone to practice with and she keeps me on track so I actually study.

I am so sad, lonely, and depressed in this country.

I know the job is easy. I know I shouldn't be complaining.

But every single day is a struggle and I still have 161 left on my countdown app.

(more of a whine/moan than a rant/vent, but whatever)

I sympathize with your misery. It's sad that you're unhappy. I wish you were happy.

But - anyone who says this job is 'easy' probably either a) doesn't care about their job very much, or b) is really bad and lazy at their job.

I don't think either of those apply to you. But, yeah. People who go on about how easy teaching English in Korea is are generally bad teachers.

I'm pretty unhappy here myself. I negotiated a location that is close to my friends in the interview, but when I got here, put me in the opposite side of the country to where we negotiated. :\ Now because of the distance, I can't meet my friends as conveniently as I'd like, and I'm finding it very difficult to make new friends here.

As for your comment about easy being a sign of a bad teacher. I agree a bit. I find this job easy, but also incredibly frustrating at times. I think I'm a bad teacher, but I am trying very hard to improve. Bad as in, I still haven't found my lessons to be effective. Even my co-teachers note they can tell I am trying hard to improve though!
However, after 5 months here, they are still not telling me where I need to improve, even though they have the English level to do so, even when asked directly. :( As I get told "some parts are good, other parts need to be changed."

I get the same thing Kayos. They'll tell me I need to make changes but refuse to tell me what to change... and then get mad when I don't change it "good enough" or just don't make changes at all because I don't know what to do. Most of my improvement has come from talking to my epik-appointed mentor and just copying what another really successful teacher at my school does.

It sucks doesn't it. I had a 90 minute meeting with my 2 co-teachers, that speak enough English to help me, and after 90 minutes I got nothing useful out of it, while they got some creative ideas from me, that they might be able to use for their lessons. :\ (the focus of the meeting was meant to help me improve my lessons).

One of the newer teachers here is a real teacher, so I'm planning on asking for advice (we work in the same school on a Tuesday and share an office space). I wish I had a mentor I could ask haha. Also, one of the teachers is friends with the teacher I replaced, and I've been given contact info. I also got told that their lessons were a lot better than mine so, I figured if I can find out what they have done different, I'll be able to try and replicate them so they will be better.

I've been asking other teachers here for what they do (not lessons, but ideas for lessons), most work from the book though, which isn't helpful to me, as I'm not allowed to do the book. The 1 teacher here who doesn't gave me a quick run down of what he does. I've tried to mirror it, and I'm not sure if I would call it a success or not. I went from like 5% of the students doing work, to about 90% - they really enjoy it, but I think confusion has gone up a lot too (as I'm not sure they are understanding what they have been writing - there are a few that are).

My 3rd graders have discovered the F-bomb and the middle finger. Awesome lesson 

I'm pretty unhappy here myself. I negotiated a location that is close to my friends in the interview, but when I got here, put me in the opposite side of the country to where we negotiated. :\ Now because of the distance, I can't meet my friends as conveniently as I'd like, and I'm finding it very difficult to make new friends here.

As for your comment about easy being a sign of a bad teacher. I agree a bit. I find this job easy, but also incredibly frustrating at times. I think I'm a bad teacher, but I am trying very hard to improve. Bad as in, I still haven't found my lessons to be effective. Even my co-teachers note they can tell I am trying hard to improve though!
However, after 5 months here, they are still not telling me where I need to improve, even though they have the English level to do so, even when asked directly. :( As I get told "some parts are good, other parts need to be changed."

I get the same thing Kayos. They'll tell me I need to make changes but refuse to tell me what to change... and then get mad when I don't change it "good enough" or just don't make changes at all because I don't know what to do. Most of my improvement has come from talking to my epik-appointed mentor and just copying what another really successful teacher at my school does.

It sucks doesn't it. I had a 90 minute meeting with my 2 co-teachers, that speak enough English to help me, and after 90 minutes I got nothing useful out of it, while they got some creative ideas from me, that they might be able to use for their lessons. :\ (the focus of the meeting was meant to help me improve my lessons).

One of the newer teachers here is a real teacher, so I'm planning on asking for advice (we work in the same school on a Tuesday and share an office space). I wish I had a mentor I could ask haha. Also, one of the teachers is friends with the teacher I replaced, and I've been given contact info. I also got told that their lessons were a lot better than mine so, I figured if I can find out what they have done different, I'll be able to try and replicate them so they will be better.

I've been asking other teachers here for what they do (not lessons, but ideas for lessons), most work from the book though, which isn't helpful to me, as I'm not allowed to do the book. The 1 teacher here who doesn't gave me a quick run down of what he does. I've tried to mirror it, and I'm not sure if I would call it a success or not. I went from like 5% of the students doing work, to about 90% - they really enjoy it, but I think confusion has gone up a lot too (as I'm not sure they are understanding what they have been writing - there are a few that are).

Ah, yeah, that definitely makes it harder - not being able to use the book. I use the book for 2/3 lessons. Coming up with creative ideas can really be a pain. I've had a few lessons which were really successful though. What level do you teach?

I hate it when one thinks of a totally awesome, witty, cutting, sarcastic comment to post on a thread, but when one gleefully goes to hit the 'reply' button, one finds that it has disappeared.

MODS! YOU CAN'T LOCK A THREAD UNTIL I GET MY 2 CENTS IN DANGNAMIT!!!   

Well, first of all, I'll start with what annoyed me about South Korea, which would be feeling useless. I don't need to explain to anyone here that we ESL teachers are essentially babysitters. That can be a real emotional drain on someone; it was on me. I really cared about teaching and often felt handcuffed by the South Korean education system.

That being said, things like public transportation are absolutely reasons why I miss South Korea. It's just so much better than where I live now. Things were cheaper as well. I miss my friends and some of my better students. I miss being able to work with kids and see them develop as English speakers, even if I wasn't always able to fully serve in my capacity as a teacher. I lived in South Korea for nearly a decade, so it certainly grew on me in many ways.

Oh, and I'll add to this previous statement, that being able to walk to 김밥천국 at 1 am when I need some food is a huge, but easily overlooked plus. I can't believe how many things close at 9 pm where I live now, don't deliver, or are too far to get to late at night.

It's gonna take more than Gimbap Heaven to convince me~

Hey, to each his own. Living in South Korea was a huge part of my life. I can understand why some people don't like it, but it's easy to overlook a lot of the little positives over there.

Things I dislike about Korea as a single female:  endless attention of ajjossis, feeling vulnerable if I dress a certain way.  In my rural area I'm the only western looking person and it attracts more attention that I am comfortable with.   There are a  lot of male immigrant workers and that makes it even worse.  I never stay out after dark anymore.  Say what you will.

Staring and standing out in general.  This is the hardest thing that is ongoing.  It's turned me very inward and hyper alert of my surroundings all the time.  It' s something that I really struggle with because I'm just very introverted and self conscious and don't want to stand out.

English and foreignness is still very much a strange thing here, and the paradox of Korean industrialization, (technology, the epic Incheon airport, public services, transportation, fashion, pop culture) and economic power in contrast to its conservative and uneducated society is frustrating.  I think it's similar in rural America as well.  But just there's being here in Korea, and it's a unique thing.

Korean education system: tiring, tired of baby sitting, suffocating, rigid, too much hierarchy.

Things I like about Korea and appreciate: Quickness of getting things done (though it's at the expense of quality), but they get done to some fashion.  Transit, banking, cheaper healthcare for common things and easy to have health insurance.  Nice people in general when you get to know them.  Strong work ethic or sense of responsibility (excluding drinking culture and driving, older generation things, public hygiene).  Easy to not be lazy by walking a lot, healthier and cheaper local food (but more fast food and junk food is appearing here).  The list goes on..

I know some people would prefer if their coTs talked to them, but with one I would be happier if she would stop asking me questions. The way she does it just seems nosy. Today at lunch she said the secretary wanted to know what my favorite American food was, to which I replied, "I don't have just one." She told me to just pick one and started saying typical ones, like "pizza? hamburger? etc." I repeated myself.

Then she asked me, "Do you like vegetables? Or meat?"   
"I like both."
"What?"
"I like both."
"Hmm, yes, that's good."

 

Dear Korean Drivers,

If you're planning on making a left or right turn in the near future, get in the respective lane. There's a reason there is a giant line of cars in that lane, and no matter how special you think you are, your time is worth no more or less than those who are patiently waiting in that lane. If I see you driving up in the other lane and then suddenly deciding you want to get in it, I'm not letting you in front of me. I only wish that more people would do the same. Didn't anyone teach you that butting in line is childish and rude regardless of your culture?