RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

http://www.korean.go.kr/front_eng/roman/roman_01.do

Cann evrywon reed this? You cant just spel things hau yu wont.

Not really a rant, more just bummed out about it. My travel middle coT goes on maternity leave starting in December and told me that I didn't need to come to classes for that whole month.

But... I like middle school.    & the end of the year is when I have time for fun/free classes.

Wow, thats actually really surprising. They aren't bringing in another replacement CoT?

My guess is that they're bringing in a replacement at the start of next semester. She said she'll prepare materials for all of December for them...

Oh, gotcha. Well that's a bummer that it's for the school you like!

This is the second time this year that my credit card has been copied and used.  In the winter, it was used while I was in Sweden.  They tried putting 500 won first for somewhere in Canada to see if it worked so my card company stopped it quick smart as that flagged up possible fraud.  This morning, I am invigilating my students and got a message about 200 dollars in Pizza Hut in Peoria, and then 5 dollars in Subway.  Then I didn't have enough left for another 200 dollars they tried to put through. F*cking wankers.  Will see what my card company come back with after they checked with the seller.  I'm sure the message service is there for that reason that if I get messages for things I'm not doing, and I call up directly, then surely I shouldn't be liable for the fraudulent use.  C*nts!

Thats an awful lot of pizza.

I don't have a credit card, thank god. but yeah I would think that a message service that lets you know about activity is exactly there so that you can phone and say "hey this isn't me" and then they would have to do something about it....

It's actually a smoother process to claim fraud on a credit card than on a debit card. I don't know how it is in Canada (or Korea, for that matter, but Korea makes everything difficult), but I've experienced both when I was in the states and although I prefer to avoid the situation in general, if I had to choose, I'd rather have fraudulent transactions on my credit card.



Edit: Also, I'm glad your situation worked out at school :D Hopefully things will be less stressful.

This is the second time this year that my credit card has been copied and used.  In the winter, it was used while I was in Sweden.  They tried putting 500 won first for somewhere in Canada to see if it worked so my card company stopped it quick smart as that flagged up possible fraud.  This morning, I am invigilating my students and got a message about 200 dollars in Pizza Hut in Peoria, and then 5 dollars in Subway.  Then I didn't have enough left for another 200 dollars they tried to put through. F*cking wankers.  Will see what my card company come back with after they checked with the seller.  I'm sure the message service is there for that reason that if I get messages for things I'm not doing, and I call up directly, then surely I shouldn't be liable for the fraudulent use.  C*nts!

Thats an awful lot of pizza.

I don't have a credit card, thank god. but yeah I would think that a message service that lets you know about activity is exactly there so that you can phone and say "hey this isn't me" and then they would have to do something about it....

It's actually a smoother process to claim fraud on a credit card than on a debit card. I don't know how it is in Canada (or Korea, for that matter, but Korea makes everything difficult), but I've experienced both when I was in the states and although I prefer to avoid the situation in general, if I had to choose, I'd rather have fraudulent transactions on my credit card.



Edit: Also, I'm glad your situation worked out at school :D Hopefully things will be less stressful.

I only have a debit card myself. However, I debilerately keep it low on funds, because if someone gets the info, they won't be able to buy much - like ~$11 from my account. (I usually leave it around that mark, as the bank I'm with has a $10 per year fee for the card).
If I need to use it, I transfer money to it, then use it right away.

The food nutritionist from my main school came over the road to my middle school. This lady always makes the little kids eat everything on their trays, and they have to eat everything they are served. They aren't allowed to not eat the things they don't like. So naturally she doesn't like me.

Over at this school we have a student who is quite badly mentally disturbed, and he is non-vocal. He was behind me. We both skip the kimchi (he always does), and she stops him and tries to make him put it on. I try to stop the nutritionist, but she hates me already, and won't have a bar of it. Kid grabs the whole kimchi tray and chucks it at her, totally covering her bottom half in the discussing school kimchi. Everyone is stopped, looking at her except the disturbed kid who just continues down the "food" (slop) line putting on what he wants to eat.

http://www.korean.go.kr/front_eng/roman/roman_01.do

Cann evrywon reed this? You cant just spel things hau yu wont.

This is so important.

In another thread someone spelled 회 as 'hweey.' This was the reason I posted this here.
Like, come on now. There's literally a fairly effective system for romanizing Korean. It's far from perfect, but it does work, and the more consistently it's used, the better it will be. That being said, there are a few words that entered English before this system was in effect, like 'kimchi' and 'taekwondo,' but they're already English loan-words with accepted conventional spelling.

Yeah, things like Mr. Park and kimchi I get because those are already damn entrenched in the lexicon, so to change them now would be silly. But everytime I see Yonsei, I cock my head a little. 욘세이! Nope, sorry brah.

It really drives me insane when a company will use two Us in one word Korean word in Romanised Korean to English and the Korean Hangeul will have one as 어 and the other as 으.

UUUGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHH (In Korean, 우 ㄱㄱㄱㄱㄱㄱㄱㄱㄱㄲㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎ)

I don't know how much more I can take of these super unmotivated classes. I don't know if it's been worse lately or if it's just been bothering me more. They don't like any of the non-book activities I do, but I can only do so much because I have to cover the book even though it's way over their heads.

I hate standardized education practices.

Also, there's even a provision in the guide you linked that says that family names can be spelled at the discretion of the family. So Mr. Park is 100% correct and acceptable.

I will, however, give a pass to things like Yonsei, though, because those were romanized as proper nouns way before this system was standardized. But yeah.

Stuff like 'topokki' drives me f'ing nuts.

I agree with Yonsei, too and established building names, sometimes it takes me a minute to figure out what the hell is going on.

AND YES< HOLY SHIT, I was talking about topokki last night with my gal, there's a place near the sijang near me, and the resto says topokki. I was saying that I could go into any pojang macha in the country and ask for a 토폮이 (although it would probably come out more like토포키 being spelled that way) and the person serving would have no idea what the hell I was saying, and then of course I'd saying slower and way louder, as if that would save me in this situ, hahaha.

English is way more forgiving for mistakes that are made. It's not my respansivility to do it.
Got it. Hey, let's get peetja. Cool, got it.

The difference between Ddeok and dak/(dalk? haha) is MILES APART. Rice cakes and chicken? You're having one hell of a different meal at that point. Which is why the romanisation is so important, Korean leaves little room for error.

"Hey, I ate dawk at Yawnsay day. It's so masheesah."

WTFFFFFFFFFF 

I don't know how much more I can take of these super unmotivated classes. I don't know if it's been worse lately or if it's just been bothering me more. They don't like any of the non-book activities I do, but I can only do so much because I have to cover the book even though it's way over their heads.

I hate standardized education practices.

Yeah, blatant sleeping and "oops don't have my book guess I don't have to do anything" is at an all-time high for me. Mostly among the 3rd graders, who just had an exam last week. Maybe that's why? It usually doesn't bother me but it makes it harder to follow the "let's just get through this" mantra.

Anybody have students who stare at them in a way that transcends the "you're a foreigner" gaze? I'm talking mouth open, blank expression, kind of like you just gave birth to a golden retriever? I can let a lot roll off my back but this look just unsettles me to my core.

I don't know how much more I can take of these super unmotivated classes. I don't know if it's been worse lately or if it's just been bothering me more. They don't like any of the non-book activities I do, but I can only do so much because I have to cover the book even though it's way over their heads.

I hate standardized education practices.

Yeah, blatant sleeping and "oops don't have my book guess I don't have to do anything" is at an all-time high for me. Mostly among the 3rd graders, who just had an exam last week. Maybe that's why? It usually doesn't bother me but it makes it harder to follow the "let's just get through this" mantra.

Yeah, I'm like what am I even doing in front of this classroom? Why am I making the effort to go into my happy, confident teacher persona when it doesn't make a difference with motivation? Like, I realized recently that I'm getting burned out and I'm pretty sure part of it is having to be "teacher" all the time: happy teacher, smily teacher, teacher who speaks loudly and clearly and asks really obvious CCQs...sigh. So for this class I'm like why do I put forth the emotional energy?

Also, there's even a provision in the guide you linked that says that family names can be spelled at the discretion of the family. So Mr. Park is 100% correct and acceptable.

I will, however, give a pass to things like Yonsei, though, because those were romanized as proper nouns way before this system was standardized. But yeah.

Stuff like 'topokki' drives me f'ing nuts.

I agree with Yonsei, too and established building names, sometimes it takes me a minute to figure out what the hell is going on.

AND YES< HOLY SHIT, I was talking about topokki last night with my gal, there's a place near the sijang near me, and the resto says topokki. I was saying that I could go into any pojang macha in the country and ask for a 토폮이 (although it would probably come out more like토포키 being spelled that way) and the person serving would have no idea what the hell I was saying, and then of course I'd saying slower and way louder, as if that would save me in this situ, hahaha.

English is way more forgiving for mistakes that are made. It's not my respansivility to do it.
Got it. Hey, let's get peetja. Cool, got it.

The difference between Ddeok and dak/(dalk? haha) is MILES APART. Rice cakes and chicken? You're having one hell of a different meal at that point. Which is why the romanisation is so important, Korean leaves little room for error.

"Hey, I ate dawk at Yawnsay day. It's so masheesah."

WTFFFFFFFFFF 

Oh, and while I'm at it - it drives me completely crazy when people feel the need to, instead of romanizing (correctly) a Korean food, they instead translate it into something completely unrecognizable. Example. 떡. Don't call it 'rice cake.' Rice cakes are literally already a thing in western countries. Call it by its name. "But a foreigner won't understand what it is. Rice cake is better!" No. Literally in English we have thousands upon thousands of loan words for food. You tell someone the name of a food. If they don't know what that food is, then you tell them what's in it.

Like, a hamburger isn't 고기빵. That would be stupid. Koreans don't translate foreign food names (usually), they just transliterate them to Korean. They should do the same when taking Korean food names and romanizing them. For the most part. It won't apply to everything. But like, 'Gyejang' sounds a million times more interesting than 'raw crabs marinated in soy sauce.' Don't replace a food's name with a description of that food. UGH.

"What's that?"

"It's Korean traditional candy."

"Yeah, but what kind."

"You can say it's Korean traditional candy."

You only have one kind of candy?!

Anybody have students who stare at them in a way that transcends the "you're a foreigner" gaze? I'm talking mouth open, blank expression, kind of like you just gave birth to a golden retriever? I can let a lot roll off my back but this look just unsettles me to my core.

I have 2 - one in middle school, and 1 in elementary, both are girls. The middle school girl tries hard in my classes though, the elementary girl, not so much. haha.
I have no idea how to handle it >.< If it is during the part of the class, where I'm setting up, waiting for them to take their seats, etc. I'll just start waving at them, they usually laugh and then look away briefly haha.

Like, a hamburger isn't 고기빵. That would be stupid. Koreans don't translate foreign food names (usually), they just transliterate them to Korean. They should do the same when taking Korean food names and romanizing them. For the most part. It won't apply to everything. But like, 'Gyejang' sounds a million times more interesting than 'raw crabs marinated in soy sauce.' Don't replace a food's name with a description of that food. UGH.

The flipside to this is having a menu for tourists (and, yes, I've seen this) that says 모듬회 and then in English "Modeum Hoe" with no pictures or explanations of what this is, ahhaahhaa

"Honey, wanna try the internet prostitute? No? Better get it to go.............."

I suppose the middle ground would be to have the hangeul, the romanised Korean word and then a description of what it is in English, plain simple English "A variety of cuts of raw fish and seafood." 

Update. The English teacher of the Public School linked with my Ed Center has moved me out of the "office of war". She has given new guidelines as to how work needs to be split, especially considering the unique teaching situation I am in. Yes, you read that correctly. She understands my unique situation.

Anyway, I am extremely grateful to the teacher who intervened, and hopefully the new setup will create a less tension filled environment. Also, considering that my CT told me I was the worst foreigner she had ever met, I really appreciated the other English teacher who said the complete opposite.

It is quite satisfying hearing the printer in my CT's office working to the max, as well as drawers and doors being slammed. Yep, yep. Work work work. Feel the burn.

It's been quite a ride... and it is only Wednesday.

Brilliant news!

I felt for you and am so glad you managed to find one of the many awesome (and more free/open minded)  teachers out there to help. So now you have experienced both ends of the spectrum! Live and learn eh! :)

Anybody have students who stare at them in a way that transcends the "you're a foreigner" gaze? I'm talking mouth open, blank expression, kind of like you just gave birth to a golden retriever? I can let a lot roll off my back but this look just unsettles me to my core.

This is making me think of those cringe-worthy moments when the students are either particularly unresponsive or unruly and then you have those two or three students, usually girls, who try even harder to be on their best behavior to make up for everyone else and you can tell they kind of feel sorry for you and you're simultaneously mortified and mentally panicking. This happens to me at least twice a semester. There are bad days and then there are those kinds of days. Does this happen to anyone else? Where the good students feel bad for you on the days when you lose control?

Anybody have students who stare at them in a way that transcends the "you're a foreigner" gaze? I'm talking mouth open, blank expression, kind of like you just gave birth to a golden retriever? I can let a lot roll off my back but this look just unsettles me to my core.

This is making me think of those cringe-worthy moments when the students are either particularly unresponsive or unruly and then you have those two or three students, usually girls, who try even harder to be on their best behavior to make up for everyone else and you can tell they kind of feel sorry for you and you're simultaneously mortified and mentally panicking. This happens to me at least twice a semester. There are bad days and then there are those kinds of days. Does this happen to anyone else? Where the good students feel bad for you on the days when you lose control?

I teach one class where all of the teachers in the school have totally given up on them because the boys in this class are so darn terrible. There are a couple girls in that class that will just come up and talk to me about how much they hate being in that class because they can't learn anything and one girl has also told me that she feels bad for me having to put up with it.

Anybody have students who stare at them in a way that transcends the "you're a foreigner" gaze? I'm talking mouth open, blank expression, kind of like you just gave birth to a golden retriever? I can let a lot roll off my back but this look just unsettles me to my core.

This is making me think of those cringe-worthy moments when the students are either particularly unresponsive or unruly and then you have those two or three students, usually girls, who try even harder to be on their best behavior to make up for everyone else and you can tell they kind of feel sorry for you and you're simultaneously mortified and mentally panicking. This happens to me at least twice a semester. There are bad days and then there are those kinds of days. Does this happen to anyone else? Where the good students feel bad for you on the days when you lose control?

Had one of 'those' days yesterday. My co-teacher couldn't make it to school (don't know why) and the home room teachers wouldn't stay in the class with me, so I was flying solo the entire day. My final class of the day, saw there was no co / homeroom teacher, so just went nuts. This one girl, tried really hard to help me get them to quiten down and listen, to do their work etc. She was like the only quiet student / only person doing work the entire lesson. She came to me and apologized for the class near the end too.

Next week, a bulk of the class is going to be in trouble with the coTeacher when she gets back. She freaks even me out when she gets mad too; She's small, cute, and quiet, but super scary when angry / mad haha. I'm hoping I can be out of the room when she gets mad at them, as I get pretty uncomfortable during those rare times that students get disciplined here.

Anybody have students who stare at them in a way that transcends the "you're a foreigner" gaze? I'm talking mouth open, blank expression, kind of like you just gave birth to a golden retriever? I can let a lot roll off my back but this look just unsettles me to my core.

This is making me think of those cringe-worthy moments when the students are either particularly unresponsive or unruly and then you have those two or three students, usually girls, who try even harder to be on their best behavior to make up for everyone else and you can tell they kind of feel sorry for you and you're simultaneously mortified and mentally panicking. This happens to me at least twice a semester. There are bad days and then there are those kinds of days. Does this happen to anyone else? Where the good students feel bad for you on the days when you lose control?

I teach one class where all of the teachers in the school have totally given up on them because the boys in this class are so darn terrible. There are a couple girls in that class that will just come up and talk to me about how much they hate being in that class because they can't learn anything and one girl has also told me that she feels bad for me having to put up with it.

I also have a class like this. I typically teach 100% of my classes while my CTs assist when asked or needed.

This class, my CT just takes over and pushes through the class as best she can. They won't listen to a word I say and they will only listen to her for the first couple seconds before they go off the rails again.

One time one boy picked up and through a chair at another. Wasn't able to punish them so I just gave up.

Anybody have students who stare at them in a way that transcends the "you're a foreigner" gaze? I'm talking mouth open, blank expression, kind of like you just gave birth to a golden retriever? I can let a lot roll off my back but this look just unsettles me to my core.

This is making me think of those cringe-worthy moments when the students are either particularly unresponsive or unruly and then you have those two or three students, usually girls, who try even harder to be on their best behavior to make up for everyone else and you can tell they kind of feel sorry for you and you're simultaneously mortified and mentally panicking. This happens to me at least twice a semester. There are bad days and then there are those kinds of days. Does this happen to anyone else? Where the good students feel bad for you on the days when you lose control?

I teach one class where all of the teachers in the school have totally given up on them because the boys in this class are so darn terrible. There are a couple girls in that class that will just come up and talk to me about how much they hate being in that class because they can't learn anything and one girl has also told me that she feels bad for me having to put up with it.

I also have a class like this. I typically teach 100% of my classes while my CTs assist when asked or needed.

This class, my CT just takes over and pushes through the class as best she can. They won't listen to a word I say and they will only listen to her for the first couple seconds before they go off the rails again.

One time one boy picked up and through a chair at another. Wasn't able to punish them so I just gave up.

Yeah, I had a mini fight break out in between two students in this class, and no CoT.  They took away all my CoTs this year.