seriousy, ffs.... STAND UP FOR YOUR ****** SELF! Listen to those around you. They are stealing from you, also THEY HAVE TO PROVIDE YOU WITH A MONTHLY STATEMENT if you ask for it, not some bullshit paper. I don't know whats worse, people that are willing to be walked over, or actual problems at work due to Korean staff. No wonder I have only been asked to resign at 1 of my previous schools, because they want a pushover NET that they can take advantage off. Your bank is a business trip, not unpaid leave. You want to complain about stuff fine. Rant about stuff fine, WHEN YOU ACTUALLY TRY AND DO SOMETHING about it, and it still is a struggle. For the most part, Koreans are the shadiest people ever, they will stab family in the back for money, you NEED to put your foot down. If you don't know something, don't just roll over, ask people that have experienced it, call the coordinator.
Quote from: WheresMyCoffee on December 14, 2016, 02:56:04 pmQuote from: DiamondCobra on December 14, 2016, 02:32:24 pmQuote from: moonbrie on December 14, 2016, 01:29:28 pmthat being said, not to sound like Pecan, but if you had hoped to go, you should've nagged whoever was appropriate about whether or not you were going for at least a month. There's no way they'd just randomly invite the foreign teacher on an expensive trip like that unless you were really in their faces about it (and maybe not even then, but at least you would've known you weren't going sooner)Oh I don't blame the school in any way. Not for this one at least. I would have nagged for a month if I had known the date of the trip before the monthly calender was updated to December. I have a calender of school events but only the ones that pertain to me, which ski camp clearly doesn't.This rant was more just general annoyance at myself for hoping when I should know that I am never going to be invited to events ever by now and my coteacher's attitude about it. Her English isn't perfect but it's good enough to realise that that is not a cool way to respond to that situation. She just doesn't care. And WheresMyCoffee I know I need to do that but I have tried before and just got a print out of what I was paid, nothing about deductions or what wage was for what. Just you got paid x amount in 6 months. Unfortunately I have to go through my coteacher as none of the admin staff speak a word of English and she isn't the most willing to help. To clarify the kind of person she is, she counted the trip we took to the bank to set up my bank account, in my first week in the country, as unpaid leave for me... I needed that account to receive my wages, banks don't open on weekends, and I am away from home, in the sticks 8:00-5:30 every day. Apparently no other coteacher in my province has ever logged it as such.If I am paying that money it's almost worth it to not have to bother with dealing with it... :/seriousy, ffs.... STAND UP FOR YOUR ****** SELF! Listen to those around you. They are stealing from you, also THEY HAVE TO PROVIDE YOU WITH A MONTHLY STATEMENT if you ask for it, not some bullshit paper. I don't know whats worse, people that are willing to be walked over, or actual problems at work due to Korean staff. No wonder I have only been asked to resign at 1 of my previous schools, because they want a pushover NET that they can take advantage off. Your bank is a business trip, not unpaid leave. You want to complain about stuff fine. Rant about stuff fine, WHEN YOU ACTUALLY TRY AND DO SOMETHING about it, and it still is a struggle. For the most part, Koreans are the shadiest people ever, they will stab family in the back for money, you NEED to put your foot down. If you don't know something, don't just roll over, ask people that have experienced it, call the coordinator.I took this advice and stood up for myself and the last 4 months have been sheer hell while I have been ostracized, told I am useless, and continuously screamed at in Korean..... Oh! and then NOT RENEWED. Because I am the "difficult" foreigner. (They had no problem with the right out of college 20 year old they had before me, who had never had a job before, let alone taught before. So of course me being an older, experienced teacher just does not work for them.)I wish I had never stood up for myself. So it is a bit of a between a rock and a hard place situation. Remember that not every NET has coordinators and POEs to go to in times such as these. (also any Saffas reading this... POEs as in Provincial Office of Education (plural "s") there is no pun intended there at all.Sometimes standing up for yourself even if it is just a small thing, can completely destroy your life at a school, so I think every individual situation needs to be weighed up accordingly.
Quote from: DiamondCobra on December 14, 2016, 02:32:24 pmQuote from: moonbrie on December 14, 2016, 01:29:28 pmthat being said, not to sound like Pecan, but if you had hoped to go, you should've nagged whoever was appropriate about whether or not you were going for at least a month. There's no way they'd just randomly invite the foreign teacher on an expensive trip like that unless you were really in their faces about it (and maybe not even then, but at least you would've known you weren't going sooner)Oh I don't blame the school in any way. Not for this one at least. I would have nagged for a month if I had known the date of the trip before the monthly calender was updated to December. I have a calender of school events but only the ones that pertain to me, which ski camp clearly doesn't.This rant was more just general annoyance at myself for hoping when I should know that I am never going to be invited to events ever by now and my coteacher's attitude about it. Her English isn't perfect but it's good enough to realise that that is not a cool way to respond to that situation. She just doesn't care. And WheresMyCoffee I know I need to do that but I have tried before and just got a print out of what I was paid, nothing about deductions or what wage was for what. Just you got paid x amount in 6 months. Unfortunately I have to go through my coteacher as none of the admin staff speak a word of English and she isn't the most willing to help. To clarify the kind of person she is, she counted the trip we took to the bank to set up my bank account, in my first week in the country, as unpaid leave for me... I needed that account to receive my wages, banks don't open on weekends, and I am away from home, in the sticks 8:00-5:30 every day. Apparently no other coteacher in my province has ever logged it as such.If I am paying that money it's almost worth it to not have to bother with dealing with it... :/seriousy, ffs.... STAND UP FOR YOUR ****** SELF! Listen to those around you. They are stealing from you, also THEY HAVE TO PROVIDE YOU WITH A MONTHLY STATEMENT if you ask for it, not some bullshit paper. I don't know whats worse, people that are willing to be walked over, or actual problems at work due to Korean staff. No wonder I have only been asked to resign at 1 of my previous schools, because they want a pushover NET that they can take advantage off. Your bank is a business trip, not unpaid leave. You want to complain about stuff fine. Rant about stuff fine, WHEN YOU ACTUALLY TRY AND DO SOMETHING about it, and it still is a struggle. For the most part, Koreans are the shadiest people ever, they will stab family in the back for money, you NEED to put your foot down. If you don't know something, don't just roll over, ask people that have experienced it, call the coordinator.
Quote from: moonbrie on December 14, 2016, 01:29:28 pmthat being said, not to sound like Pecan, but if you had hoped to go, you should've nagged whoever was appropriate about whether or not you were going for at least a month. There's no way they'd just randomly invite the foreign teacher on an expensive trip like that unless you were really in their faces about it (and maybe not even then, but at least you would've known you weren't going sooner)Oh I don't blame the school in any way. Not for this one at least. I would have nagged for a month if I had known the date of the trip before the monthly calender was updated to December. I have a calender of school events but only the ones that pertain to me, which ski camp clearly doesn't.This rant was more just general annoyance at myself for hoping when I should know that I am never going to be invited to events ever by now and my coteacher's attitude about it. Her English isn't perfect but it's good enough to realise that that is not a cool way to respond to that situation. She just doesn't care. And WheresMyCoffee I know I need to do that but I have tried before and just got a print out of what I was paid, nothing about deductions or what wage was for what. Just you got paid x amount in 6 months. Unfortunately I have to go through my coteacher as none of the admin staff speak a word of English and she isn't the most willing to help. To clarify the kind of person she is, she counted the trip we took to the bank to set up my bank account, in my first week in the country, as unpaid leave for me... I needed that account to receive my wages, banks don't open on weekends, and I am away from home, in the sticks 8:00-5:30 every day. Apparently no other coteacher in my province has ever logged it as such.If I am paying that money it's almost worth it to not have to bother with dealing with it... :/
that being said, not to sound like Pecan, but if you had hoped to go, you should've nagged whoever was appropriate about whether or not you were going for at least a month. There's no way they'd just randomly invite the foreign teacher on an expensive trip like that unless you were really in their faces about it (and maybe not even then, but at least you would've known you weren't going sooner)
Quote from: WheresMyCoffee on December 14, 2016, 02:56:04 pmseriousy, ffs.... STAND UP FOR YOUR ****** SELF! Listen to those around you. They are stealing from you, also THEY HAVE TO PROVIDE YOU WITH A MONTHLY STATEMENT if you ask for it, not some bullshit paper. I don't know whats worse, people that are willing to be walked over, or actual problems at work due to Korean staff. No wonder I have only been asked to resign at 1 of my previous schools, because they want a pushover NET that they can take advantage off. Your bank is a business trip, not unpaid leave. You want to complain about stuff fine. Rant about stuff fine, WHEN YOU ACTUALLY TRY AND DO SOMETHING about it, and it still is a struggle. For the most part, Koreans are the shadiest people ever, they will stab family in the back for money, you NEED to put your foot down. If you don't know something, don't just roll over, ask people that have experienced it, call the coordinator.Believe me, I did stand up for myself with the early leave shit. What she did is perfectly legal. Bank trips are not covered in the contracts as business trips so she did nothing wrong. Me and my coordinator have been working for months to get this sorted and it isn't possible to change that one. However, he mentioned something about future contracts being changed so that that initial bank trip is considered a business trip for future EPIK hires.I have also resulted in her every early leave being strictly monitered because if she is going to be so strict with me, then she also deserves the same scrutiny.Just because I didn't say I was dealing with it, doesn't mean I'm 'letting them walk all over me'. However, because of all this, my relationship with my coteacher is struggling a little and I do actually want to renew for next year. Pushing other issues at this point is not worth risking my future job prospects. This is a ranting thread, I was ranting. I'm not going to detail every little thing that I have done to stand up for myself and prove that I am actually a human being, not some push-over English robot. That isn't the point of this thread.I was merely expressing my disappointment that my students and coworkers get to do something fun and I do not.
wheresmycoffee is like a meaner Pecan who doesn't bring the quality banter0/10EDIT: I know Pecan is thick-skinned but I don't want him to think I'm ragging on him. Pecan, I was saying he's like you except minus your good points.
I was in a great mood this morning. It's almost the weekend. I've got all my planning done. Got a good night's sleep.Then the first thing I get told at school this morning is that I have to "change" my vacation lesson plan. Too similar to last year. It's different effing students! It went over well last time!! I already made a lot of changes to things that didn't work so well, but kept the overall layout. I imagine those were lost in translation.I swear, every single time I hand in a vacation lesson plan, they come back to me a week later and demand I change it. Last year it was formatting (mine was actually better than the crap hwp spreadsheet they wanted) this year it's content. I'm pretty sure it's expected of them to poo-poo my first attempt just to keep me busy. Well, from now on I'll just hand in crap early drafts first and hold back on the real content until they demand more.
Quote from: yirj17 on December 14, 2016, 01:08:48 pm@Chingetti thanks for the help-- turns out English language options were just totally absent though, otherwise it would have worked. Secretary made some calls and now the computer is in English but now there's no Korean keyboard option... Lol. On my previous computer it was only somewhat in English but enough for me to do whatever I wanted to do, now it's entirely in English and I'm gonna have to find Korean again before the next time I need to use NEIS. Ha. Ha. Ha. And I'm not hooked up to the color printer anymore. But that's not a pressing concern so that can wait. All this reminds me of the old lady who ate a fly and the subsequent solutions that caused more problems haha*Edit: Can't even find NEIS now. And the microsoft word & ppt programs are still all in Korean. And here I dared hope that if everything else was in English... *Edit: Actually, maybe this is just fine. Since my old computer got moved to the English lab I can just do my NEIS business in there when I have to and leave this computer alone for now.Not sure if you solved the keyboard biz (I didn't want to sift through the two pages of people having a melty). But if you got upgraded to Win10 this'll help you. http://10wontips.blogspot.kr/2015/09/typing-in-korean-on-windows-10.htmlAlso, on Win10 changing the language of office is a pain / you'll need your computer person to do it. But it is totally possible. Just bring your computer maintenance person some snacks and ask real nicely. I'm pretty sure all [read: most] have a license to use MS programs and the English version will be included in that. Just need to be persistent but not pushy.
@Chingetti thanks for the help-- turns out English language options were just totally absent though, otherwise it would have worked. Secretary made some calls and now the computer is in English but now there's no Korean keyboard option... Lol. On my previous computer it was only somewhat in English but enough for me to do whatever I wanted to do, now it's entirely in English and I'm gonna have to find Korean again before the next time I need to use NEIS. Ha. Ha. Ha. And I'm not hooked up to the color printer anymore. But that's not a pressing concern so that can wait. All this reminds me of the old lady who ate a fly and the subsequent solutions that caused more problems haha*Edit: Can't even find NEIS now. And the microsoft word & ppt programs are still all in Korean. And here I dared hope that if everything else was in English... *Edit: Actually, maybe this is just fine. Since my old computer got moved to the English lab I can just do my NEIS business in there when I have to and leave this computer alone for now.
Quote from: #basedcowboyshirt on December 15, 2016, 07:52:33 amQuote from: yirj17 on December 14, 2016, 01:08:48 pm@Chingetti thanks for the help-- turns out English language options were just totally absent though, otherwise it would have worked. Secretary made some calls and now the computer is in English but now there's no Korean keyboard option... Lol. On my previous computer it was only somewhat in English but enough for me to do whatever I wanted to do, now it's entirely in English and I'm gonna have to find Korean again before the next time I need to use NEIS. Ha. Ha. Ha. And I'm not hooked up to the color printer anymore. But that's not a pressing concern so that can wait. All this reminds me of the old lady who ate a fly and the subsequent solutions that caused more problems haha*Edit: Can't even find NEIS now. And the microsoft word & ppt programs are still all in Korean. And here I dared hope that if everything else was in English... *Edit: Actually, maybe this is just fine. Since my old computer got moved to the English lab I can just do my NEIS business in there when I have to and leave this computer alone for now.Not sure if you solved the keyboard biz (I didn't want to sift through the two pages of people having a melty). But if you got upgraded to Win10 this'll help you. http://10wontips.blogspot.kr/2015/09/typing-in-korean-on-windows-10.htmlAlso, on Win10 changing the language of office is a pain / you'll need your computer person to do it. But it is totally possible. Just bring your computer maintenance person some snacks and ask real nicely. I'm pretty sure all [read: most] have a license to use MS programs and the English version will be included in that. Just need to be persistent but not pushy.Hey thanks, turns out it's Windows 7 Enterprise (formerly with a "K" presumably for Korean?) though. When I searched for a language pack to download, I could only find one from an unofficial site which warned that installation might cause the computer to go black and show only the mouse I'm not desperate enough to risk that quite yet. Last year when I first started working here, I asked about changing the MS programs to English and was told it was "impossible." Something about futzing with NEIS, I think. Though I imagine this computer otherwise being all in English might futz with that? Idk
Quote from: yirj17 on December 15, 2016, 08:26:42 amOld computer was MS 2010, now it's 2013. Feels weirdly newfangled.Okay, yeah. There's - to my knowledge - nothing you can do yourself, really. I've always been able to wrangle my computer and programs into English with the older versions, but I spent hours with 2013 and had to get professional help.Sorry :(
Old computer was MS 2010, now it's 2013. Feels weirdly newfangled.
I don't have much to complain about today, but I am in a mood. So bitchmoanbitchmoanb itchmoanwhiiiiiiiii iiiine.Vacation really can't come soon enough.
Shut the goddamned door!
All good suggestions by Pecan. When I taught in smaller schools or if I have camps with different groups, I always make name cards for the students. A little time spent doing this has so many benefits. Greeting also is a great way. I don't get this thing from foreign teachers that they don't like greeting Korean teachers multiple times in the corridor, thing is Koreans do it multiple times to each other too. I taught in the girls middle last year and that had 1000 students, but each class had a seat plan stuck to the teacher's desk, so you could easily name the students out of the 36 there. You generally know the noisy students first, then the quieter ones, then there are the ones who even in October when you do the speaking test, you are like 'I never saw this student before'. My bad!If you have your own English room and have control of your classes. Get a student list and you make the plan, and keep the copy with you while you teach. Most of the time there are no complaints from students. Also if you have problem classes, it is a psychological plus for you when students come to class and they don't get to choose their places. The more you get to know the students the more effective you can make the partners.
***sparkling***
