RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

I'm not sure if this is common for everyone but it happens to me all the time and it's starting to get really annoying.

So if I'm sitting with a group of Korean English teachers, they will always talk to each other in Korean even though they know I don't know what I'm talking about. We are all able to speak English. I think it's really rude considering there is a common language between all of us, but they purposefully exclude me. How would they feel if the situation was reversed????

Hypothetically, if I spoke Korean and was talking to another native English speaker who also spoke Korean, and we were sitting with a Korean who didn't speak English, I would make an effort to include them and speak Korean to the other native teacher. To me it's just common courtesy! I wouldn't speak English to the other native teacher if we could both speak Korean just to be considerate of the other person with us!

Happens all the time. I never take it personally but I kind of prefer for them to exclude me. I also figure that it's more taxing for them to speak English since it's not their native language and they're probably concerned about making mistakes (the horror!) so they just play it safe. No biggie.

I'm not sure if this is common for everyone but it happens to me all the time and it's starting to get really annoying.

So if I'm sitting with a group of Korean English teachers, they will always talk to each other in Korean even though they know I don't know what I'm talking about. We are all able to speak English. I think it's really rude considering there is a common language between all of us, but they purposefully exclude me. How would they feel if the situation was reversed????

Hypothetically, if I spoke Korean and was talking to another native English speaker who also spoke Korean, and we were sitting with a Korean who didn't speak English, I would make an effort to include them and speak Korean to the other native teacher. To me it's just common courtesy! I wouldn't speak English to the other native teacher if we could both speak Korean just to be considerate of the other person with us!

Happens all the time. I never take it personally but I kind of prefer for them to exclude me. I also figure that it's more taxing for them to speak English since it's not their native language and they're probably concerned about making mistakes (the horror!) so they just play it safe. No biggie.

Yeah, it's best not to take it personally. If you think about it, it would be kind of strange for any foreigner in another country to demand people speak their native language when in their presence.

Not to be mean, but the onus is on you (or us) in this case to adjust to them and not the other way around.

Also, wrt to your example. As someone who is quite decent at Korean. I typically go out of my way to avoid speaking Korean when in a mixed company of foreigners and Koreans. My one buddy has a bad habit of bringing along one random Korean friend who then hinders the natural flow of an English conversation. It's an absolute PITA to feel responsible to keep some random included.

Yeah, it's best not to take it personally. If you think about it, it would be kind of strange for any foreigner in another country to demand people speak their native language when in their presence.

Not to be mean, but the onus is on you (or us) in this case to adjust to them and not the other way around.

Also, wrt to your example. As someone who is quite decent at Korean. I typically go out of my way to avoid speaking Korean when in a mixed company of foreigners and Koreans. My one buddy has a bad habit of bringing along one random Korean friend who then hinders the natural flow of an English conversation. It's an absolute PITA to feel responsible to keep some random included.

I meant if I was in Australia and the situation was reversed, and we all spoke the same language, I would speak that language to include the foreigner who has nobody there to support them. But I guess the rules of common decency must differ here

I'm not sure if this is common for everyone but it happens to me all the time and it's starting to get really annoying.

So if I'm sitting with a group of Korean English teachers, they will always talk to each other in Korean even though they know I don't know what I'm talking about. We are all able to speak English. I think it's really rude considering there is a common language between all of us, but they purposefully exclude me. How would they feel if the situation was reversed????

Hypothetically, if I spoke Korean and was talking to another native English speaker who also spoke Korean, and we were sitting with a Korean who didn't speak English, I would make an effort to include them and speak Korean to the other native teacher. To me it's just common courtesy! I wouldn't speak English to the other native teacher if we could both speak Korean just to be considerate of the other person with us!

One particular similar incident happened to me several years ago when the 3 English teachers at my then-public school decided to have a dinner 회식 with just the English teachers (so the 3 of them plus me), and they all basically ended up speaking in Korean 99% of the time during this entire dinner outing, despite that I was there (and all 3 of them had a high level of English). I was pretty bored the whole time but I actually didn't really care that much that I couldn't really participate in their conversations, that they didn't really bother to try to include me in their conversations, and that I couldn't fully understand everything they were saying, because I wasn't close to any of them, so I was pretty eager to just finish my contract, move on, and get away from them (this dinner happened shortly before summer vacation and my contract at that school ended basically right after summer vacation/once the fall semester started). So I just chalked it up to, "Okay, this is probably one of the last times I'll ever have to deal with them and spend time with them, so I'll just suck it up." So yeah, that was my attitude in that particular case. I just went through the motions of attending the dinner 회식 with them, without them ever really saying much to me and vice-versa, and that was basically it.

There is significant construction happening at my school. The dust and particles in the air have made me violently ill... I can't go ten minutes without almost coughing to death.

I still have to deskwarm.

If you're wondering what would happen, I had 4 English teachers at my school in the school office where I sit.

Normally I talk in "simplified English", but I don't when speaking to English speakers of course. Anyway the people in the office where getting angry at us, not because of volume, just because they couldn't understand enough to know what we where talking about. They knew we where talking about them.

It was amusing how they reacted, and all I can hope for is that none of them go outside of Korea!

Really though, just learn some basic Korean. You are in Korea after all.

DAMN! My one student that signed up for summer school class just showed up. Now I have to entertain him for three hours. WHYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?!??!

DAMN! My one student that signed up for summer school class just showed up. Now I have to entertain him for three hours. WHYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?!??!

  Is today the last day of the camp for that particular class at least? Or will you have to deal with him next week as well?

DAMN! My one student that signed up for summer school class just showed up. Now I have to entertain him for three hours. WHYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?!??!

Oh god I think I would cry. I had around 12 in mine and was still hoping no one would show up. Of course they all did. 

DAMN! My one student that signed up for summer school class just showed up. Now I have to entertain him for three hours. WHYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?!??!

the thought of this happening to me terrifies me. I have 4 kids signed up next week and if only one shows up I will genuinely tell him/her it's cancelled. I don't have a co teacher so I'm kind of calling the shots. I am not entertaining one kid for 80 minutes 5 days a week

I had one kid turn up for camp. We just played minecraft all day, and ate frozen Canadian chips from costco.

Second day the kids father brought us all sorts of snacks and stuff. It was great.

The receptionist and two random teachers who showed up to work today have spent literally the entire morning talking about me in Korean. They've included me in the conversation once.... to tell me I need to have my hair "repaired."

My hair isn't damaged. It's just unmanageable in this humidity. Ugh.

The cleaning lady has a giant industrial vacuum and has of course chosen the time I have camp to vacuum the window sills outside the classroom.

I had one kid turn up for camp. We just played minecraft all day, and ate frozen Canadian chips from costco.

Second day the kids father brought us all sorts of snacks and stuff. It was great.

Minecraft is great!

How else can you teach kids word combinations like "Oak Wood Planks" and "Cooked Mutton".

I had one kid turn up for camp. We just played minecraft all day, and ate frozen Canadian chips from costco.

Second day the kids father brought us all sorts of snacks and stuff. It was great.

Cavendish?

Minecraft is great!

How else can you teach kids word combinations like "Oak Wood Planks" and "Cooked Mutton".

There wasn't any teaching going on that week for sure hahaha. Kid needed a break anyway between her 4 hagwons, and "piano" and a bunch of other controlled activities.

So I survived week 1 of summer camp...but then there's next week. T____T 

So I survived week 1 of summer camp...but then there's next week. T____T 

That's how I feel right now... except my first week isn't over yet... I still have the afternoon class for two hours.

So I survived week 1 of summer camp...but then there's next week. T____T 

That's how I feel right now... except my first week isn't over yet... I still have the afternoon class for two hours.

me too 

Why do they even call it camp? It's not camp, no one is sleeping anywhere, and for the most part I'm sure the schools and parents don't really want the kids to have fun.

They really should just call them Summer school, or Winter school.