RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

The soup at lunch today smelled like dirty sea water and wet dog.

I feel this. Today I thought a kindergartener pissed in the cafeteria, because the miso paste soup smelled so foul.

Hahaha I am so sorry. That is a hilarious visual and thank you for the laugh as I struggle to stay awake at my desk today. That sounds horrendous. No one else at lunch seems to notice it though...downing it, no problem. Meanwhile I'm holding my breath each time I go in to take a bite of rice. Today was better...

I just finished my ham and cheese sandwich:
Homecured ham
homebaked bread
homemade tomato relish

Learn cheesemaking is my next goal.

I just went down to visit 최참판댁 near Hadong and there's a small shop along the approaching road called 상남치즈 which sells a variety of hand-made goat cheeses. They are as good any I've had in or out of Korea, although aside from Imsil Cheese I can't say I know of any other domestic cheeses here. The guy was trained in Switzerland and couldn't have been nicer. Perhaps he offers courses (or apprenticeships).

http://sncheese.com/
https://sncheese.modoo.at/
Map: http://naver.me/FujvlPWI

Best goat cheese to be had in Korea is from Waeg Farm https://www.facebook.com/waegfarm/

Why is my CT always punching herself?

This reminds me of a coworker who lightly beats himself with a mallet. 

re: the kids with behavioral problems.

my experience in korea is that a lot of the time the answer to something is simply: laziness.

why can't you get adequate medical treatment? doctor's too lazy to do the work required for adequate treatment and diagnosis.

go to the bank and someone tells you something is 'impossible' when you know it isn't? person is too lazy to do the paperwork required to get you what you want.

kids acting up in class with behavioral issues? they could be helped/sorted out but it would require actual effort and work. far easier to just say 'they have ADHD' or 'they have a hard family life' and leave it alone.

my experience in korea is that a lot of the time the answer to something is simply: laziness.

Yep, the same reason for teaching in Korean all the time, though they will claim otherwise.

도 치 피 치 피  보 족

I'm a teacher in China(legally obligated to state that when posting on here  )

I was talking about working at the same school with one of my co-workers what she would think if I worked at the same school for a new contract and she said it would be nice since they seem to like me enough but I need to improve a lot as a teacher as well.

Which is fair enough. I don't think I ever claimed to be a good teacher and whenever a class didn't go well I would feel genuinely upset...I mean, up to a certain point. Honestly, it just kind of felt like the school stopped caring how well I did or how well my classes went based on how much help I was getting or how little people were saying. But, ya know, we live in a world where people don't like talking to each other directly, so I was honestly pretty appreciative of this kind of honest feedback.

Though, the one thing she said that made me pause for thought...no, actually, I just blatantly disagreed was the fact that "all of the students are eager to talk with you and learn English" which is just...like...huh? That kind of statement makes me think she's never worked with a student before...especially a middle school student...she pointed out one of her students as an example of someone who's eager to learn English...the good student, the one who was going to try to learn regardless.

I've dealt with high school students in the US and I'm dealing with middle school students in this country and a lot of kids really just don't give a shit at all. I remember in the middle school I went to in the US, we had a substitute teacher whose English ability was really low and he had a hard to communicating with the students. Also, it seemed like we were dealing with the fact that he was afraid of losing his job if he complained too much. Anyway, I'm basically that person here because the students are giving me the same respect that that substitute had at my middle school. Give the students no reason to care and not care they will.

I don't really want to complain too much about my students and my school because I know these are just challenges I need to overcome, but a statement like that is just so... -_-

도 치 피 치 피  보 족

요기요!! ㅋㅋ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3a-mmCCoeU

도 치 피 치 피  보 족

요기요!! ㅋㅋ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3a-mmCCoeU

I'm a teacher in China(legally obligated to state that when posting on here  )

I was talking about working at the same school with one of my co-workers what she would think if I worked at the same school for a new contract and she said it would be nice since they seem to like me enough but I need to improve a lot as a teacher as well.

Which is fair enough. I don't think I ever claimed to be a good teacher and whenever a class didn't go well I would feel genuinely upset...I mean, up to a certain point. Honestly, it just kind of felt like the school stopped caring how well I did or how well my classes went based on how much help I was getting or how little people were saying. But, ya know, we live in a world where people don't like talking to each other directly, so I was honestly pretty appreciative of this kind of honest feedback.

Though, the one thing she said that made me pause for thought...no, actually, I just blatantly disagreed was the fact that "all of the students are eager to talk with you and learn English" which is just...like...huh? That kind of statement makes me think she's never worked with a student before...especially a middle school student...she pointed out one of her students as an example of someone who's eager to learn English...the good student, the one who was going to try to learn regardless.

I've dealt with high school students in the US and I'm dealing with middle school students in this country and a lot of kids really just don't give a shit at all. I remember in the middle school I went to in the US, we had a substitute teacher whose English ability was really low and he had a hard to communicating with the students. Also, it seemed like we were dealing with the fact that he was afraid of losing his job if he complained too much. Anyway, I'm basically that person here because the students are giving me the same respect that that substitute had at my middle school. Give the students no reason to care and not care they will.

I don't really want to complain too much about my students and my school because I know these are just challenges I need to overcome, but a statement like that is just so... -_-

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you, I think. Based on my experience, students tend to take the NET's English class as seriously as the co-teacher you are with. Last year, I had 4 co-teachers, the elementary classes I had to teach (no book, was up to me what we would do) went the best, because the co-teacher gave a crap, and if the students showed me any less respect, than what they showed her, she got on their case real quick.
My co-teacher that spoke no English, would just nap / kakao / facebook game on her phone at the back of the class... the kids would be rowdy, loud, wouldn't calm down, she would calm them down if they disturbed her too much, but the peace would last for about 60 seconds. My other 2 co-teachers, to some degree care, so it's kind of a mixed bag about how well something goes with them.

Was told earlier in the week that I needed to complete a textbook activity with my grade 2s, which is a writing activity, and writing activities from the textbook take ****** forever to do in my classes because half of students require intense, step-by-step explanations, while the other half require constant supervision to ensure that they're actually doing the ****** work. The content normally doesn't have anything to do with what I'm supposed to go over and teach, too -- this is for the KTs.

But stuck with this activity I done got.

So... I did it. Went as well as I expected. Took forever, too, because the kids really dragged their feet today.

KT was surprised that the students didn't enjoy this ****** boring and incompatible activity.

adfjaldgjlad

At least she's relented and said that I can abandon that piece-of-shit activity and focus more on the activity I'd originally planned to go with MY lesson. But not before she had to see how worthless the textbook writing activities are for my classes as demonstrated by the worst ****** class in the entire grade.

I'm just done for today.

Was told earlier in the week that I needed to complete a textbook activity with my grade 2s, which is a writing activity, and writing activities from the textbook take ****** forever to do in my classes because half of students require intense, step-by-step explanations, while the other half require constant supervision to ensure that they're actually doing the ****** work. The content normally doesn't have anything to do with what I'm supposed to go over and teach, too -- this is for the KTs.

But stuck with this activity I done got.

So... I did it. Went as well as I expected. Took forever, too, because the kids really dragged their feet today.

KT was surprised that the students didn't enjoy this ****** boring and incompatible activity.

adfjaldgjlad

At least she's relented and said that I can abandon that piece-of-shit activity and focus more on the activity I'd originally planned to go with MY lesson. But not before she had to see how worthless the textbook writing activities are for my classes as demonstrated by the worst ****** class in the entire grade.

I'm just done for today.

I feel you.

Today a woman who is not my TA (i don't have a TA for this class), came in and told me in broken english 'teacher today you should focus ONLY on speaking and listening with the students' (bear in mind I have 50 students in a class)

Fine. Whatever. 5 minutes into my class the brass band sets up outside my classroom and proceeds to practice for the entire hour and a half.

LOGIC.

the carpenter that my partner's dad hired to work on the renovation of our apartment is a POS and seems to be unable to do more than 2 hours of work a week.

when I got back, everything was basically finished except some trim, putting a railing on the stairs, putting a door in front of one of the attic accesses, and getting our appliances in (that last bit wasn't his job though).

Week 1: trim is finished (? there are some windows that look like they still need it)
Week 2: appliances come in, two small miscellaneous pieces of wood are hammed in where they need to be
Week 3: door to the attic is "installed" (it is literally a sheet of plywood wit handles, doesn't even have hinges)

the apartment needs to be inspected in order for us to move in without risking any trouble for my partner's dad but THE STAIRS NEED THE RAILING to pass inspection. and this carpenter can't even seem to spare one solid 8-hour day FOR HIS EMPLOYER to get this apartment finished.

my partner's dad isn't much better, he's been telling me "within a few days" since I got here 3 weeks ago. I am so so so done with living in his house and my partner's mom is getting impatient and asking when we're going to move into the apartment and I'm here like ASK YOUR WORTHLESS HUSBAND

also I can't start my job because jerk boss can't sign a single piece of paper and scan it and my coteacher won't respond to any of my messages via kakao about getting my housing deposit back

My one school asked for lesson plans (full lesson plans) for the 80 minute, twice a week after school program that I do. I did all this. I have a file thicker than any of the other teachers. I also have at the bottom of each lesson plan, a space for notes, which I complete noting absent students and if they gave me a reason, as well as noting any changes in the lesson plan of challenges I faced etc. Today there is a note in the file for me to fill out the daily lesson journal. I ask what they want in the journal (because it is set out pretty much the same way as my already completed lesson plans) and they tell me to write the lesson plan. I show them the full, typed, printed lesson plans in the back of the file. All 38 of them. I get told that "yes, you must write what is on these plans into the daily lesson journal". I am sure it is a miscommunication. It better be a miscommunication.

Today there is a note in the file for me to fill out the daily lesson journal. I ask what they want in the journal (because it is set out pretty much the same way as my already completed lesson plans) and they tell me to write the lesson plan. I show them the full, typed, printed lesson plans in the back of the file. All 38 of them. I get told that "yes, you must write what is on these plans into the daily lesson journal". I am sure it is a miscommunication. It better be a miscommunication.

Just make copies of your LPs (after resizing them to 20%) and staple them to the pages of the journal. Job done!

Today there is a note in the file for me to fill out the daily lesson journal. I ask what they want in the journal (because it is set out pretty much the same way as my already completed lesson plans) and they tell me to write the lesson plan. I show them the full, typed, printed lesson plans in the back of the file. All 38 of them. I get told that "yes, you must write what is on these plans into the daily lesson journal". I am sure it is a miscommunication. It better be a miscommunication.

Just make copies of your LPs (after resizing them to 20%) and staple them to the pages of the journal. Job done!

I'd do the exact same thing.

Today there is a note in the file for me to fill out the daily lesson journal. I ask what they want in the journal (because it is set out pretty much the same way as my already completed lesson plans) and they tell me to write the lesson plan. I show them the full, typed, printed lesson plans in the back of the file. All 38 of them. I get told that "yes, you must write what is on these plans into the daily lesson journal". I am sure it is a miscommunication. It better be a miscommunication.

Just make copies of your LPs (after resizing them to 20%) and staple them to the pages of the journal. Job done!

I'd do the exact same thing.

Done! Thank you oh wise ones.

Dear Taxi Driver,

I did hear you honking your horn.  You might have noticed my right turn signal, and the woman crossing the side street.  I don't know what she might have done to get you angry, but your horn did little to convince me that I should run her over.  She didn't appear to be in a hurry, and neither was I.

Best,

-jnm

Dear Taxi Driver,

I did hear you honking your horn.  You might have noticed my right turn signal, and the woman crossing the side street.  I don't know what she might have done to get you angry, but your horn did little to convince me that I should run her over.  She didn't appear to be in a hurry, and neither was I.

Best,

-jnm

People honking at me when I'm stopped at a red light or waiting for a pedestrian to finish crossing the road makes me want to install a smoke screen function à la "Spy Hunter". 

According to my schedule for the day, I'm supposed to dig a trench and hope that I don't end up needing to carry my entrails back home with me by the time it's all over.

Bring it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFFgbc5Vcbw

Dear Taxi Driver,

I did hear you honking your horn.  You might have noticed my right turn signal, and the woman crossing the side street.  I don't know what she might have done to get you angry, but your horn did little to convince me that I should run her over.  She didn't appear to be in a hurry, and neither was I.

Best,

-jnm

I was in this exact scenario yesterday, but I was the woman crossing the street.