RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

lol, love your angry-face persona.

Life would be easier if we could walk around with emoticons over our heads to indicate what mood we're currently in.

Isn't that what faces are for?

In an augmented-reality future, that may not be so implausible.

This is under the assumption that people actually know how to read beyond the obvious. Or that they're not up against someone with resting-bitch-face.

What would the future be like if we could only convey emotions through exaggerated facial expressions and all of the more subtle nuances didn't exist? I'd imagine baring your teeth in a scowl would probably be the only acceptable way of conveying anger or annoyance.

Assuming that people are aware enough to read body language/Facial expressions. Even if it is obvious. I have one of those faces where you can quite literally see each thought process happening. My life is peppered with people who continually fail to see the obvious.  *has look of disgust on face*  some half aware excuse for a human will be "like totally awesome right?". That is what they to see so that is what they see. Self absorption at it's very best. It truly amazes me how dimwitted some people are. I hate having to explain the most obvious thing, in detail, to a half wit or self absorbed prat.

Assuming that people are aware enough to read body language/Facial expressions. Even if it is obvious. I have one of those faces where you can quite literally see each thought process happening. My life is peppered with people who continually fail to see the obvious.  *has look of disgust on face*  some half aware excuse for a human will be "like totally awesome right?". That is what they to see so that is what they see. Self absorption at it's very best. It truly amazes me how dimwitted some people are. I hate having to explain the most obvious thing, in detail, to a half wit or self absorbed prat.

Let's just say that the world would be a better place if it were more like SIMs.

Ugggggggghhhhhhhhh

Coming home last night from Ansan, after a great Indonesian meal, and some Ajeossi is looking at my phone. Like, piss off.

  Ah, English.

  Yup.

  Where you from?

  Canada.

  Ah! I go to U of T for ESL.

  Oh, that's cool. Really good school.

  What is favourite Korean food?

  순대국 or 돼지갈비.

  Ah, do you know kimchi? (I know this is a meme, but he actually asked me. MF, if I love sundaeguk and Dwayj ribs, you bet your ass I've 'heard of' kimchi, you nitwit)

  Do you know CN Tower? 

  Yes. Do you know Namsan Tower?

  Of course, I know. I am Korean. Why ask if I know that? (The irony is TOTALLY LOST ON THIS GUY)

  *sigh*

  I get off at Sanbon.

  *sigh* Me too.

  Ah, give me phone number. We go out for...... you know maekju? and Kimbab? (I told him I've been here 4 years, Christ, yes. FFS)

  Yeah, sounds great.

We get off at Sanbon and I tell him I have to use the washroom, in hopes that he'll say, "Oh, ok, Goodbye."

  Ok, I will wait here.

MF~~~~~~~~~~

I come out later.

  Urine? (pronounced like 유라인)

  Look, why would you ask me that? (patience is low)

  Oh, sorry. Just you take long time so I think maybe not 유라인.

DON'T TAKE THE SOUTH EXIT, DON'T TAKE THE SOUTH EXIT............... .

  *takes north exit*

  Ah, you're going that way? SEE YA.

You're a polite guy. In my case, the guy wouldn't have made it past the 2nd emoticon.

You're a polite guy. In my case, the guy wouldn't have made it past the 2nd emoticon.

Please understand my unique, polite Canadian situation.

We eat lunch with the science teachers often, and there's one who is very nice, but I can't always understand her. Today we're walking to lunch and she says

"How are you?"
Me:  "I'm fine, thanks."
Her: "Oh really!?"
Me: "Yes...should I be unhappy?"
Her: "No but I am tired."

Okay, fine. You're tired, so does that mean I have to lie about how I feel? I dunno. Anyways lunch ended (we all ate quickly and there wasn't much conversation) and we put our trays away. Then she says

"You look sad!"
It's so hard to contain my annoyance right now. Do I have to be grinning like a bloody Cheshire cat all the time!? Walking out of the lunchroom doesn't require a big smile!
Me: "Oh, I'm not sad. I'm happy."
Her: "You do not have a positive attitude so I think you are sad."

Well now I'm not sad, but I am a little irritated. I hate it when people here tell me how I look. "You look sad/tired/sick" gets old fast, and she does it all the time.

I don't know why though I didn't have a positive attitude. I'm almost always smiling (I'm a pretty cheerful person in general), and I had literally just told her that I was fine. Since her English level is low maybe something got lost in translation.

This is probably such a minor complaint, but I am very tired of it.

This is more of a whine than a rant but...here goes. I've been feeling really burnt out lately. I had some tough classes twice this week (normally I see each class once a week), but it's more my whole work situation that is getting to me.

Some background: I'm a first-year (second semester) teacher working at a public middle school in a pretty well-off section of a metropolitan city. I have about 550 students that are currently divided into 5 levels; 1st and 2nd grade are both split into two levels, and 3rd grade is not. I also have an after-school class. So, I teach 24 hours a week and make 5-6 lessons (of which the textbook parts that I cover take about 10 minutes of each lesson) every week. I am also in charge of grading writing tests, giving and grading speaking tests, and editing the midterm and final exams for all three grades.

The workload itself would be fine, except that my co-teacher situation has changed this semester and I now have three co-teachers that make more work for me rather than less. One rarely comes to class, another comes but does almost nothing to help even in the very low-level classes, and the third tries to help but her English level is low so it takes a lot of explanation, demonstration, and trial and error to get her to understand what I need from her. Then, during my free periods, they come and ask me about grammar questions, exam questions, and a million other things that eat up my free time so I'm taking work home several times a week. And all of this while they constantly tell me about how "busy" they are and how they need to skip out on "our" classes so they can finish something "important."

I don't really know what to do, because I really like my kids (most of the time), I generally like my school, and I want to do the job well so that they get the best lessons/English department support possible. But, lately I've been frustrated and exhausted so much that it's making it hard to do that. I'm not sure if it's a me problem, a school problem, or a first-year teaching problem, but I'm losing patience, focus and enthusiasm a lot faster than I used to or want to.

This day needs to end. I just had some random people walk into my classroom and spray everything with something.. with what you cry? I DO NOT KNOW! They just sprayed it over me and the classroom and left. I really just need the day to be over. Let NK drop the bombs I am probably dying of some kind of bug poisoning now anyway!

*Edit: they said it won't affect me, but I keep coughing. It's probably psychosomatic. But I am tired and therefore dramatic. I think I'm dying. Maybe those were NK spies and they are spraying the schools in preparation.. who knows. I really need a drink and a cigarette.

I am at a loss about what to do with my 5th grade class.  They are out of control and about half of them barely know the most basic English.  Plus, I think their homeroom teacher finds it amusing when I struggle to control them. (I realize that this is probably not the case, but I still want to vent about it). 
It's just a super frustrating situation caused by a sh*t-ton of factors and nothing I've tried so far has worked.

First of all, I'm at a small rural school. This year they decided to combine two grade 4 classes into one grade 5 class.  The problem is that one of the grade 4 classes had an amazing teacher who always did an incredible job teaching her English lesson.  Some of her students were still very low-level, but at least they were motivated.   The other grade 4 teacher never taught his weekly English lesson. Most of his students could barely answer the simplest questions.  Then their are 5 super advanced students who attend hagwon.  This year, all these students are in the same class.

If I slow things down to accomodate the low-level students (or try to give them extra attention), the more advanced ones get rowdy and create problems.  I can't give out extra/different worksheets to the advanced students because they view it as punishment or it singles them out.  Neither is a good result.  I also have 2 students in that class who refuse to do anything.  It's a good day if they open their textbook. 
I've tried packing my class full of fun games to engage them and adjusting the skill level to try and suit everyone. But that failed miserably. Either it's too easy for the advanced students or way to hard for the low-levels.  And it's always too hard for the low-level students.  Today we played a game where they had to write the English word for numbers.  They couldn't even do that.  How do you spell 5? They sure as h*ll didn't know.  Two years of English education and some could not even me what number 5 was. Did the last foreign teacher not teach them anything? 
I've swear that I have tried all the standard solutions (mixed-level groups, assigning roles, creating student-helper partners etc.,etc.,etc.).

It would be easier if I didn't have to follow the assinine textbook (the grass is always greener, amirite?).  If I could slow the lessons down and focus on what the students really need, then I think I could build up their English level.  Maybe. 

And then there's their homeroom teacher.  We will call him Mr. Statue, because all he does is sit at the back of the class, like a statue (obviously, I'm hella creative).  He doesn't do work or play on his phone.  He just sits there and watches.  Is it too much to ask that he helps me control the class from time to time?  I want to talk to him about it, but I'm worried I'll offend him.  Has anyone else had this issue with a HR teacher?  Have you talked to them about it? Did it work?

Sorry for the crazy, long rant.  I feel much better now. 

On the bright side, one of my students-who-does-nothing told me that he is going to, and I quote,   "write teacher name in Death Note book, so you die." This is the most English I've gotten out of him all semester, so I think I'm making progress.

they switched my first and sixth periods. They told me 3 minutes ago. Class starts now.

This was my prep time. I hate this school. I really don't want to be here.

Time to suck it up and look like shit through another terrible day...

Edit: walked into the classroom and nearly broke down. Panic attack. Awesome. I love useless coteachers

My school is doing an English storytelling competition in June and I'm trying to find stories.

"Short Stories for Low Intermediate Learners"

Sounds good, right?

Nope.

http://www.rong-chang.com/qa2/stories/story001.htm

These are not stories. They are f'in news articles.

My school is doing an English storytelling competition in June and I'm trying to find stories.

"Short Stories for Low Intermediate Learners"

Sounds good, right?

Nope.

http://www.rong-chang.com/qa2/stories/story001.htm

These are not stories. They are f'in news articles.

If you are still looking, this is the one I use. Super easy.

http://www.really-learn-english.com/english-short-stories.html

Relationship issues. Ugh. Is there something in the air?

Relationship issues. Ugh. Is there something in the air?

Hmm, maybe thats it. I seem to be having a few as well. Maybe it has to do with all the cherry blossoms falling...

Relationship issues. Ugh. Is there something in the air?

Mercury is retrograde.

Relationship issues. Ugh. Is there something in the air?

Hmm, maybe thats it. I seem to be having a few as well. Maybe it has to do with all the cherry blossoms falling...

Cherry Blossoms...isn't it that time of year where Cherry Blossom Ending gets airplay again in Korea?

I think I see what's going on. That song is just...ugh

Anyway, whatever is happening, it seems to have come all the way here in China because I've definitely had some problems lately ^^

Relationship issues. Ugh. Is there something in the air?

Just dust and heavy metals 

Relationship issues. Ugh. Is there something in the air?

Hmm, maybe thats it. I seem to be having a few as well. Maybe it has to do with all the cherry blossoms falling...

Cherry Blossoms...isn't it that time of year where Cherry Blossom Ending gets airplay again in Korea?

I think I see what's going on. That song is just...ugh

Anyway, whatever is happening, it seems to have come all the way here in China because I've definitely had some problems lately ^^

Is that a song? I should look it up, haha.

Is there something in the air?

Just dust and heavy metals 

Making matters worse, Seoul said there was not much that could be done about the problem, and claimed that about 80 per cent of the capital’s pollution was external in origin – mostly from China.

The South Korean government has laid the lion’s share of blame on Beijing for years, ignoring the fact that coal and liquified natural gas (LNG) consumption have both skyrocketed over the past decade, according to the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

From 2005 to 2014, South Korea’s gas-fired power plants increased their output from 58,000 to 111,700 gigawatt hours, while coal-fired powered plants also increased from 134,900 to 203,800 gigawatt hours.

The government has even blamed cooking habits and automobiles for the pollution, despite the fact that coal power plants have been proven to be the country’s biggest polluters. A government report, released in May 2016, even went as far as to say the leading cause of indoor air pollution was “frying mackerel”.

South Korea now has 53 coal power plants, the Financial Times reported last month. From 2005 to 2015, capacity rose from 17 to about 26 million kilowatts, then last year it spiked to 35 million kilowatts.

“The government is sitting idly by while passing the buck to China,” the Financial Times article quoted Kim Shin-do, a professor of environmental engineering at the University of Seoul, as saying.

http://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2087447/china-blame-koreas-pollution-really

Is there something in the air?

Just dust and heavy metals 

A government report, released in May 2016, even went as far as to say the leading cause of indoor air pollution was “frying mackerel”.

Well, that may not be so far off. Cooking is a huge cause of indoor pollution.

This weather is very gloomy and creates an atmosphere of impending doom.