RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

The maintenance man swept away my neighborly spider's web.  I assume the spider got swept away as well 

Bummer. There's a huge orb weaver in a web right outside my apartment window, and he's my little homie. Whenever I see a new moth or dragonfly tangled up in his web, I'm like "Good for you, dude."

Yes, I realize the large, brightly colored ones here are the females, but this one's still a "he," because spiders are dudes. Always.


Well, almost always...

Decided to not renew my contract as I wanted to go home to see friends and family. Finding it difficult to adjust to life back in Canada.

I want to go back to Korea -_-. I don't really like taking chances so I'm thinking of going back to my old school but It'll be months until they have an opening.

Aw :( I'm sorry you're having difficulties adjusting. Sometimes the reverse culture shock can be worse than the intial culture shock. Have you looked into more temporary positions here? They're rare but you can sometimes find shorter contracts. Or you could take a job at a different school and once a job becomes available at your old school you could make the move over there.

Some teachers were snacking around the snack table.  I go over to investigate. 

Me:  What's this? 

They offer me some so I try one. 

Me:  WHAT IS THIS??
Them:  Do you know mayonnaise? 

Why the hell do mayonnaise pretzels exist?! 

Yes I've experience this too   

This is the week of final classes with my schools (other than next Monday).  Yesterday was harder than I thought it'd be, with kids begging me not to go and some even gifting me with last minute presents of pencils, hah.  One of my favorites gave me a card and gel pens and insisted I take the pens.

And I get to do this 3 more times.  My poor heart 

When Koreans are surprised that you used to eat rice in your home country...


Don't they know that rice is an extremely common staple food in many cultures?? And there is so much more to rice than just the sticky white rice they eat. People talk about the myth of American exceptionalism but damn if Koreans don't think they are the most unique people on this planet. They think no where else has rice, or four seasons. The other day I overheard a Korean guy telling a Canadian dude that "only in Korea" do they have workout equipment in parks. No, that's not true. At all.

ahahaha so true! Although to be fair, today in my facebook memories was a post from my cousin in the states that said "I know this is a stupid question but does Korea have 4 distinct seasons?" LOL word for word true story lol

This is the week of final classes with my schools (other than next Monday).  Yesterday was harder than I thought it'd be, with kids begging me not to go and some even gifting me with last minute presents of pencils, hah.  One of my favorites gave me a card and gel pens and insisted I take the pens.

And I get to do this 3 more times.  My poor heart 

You can do it yirj!!!  At one of my countryside middle schools that I taught at for seven years, the students made a video with Oasis music.  The video was them panning around the library and every student had written a post-it to me so they panned around and then focused on each post-it.  At the end of my final day, the students took me to the English room and played me the video.  But I didn't cry.  When I got home and watched it again, I bawled my eyes out.   

OMG, I'd be a sobbing mess. When my first school didn't renew me for a third year the kids were balling and brought me gifts and handmade cards and gifts, I was balling. I hate parting from a school I really like. I am not renewing at my current school so we'll see how it goes.

Decided to not renew my contract as I wanted to go home to see friends and family. Finding it difficult to adjust to life back in Canada.

I want to go back to Korea -_-. I don't really like taking chances so I'm thinking of going back to my old school but It'll be months until they have an opening.

Aw :( I'm sorry you're having difficulties adjusting. Sometimes the reverse culture shock can be worse than the intial culture shock. Have you looked into more temporary positions here? They're rare but you can sometimes find shorter contracts. Or you could take a job at a different school and once a job becomes available at your old school you could make the move over there.

Reverse culture shock is definitely brutal. I wish I had thought about temporary positions when I arrived back home, that would have been a great option. I feel it's too late now to find a short one that works. I'll just have to tough it out and brush up on my Korean with the infinite free time I have here.

I know going back to your old school is comfortable (if it was an international school ignore what I am about to say), but have you considered just coming back at the February/march hiring time to get access to more  gigs? Or you could do what I did this time of the year 4 years ago, I took a kindy hagwon job (so so company) with the intention of quitting to be on the March schedule for public. It worked out very well.

Decided to not renew my contract as I wanted to go home to see friends and family. Finding it difficult to adjust to life back in Canada.

I want to go back to Korea -_-. I don't really like taking chances so I'm thinking of going back to my old school but It'll be months until they have an opening.

Aw :( I'm sorry you're having difficulties adjusting. Sometimes the reverse culture shock can be worse than the intial culture shock. Have you looked into more temporary positions here? They're rare but you can sometimes find shorter contracts. Or you could take a job at a different school and once a job becomes available at your old school you could make the move over there.

Reverse culture shock is definitely brutal. I wish I had thought about temporary positions when I arrived back home, that would have been a great option. I feel it's too late now to find a short one that works. I'll just have to tough it out and brush up on my Korean with the infinite free time I have here.

I know going back to your old school is comfortable (if it was an international school ignore what I am about to say), but have you considered just coming back at the February/march hiring time to get access to more  gigs? Or you could do what I did this time of the year 4 years ago, I took a kindy hagwon job (so so company) with the intention of quitting to be on the March schedule for public. It worked out very well.

Decided to not renew my contract as I wanted to go home to see friends and family. Finding it difficult to adjust to life back in Canada.

I want to go back to Korea -_-. I don't really like taking chances so I'm thinking of going back to my old school but It'll be months until they have an opening.

Aw :( I'm sorry you're having difficulties adjusting. Sometimes the reverse culture shock can be worse than the intial culture shock. Have you looked into more temporary positions here? They're rare but you can sometimes find shorter contracts. Or you could take a job at a different school and once a job becomes available at your old school you could make the move over there.

Reverse culture shock is definitely brutal. I wish I had thought about temporary positions when I arrived back home, that would have been a great option. I feel it's too late now to find a short one that works. I'll just have to tough it out and brush up on my Korean with the infinite free time I have here.

That's not a bad point. I really like kindy though, so that pushes me towards hagwons. My old hagwon definitely had it's issues but it's manageable. My basic plan is minimizing risk and racking up points for an F class so I can pursue business in Korea and teach on the side.

This is the week of final classes with my schools (other than next Monday).  Yesterday was harder than I thought it'd be, with kids begging me not to go and some even gifting me with last minute presents of pencils, hah.  One of my favorites gave me a card and gel pens and insisted I take the pens.

And I get to do this 3 more times.  My poor heart 

You can do it yirj!!!  At one of my countryside middle schools that I taught at for seven years, the students made a video with Oasis music.  The video was them panning around the library and every student had written a post-it to me so they panned around and then focused on each post-it.  At the end of my final day, the students took me to the English room and played me the video.  But I didn't cry.  When I got home and watched it again, I bawled my eyes out.   

OMG, I'd be a sobbing mess. When my first school didn't renew me for a third year the kids were balling and brought me gifts and handmade cards and gifts, I was balling. I hate parting from a school I really like. I am not renewing at my current school so we'll see how it goes.

Yep, we'll see! 

I generally hate saying goodbye to people.  It always seems so final to me, even if I not going to see them for six months or so.  When I leave my mum and come back to Korea, I'm always sobbing for a good ten minutes after hugging her. 

At that countryside school, plus my other, I'd taught a lot of brothers and sisters of the same family so if the parents ever saw me they'd always stop off and give me a lift or just stop and have a chat.  There is no sentiment in Korean education.  Stay for a bit, get shipped out somewhere else, someone else comes in your place, repeat.  In the west, I think we place more on a longevity of working and leaving with a kind of legacy, hopefully.  I worked in a bank in Manchester, and people thought I didn't do that much, until I finished and then they realised after the actual ton of work I did do. 

Yeah, all my schools are small countryside ones so I know all the kids by name and who has siblings across what grades (middle and elementary).  Other than graduating/incoming students, I've basically had all the same kids for my two years here. 

Supposedly I was the first NET these schools have ever had (other than online classes; yep, I'm apparently so rural that some of my students get online classes from other NETs!!  Hah!!) too, so I hope they'll have fond memories.  I think the hard part is knowing/feeling that I'll most likely never see any of them ever again.   

Y'all ready for this one? I'm being moderated and i make a post. It gets approved by the mods. No problemo. The next day I log in and Gagevt the mod who warns me for absolutely anything (never had a warning from any other mod) mutes my account for the comment that the other mods APPROVED. Talk about bias and harassment of a user

AvecPommesFrites,

You have been issued a formal warning for trolling. Please review the terms and conditions of Waygook.org http://waygook.org/index.php/topic,2425.0.html and cease trolling otherwise we will take further action.

Quote from: AvecPommesFrites on October 16, 2017, 05:13:15 PM
Quote from: #basedcowboyshirt on October 16, 2017, 11:09:37 AM
Quote from: kyndo on October 16, 2017, 11:05:36 AM
Quote from: Claramire on October 16, 2017, 01:47:22 AM
Good! very useful materials!
"Good!"? "Useful materials!"? 
These kind of posts should be flagged as spam, and the accounts deleted.

I've noticed a lot of accounts like this that will just go around spamming the same sort of one or two sentence post just to get their post count up.

So literally every post that Grey makes then?

I'm not sure who approved this, but I'll have to ask the other mods to look more carefully before approving posts from moderated users in the future. I'm only muting you for a brief time to give the other mods a heads up about approving posts. (Muting starts at 60%, so only a day or so)

Also, I could have upped your warning further for abusing the report system just to insult or throw baseless accusations at me, but I'll let it slide this time. Be careful in the future.

Regards,
gagevt

I know going back to your old school is comfortable (if it was an international school ignore what I am about to say), but have you considered just coming back at the February/march hiring time to get access to more  gigs? Or you could do what I did this time of the year 4 years ago, I took a kindy hagwon job (so so company) with the intention of quitting to be on the March schedule for public. It worked out very well.

Decided to not renew my contract as I wanted to go home to see friends and family. Finding it difficult to adjust to life back in Canada.

I want to go back to Korea -_-. I don't really like taking chances so I'm thinking of going back to my old school but It'll be months until they have an opening.

Aw :( I'm sorry you're having difficulties adjusting. Sometimes the reverse culture shock can be worse than the intial culture shock. Have you looked into more temporary positions here? They're rare but you can sometimes find shorter contracts. Or you could take a job at a different school and once a job becomes available at your old school you could make the move over there.

Reverse culture shock is definitely brutal. I wish I had thought about temporary positions when I arrived back home, that would have been a great option. I feel it's too late now to find a short one that works. I'll just have to tough it out and brush up on my Korean with the infinite free time I have here.

  Really, is there a reason?

coT: All classes are canceled for today and tomorrow.

Me: YAAAAAAAASSSS!!

*later*

coT: Okay, Chinguetti, let's gol.

Me: ... where?

coT: To watch the students.

Me: ?

coT: Oh, I forgot to tell you. There's an assembly and student activities all this morning, and all teachers must supervise. Also, tomorrow's a field trip to *some boring place* and you have to go so that you can wander around aimlessly with the other teachers forced to go while work you could have gotten done at school stays not done (NOTE: paraphrased).

Me: *internally screaming*

My CT rigs the games so the team she likes can win.

Last class, it backfired and it made that team lose even more. And then they complained and she was like "I understand" and changed the rules again so they could catch up. They still lost.

Then she had the nerve to be in a bad mood about it, telling me she wanted the other team to win and that she understands why they complained. What is this? It's a game! The teams who get the answer right get the points. They answered wrong and lost (even though she was trying to make sure they won.)

I said, "well that's the game!" and she said "yes but I understand them..."

Well, I don't understand you, CT. You rig the game and make it unfair for other students and then you give in to the students you like because they say it's "not fair." You're a grown ass woman!

What's fair is playing the game by the rules and not playing favorites.

I understand where you are coming from, but that isn't actually the best practice for learning via games.

Inserting a random element into the activity will better serve to keep everyone involved and engaged.

For example, some play match game where each match gets a point.  Best practices dictates that we should insert a random slide and trigger, then have the teams pick a character that reveals points from 1-4, a bomb, or other.  This way, whether teams are high-level or not everyone has a random chance to win the game.

Do you follow?

My CT rigs the games so the team she likes can win.

Last class, it backfired and it made that team lose even more. And then they complained and she was like "I understand" and changed the rules again so they could catch up. They still lost.

Then she had the nerve to be in a bad mood about it, telling me she wanted the other team to win and that she understands why they complained. What is this? It's a game! The teams who get the answer right get the points. They answered wrong and lost (even though she was trying to make sure they won.)

I said, "well that's the game!" and she said "yes but I understand them..."

Well, I don't understand you, CT. You rig the game and make it unfair for other students and then you give in to the students you like because they say it's "not fair." You're a grown ass woman!

What's fair is playing the game by the rules and not playing favorites.

I understand where you are coming from, but that isn't actually the best practice for learning via games.

Inserting a random element into the activity will better serve to keep everyone involved and engaged.

For example, some play match game where each match gets a point.  Best practices dictates that we should insert a random slide and trigger, then have the teams pick a character that reveals points from 1-4, a bomb, or other.  This way, whether teams are high-level or not everyone has a random chance to win the game.

Do you follow?

Still doesn't change the fact that the CT favours one group over the other students and is rigging the game. Which is the real issue that the OP is talking about.

I understand where you are coming from, but that isn't actually the best practice for learning via games.

Inserting a random element into the activity will better serve to keep everyone involved and engaged.

For example, some play match game where each match gets a point.  Best practices dictates that we should insert a random slide and trigger, then have the teams pick a character that reveals points from 1-4, a bomb, or other.  This way, whether teams are high-level or not everyone has a random chance to win the game.

Do you follow?

I agree that there ought to be a certain amount of randomness for exactly the reasons you mention, but on the other hand, participation and understanding of grammar/vocabulary should also be rewarded else there's no motivation to learn the materials.

Ideally, both should be factored into the scoring.

Not that hard to do, actually. Bomb games are a good example: teams who have a better understanding of the material tend to have more opportunities to uncover points, but are also more likely to uncover bombs, which keeps scoring semi-random.

Gave a short reading comprehension test to my class today, only 12 points total. One of the students rushed through the whole thing, got 0 points. I told him he had to try again because that was unacceptable. He said ok, re-did the test, brought it back and... got 1/2 a point this time. So... progress? Everyone else passed and did well, but he just made stuff up.

Gave a short reading comprehension test to my class today, only 12 points total. One of the students rushed through the whole thing, got 0 points. I told him he had to try again because that was unacceptable. He said ok, re-did the test, brought it back and... got 1/2 a point this time. So... progress? Everyone else passed and did well, but he just made stuff up.

Just 23 more times before he gets that perfect score! Fighting! 

Gave a short reading comprehension test to my class today, only 12 points total. One of the students rushed through the whole thing, got 0 points. I told him he had to try again because that was unacceptable. He said ok, re-did the test, brought it back and... got 1/2 a point this time. So... progress? Everyone else passed and did well, but he just made stuff up.

Just 23 more times before he gets that perfect score! Fighting! 

Which is probably what the parents will insist I do, haha.