RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

Was on a high last night on how grateful I was for being in Korea, I'd just come back from a training session at the athletics stadium. The stadium had just been remodeled, so the track was brand new. The grass for the soccer field was just cut the day before, I arrived at 6pm and the weather had gone from hot and muggy to warm and slightly breezy with clear skies. Aside from a little girl on rollerblades and an old man walking laps around the seating area, I had an entire 8-lane 400m track and soccer field all to myself for training. No worries about my car being jacked in the parking lot or even some thugs scaling the wall and stealing my timing gate or bag, just a glorious 90min training session. Life was good.

Today, life gave just enough of a bitch slap.

Getting to school
The entrance to the school is at a busy 3-way intersection and parents have a shitty habit of stopping right at the entrance, blocking all traffic so their kids can slowly amble out the car and further delay the 15 cars waiting behind. The crossing guards, made up of teachers and/or old people, do absolutely F*all about it. Everyone was waiting for this little spazoid to get out of his mom's SUV. Once he got out and traffic started moving, the car in front of me drove 5m and... stopped so her brats could get out... Why can't you let your damn kids get out while the kids from the car in front are getting out??? You wait 3min for them to get out, just so you can drive 5m to sop and let yours get out?

During class
Since the beginning of the year, almost every student in one of the 6th grade classes seems to go out of their way to appear exhausted, tired and miserable. They'll stare at the floor, slouch in their desks and never answer a question with anything more than a mumbled whisper, they rarely even smile. My CT constantly tells me that they act this way in every class, not just English. I told my CT that in my experience the common factor is usually the HR teacher. She refused to believe it and constantly makes stupid excuses for their behavior. Apparently, yesterday they spent 20min carrying books so today they're exhausted... Are you f*cking kidding me?
An entire school of teachers does nothing but complain about a class and no surprise that nothing has been done to figure out the problem or fix it.

This is my issue with Korea, when something is wrong, most people just accept it. Few complain and almost nobody attempts to actually tries to fix it.

My CoT who is amazing is leaving after this semester is done. I am a bit scared that my luck of good CoTs will run out after this.... 2.5 yrs of good, last 1.5 amazing.
I shall pray to RNGesus!!

I've had a string of different schools in the 7.5 years I've been here, and so my luck has held up pretty well. Never less than a 4 each time I rolled the dice.
   Not to put too fine a point on it, but if you've been lucky so far then chances are that your luck will hold into the future as well. 

Wow, I'm so burned out and hate my job so much that I feel nothing but negativity. I've been doing this kind of job for 7 years but I've finally got to the point where I'm about to completely break down.

Really looking forward to my trip to Europe in the vacation.

Me too.  I hate it.  I dread coming to work every day even though I know it's not that bad. 

No alternatives for me though.  What would I do after I've packed up my life here, flown home and left twiddling my thumbs in my parents' house wishing I was back here 

Wow, I'm so burned out and hate my job so much that I feel nothing but negativity. I've been doing this kind of job for 7 years but I've finally got to the point where I'm about to completely break down.

Really looking forward to my trip to Europe in the vacation.

i kind of felt like this

there is such a stark difference in professionality between working at a hagwon or public school (public schools i have worked at were very unprofessional, in my opinion) and teaching adults business english. it's like a different world

my after school program is laughably unprofessional. to the point it's ridiculous. probably the worst job i've ever had, in regards to the amount of fuckery involved. but, it's bearable because i love my part-time adult jobs, which treat me with respect, and are very professionally run

a change in job environments definitely gave me a second wind in korea. if you have a chance at an F visa, it's worth going for (if you plan to stay a few more years in korea, anyway)

My current E-2 visa only has 3.5 years on it because I left Korea and then came back a few months later. AFAIK, the 3.5 years I did before that wouldn't count towards the 5 years needed on an E-2 in order to apply for an F visa without marrying a Korean lady. I really wish I could just tutor. It would be nice to be my own boss and have a wide range of students.

Oh boy, today I finally lost it.

I don't like being mad. I know I'm the type of person who lashes out randomly when upset, so all except my closest friends don't know what it's like when I'm pissed. And it happened today.

My Thursday class which has always been a bit chaotic. Couple that with being low-level and unmotivated and it's already a headache. Whatever. If they don't want to learn, can't force them, right? My CT tries to keep them under control, but she's more in that camp of "They're just kids, can't do anything about it." Not much help there. Still, I can handle it. I've had a lack of sleep due to recent events, and have been sick a lot, not letting those get me down though. Always been pretty decent at handling stress. Today it seemed like no one gave a ****, even the few who usually participate.

All it took though to set me off was a "F*** you," from one of my students. Didn't even know if it was directed at me or not, just heard it near me. I've never seen a class so silent and diligent during the minutes that followed after my "rage". 30 minutes later, word has already spread about the "Foreign Teacher exploding" according to one of my other students. I never wanted it to be this way, but looks like I'll have to accept that I've become the Hulk and work more discipline into my classes next semester.

*sigh*

looks like I'll have to accept that I've become the Hulk and work more discipline into my classes next semester.

Better luck next year.

I warn kids that I will smash them like the Hulk during my first day introductory PPt
If you can keep them on their toes, perhaps all the better.

Oh boy, today I finally lost it.

I don't like being mad. I know I'm the type of person who lashes out randomly when upset, so all except my closest friends don't know what it's like when I'm pissed. And it happened today.

My Thursday class which has always been a bit chaotic. Couple that with being low-level and unmotivated and it's already a headache. Whatever. If they don't want to learn, can't force them, right? My CT tries to keep them under control, but she's more in that camp of "They're just kids, can't do anything about it." Not much help there. Still, I can handle it. I've had a lack of sleep due to recent events, and have been sick a lot, not letting those get me down though. Always been pretty decent at handling stress. Today it seemed like no one gave a ****, even the few who usually participate.

All it took though to set me off was a "F*** you," from one of my students. Didn't even know if it was directed at me or not, just heard it near me. I've never seen a class so silent and diligent during the minutes that followed after my "rage". 30 minutes later, word has already spread about the "Foreign Teacher exploding" according to one of my other students. I never wanted it to be this way, but looks like I'll have to accept that I've become the Hulk and work more discipline into my classes next semester.

*sigh*

It's ok mate. I had the worst class I've had in 5 years teaching kids today. Went apeshit. I never lose my composure in class, but, well, I did today. Never been so angry in a classroom. Hope they enjoy sitting on their own, facing the wall, in complete silence doing boring worksheets for the rest of the year, cos that's what's gonna happen

Oh boy, today I finally lost it.

I don't like being mad. I know I'm the type of person who lashes out randomly when upset, so all except my closest friends don't know what it's like when I'm pissed. And it happened today.

My Thursday class which has always been a bit chaotic. Couple that with being low-level and unmotivated and it's already a headache. Whatever. If they don't want to learn, can't force them, right? My CT tries to keep them under control, but she's more in that camp of "They're just kids, can't do anything about it." Not much help there. Still, I can handle it. I've had a lack of sleep due to recent events, and have been sick a lot, not letting those get me down though. Always been pretty decent at handling stress. Today it seemed like no one gave a ****, even the few who usually participate.

All it took though to set me off was a "F*** you," from one of my students. Didn't even know if it was directed at me or not, just heard it near me. I've never seen a class so silent and diligent during the minutes that followed after my "rage". 30 minutes later, word has already spread about the "Foreign Teacher exploding" according to one of my other students. I never wanted it to be this way, but looks like I'll have to accept that I've become the Hulk and work more discipline into my classes next semester.

*sigh*

It's ok mate. I had the worst class I've had in 5 years teaching kids today. Went apeshit. I never lose my composure in class, but, well, I did today. Never been so angry in a classroom. Hope they enjoy sitting on their own, facing the wall, in complete silence doing boring worksheets for the rest of the year, cos that's what's gonna happen

Is there a download for these boring worksheets? A lot of ones I find are either way too difficult or way too easy for ESL.
It seems like we all have to crack down on little jerks next month haha

Yeah, I'll have a look around and post anything useful I find.

I refuse to put any more effort into teaching them anything (I tried for 4 months, they got progressively worse), so anything easy to find and boring will do.

It's sad. It's an after school program and only the good kids are dropping out (due to hating being in the class), but all the monsters are the only ones left.

Getting camp sign-ups finalized. As expected, we had the exact number of 5th/6th graders sign up as there were spots for their camp week. And about 2.5 times as many 3rd/4th graders as there were spots for /their/ camp week. Because I'll be alone this year, my coteacher and I decided to put a pretty low limit for 3rd/4th graders especially (extremely low English, even for the highest level ones, and we're trying to limit issues and incidents that might occur), so there are only 12 spots open for 3rd/4th grade.

We figured the fairest way was to divide them into grades and and boys/girls, and have them draw popsicles sticks with O/X written on them. That way we could also keep a mix of students, rather than just having a bunch of 4th grade boys (the largest group by far who put their names in for camp). Drew the sticks. Some kids upset, but what can you do? Cue angry parents calling the school complaining that their child didn't into camp. Apparently a couple parents understood the reasoning behind the limited number of spaces, but a most are furious and think that my coteacher and I somehow rigged the drawing to exclude their child. I'm really worried that I'll be told to open up more spots, and that the camp will be a bust because there's too many students, not enough me, and a huge language barrier. The kids are generally good, but they're kids and they get wild sometimes, and I really don't want any accidents.

But nope, now parents are pissed that they have to arrange other plans for little Minsu every morning for a week.

Getting camp sign-ups finalized. As expected, we had the exact number of 5th/6th graders sign up as there were spots for their camp week. And about 2.5 times as many 3rd/4th graders as there were spots for /their/ camp week. Because I'll be alone this year, my coteacher and I decided to put a pretty low limit for 3rd/4th graders especially (extremely low English, even for the highest level ones, and we're trying to limit issues and incidents that might occur), so there are only 12 spots open for 3rd/4th grade.

We figured the fairest way was to divide them into grades and and boys/girls, and have them draw popsicles sticks with O/X written on them. That way we could also keep a mix of students, rather than just having a bunch of 4th grade boys (the largest group by far who put their names in for camp). Drew the sticks. Some kids upset, but what can you do? Cue angry parents calling the school complaining that their child didn't into camp. Apparently a couple parents understood the reasoning behind the limited number of spaces, but a most are furious and think that my coteacher and I somehow rigged the drawing to exclude their child. I'm really worried that I'll be told to open up more spots, and that the camp will be a bust because there's too many students, not enough me, and a huge language barrier. The kids are generally good, but they're kids and they get wild sometimes, and I really don't want any accidents.

But nope, now parents are pissed that they have to arrange other plans for little Minsu every morning for a week.

Obviously. The had there baby sitter all lined up and now they don't.

Getting camp sign-ups finalized. As expected, we had the exact number of 5th/6th graders sign up as there were spots for their camp week. And about 2.5 times as many 3rd/4th graders as there were spots for /their/ camp week. Because I'll be alone this year, my coteacher and I decided to put a pretty low limit for 3rd/4th graders especially (extremely low English, even for the highest level ones, and we're trying to limit issues and incidents that might occur), so there are only 12 spots open for 3rd/4th grade.

We figured the fairest way was to divide them into grades and and boys/girls, and have them draw popsicles sticks with O/X written on them. That way we could also keep a mix of students, rather than just having a bunch of 4th grade boys (the largest group by far who put their names in for camp). Drew the sticks. Some kids upset, but what can you do? Cue angry parents calling the school complaining that their child didn't into camp. Apparently a couple parents understood the reasoning behind the limited number of spaces, but a most are furious and think that my coteacher and I somehow rigged the drawing to exclude their child. I'm really worried that I'll be told to open up more spots, and that the camp will be a bust because there's too many students, not enough me, and a huge language barrier. The kids are generally good, but they're kids and they get wild sometimes, and I really don't want any accidents.

But nope, now parents are pissed that they have to arrange other plans for little Minsu every morning for a week.

Oh. I was told I'm going to have the 3rd and 4th grade classes mixed for the camp at my elementary school (~25 of them altogether). In hindsight, I probably should've protested, but it wasn't really presented as a question (and I do it once a week for after school anyways). I'm supposed to have a homeroom teacher or someone helping me out (which is also true for my after school class), so hopefully I don't get overrun.

Getting camp sign-ups finalized. As expected, we had the exact number of 5th/6th graders sign up as there were spots for their camp week. And about 2.5 times as many 3rd/4th graders as there were spots for /their/ camp week. Because I'll be alone this year, my coteacher and I decided to put a pretty low limit for 3rd/4th graders especially (extremely low English, even for the highest level ones, and we're trying to limit issues and incidents that might occur), so there are only 12 spots open for 3rd/4th grade.

We figured the fairest way was to divide them into grades and and boys/girls, and have them draw popsicles sticks with O/X written on them. That way we could also keep a mix of students, rather than just having a bunch of 4th grade boys (the largest group by far who put their names in for camp). Drew the sticks. Some kids upset, but what can you do? Cue angry parents calling the school complaining that their child didn't into camp. Apparently a couple parents understood the reasoning behind the limited number of spaces, but a most are furious and think that my coteacher and I somehow rigged the drawing to exclude their child. I'm really worried that I'll be told to open up more spots, and that the camp will be a bust because there's too many students, not enough me, and a huge language barrier. The kids are generally good, but they're kids and they get wild sometimes, and I really don't want any accidents.

But nope, now parents are pissed that they have to arrange other plans for little Minsu every morning for a week.

Oh. I was told I'm going to have the 3rd and 4th grade classes mixed for the camp at my elementary school (~25 of them altogether). In hindsight, I probably should've protested, but it wasn't really presented as a question (and I do it once a week for after school anyways). I'm supposed to have a homeroom teacher or someone helping me out (which is also true for my after school class), so hopefully I don't get overrun.

If it was 40 minutes a day, or even 90 minutes a day, I'd be fine with all 29 of them. That's a normal class for me. But the kids are a little more wild during the summer because it's break, and I'll have them for 3 hours straight. That's a little more than I can comfortably handle by myself. 5th and 6th graders were limited to 16 (4 from each grade and gender). Heck, if the students were even intermediate level English, I'd be fine with that many. It's just the combination of school break, young and wild, and low level English that makes me uncomfortable with having that many for that length of time.

Thankfully, my coteacher is siding with me, and the school generally lets her do her thing when it comes to me. So fingers crossed I don't have to open up more spots.

But nope, now parents are pissed that they have to arrange other plans for little Minsu every morning for a week.

Here's a radical solution. They could go out and play!

If it was 40 minutes a day, or even 90 minutes a day, I'd be fine with all 29 of them. That's a normal class for me. But the kids are a little more wild during the summer because it's break, and I'll have them for 3 hours straight. That's a little more than I can comfortably handle by myself. 5th and 6th graders were limited to 16 (4 from each grade and gender). Heck, if the students were even intermediate level English, I'd be fine with that many. It's just the combination of school break, young and wild, and low level English that makes me uncomfortable with having that many for that length of time.

Thankfully, my coteacher is siding with me, and the school generally lets her do her thing when it comes to me. So fingers crossed I don't have to open up more spots.

I've taught camp with 3rd and 4th grade classes of 20 before. by myself. it's generally fine. One break the student numbers even went a bit over 20, like 23 or 24.

Just split them into groups and do lots of crafts and drawing/coloring etc.

Nothing that requires too much teaching or prep or clean up on the part of the teacher. Kaleidocycles, Pokemon stuff, Avengers stuff, my kids loved all of that.

If you get them to play games, do games that require only within-group competition. Don't do anything requiring between-group competition like bomb games. Games like Uno or various other simple card games are good. then just bounce between the groups to check on them.

Lovely someone in the office has a cold. Let's turn off the aircon and all suffer.

If it was 40 minutes a day, or even 90 minutes a day, I'd be fine with all 29 of them. That's a normal class for me. But the kids are a little more wild during the summer because it's break, and I'll have them for 3 hours straight. That's a little more than I can comfortably handle by myself. 5th and 6th graders were limited to 16 (4 from each grade and gender). Heck, if the students were even intermediate level English, I'd be fine with that many. It's just the combination of school break, young and wild, and low level English that makes me uncomfortable with having that many for that length of time.

Thankfully, my coteacher is siding with me, and the school generally lets her do her thing when it comes to me. So fingers crossed I don't have to open up more spots.

I've taught camp with 3rd and 4th grade classes of 20 before. by myself. it's generally fine. One break the student numbers even went a bit over 20, like 23 or 24.

Just split them into groups and do lots of crafts and drawing/coloring etc.

Nothing that requires too much teaching or prep or clean up on the part of the teacher. Kaleidocycles, Pokemon stuff, Avengers stuff, my kids loved all of that.

If you get them to play games, do games that require only within-group competition. Don't do anything requiring between-group competition like bomb games. Games like Uno or various other simple card games are good. then just bounce between the groups to check on them.

Mini Jenga is about 3000won at daiso.  Write a number on each brick, then you can create a sheet with questions/activites next to each number.  They have to do what's on the question sheet before they can place the remove brick on top.  You can create a different set of activities per grammar topic / book chapter.

Individually wrapped cookies.

**** you, Lotte.

Individually wrapped cookies.

**** you, Lotte.

I ordered some box tape. 26 rolls. I use a lot of tape. EVERY roll of tape was individually wrapped in a plastic bag.

Stupid.

Individually wrapped cookies.

**** you, Lotte.

I ordered some box tape. 26 rolls. I use a lot of tape. EVERY roll of tape was individually wrapped in a plastic bag.

Stupid.

Really, what kind of people do they take us for?