RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

My KTs agree that a lot of students are lazy and have terrible study habits.

But they still seem to think that many students are dumber than they actually are, too, and they seem very satisfied to accept this as the reason why those students perform so poorly. It's not because those students don't try to apply themselves. It's because the subject is just too hard, and the students are just too dumb to get it. So why push them to do more than their abilities?

And what's more than their abilities? Writing three sentences in response to "How are you?" Or just being able to understand the question when heard and to give a single response to it. Even though this is middle school, with students who've been studying English on a daily basis for ****** years, and this is basic ****** intro bullshit.

Learning any new language is hard. But "How are you?" is not ****** rocket science that takes years to master.

I'm honestly surprised by their point-of-view. It's no big secret that most Koreans consider English an especially difficult language to learn. I don't fault or blame them for that. Any language can be a challenge. But ****** "How are you?" Is difficult? After years of study? It's NOT because the students are just ****** lazy and unmotivated to learn because they don't understand the incentive?

With this kind of perspective, I think I'm better understanding why so many Koreans are so surprised and impressed when they hear foreigners speaking any kind of Korean, no matter how basic and simple it is.

My mum  bought my wife a birthday present via amazon and had it sent to us here.
Amazon uses Apex shipping agents for delivery and Apex seem to change who they use on the final delivery every month. Recently it has been Hanjin Express Delivery. Hanjin are the most useless delivery company I have ever seen. I'm not in the least bit surprised they went bankrupt last year.

Tracked the package. Took three days from Wisconsin in the USA to Incheon airport. Three days across the US and then the Pacific, pretty good. It then sat at Incheon for 12 days, then just disappeared from the tracking system for another 5 days. 17 days in Korea, doing lord knows what.

Apex shipping refuses to admit it's their fault. Accuse us of not writing the address correctly. Swear up and down that we didn't write our city or province, which is just a direct lie. Refuses to even consider it may be their problem. The manager eventually does admit something has gone awry on their end.

They give US a number to call for the Hanjin delivery woman. The delivery woman says her father died so she couldn't make any deliveries. Fair enough, I'm not going to get angry with someone who has lost a family member. But what kind of company doesn't have some kind of system to cover these situations. "Kim is deathly ill. He has a van load of packages, some of which may be perishable. Should we assign someone else to do their deliveries? Nah. Wait till he gets out of hospital next month. People can wait."

Package turns up 20 days after landing at Incheon. I've had problems with Hanjin before. They seem to have massive problems. But what pissed me off most of all was the woman at Apex shipping refusing to believe us, accusing us of ****** up somehow and doing everything possible to deflect the blame away from her. I wasn't aggressive in the least, I just wanted to know where my missing package was. Serious problem with a lack of accountability.

Called them back and took photos of the address label to show it had our full address, city, province, zip code, phone number etc in English AND Korean. The guy this time was apologetic and said they get complaints about Hanjin everyday and they wont be using them anymore. And that he would give more training to the woman who called us liars. Bullshit.

This is also all packages coming into Korea now. My boyfriend called the Incheon post office and apparently there are too many packages for Incheon to handle (even though this has been going on for about a year now) so everything usually sits there for 3 weeks or a month before they even get it out to the shipping companies.

Learning any new language is hard. But "How are you?" is not ****** rocket science that takes years to master.

Selemat pagi=good morning

Selemat sore=Good day

Selemat malam=good evening

It took me 4 mins to learn this.

If you can't respond to "How are you" in middle school, you're an absolute moron.

This is also all packages coming into Korea now. My boyfriend called the Incheon post office and apparently there are too many packages for Incheon to handle (even though this has been going on for about a year now) so everything usually sits there for 3 weeks or a month before they even get it out to the shipping companies.

I've placed overseas orders all year, and it's never taken more than two to three weeks for me to receive a package. Once the package arrives in Incheon, I normally receive my package in a couple of days, less than that if customs doesn't decide it needs extra info from me.

But I don't doubt what you're saying. I'm just kind of wondering what Incheon's setup is and if it has different departments catering to different types of packages or whatever.

zola's problem isn't with Incheon, though, it's with the shipping companies themselves.

Learning any new language is hard. But "How are you?" is not ****** rocket science that takes years to master.

Selemat pagi=good morning

Selemat sore=Good day

Selemat malam=good evening

It took me 4 mins to learn this.

If you can't respond to "How are you" in middle school, you're an absolute moron.

After 30 minutes of practice (On a ppt and in the book) my 3rd grade middle school kids couldn't learn "You're kidding!" I got fed up and made them copy it out of the book for a while. Really 30 minutes and you can't learn 2 words......(technically 3 but contraction) My KT is like you are too hard on them. No I am not. It is 2 words after 6 years of English education.

Learning any new language is hard. But "How are you?" is not ****** rocket science that takes years to master.

Selemat pagi=good morning

Selemat sore=Good day

Selemat malam=good evening

It took me 4 mins to learn this.

If you can't respond to "How are you" in middle school, you're an absolute moron.

Them: But this is Korea. In Korea, they don't use English, so they can't learn it.

Me: But what about the students who do learn it?

Them: They study it.

Me: Exactly.

Them: No, no, English is too difficult.

Learning any new language is hard. But "How are you?" is not ****** rocket science that takes years to master.

Selemat pagi=good morning

Selemat sore=Good day

Selemat malam=good evening

It took me 4 mins to learn this.

If you can't respond to "How are you" in middle school, you're an absolute moron.

After 30 minutes of practice (On a ppt and in the book) my 3rd grade middle school kids couldn't learn "You're kidding!" I got fed up and made them copy it out of the book for a while. Really 30 minutes and you can't learn 2 words......(technically 3 but contraction) My KT is like you are too hard on them. No I am not. It is 2 words after 6 years of English education.

"please... they are just children... please understand them" 

Learning any new language is hard. But "How are you?" is not ****** rocket science that takes years to master.

Selemat pagi=good morning

Selemat sore=Good day

Selemat malam=good evening

It took me 4 mins to learn this.

If you can't respond to "How are you" in middle school, you're an absolute moron.

Them: But this is Korea. In Korea, they don't use English, so they can't learn it.

Me: But what about the students who do learn it?

Them: They study it.

Me: Exactly.

Them: No, no, English is too difficult.

I literally can't believe how willfully dumb some kids are.

When you're in grade 6 and you can't respond to something like "Good morning" after having studied English for four years, you're either a) suffering from a (very bad) learning or developmental disability, in which case you have my sympathies and I will try to empathize with you as much as possible, or b) you've actively tried not to learn anything.

Fun fact: I've been in Korea for over eight years, and I'm still far from fluent in Korean. Like. I struggle to have conversations with my significant other's parents. I'm literally bad at learning languages. But I can still say hello, thank you, please, and a few basic phrases in at least five different languages.

Also, English proficiency at such a basic level has nothing to do with going to hagwon, studying hard, or anything. Flawed as it is, the public school English curriculum provides everything necessary to learn things like, "Hello, how are you?" or "Good morning," even if you have the world's most useless instructor ever. There is literally no excuse for not being able to grasp these basic things, unless, like I said, there's some complicating factor that's preventing it.



Also, tangentially, some people just suck at learning second languages. I'm one of them. Like, I get it. Some people's brains are wired for some things, some are wired for others. But just because something isn't your strong suit doesn't mean it's impossible.

Yikes.

It's something that every person in a teaching position has to accept, that there will always be those students who are so invested in not learning that it requires actual active effort to be so ignorant.

What frustrates me is when people try to excuse and enable it, as if this is not something they can help. Hold them accountable, ffs. You may not be able to change their attitudes, but you can sure as **** make sure they know it's their own goddamn choice. Don't ****** pat them on the backs when they didn't even try.

It's something that every person in a teaching position has to accept, that there will always be those students who are so invested in not learning that it requires actual active effort to avoid it.

What frustrates me is when people try to excuse and enable it, as if this is not something they can help. Hold them accountable, ffs. You may not be able to change their attitudes, but you can sure as **** make sure they know it's their own goddamn choice.

I'm #blessed. Nobody that I work with ever defends kids' willful dumbness. They will definitely remind students that it's nobody's fault but their own that they can't do the same basic things the other students can do.

This is also all packages coming into Korea now. My boyfriend called the Incheon post office and apparently there are too many packages for Incheon to handle (even though this has been going on for about a year now) so everything usually sits there for 3 weeks or a month before they even get it out to the shipping companies.

I've placed overseas orders all year, and it's never taken more than two to three weeks for me to receive a package. Once the package arrives in Incheon, I normally receive my package in a couple of days, less than that if customs doesn't decide it needs extra info from me.

But I don't doubt what you're saying. I'm just kind of wondering what Incheon's setup is and if it has different departments catering to different types of packages or whatever.

zola's problem isn't with Incheon, though, it's with the shipping companies themselves.

Yeah, I know. I'm just saying it's a pretty common problem these days. I have two companies that I buy from in the usa and I get it from start to finish in about 10 days. Meanwhile, every other package takes almost a month.  It seems like it depends who they are partnered with once they get over here? Anything with CJ Express is pretty fast so I'm wondering if they have a special partnership? Customs is like a day and done whenever I have CJ. Hanjin, Lotte, FedEx, and of course the dreaded post office.... could be a month or more.

It's something that every person in a teaching position has to accept, that there will always be those students who are so invested in not learning that it requires actual active effort to be so ignorant.

What frustrates me is when people try to excuse and enable it, as if this is not something they can help. Hold them accountable, ffs. You may not be able to change their attitudes, but you can sure as **** make sure they know it's their own goddamn choice. Don't ****** pat them on the backs when they didn't even try.

Refusing to hold people accountable for their piss-poor efforts is a Korean tradition infuriating and I, also, deal with it every damn day.

Why is it okay that several of our students are allowed to put their heads on the desk and become a vegetable for 40 minutes during class? Sometimes I want to shriek from the roof of the school;

"BEING PHYSICALLY PRESENT IS NOT THE SAME AS DOING THE WORK!"

We have a 6th grade student who stopped coming to school because he doesn't like it. Sometimes his homeroom teacher goes to his apartment in the morning and drags him in but I've only seen him once this year.

This is also all packages coming into Korea now. My boyfriend called the Incheon post office and apparently there are too many packages for Incheon to handle (even though this has been going on for about a year now) so everything usually sits there for 3 weeks or a month before they even get it out to the shipping companies.

I've placed overseas orders all year, and it's never taken more than two to three weeks for me to receive a package. Once the package arrives in Incheon, I normally receive my package in a couple of days, less than that if customs doesn't decide it needs extra info from me.

But I don't doubt what you're saying. I'm just kind of wondering what Incheon's setup is and if it has different departments catering to different types of packages or whatever.

zola's problem isn't with Incheon, though, it's with the shipping companies themselves.

Yeah, I know. I'm just saying it's a pretty common problem these days. I have two companies that I buy from in the usa and I get it from start to finish in about 10 days. Meanwhile, every other package takes almost a month.  It seems like it depends who they are partnered with once they get over here? Anything with CJ Express is pretty fast so I'm wondering if they have a special partnership? Customs is like a day and done whenever I have CJ. Hanjin, Lotte, FedEx, and of course the dreaded post office.... could be a month or more.

I dunno. I ordered a big package from the two weeks ago. It was shipped with Fedex. It arrived at my apartment last week.

I also had someone send me a package from Europe through normal airmail. Got it one week later. Through Korea Post.

Maybe you've got bad luck. But yeah - I've had nothing get delayed upon arrival in Incheon, and I buy things from overseas at least once or twice a month. It all comes through Incheon, through various delivery companies and Korea Post. So, it seems like it might be a more localized issue, perhaps with delivery to wherever you live.

This is also all packages coming into Korea now. My boyfriend called the Incheon post office and apparently there are too many packages for Incheon to handle (even though this has been going on for about a year now) so everything usually sits there for 3 weeks or a month before they even get it out to the shipping companies.

I've placed overseas orders all year, and it's never taken more than two to three weeks for me to receive a package. Once the package arrives in Incheon, I normally receive my package in a couple of days, less than that if customs doesn't decide it needs extra info from me.

But I don't doubt what you're saying. I'm just kind of wondering what Incheon's setup is and if it has different departments catering to different types of packages or whatever.

zola's problem isn't with Incheon, though, it's with the shipping companies themselves.

Yeah, I know. I'm just saying it's a pretty common problem these days. I have two companies that I buy from in the usa and I get it from start to finish in about 10 days. Meanwhile, every other package takes almost a month.  It seems like it depends who they are partnered with once they get over here? Anything with CJ Express is pretty fast so I'm wondering if they have a special partnership? Customs is like a day and done whenever I have CJ. Hanjin, Lotte, FedEx, and of course the dreaded post office.... could be a month or more.

I dunno. I ordered a big package from the two weeks ago. It was shipped with Fedex. It arrived at my apartment last week.

I also had someone send me a package from Europe through normal airmail. Got it one week later. Through Korea Post.

Maybe you've got bad luck. But yeah - I've had nothing get delayed upon arrival in Incheon, and I buy things from overseas at least once or twice a month. It all comes through Incheon, through various delivery companies and Korea Post. So, it seems like it might be a more localized issue, perhaps with delivery to wherever you live.

Postal packages take longer.
One of the things that courier fees get you is customs brokerage. They submit the paperwork ahead of time, and customs approved it or asks to inspect based on a sampling plan.

Postal: it gets in line.

Brought my umbrella today in case in rained and put it in the umbrella holder near the shoe cabinets where they all go. It starts raining before it's time to go home and as I'm leaving I find that my umbrella is gone. I don't want anyone in the office questioning why I'm keeping them in the office with me from now. 

Who the hell steals umbrellas? 

Who the hell steals umbrellas? 

The answer to this is very obvious 

Brought my umbrella today in case in rained and put it in the umbrella holder near the shoe cabinets where they all go. It starts raining before it's time to go home and as I'm leaving I find that my umbrella is gone. I don't want anyone in the office questioning why I'm keeping them in the office with me from now. 

Who the hell steals umbrellas? 

Happened to me 2 times. It's not about the lost umbrella but the fact that you would actually need it, since it's raining. Learned my lesson and now I use one that fits into my bag. Not leaving it anywhere.

Currently a special education teacher in the United States and wishing I was teaching in Korea again. At least the kids are better and the social life is more fun.

Anyways, as a SPED teacher, one of my jobs is to ensure general education teachers and the school understand and follow a student's IEP, which is a legal document. I work with one teacher I've butted heads with a few times over this, because she doesn't feel she has to follow the IEP. I've been as diplomatic and upfront with her as possible and never gone behind her back to the principal or others in administration. Then I get an email from my principal today telling me that this gen ed teacher has "concerns" that I'm not implementing a certain student's IEP properly. This teacher is trying to throw me under the bus for the fact that she's not doing what is legally required of her. I f___king hate these kind of people. One good thing is I'm in communication with the student's mother and she's been entirely on my side.

When you exchange something in Korea, or pre-auth a gas pump, they charge your card before they release the existing hold.

Wife has some TV show on in the background. Some celebs touring Rome.

Using just a fork to slurp spaghetti like ramyeon noodles? Sounds and looks absolute horrid.