RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

I reaaally don't like the common Korean question of "Which do you like better? Your home or here?"

It's such a trap question. Say your home, and it's an insult. Say Korea, and you're giving them that satisfaction that they want so badly.

I often just end up telling them "I dunno..." Since I truly am on the fence.

Last time I got asked that. I said both! They said, you can only pick one. So I picked Sweden. The co-T and students laughed a lot lol.

In my school's bathroom it's like pigs at a trough.  It sounds like they're half swallowing the toothpaste, bringing it back up to gargle with, then shoving their brushes to the backs of their throats and gagging on them.  Christ.

I've heard ajjumas do it too.

Yupyup, a lot of women do it, too, and I've nearly gagged a few times at how gross they can be in public restrooms, haha.

Not just the ahjummas, either, some of the young ladies could rival a lot of those old men.

My first trip to Seoul, I watched how one woman in her 20s projectiled rinse water from her mouth while standing at least a couple of feet away from the sink, and she never even attempted to bend over, either. Was just standing straight up while staring at herself in the mirror, spewing water out like a fountain. A lot of that water did NOT make it into the sink, too. She did it several times like it was the most normal thing. So now whenever I see really wet counters and floors in a bathroom, I can't help but think it's 90% spit.

No posts here since May 13th? Wow.

No posts here since May 13th? Wow.

Tis a Blessed Time in the Land or Mourning Clam

No posts here since May 13th? Wow.

Tis a Blessed Time in the Land or Mourning Clam

mourning clam. that's awesome. someone should make a flag

No posts here since May 13th? Wow.

I was literally thinking this a couple hours ago. Everyone must be in a good mood!

Oh, I've got a few grumps I'd love to rant about, but they're specific enough to compromise my identity, so everyone's spared the audacity.

But I have to admit that the last couple of weeks haven't been all that bad.

No posts here since May 13th? Wow.

Tis a Blessed Time in the Land or Mourning Clam

mourning clam. that's awesome. someone should make a flag

Land of Morning Qualms has also always resonated with me. Make 2 flags please!

we were studying about poems in one class. they had to give me some adjectives to describe korea. one student said 'small", which was good, so i wrote it on the board.

about half the class then went in uproar shouting "KOREA IS NOT SMALL! KOREA IS NOOOOOT SMALLLLL!", which was...weird. i asked them to name me a smaller country, and they couldn't, so...

it's so weird. i mean, this is a grade 5 class, and they are the upper level, so they are quite intelligent. where do they get this weird nationalistic nonsense from such a young age?

about half the class then went in uproar shouting "KOREA IS NOT SMALL! KOREA IS NOOOOOT SMALLLLL!", which was...weird. i asked them to name me a smaller country, and they couldn't, so...

107th out of 190. That said, the list doesn't descend in a pattern, the bottom half are waayyyyyyyy smaller than the top 25. Especially the bottom 20, they're dependencies, like Guernsey hahahaha

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_area

it's so weird. i mean, this is a grade 5 class, and they are the upper level, so they are quite intelligent. where do they get this weird nationalistic nonsense from such a young age?

I'd say parents but then I'd be surprised that they actually taught them something... It's weird. They even get surprised when you know even a little bit of Korean or know how to use chopsticks, like it was ingrained in them at birth that Foreigners can't do those things

2 days ago I almost fell over, the CT at my wife's Wednesday school sends her a message saying she can stay home today since the students are going on a trip. The reason I was so surprised is that my wife's CTs, particularly the one at that school, are ridiculously anal with the rules... despite the fact that they leave school early and don't pitch up for class, constantly. Her Wednesday school is a 30min drive from home, so she usually drops me off and goes to work.

I took the car today, got to work and at about 09:30, she calls me saying that the school changed their mind and want her to come in... by 10:15! After a lot of back and forth and "Let me ask the VP because I'm too pathetic to make a decision myself." My wife is told she can spend the day deskwarming, till 16:30, at her main school (about 10min walk from our apartment).
My wife has to stay because this total sonnofabitch actually phones her main school, twice, to make sure she's there.

The CT at my wife's main school is just as pedantic and phones the local MOE for absolutely every question regarding my wife. The calls are so frequent that the supervisor actually asked her to stop calling all the time.

2 days ago I almost fell over, the CT at my wife's Wednesday school sends her a message saying she can stay home today since the students are going on a trip. The reason I was so surprised is that my wife's CTs, particularly the one at that school, are ridiculously anal with the rules... despite the fact that they leave school early and don't pitch up for class, constantly. Her Wednesday school is a 30min drive from home, so she usually drops me off and goes to work.

I took the car today, got to work and at about 09:30, she calls me saying that the school changed their mind and want her to come in... by 10:15! After a lot of back and forth and "Let me ask the VP because I'm too pathetic to make a decision myself." My wife is told she can spend the day deskwarming, till 16:30, at her main school (about 10min walk from our apartment).
My wife has to stay because this total sonnofabitch actually phones her main school, twice, to make sure she's there.

The CT at my wife's main school is just as pedantic and phones the local MOE for absolutely every question regarding my wife. The calls are so frequent that the supervisor actually asked her to stop calling all the time.

She should have just said no. She couldn't make it to work and it was their fault.

2 days ago I almost fell over, the CT at my wife's Wednesday school sends her a message saying she can stay home today since the students are going on a trip. The reason I was so surprised is that my wife's CTs, particularly the one at that school, are ridiculously anal with the rules... despite the fact that they leave school early and don't pitch up for class, constantly. Her Wednesday school is a 30min drive from home, so she usually drops me off and goes to work.

I took the car today, got to work and at about 09:30, she calls me saying that the school changed their mind and want her to come in... by 10:15! After a lot of back and forth and "Let me ask the VP because I'm too pathetic to make a decision myself." My wife is told she can spend the day deskwarming, till 16:30, at her main school (about 10min walk from our apartment).
My wife has to stay because this total sonnofabitch actually phones her main school, twice, to make sure she's there.

The CT at my wife's main school is just as pedantic and phones the local MOE for absolutely every question regarding my wife. The calls are so frequent that the supervisor actually asked her to stop calling all the time.

She should have just said no. She couldn't make it to work and it was their fault.

2 days ago I almost fell over, the CT at my wife's Wednesday school sends her a message saying she can stay home today since the students are going on a trip. The reason I was so surprised is that my wife's CTs, particularly the one at that school, are ridiculously anal with the rules... despite the fact that they leave school early and don't pitch up for class, constantly. Her Wednesday school is a 30min drive from home, so she usually drops me off and goes to work.

I took the car today, got to work and at about 09:30, she calls me saying that the school changed their mind and want her to come in... by 10:15! After a lot of back and forth and "Let me ask the VP because I'm too pathetic to make a decision myself." My wife is told she can spend the day deskwarming, till 16:30, at her main school (about 10min walk from our apartment).
My wife has to stay because this total sonnofabitch actually phones her main school, twice, to make sure she's there.

The CT at my wife's main school is just as pedantic and phones the local MOE for absolutely every question regarding my wife. The calls are so frequent that the supervisor actually asked her to stop calling all the time.

She should have just said no. She couldn't make it to work and it was their fault.

That's what she initially said, to which the CT proceeded to run to the VP, who instructed her to deskwarm at the main school. CT then phones the main school's CT to tell her my wife will be deskwarming there... main schools CT phones the MOE to confirm the situation.

I don't think I've heard of anyone getting a bigger boner for bureaucracy than these 2.

Haven't ranted here in a while.

It's a struggle to teach at my middle school. I've had to tell my CTs multiple times not to give the answer to the question or puzzle I'm trying to show the kids. They'll literally start hinting at the answer immediately after I finish asking the question, if they don't outright tell them. It's frustrating.

If I wanted to tell them the answer outright, it'd make a lot more sense to write it on the Powerpoint than to ask them for it.

Haven't ranted here in a while.

It's a struggle to teach at my middle school. I've had to tell my CTs multiple times not to give the answer to the question or puzzle I'm trying to show the kids. They'll literally start hinting at the answer immediately after I finish asking the question, if they don't outright tell them. It's frustrating.

If I wanted to tell them the answer outright, it'd make a lot more sense to write it on the Powerpoint than to ask them for it.

I have a coT that's like this, too. She's a lovely woman, but she really baby's the kids. In my coT's case, it's because she honestly doesn't believe the students will figure it out on their own, or that it will take them too long and therefore take away from their game time. In her defense, though, she's responsible for the lowest level students (my third grade students are split off into separate classes according to their levels), and a lot of their attitudes usually follow her belief -- not because they can't do it, but because, due to a lack of confidence among other things, they just don't want to put in the effort.

The funny thing is that most of these students are actually very sharp and can solve puzzles using logic more quickly than a lot of the more advanced students, and some of them have openly expressed irritation with my coT for "getting in their way" lmao. But habits die hard, so my coT still hovers in the back whispering the answers to select students who don't really care about it one way or the other.

Haven't ranted here in a while.

It's a struggle to teach at my middle school. I've had to tell my CTs multiple times not to give the answer to the question or puzzle I'm trying to show the kids. They'll literally start hinting at the answer immediately after I finish asking the question, if they don't outright tell them. It's frustrating.

If I wanted to tell them the answer outright, it'd make a lot more sense to write it on the Powerpoint than to ask them for it.

I have a coT that's like this, too. She's a lovely woman, but she really baby's the kids. In my coT's case, it's because she honestly doesn't believe the students will figure it out on their own, or that it will take them too long and therefore take away from their game time. In her defense, though, she's responsible for the lowest level students (my third grade students are split off into separate classes according to their levels), and a lot of their attitudes usually follow her belief -- not because they can't do it, but because, due to a lack of confidence among other things, they just don't want to put in the effort.

The funny thing is that most of these students are actually very sharp and can solve puzzles using logic more quickly than a lot of the more advanced students, and some of them have openly expressed irritation with my coT for "getting in their way" lmao. But habits die hard, so my coT still hovers in the back whispering the answers to select students who don't really care about it one way or the other.

Yeah, pretty much all of this. It's sad that even the teachers themselves don't wanna have confidence in the students to solve challenges placed before them but that's the way it is, unfortunately.

Haven't ranted here in a while.

It's a struggle to teach at my middle school. I've had to tell my CTs multiple times not to give the answer to the question or puzzle I'm trying to show the kids. They'll literally start hinting at the answer immediately after I finish asking the question, if they don't outright tell them. It's frustrating.

If I wanted to tell them the answer outright, it'd make a lot more sense to write it on the Powerpoint than to ask them for it.

I have a coT that's like this, too. She's a lovely woman, but she really baby's the kids. In my coT's case, it's because she honestly doesn't believe the students will figure it out on their own, or that it will take them too long and therefore take away from their game time. In her defense, though, she's responsible for the lowest level students (my third grade students are split off into separate classes according to their levels), and a lot of their attitudes usually follow her belief -- not because they can't do it, but because, due to a lack of confidence among other things, they just don't want to put in the effort.

The funny thing is that most of these students are actually very sharp and can solve puzzles using logic more quickly than a lot of the more advanced students, and some of them have openly expressed irritation with my coT for "getting in their way" lmao. But habits die hard, so my coT still hovers in the back whispering the answers to select students who don't really care about it one way or the other.

Yeah. This is super annoying, and I've found that in a lot of cases, it's a situation where the CoT either things a) the native teacher doesn't understand the Korean students well enough, and is giving them unfairly difficult questions, or b) that the students can't handle even a tiny shred of challenge, even when it is appropriately leveled. Both of these are wrong and condescending in their own way.

But! The best thing I learned about this kind of situation is to stop caring and just let them do whatever they want as long as it doesn't make my job any harder.

Haven't ranted here in a while.

It's a struggle to teach at my middle school. I've had to tell my CTs multiple times not to give the answer to the question or puzzle I'm trying to show the kids. They'll literally start hinting at the answer immediately after I finish asking the question, if they don't outright tell them. It's frustrating.

If I wanted to tell them the answer outright, it'd make a lot more sense to write it on the Powerpoint than to ask them for it.

I have a coT that's like this, too. She's a lovely woman, but she really baby's the kids. In my coT's case, it's because she honestly doesn't believe the students will figure it out on their own, or that it will take them too long and therefore take away from their game time. In her defense, though, she's responsible for the lowest level students (my third grade students are split off into separate classes according to their levels), and a lot of their attitudes usually follow her belief -- not because they can't do it, but because, due to a lack of confidence among other things, they just don't want to put in the effort.

The funny thing is that most of these students are actually very sharp and can solve puzzles using logic more quickly than a lot of the more advanced students, and some of them have openly expressed irritation with my coT for "getting in their way" lmao. But habits die hard, so my coT still hovers in the back whispering the answers to select students who don't really care about it one way or the other.

Yeah. This is super annoying, and I've found that in a lot of cases, it's a situation where the CoT either things a) the native teacher doesn't understand the Korean students well enough, and is giving them unfairly difficult questions, or b) that the students can't handle even a tiny shred of challenge, even when it is appropriately leveled. Both of these are wrong and condescending in their own way.

But! The best thing I learned about this kind of situation is to stop caring and just let them do whatever they want as long as it doesn't make my job any harder.

please understand them. they are only children

Some of my students who sit in the back of my last class today have gotten real chatty recently, a boy and a girl. So you know the solution my CT comes up with to get them to quiet down?

Let them go outside and get it out of their system.

Not only does this not work, but it causes even more of a distraction. I literally had to sit down and talk with both them and my CT after class. Students are the obvious struggle, but I really wish it didn't have to be my CTs as well