Party, Meeting, Complaining

The party was actually quite fun. We walked to a hof just a few minutes from the school. About 12-14 people were there (Lee and a friend of his came later). They ordered some kind of set so the food kept coming--some kind of noodles, grilled stuff, fruit, squid, never-ending popcorn, and huge pitchers of beer. I made one 6-ounce cup last the whole time, taking a sip only when the salt in my mouth forced me to. It was a good time, but like most parties everyone had to stay later than they wanted to. If you're the first to leave it looks very bad, so everyone usually leaves together. We left at 1 AM. I lucked out with a woman taxi driver, and one who was quite good. I was home, checked my email, and in bed by 1:45. (It was way too late to do a load of laundry because of the noise.) This morning I woke up around 6 or 7 (I don't even know what time it was!) because of the sun and started the clothes, then when it beeped to announce that it had finished I got up just long enough to hang up one of the thinner pairs of pants. When my alarm rang and I had pushed the snooze button as long as I could, I got up and ready and finished hanging up the rest of the clothes. The pants were dry enough to wear.

I actually arrived a little early for the 10:30 meeting. It only lasted an hour, so we got there entirely too early. Young (Mugeo director) was supposed to show us how to use the website (daily reports, journals, and evaluations will be done on the computer now) but he wasn't prepared. The new MBT website isn't even ready yet, so he showed us on the OSS site, which is mostly in Korean. SHOWED us is definitely the right word, because he didn't say ANYTHING. That part was a waste of time. It was nice to socialize with people, though, and we had a nice lunch (in the classroom) of sweet and sour pork and mandu. Besides Taehwa teachers we had KJ and Dane from Mugeo, Nathan from Samsan (where was Gloria??), and Terrence from the one way far out. All three directors were there, too. (Shouldn't the Samsan manager have attended??)

Nathan is having MAJOR problems at his school (Samsan branch). Sue is basically the manager because Michael is never there. Her attitude SUCKS. She actually told him, "You're not here to actually teach. You're just here for show." Way to go in making the teacher feel needed and appreciated!! Then she made him rush to finish evaluations on the kids, but then she CHANGED THE GRADES to better grades. He has repeated problems with certain students but she won't discipline the kids. She called the lesson plans that Sandra and Joelle wrote "shit" and is writing her OWN lesson plans which she'll probably try to force on all the schools in this new franchise. Nathan seems like a really good teacher who wants to make the extra effort to do a good job. Sue even acknowledges that he works hard, but then makes horrible comments like that to him!

Everyone wants to feel that their work has value. If what I do doesn't matter, then why should I try to do a good job? It's like with some of the Korean teachers that I've worked with in the past--if they re-teach EVERYTHING that I've taught, then why should I bother to teach it in the first place???? (Reviewing it or checking for comprehension is another thing entirely.) Sue being best friends with Ally certainly doesn't help. It sounds like Ally is controlling a lot of stuff there. They continue to lose students, and are losing money. Nathan seemed really stressed about everything--I don't know if he'll last the next 6 months until his contract ends. He has said that he plans to stay in Korea for an extended period to learn the language so if Mr. Kim played his cards right he could perhaps get a long-term teacher.

Sue needs to go. She thinks her English is perfect but it's not, and she has no idea what it's like to be a foreign teacher here!! If she tries to push her lesson plans onto us I'll try to remain objective as I look at them. But if they're not good for my students, I will at least talk with Mr. Kim about it. Since it's likely to be towards the end of my contract before anything is changed, I couldn't make a big deal out of it (not wanting to jeopardize my plane ticket and severance pay). But I would certainly say something.

Joelle listened as Nathan, Sandra, and I discussed all of this. She understands how we feel, and I think she feels the same way about Sue. Joelle can be sort of wishy-washy when it comes to talking to Mr. Kim, though, so I don't know what kind of ally we have. Right now all the Taehwa teachers are working together REALLY well, though, while the Samsan campus has a tense environment. We also have more teachers and FAR more students. Strength in numbers??

Enough complaining for now! Oh, while Sandra's gone I'll be leading the monthly foreign teachers' meeting at work. That should be interesting.