Hoengsong and Sokcho. Camp and Pokemon

I haven't taught at every GLPS camp at Minjok Sagwan High School in Gangwon Province, near Wonju, but I have been to many and greatly enjoy them. I probably enjoy them more than the students but I will save that kind of commentary for the end of this post.

It has been six years since I lived in Gangwondo and the places I remember have changed greatly. This post will be something of a tourist's report of my visit.

I had been suffering a slight abdominal pain, low and in front of my left hip joint for nearly a year.  Will trying to get in shape using the rowing machines at camp, something worked the pain is gone!

But I didn't exercise much as the temperature was high all camp.  I think we saw rain twice, both early in the first week of camp.  The rest of the time, we cooked.  I took the dog for walks but she didn't get as much time outside was either of us wanted.
Camp Pictures!

My son on the steps on the right. He joined a class attempting to safely drop eggs from great heights.

A student taught me about Hot Pepper Dragonflies.  This one, Crocothemis servilia only turns such a beautiful red during mating season. 

These two of a spider were the only good ones I took.  My phone camera would only focus on the distant sky.  What really drew me to this individual though was his loss of legs.  This is a four-legged spider!

Walking stick.

Some of my students had trouble doing actual research outside rather than just catching critters.

I found this salamander after one of the two rains we experienced.

One weekend, we returned home.  Good for us, but boring to write about.  The next weekend we went to Sokcho.  My son was born there eleven years and a few months ago but he hadn't visited in the six years we'd lived in Busan. He was very interested in seeing our old apartment and seeing what he might remember.

But mostly he was interested in Pokemon Go! In Korea, this game can only be played on Sokcho so far. This audio interview (autoplay) explains why. Basically, Korea is officially at war and Google isn't allowed to publish certain details on its maps in Korea so the resolution isn't good enough for game play (Daum does have that level of details for some reason).  The block of globe that Google aloted to Japan has a funny wing that reaches into one part of Korea - Sokcho - so the game is live there.

Sokcho is Pokemon-crazy with sign everywhere directing you in where to go and how to play.

It is horrifying to think that people are so into Pokemon that they throw their pets into the garbage!

Below, Ulsan Bowi was barely visible through the heat haze.

 After cooking in the direct sunlight, we found my only friend who still lives in Sokcho after six years and hung out on the beach.

These tetrahedrons are huge and break up the motion of the surf to protect the piers.  They are mostly jumbled together so I found the long view below fascinating and unique.

We also swam at Mul-Nori Soo-young Jang, a concrete box near the camp.  I didn't take any pictures but here is what I can tell you. Yoo-bi Castle Pension has rooms and campsite for rent. They also have a pool filled by stream water that is wonderfully refreshing. To find it, use Daum maps and enter "강원 횡성군 둔내면 영랑리 119 새주소강원 횡성군 둔내면 강변로영랑6길 115" in the search bar - hope you have the Hangeul character set on your computer.

KMLA is seeking a biology teacher

Korean Minjok Leadership Academy is a domestically famous high school, and is looking for a biology teacher. I am a science enthusiast and hobbyist but am uncertain if I would be able to teach and grade these classes. I feel this way because I have spent so long looking at very basic English essays and paragraphs; I don't think I could accurately judge the quality of a top high school lab report.

The job listing is at Dave's ESL Cafe and, because of my history with the school (I taught biology at their summer and winter camps for several years), I felt I should help in advertising the position.

Korean Minjok Leadership Academy (KMLA), a residential high school in South Korea, is seeking outstanding candidates for a full-time biology teacher. Located two hours outside of Seoul in the serene mountains of Gangwon Province, KMLA is a coed, independent secondary school for gifted students of Korean heritage with grades 10 through 12. KMLA was founded in 1996 to cultivate global leaders by training their academic mind and moral character. Each year, about half of our graduates attend top tier universities in Korea and the other half attends top tier universities and colleges in the U.S. and other countries. KMLA maintains an English-Only-Policy, which encourages all students to speak English on campus. Please refer to www.minjok.hs.kr for further details.

Qualifications
* Native or native-level English speaker
* Undergraduate degree in biology or related fields; M.S. or Ph. D. degree in biology preferred

Responsibilities
Primary responsibilities include: (1) teaching AP Biology, and other biology classes at high school or college level; (2) supervising students to conduct lab experiments and write research papers; and (3) being an active member in the Science Department and school community.

Kwandongbrian has a job!

Tomorrow, I will sign a contract with a university in Busan that is situated on a steep slope of a mountain.  I will probably leak more details later.

Job posting for Kwandong U

From Dave's ESL Cafe:

Kwandong University is looking for qualified candidates for Full-time Professors and Visiting Professors who will join KDU's English programs from March 2010.

Kwandong University is located in Gangneung City, which is on the northeastern coast of South Korea. Founded in 1954 based on the Christian Faith, it has an enrollment of 10,000 students. The campus is set in a beautiful area, surrounded by forest of pine trees. 

To learn more about Kwandong University and Gangneung city, visit : http://www.kwandong.ac.kr/, http://eng.gangneung.go.kr/

The successful applicant will teach credit university English classes, as well as non-credit university classes and children's English program. ...

The listing offers a pay scale for those with a Master's degree and those with a 4-year degree, but the job is essentially the same.

I have some problems I could nitpick about, but I have been at Kwandong for seven years and plan to stay longer; I am more than satisfied.  I have to admit, though, that I have not looked at other job postings in the past seven years, so other places may offer better deals.

Solving the birthrate crisis.

Birthrate incentives need to focus of returning women to the workforce.

Korea's incredibly low birthrate has been in the news a lot lately and I recently promised a serious post on the subject.  I will try to keep this post 'serious' but I am not sure how deep or authoritative it will be.  It may be serious in tone, but not so much in length.  alright, it is finished and it is a serious length, I would say.

From the Herald:

The government will soon launch a nationwide anti-abortion campaign and aggressively seek more foreigners to come and settle down here as part of efforts to keep the country's population from shrinking, a presidential council said Wednesday.

According to Yonhap News, the move comes as the country again marked one of the lowest birthrates in the world this year.

Let me start with the bad.  I am moderately pro-choice: there are good reasons to have an abortion and there are terrible reasons for having an abortion.  With one exception, I would like to separate this the subject of abortion from birthrate.  That exception is abortion due to the gender of the fetus.  I may return to this point later.

The plans to increase immigration are interesting.  I've been in Korea for a long time, possibly too long, but am not sure how educated I am about the culture (Two humourous links on the subject: asktheexpat, dokdoisours - back to serious-stuff) but this contradicts everything I know about minjok and keeping bloodlines pure.  I like the idea of Korea being more multi-cultural and being more a part of the world than it currently is, but it's clear we aren't thinking about birthrates anymore.

From the Times:

Recognizing the grave nature of this matter, the Presidential Council for Future and Vision proposed Wednesday a package of measures to lift the birthrate and provide support for childcare and education. One of the steps is to offer incentives for families with three or more children which include special interest rates on their mortgages. Third or additional children can also receive bonus scores on college entrance exams and job applications

...

The government has so far announced a series of different measures to promote marriages and childbirth to avert a looming population crisis. But we have to admit that those measures have proven to be unsuccessful at producing tangible results.

The Times also mentions immigration and the seriousness of Korea's low birthrate, but that's not the focus of this post.

The news about mortgages and universities is definitely part of this post.

I can't hold back from saying that it is so weird reading about such a strong government involvement in increasing the birthrate, when in the recent past, having more than one child in China would invite negative government involvement.

Alright, mortgage relief does sound like a good idea and it directly addresses the problem of finding a home big enough for a large family.  Scholarship and financial assistance would also help.  On the other hand, boosting a university entrance exam score and moving a job application higher in it's queue sound terrible.

The Chosun describes two reasons for the low birthrate.  The first is the high cost of raising a child, and the second, related, is the high cost of being a senior citizen:

Advanced countries offer comprehensive welfare benefits. They not only support the cost of raising children, but also guarantee the financial stability of elderly citizens after retirement. But the situation is quite different for the average Korean worker, who faces the constant threat of layoffs, may have already cashed in his pension, and lives in a nation where programs such as annuity insurance to prepare for life after retirement are just budding. Everyone feels pressured to have fewer children so they can save for retirement.

Here is a point that sounds exactly right to me.  I already see myself working until I am grey and bent over, then moving into a grim storage locker for my final days.  I will spend whatever it takes to raise a great child, but fear the cost of a second child.

We've heard enough from the papers; here are my thoughts.

I like the increased immigration plan for a variety of reasons.  It will bring more productive people to Korea and possibly decrease overpopulation elsewhere.  There might be a win-win thing going here and that always feels good.  I hope that immigrants can send some money home and take home some expertise to further assist other countries.  Unfortunately, this would dilute Korean stock and culture - while I don't have much respect for 'pure blood', I don't like the homogenization, the McDonald'sification  of the world.  I guess this is a luxury that we must do without to better care for our seniors.

While I do like the financial aid, I don't think it is fixing the specific limiting reagent involved.  I am a feminist and know that, in my profession, women are at least as capable as I.  Yet, somehow, women must be convinced to give up a year of professional growth, and probably longer.  Indeed, it almost has to be longer; after a year away from work, upon her return, a women might reasonably be less efficient than a man who has not taken time from work.  Presuming this is a traditional family with a wife and husband, it makes better financial sense for the man to keep working and the woman to stay home as long as is best for the child.

I love my son and love most of the time I spend with him but I also enjoy working and my job.  Most women feel the same way, I expect.  If a woman is being asked to have two or three or more children, that is a long time away from the workforce.

All this means women need educational and employment assistance for themselves as much as their children do.

--

Near the top of this post I mentioned abortion and new restrictions.  I can see that a lack of abortion services might raise the birthrate, but I foresee not only more children, but more miserable children.  I felt this way in the post leading up to this one - it described plans to lower the minimum age to enter school.  As a childish adult, I want to see happier children; children who are able to enjoy childhood, more than I want to see more children in general.  The Times touches on this point with "some education experts express concerns that the measure may bring about side effects such as children's difficulty in adapting themselves to school life at a younger age. They point out that education should not be tackled only from the point of economic efficiency."

Dying from voluntary overtime

From the Korea Times, I learned that Koreans really can work themselves to death.

Deaths that occur during "voluntary" nightshift should be acknowledged as industrial incidents and should be compensated for, a court ruled Wednesday.

According to the Seoul Administrative Court, a man identified as Park died after having run night shifts at a car accessory plant for more than five weeks in a row. The widow asked the government for compensation, but her request was rejected because he had volunteered.

This is almost the entire article. No word is given on where or how Mr. Park died. I can accept that the man wanted to work or needed the money or the like, but why would the plant want someone to work that long? If someone works himself to death, I would definitely be suspicious of the last few days products.

"I want a car built between Tuesday and Thursday and not by anyone who has worked double shifts for five straight weeks, please.

Movember

Movember is an annual, month-long celebration of the moustache, highlighting men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer and depression in men.

Mo Bros, supported by their Mo Sistas, start Movember (November 1st) clean shaven and then have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their moustache. During Movember, each Mo Bro effectively becomes a walking billboard for men’s health and, via their Mo, raises essential funds and awareness for Movember’s men’s health partners – The Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue – the national depression initiative. At the end of Movember, a series of Gala Partés are held to thank Mo Bros and Sistas for their support and fund raising efforts.

I think we have one more coworker who is growing a mustache for Movember.

In this photo is fellow G-blogger, Paka (with hat).

I am disappointed that my mustache is light coloured and doesn't stand out so well. I think I see a lot of grey in it.

First day of commuting by car

I don't expect to drive myself to work much on Thursdays as the university shuttle bus schedule closely matches my work schedule. I have a long day of teaching and would gain only thirty minutes, at the expense of not being able to rest, read and even sleep on the road.

However, my wife's schedule and my own conflicted in the morning and I had to take our son to daycare long after the shuttle bus had left. It was handy, then, to have the car, have the option.

And, of course, I was excited about driving for the first time in several months -I had rented a car while my mother visited (ironically, I may have to again when she next visits as our car, a Korando, is a two-seater).

The two drives- there and back - were an interesting contrast. On the drive there, I was unusually alert and careful. I drove aggressively but within my abilities; chiefly because I knew my skills were rusty and was deliberately paying more attention than usual. During the drive, I expected that in the future, perhaps in two or three weeks, my skills would have recovered a little but my comfort would have increased drastically. This, I figured, would be the most dangerous time for me, as I would be more confident than warranted.

Turns out, the ride home was nearly at that risk level. I was careful but tired from teaching. There were no problems, but several times I was surprised by stoplights and cars ahead that I should have (and in the morning, would have) noticed at a greater distance. I got home fine, and I am fine (tired, though) but the ride to work was a joy. The ride home, a chore.

Tomorrow, I will drive again. I can leave home a little earlier and not push myself on the road. I also finish early and will stop a few times on the way home.

I recognize that I am making this sound a little melodramatic -I know that I don't have to summit Everest or anything to get to work. Still, what I really want to discuss is the cost/benefit for driving compared to bussing. At this point, both modes of transport have their individual strong suits.

Oh, I will stop on the way home to do some shopping and sightseeing, not rest and recover from a stressful drive or anything like that.

Kwandong foreign teachers will start the semester late

University classes start at the regular time but foreigners will start a week late. I like the idea of time off but hate to be treated differently than the other staff.

In an effort to be fair about this, I expect the foreign students will also start late but no one felt the foreign teachers needed this information. Similarly, Korean professors who travelled overseas may also be asked to wait a week - again, there is no reason to tell the foreign profs this. As a group, my coworkers and I are the most likely to be returning from overseas, so I guess it makes sense.

Still, I have been in-country long enough to satisfy quarantine requirements and want to try to teach - as a student I would have loved to hear we have a week free, but as a teacher, I want to teach.

I had thought the quarantine at other schools was for everyone, not merely the foreigners. Perhaps I was wrong about that, too.

Oh, I have a week off but have been asked to stay away from crowded places. I would love some ironic suggestions in the comments

1. the plagiarism-investigations office of any school
2. the line at the bank for people with no credit card debt
3. Roh Mu-hyeon's gravesite now that Kim Dae-jung has stolen his thunder.
4. beaches after Aug 31: "it's too cold!"
5. ....your suggestion here...

Staff party in the country

Coming up on five years at Blogger, soon I hope to learn how to put my photos in order.

On Saturday, the little guy and I went to a pension owned by a coworker for a staff party.  We had a great time and, although this was the first pension I had visited, I really recommend it (Sumbi pension).

We've got to get the little guy a pet.  He loved the many animals at the pension.

The one, literal, blot on the landscape is the big-ass cement factory.
I will have to ask coworkers for permission to post their photos, but this one of ESL prof/yoga master Jenna might be good promotion for her.
Our host expected more children at the party and prepared a treasure hunt.  As my little guy was the only little guy, he found lots of presents.  I'm not sure, but perhaps the whole game-ploy was to let the others chat and relax without me bothering them.

"Yeah, KwandongBrian, you and your son look for toys for a few hours.  Have fun", snicker.

We did have fun, in part because neither I nor the people who made the clues had been to the pension before so many places were described haphazardly. 
He collected enough toys that when it was time to go to bed, he asked me if it was his birthday.  You'd think it was, especially with the great cake.
We all had a great time and I may post more pics after asking permission.

Pranks: successful but not satisfying this year

I was unable to think of a good April Fool's Day prank for the blog. Certainly nothing to match the success of 2007. Several co-workers set their clocks ahead. I also learned that ESL teachers are not math teachers as they worried about being late for work - April 1 was a Sunday and most caught on before the day ended, but if they hadn't fixed their clocks they would have been early for work.

This year, I had two pranks in mind. We ESL professors move from class to class through the day. Each Wednesday, we attend the same rooms but the schedule is hard to memorize. I check my schedule until late May, not needing it for the last class and exam.

Three professors have thumb tacked their schedules to a bulletin board in the staff room. One of them had too much handwriting for me to replace, but the others were relatively simple to change. Relatively: I tried at home but the template was a challenge so I gave up after two minutes and asked a secretary to open the original files and I changed a few classes for Wednesday and printed them up.

The prank was not completely smooth; I tacked the new schedules up over the old ones but put the wrong one on top. One of the professors thought something was wrong as her schedule was in the wrong place., but accepted the change as puzzling but minor.

On Wednesday, I saw her read her schedule and head to her (wrong) class. I chased after her, unnoticed, and set my camera to video. She did go into the wrong classroom and was suitably surprised but I probably won't post the video (even if she does give permission). She might have had some media relations training as when she didn't know what was happening but did know she was being filmed (by this point) so she just didn't say anything. I tried to goad her into saying something but come off as a jerk in the video while she appears (correctly) as sweet and innocent and very good-natured about the joke.

Her husband's schedule was also changed but I had to leave the university to return home before he was exposed to the changes. I will find out on Friday what he did. He's kind of a big, muscular guy so I hope he took it as well as his wife (He will, he's also as good natured as his wife).

In another prank, I convinced a co-teacher to come to my class to threaten me (I do this often - When the teacher leaves, I ask the students to describe him for the police). He came in and my students were prepared with sticks and swords and trained a Lord-of-the-Flies sort of chant, "Kill the teacher, Spill his blood, Bash his head!"

This was late in the day and he was prepared for April Fool's type pranks. He was maybe a little surprised but not terrified or anything.

I may have to take a year off or plan my pranks for earlier in the morning when others might not be aware of the date.

Another reason to not post video is that the files are so large - the new camera is higher definition than the old one - I should have set it on a lower setting. The files are huge but maybe I can shrink them.

Six boring months until the next great day: Hallowe'en.

10 things I like about my job

A coworker said (with some justification) that I was surprising negative about work considering that I had signed new contracts for seven years. Again, there is some merit to my coworker's claim, although I think it has more to do with our relationship at work then my native feelings. Still, the coworker struck a nerve and so here are ten things, in no particular order, I like about my job.

---___---___---___---

On Tuesday I have a full day with seven hours of classes. The classes, through the day, just keep getting better, with the three pm students appearing to be eager to learn right from the first day. The earlier classes are alright, but take a lot of energy to keep moving. The final class energizes me.

My office is large and comfortable, with a sofa and a sink.

The staff who keep everything organized, do, in fact, keep everything organized through the semester. They seem to run to help any teacher who has computer problems in the language labs. I think they are underpaid and I fear they are overworked but they are cheerful and friendly.

I don't work that much. I put this point in the middle as I didn't want to emphasize it much. It seems a little pathetic to say a good thing about work is that there isn't much of it. Still, I definitely enjoy having a long vacation; I will go to Canada this summer for a month, and still have a month to relax at home. I will have significant time off around Christmas. Throughout the year, I have a lot of time to spend with my son. I like that.

Interesting and likable coworkers. The ESL business in Korea involves a lot of transients, which means making friends is a challenge. Still, my university has a lot of long-term foreign teachers and we are fairly tight-knit. A lot of new teachers arrived this year and what I have learned of them, I like.

Freedom in teaching. For the most part, I have a lot of control over what I teach. There are exceptions but I am mostly happy with the confidence the university has in me and my choices. I can be as creative as I want.

I teach the same chapter of the first year book six times in a week. Lat year, I taught the same material to nine classes every week. Some people find this boring, and sometimes I agree, but mostly, I feel I am improving with every class. In January, my son and I watched a magician perform, and he had clearly rehearsed thoroughly and almost every move he made was deliberate. That's what I want my class to be like (minus the cruelty to birds, of course. I promise that I will not harm any birds in my class).

I have seniority at the university in my department. It's nice to be sought out and listened to.

I don't think you can beat the location. Well, it's possible that more beautiful places in Gangneung exist, but you can't beat Gangneung or the East coast of Gangwondo. There's no place in Korea I would rather live.

There's a surprisingly good English library on campus. Most, or all, books are at least twenty years old but many journals and magazines are current. This point reminds me to return to the library and have a look around tomorrow.

---___---___---

bonus: I might SCUBA dive with the university club this year. I have looked into it in previous years and either they've been unwilling (for language reasons primarily) or my schedule hasn't allowed it. I want to dive again.

Glue Traps are the Devil

I don't think I am a tough guy, but I seem to be the only person around who can put animals out of their misery. And glue traps create a whole lot of misery.

A glue trap can be a shallow tray with thick glue or an over-sized sheet of scotch tape. Well, that describes the two traps I have been involved with. Sometimes there is bait in the middle of the trap.

If the user is prepared and has actually read the frickin' instructions, the traps might not be that bad. Apparently (according to Wikipedia), cooking or baby oil will allow the animal to escape the glue. This is useful in a rural area but not so much in a location where the animal will have to be killed anyway.

Seven years ago, I lived and worked for a nightmare company in a beautiful location in rural Kyonggi-do. At one point, there was a problem with mice, so staff set up glue traps - but not very well, as one of the first catches was a little bird. The bird, in terror, tore most of a wing off while staff watched. I had not heard that oil could release the bird, and the people who set the trap weren't prepared; there was none on site. Finally, I took the bird and twisted it's head like I was winding a top. Honestly, I almost cried, but was satisfied the job was done. One jerk co-worker almost got punched for calling me a sadist. He had had no better suggestions in the fifteen minutes previous.

Today, at work, a rat had made it's way into the ESL offices. Again, staff had set up a few glue traps. Now, I approve of live traps if there is a plan to release the critter, but who releases rats? Who buys a glue trap and doesn't prepare to release the critter afterwards?

Anyway, the rat was caught and in it's struggles, nearly tore a leg out of it's socket (I'm not a doctor but I'm repeating what a staff member told me). I was in a meeting and later found the rat, on the floor near a garbage can in an out-of-the-way room. The rat had crapped everywhere - and that too was glued in place and it was clearly in a bad way.

After asking about their plans for it - none, I guess they hoped it would die quietly out there - I stomped on it, ending it's misery.

If you plan to trap an animal, also plan how you will dispose of the animal later. Use a non-leathal trap only if you want to release it afterward. If you plan to kill the animal, get a leathal trap: don't screw around.

These guys at Helping Animals don't care for glue traps either.

snow and stuff

Here I am in beautiful weather, shovelling snow. For a pencil-pusher like myself, sometimes a bit of vigourous labour feels great.
We were clearing the Coast Guard Memorial in Sokcho. Here are some Coast Guard conscripts doing their part - not necessarily voluntarily, as I was.


___---___
At work today, I found Pack the El Camino had received a package. Here, we can see the fragile sticker clearly visible and the box squished into the cubby-hole. That makes a lot of sense.

Should students want stability?

I taught a third year class to administration majors, the majority of whom wanted to work in the civil service. A large part of the class involved job interview questions, a bit challenging for my students and of questionable value, but the answers, at least to me, were interesting.

One answer, in fact. The question was, “Why do you want to work here?” It is, as those who have studied interview questions, a trick.

My students answered the question honestly, in acceptable English, and terribly. The overwhelming majority said, almost verbatim, “A government job is stable and safe. I want stability.”

Again, the English is fine, the question is correctly answered, but the answer is job-killing.

An old man like me, with a young child and serious responsibilities might reasonably want stability and maybe, might mention this in a job interview, but probably not.

A young person, with energy and few responsibilities, should take chances, should want to make changes, even.

It is the ‘make changes’ part that interests me and that I feel should charge youth with energy. Obama and his movement are one thing, an American thing, but most youth, I thought, have some political fire. Those wanting to work in the government should especially want to not merely work, but be involved.

I am now going to make a connection that solely exists in my mind, in stereotypes. I don’t think that my students are now interested in or ever will be interested in bribes or corruption, but I see so clearly a relationship between working in government without desire and sampling helping oneself, in taking the bribes, in asking for bribes.

Here are two articles – old and I hope the links work – about corruption in Korea.

From the Herald:

According to the survey, 50.5 percent of respondents said Korean civil servants are corrupt, whereas only 17.5 percent described them as free of corruption. The perception worsened from last year, when only 45.5 percent answered that Korean government workers are corrupt.

The foreigners' corruption index lowered to 4.05 from last week's 4.16. The index scores are out of 10, with zero being the most corrupt.

And the Korea Times (probably reporting on the same study):

Foreign professionals also gave low marks for the governance of Korean companies ― 40 percent said local companies' governance level remains ``low.'' More than 20 percent said the local business environment still favors chaebol over small- and medium-sized companies, while 25 percent argued conglomerates need to further clean up their ``cozy'' relationship with government officials. About 20 percent also criticized the lack of transparent accounting practices and said the chaebol management structure needs further reform.

They offered up several possible explanations for the corruption problems ― 35 percent argued that the local culture tolerates corruption behavior; others said administrative rules and practices encourage such behavior. Some also cited the legal system, which they described as being lenient toward those charged with corruption.

Oh, I noticed that I called the "Why do you want to work here?" question a trick. The answer should have, and I had trouble explaining this to my students, information about the company looking to hire. "I want to work here because I really like the way your organization does this, works on that, has XXX mission statement, etc." The applicant should research the place s/he wants to work. The applicant should also make a connection between him/herself and 'work on that', 'XXX mission statement' and the like. Anyway, again, statements that sound like, "I want to move into a cubicle and never leave it." should be avoided.

Who knew? Hagwon owners want to block unqualified teachers

The Korea Times has a very convoluted article describing the concerns of the Association of Foreign Language Institutes.

It is convoluted because the first half seems to be verbatim from an AFLI press release with their, uh, interesting, spin on the the subject of greater employment options for foreign teachers.

The AFLI doesn't describe the policy that way. They suggest, quote, "the government should block the inflow of unqualified native English teachers, making clear its opposition to a policy to increase the number of "questionable instructors"."

I have been mostly satisfied with the hagwons or institutes I have worked at in Korea. Min Byung Cheol Hagwon in Seoul was great - the money was okay, but more importantly, their dealings with me were completely above board, honest and transparent. I worked at two different hagwons in Masan and both deducted income tax from my salary but apparently never paid it -when I was set to leave and asked for income tax receipts, I was ignored. They also never supplied me with a health insurance card, as the contract stated they would.

The hagwons are not concerned with "questionable instructors". The real point of concern appears in the second half of the article (KIS, mentioned in the quote, is the Korean Immigrations Service).

Under current rules, E-2 visa holders sign contracts with hagwon owners on a one-year basis and are required to work at least nine months at a maximum of only two locations.

The immigration authorities told the association on April 16 that it will let E-2 visa holders transfer to other working places after a month and allow them to work at more than two locations.
The planned relaxation of the rules is aimed at maximizing the convenience for foreign English teachers, according to the KIS. Hagwon owners, however, are worried that this will lead to a high job turnover rate and jack up wages.

Quality hagwons have no reason to fear the changes and quality instructors will be more likely to stay in the country if they are not trapped in the employ of poorly-run schools.

The EFL Geek is also commenting on the article.

Employment discrimination

In my listening class, we are watching a PBS ESL video series called Connect with English. It chronicles the life of Rebecca Casey. Information about the series, and Video-On-Demand, can be found here (I'm not selling the product; I certainly don't love the product, but the info may be of interest to co-workers who read this blog).


When looking for a job, she was asked some inappropriate questions. Homework for that episode was listening to various job interview questions and determining which were illegal (I made the homework, it had nothing to do with PBS- just wanted that clear). That same week, I found this poster advertising job openings at the local E-mart. The ad specifically requires men between 20 and 35 years of age.

Foreign Workers repair flood damage

I just posted about native speaker English teachers possibly being whiners. Here is a story of some foreigners who really work hard in Korea. This group, at least, doesn't seem to be whining.

The foreign workers that day were all connected with the Ansan Foreign Workers Center in Ansan, Gyeonggi province. They volunteered to help with restoration of flood damage on a program managed by the JoongAng Ilbo and the Korean Association of Volunteer Centers.
On July 17, the Bangladeshi workers first discussed volunteering when they saw many flood victims suffering from loss and damage. In a meeting, about 30 workers decided to volunteer.

Also, Jodi at Asia Pages recently commented on meeting some a group of foreign workers near Busan.

Gangwon English Teachers in the news.

Two Gangwon English Teachers are in the newspapers this week.

In an article that could be titled: English Teachers - whiners or victims? Sara Avrams, a teacher in Youngwol, I believe, and an occasional speaker at the Gangwon KOTESOL meetings, is interviewed. She states that most of the time, the teacher involved didn't research the position well enough.

Teachers often hear horror stories about how the Korean legal system appears unwilling to get involved. Avrams points out that once they do get involved, the teacher is likely to be out of a job so nobody wins.

Avrams says the official channels will sometimes soft-pedal the gravity of the issue. Rather than rushing to court, they will often encourage the teacher to try to reach an agreement with the school.

"They are not trying to protect the employer, I think. They are aware that if they have to enforce a rule on behalf of the employee, the employee will likely be fired."

By offering advice to teachers rather than getting formally involved, the authorities are indeed helping. It's a reasonable point and I feel my POV broadening yet again.

Avrams worked as a legal educational advocate before coming to Korea so I expect her opinions to be based on fact. I can only describe my personal experiences. Here they are, should you care. (Below are my comments on an article by a second Gangwon English teacher.)

I certainly didn't do enough research before first coming to Korea but was apparently lucky. At my first hagwon, I learned of the loophole in the contract that all hagwons seem to love. Having a contracted set number of hours per month means they can work you into the ground in February. With Lunar New Year in a short month, 130 hours means almost ten hours a day.

I didn't get a year end bonus at that place because the roof leaked in a typhoon during my eleventh month there, closing the school. They did treat me well and I have no complaints with management.

I went home for a year before returning to Korea and working in Seoul. I knew better what questions to ask but had a strange interview. I asked many questions, eventually including a repeated, "Do you have any questions for me?" The interviewer explained that by asking smart questions, I had already displayed good knowledge of teaching and hagwon life. I was happy working at BCM. Some found the split shift exhausting - me, too, but I can sleep during the day.
In my second year, I was the foreign teacher liaison or coordinator. When I gave info to propective employees, I was positive about my experience but listed every problem we had had. Teachers I hired had their eyes wide open. There were fewer problems later that way.

Next, I worked at Baegam, Kyounggi-do. A nightmare job. I worked for ETC- this is where my blogging email address came from (brianetcetera (at) hotmail...) As always, great students but here is where I first saw creative accounting and other trickery. Oh, ETC changed it's name and a new company may now use the name elsewhere - any current ETC is not the one I am badmouthing.

I am now at Kwandong University. Almost any university position is superior to to any hagwon position and in my opinion, Kwandong takes good care of it's teachers. In general, you get better working conditions but students of a wider range of motivation at universities. It's easier for a teacher to be enthused at universities because there is more available prep time. The biggest negative for university work is, again, the range in motivation in the classes. Each class is fairly homogeneous in motivation but one class (best examples are medicine and education) is likely to be much more motivated than another (least motivated classes are typically piano, Phys Ed and Engineering). A few individuals will buck the trend, naturally.
Fro researchers on this university, there were posts on a blacklist website a few years ago. While there are problems at any jobsite, I don't think Kwandong belongs on any current blacklist.


The Herald closes it's archives to non-subscribers after a week -SO HURRY if you want to read it. They will be part two next week.


Rick Ruffin writes an interesting article about over- or conspicuous- consumption here on the peninsula. The article sort of reads like an interview with Jack who has no last name. On the whole, I agree with Jack's opinion about reducing consumption but he picks a strange opening example. He says,

"...the Korean government wants to build more dams. I understand that the recent floods were a terrible setback for hundreds of families living in the river valleys, but this response is only too typical for a world that can’t think outside the boundaries of ‘more.’ "

His other examples are all reasonable but he really doesn't give any alternatives to dam building. I can agree with drinking smaller amounts of coffee or using an air conditioner judiciously but these are not life and property-threatening choices.

I actually have a tiny bit of knowledge about dams in Korea thanks to a wonderful speaker who gave a lecture at Minjok Sagwan when I was working there. This speaker must remain even more anonymous than 'Jack' as I can't remember her name. Let me paraphrase what she told us:
Korea ranks very highly in total number of dams built and I believe is first in dams per capita. Dams are only stopgap repairs: They eventually silt up so they lose value in preventing floods or storing water for agriculture. Korea has been building dams for fifty years and still has flooding problems so they are clearly not a perfect solution.

Perhaps dams are not a longterm solution but they do mitigate the damage caused by flooding. A more appropriate opening example or alternative solution would have been nice.