Rheno747, B.A., M.A., PhD, Hard Knocks U
- 2006-06-07
From what I'm hearing from a new colleague, this is the source of TESOL ills in South Korea. And this guy should know. He spent 16 years teaching in South Korea. After hearing his tales, I'm not so sure I want to go there again. Not now. Not ever. No one in Asia is as ruthless, business-wise, as the SK guys.
My colleague and I are reading some of these posts from folks about the prices in South Korea and laughing our ##### off. He won't post any replies, as he believes it's not worth the trouble. But we both know--South Korea is one of the most expensive places in Asia to live, and anyone going there will soon discover this. These folks really need to be aware that budgeting is important in SK. There'll be no cheap necessities waiting on you when you fly to Incheon or Gimhae.
Virginia Slim
- 2006-06-06
No woman would ever write what I see in this thread. Now I know why the world is in such a mess... a cocktail of male hormones mixed with ego and greed (excuse the pun, boys).
Rheno747, B.A., M.A., PhD, Hard Knocks U
- 2006-06-05
Wait. Are you going or are you staying? Don't go. Please. This site needs your kind. I need your kind for target practice.
No, I'm no teacher. When I dropped my big money on my TESOL toilet paper, I thought otherwise. I thought my measly TESOL would turn me into someone deserving of that title. Yeah, I bought into all that BS.
Was I ever wrong. I see now I should have gotten a master's in Education, gone to clown college, and gone to South Korea. THEN I could have called myself a genuine TESOL teacher in Asia.
What can I say? I just have a TESOL. A TESOL doesn't even come close to qualifying someone to teach. Here in Asia, one could probably qualify to be a teacher if he's gone only to a clown college. Those guys could probably get away with being high school drop-outs. Their students would love them, and so would their schools, although no one would really be learning anything.
Raoul Duke
- 2006-06-03
Thanks for the nice post.
My only quibble is the use of the word 'clique'. I'm not aware of one.
Myself, I read throuh the new posts. If I feel I have something to say about a thread, I throw it out there where it can be believed, not believed, or totally ignored. Whatever.
I don't know these other posters personally. I only know the ideas they project online, and I deeply respect most of them as I do the posters. But there's no clique that I know of.
Raoul Duke
- 2006-06-03
Uh, there was a verbal battle? That erroneous low-brow puling was supposed to be a verbal battle? And you supposedly WON?
You flatter yourself unduly. I can take ya, punk, AND call you names at the same time. I suspect a number of us can.
However, I'm not really here to engage in stupid, nasty, pointless verbal battles (assuming one ever appears) with you or with any other slimeball that happens to crawl out from some random rock.
So go play with yourself. Again.
Neal Braun
- 2006-06-03
Just as I thought, when people the likes of ya'll get called on your BS and you can't win the verbal battle, you resort to name calling. Hardy Har Har! Sure shows your high level of intelligence and cultural sophistication. I think I'll start putting in some inane posting everyday to point this up and see how all you like it. By the way, I have more experience in ESL than probably all of you put together, and My BA, MA, and PhD are real not contrived. So long Suckers!
Megaladon
- 2006-06-03
Mr. Braun, you sound as though you are either very new to TESOL or very young. You're probably both.
I agree with you that sometimes posts from some of these guys sort of sound like broken records, but that's how TESOL is, my friend. It hasn't changed in years. Why would these posts change from the experienced TESOL veterans given this reality? The scammers and thieves were out there yesterday. There out there today. They'll be out there tomorrow. I expect tomorrow's posts from the likes of this clique will reflect that.
Keep those posts coming, clique-boys! I love reading them, especially yours, Rheno. I teach in Thailand too and I know how it is, man. Your posts are right on the money every time.
Take care, all.
The Arrogant One
- 2006-06-03
Dear Mr. Braun,
Information about the teaching of ESL is one thing, but a faithful reportage of existing conditions in the TEFL realm--be they good, bad, or indifferent--plays an equally important rle for the majority of our fellow instructors everywhere. Granted, some of the material submitted to this Board may now and then be of a somewhat--shall I say--inconsequential nature. H-O-W-E-V-E-R, when you proceed to attack the talents and altruistic intentions of regular contributors to this forum--outstanding colleagues such as, Rheno, His Grace Duke Raoul, and others--I feel I must vehemently object to both your dire lack of comprehension and gross insensitivity. But, as Rheno so wisely suggests, NO ONE is forcing you to read any of our Board submissions, nor, in the final analysis, does ANYONE give a rat-f**k as to whether you approve or not! In short, if ever again you are confronted by a post emanating from any of our (as you put it) little clique, in the immortal words of Dionne Warwick..."Just walk on by."
Yeah, Seor Schmuckalovitch ... just walk the f**k on by!
The Arrogant One
Raoul Duke
- 2006-06-02
Wow, which forums is this asshole reading?
I think I've been pretty much on-topic.
Go back and read my posts for yourselves, if you care to. Maybe I'm wrong.
Robin Day B.Sc. MSc. B.Ed.
- 2006-06-02
I worked and shopped all over Korea for the last 10 years. That's what I know. Tooth paste does not cost $10 a tube unless you are buying a 3 kilo tube. Never saw one myself. Ha ha.
Regarding expensive fruit..it is no more expensive than in Canada or the US but Korea does have some very special fruit that goes for premium prices. That is because Koreans are masters at growing certain types of fruit. They have the longest strawberry season I have ever seen (maybe Feb. to June) and that is because they extend the seasons with greenhouses and lights. Have you ever seen a pear as big as a basketball. I did. They have monster pears from Naju near where I lived (Gwangju). They are sold in individual boxes as prized gifts and they do sell for a lot, $25+ each and that was 1997. They are exceptional, unblemished, and sold to Japan or used on ancestral altars. The same goes for exceptional watermelon from Mudung Mountain Gwangju. They are famous all over Korea and command a higher price. Regular watermelon and regular pears have regular prices. Asian markets in general are great places to visit but some things may disturb a Westerner. I just came from a snake, turtle and frog market in China. There were puppies for sale too (urp!).
Rheno747, B.A., M.A., PhD, Hard Knocks U
- 2006-06-02
Okay, okay. The cat is out of the bag. Yes, I've been found out. People know now.
Yes....I have been holding a gun to this guy's head and FORCING his dumb ass to open one of my posts. I guess I, with my perfectly pristine fingers, have to slink back to my classes, with my tail between my legs.
Like I NEED this guy's approval before posting. If you don't like what someone has had to say here in the past, you won't like what he has to say today. Simply avoid the post if you can't handle the truth it tells. I'm not here to please anybody or make "friends". Let's get that straight.
Neal Braun
- 2006-06-02
Every once in a while I check these pages to see if there is any information about teaching ESL, but all I see is the same old tired BS from the likes of Rheno, The Arrogant One, and Raul Duke. Don't you people have anything else to do except expound on all those ridiculous topics like the price of Pizza and Toothpaste. I'm thinking you all must have callouses on your fingers from all that typing. I doubt if anybody else except your little click pays any attention to all your crap. What about teaching ESL?
Rheno747
- 2006-05-28
Who do you think you're talking about, ##? I was IN Changwon, in case you didn't get that in my post. My eyes didn't lie. I wasn't on drugs or hallucinating. I DID see plenty of very, very expensive shit. I saw plenty of cheap things as well, if one wants to settle for items of inferior quality or stustain himself on rock soup or even tree bark.
Exaggertating. What a claim. You don't know what you're talking about.
Perhaps it IS cheaper to live in other places, but based on what my newest colleague is telling me, Seoul is even more expensive than Changwon, assuming the OP is even heading to Seoul. 5 million in key money isn't cheap. And you WILL be paying 12 bucks for melons in Changwon in the summer time. I guarantee it.
Robin Day B.Sc. MSc. B.Ed.
- 2006-05-27
The job offer you received sounds good. BUT..
It is very unusual to be offered a 6 month contract with a return ticket. I am wondering why you were offered this? Maybe you are exactly what they want blonde female and young. This is good for marketing and I am not being sarcastic. I know the market in Korea. The other suspecion I have is that the school will fly you in for 6 months (You are Canadian?) and not actually register you as a worker. Canadians can come on a tourist visa for 6 months, Americans cannot. The other possibility is that it is all quite honest. If you don't get a work visa sticker in your passport after arrival you will not be legal.
Reno is exaggerating about the $10 toothpaste (It's cheap there), but pizza is expensive as Korea makes no real cheese or pepperoni. Franchise ingredients are mostly imported. Korean foods are reasonably priced and I like them. Teaching small kids all day is very tiring. It takes a young person. Tomorrow I turn 50 and am going to retire. Woopie!
Most schools ask teachers to do 6 classes each week day. You have fewer. That's good. I suggest you not work on Saturdays. It burns you out.
One thing to remember: Will you be holding the return ticket or have you been promised it after the 6 months are up? The school normally holds it. I'm in China now and forgeting my Korean. Pity. Go to the article called Survival Korean. It will help you adjust. I have a number of lessons for Koreans and articles posted in the beginning months of this website, 2003. You will find them a help.
Rheno747, B.A., M.A., PhD, Hard Knocks U
- 2006-05-26
That does sound like a pretty good deal, assuming you like teaching brats. I hate teaching brats, but you may love it. And about 2 million is the "going rate" in SK these days. That's pretty good money. It's not fantastic, but it's not bad. If the school is covering your rent/key money, that definitely sweetens the deal. Key money is like 5 M won in
SK for a good apartment. Make sure this issue is cleared up before getting on the airplane.
It sounds like this job is a hogwan, the common after-school "cram-school" rich people send their kids to after normal school. These aren't bad IF you don't mind brats. I worked at one of these for about a week last year. The director lied to me about the ages of my learners and suckered me up there from Bangkok. He paid for that trip, but I had to pay for my return flight eight days later. It was an expensive lesson learning I hate teaching young kids. I should have punched the director out on the way out the door, though. I regret not doing that. F...ing liars.
Be warned, though. When I went to SK last year, I found prices outrageous where I was teaching. In Changwon, a government 'planned' city about 30 miles southwest of Busan, I saw 35-dollar pizzas, 12-dollar watermelons (medium-size), and ten-dollar tubes of toothpaste. Be careful with your expenses wherever you go.
Scott
- 2006-05-26
Are you going to teach in Seoul?
Single apt?
Are they (school) sending you the E-2 visa with the plane tickets r/trip)?
For 6 months take it.
S.
I just accepted a contract to teach in South Korea at an ESL Institute for younger children. It sounds like a good deal to me...r/t airfare for a 6-month contract, 27 hours/wk, private apartment, $2000US/month. Does this sound like a good deal? I have little to compare it with. Reading through all these blogs I feel like I should consult others with more experience. thanks!