It’s the halfway point in my contract, with the second semester starting. And… I’m a bit mixed in my feeling for teaching in Korea. Personally, I’ve got a pretty good situation with the middle school that I am teaching with. The principal and vice principal are both really supportive, and all my co-teachers are friendly and are very fluent in English. The students act up a bit, but they do behave at the end. And the majority of them genuinely try to learn, and practice a sentence or two whenever they see me, in the halls, on the bus, on the street, etc.
However, I’m still disputing my pay for teaching at the district camp, over a month after the fact. I have problems with the bureaucracy that’s paying unequally for teachers doing the same amount of work. I have problems with the lack of transparency with the compensation for work and the lack of documentation of pay and work. Sure, we should be asking for our documents. But I am getting sick of repeating myself for the same thing again and again. Not with my school. Just with the district.
Do I want to be teaching as a career? The answer is no. Do I like teaching? Yes. The question now is how long do I want to teach? There are several avenues I want to explore, the foremost being getting my Korean language skills up to native proficiency. Staying another year is a hard thing too decide, but my decision point is coming up soon.
Uncertainty can be happiness 
The halfway point
Posted by quirksalight on September 8, 2008
It’s the halfway point in my contract, with the second semester starting. And… I’m a bit mixed in my feeling for teaching in Korea. Personally, I’ve got a pretty good situation with the middle school that I am teaching with. The principal and vice principal are both really supportive, and all my co-teachers are friendly and are very fluent in English. The students act up a bit, but they do behave at the end. And the majority of them genuinely try to learn, and practice a sentence or two whenever they see me, in the halls, on the bus, on the street, etc.
However, I’m still disputing my pay for teaching at the district camp, over a month after the fact. I have problems with the bureaucracy that’s paying unequally for teachers doing the same amount of work. I have problems with the lack of transparency with the compensation for work and the lack of documentation of pay and work. Sure, we should be asking for our documents. But I am getting sick of repeating myself for the same thing again and again. Not with my school. Just with the district.
Do I want to be teaching as a career? The answer is no. Do I like teaching? Yes. The question now is how long do I want to teach? There are several avenues I want to explore, the foremost being getting my Korean language skills up to native proficiency. Staying another year is a hard thing too decide, but my decision point is coming up soon.
Posted in ancedotes, Buheung MS, Bupyeong, Incheon, Korea, Social commentary, teaching english | Tagged: Buheung MS, commentary, Incheon, Korea, Teaching english in Korea | Leave a Comment »