By The Koreas
- Here are some nice pictures of the cherry blossoms in Suncheon.
- Sex as power in the South Korean military.
- Does Korea lack a culture of discussion?
- China and the DPRK are apparently cooperating on a dam project on the Yalu.
- The North Koreans are looking for other Chinese investment as well.
- Instability in North Korea could be growing as a curfew on the border city of Hoeryong has been implemented.
- MBC apparently spreading misinformation about the Cheonan sinking.
- Information about North Korean suicide squads.
- Why the Sunshine Policy made sense.
- 10 books that influenced Ask A Korean’s view of the world.
- By the way who knew Ask A Korean was an impostor?
- Some rumblings about ATEK.
- Some comments on the results of the 10 Magazine poll for everyone’s favorite K-Blog.
- Are you a Korean man looking for a Canadian wife? Well here is your chance, if this is for real.
- Another taxi cab rape and killing is making the news in Korea.
- Be sure to check out ZenKimchi’s updated Korean Food Journal webpage.
- A day at the Filipino market in Seoul.
- Is Misuda on its way out the door?
- They are ridiculous, but you have got to laugh at these Korean-American gangster cartoons.
- Are Filipina English teachers being discriminated against in Korea?
Japan
- These Japanese women sure have some knockers with those scarves.
- New Zealand offers practical whaling compromise with Japan.
- There truly is a blog for everything, even watching vending machines in Japan.
- Manchurian brides in Japan?
- If you live in Japan and use PayPal you might want to read this.
- Here are some very nice pictures of cherry blossoms in Tokyo.
- An interesting and write up about Hiroshima’s A-bomb Dome.
- Look at what North Korean refugee is visiting Japan.
- Mini dog pizza in Japan.
China
- Is there a greater case of hospital malpractice than this?
- It shouldn’t come as no surprise which city in China is its wealthiest.
- Shanghai’s very own version of Susan Boyle.
1:48 pm on April 4th, 2010 1
"Some rumblings about ATEK."
I was thinking about why ATEK failed.
It seems the organizers were more interested in setting up organizations than doing something immediate and useful for the majority of teachers.
The "Women and Minorities Status Coordinator" was a clue. There are several others.
Another problem is that short-haired, high-cheekbone, can-do teachers have no need for assistance or activism… they find success on their own… which is pretty much the default outcome for any foreign teacher who comes to Korea and makes even a modest effort.
This means an organization such as this is going to attract a disproportionate number of semi-functional people with solution-desperate problems… largely self-created. And most of these people will be leaving Korea in a year or less anyway… making way for a whole new group of needy dependents.
I conclude that the entire model is flawed.
What many "teachers" need is guidance.
They need to be taught to dress professionally, minimize unnecessary conflict, how to interact with students and coworkers properly, how to resolve or endure trivial problems without troubling everyone around them, make small sacrifices to demonstrate team loyalty… and, in a surprising number of cases, how to shower regularly. There are many, many others.
Sometimes, a good teacher needs assistance with problems not of their own creation… and that's when advice can be given, help can be rendered and referrals can be made by a pool of Korean citizens and long-term Korean residents who are interested in the success and reputation of the English-teaching industry.
Further, good teachers throughout the country who have refined lesson plans for commonly-used books can submit them for review and, if approved, they can be downloaded by the vast majority of teachers who wing it each day in class.
These are real, much-needed services that give positive instantaneous results that bickering in the media over drug tests don't.
To recap this off-the-top-of-my-head writing…
1. Teachers need checklist-style guidance on how to live in Korea, how to work at a hogwon and how to be better teachers.
2. Teachers need a small selection of complete and un-confusing lesson plans… instead of the disorganized hodge-podge crap that most English sites offer.
3. Teachers need a Q&A collection of clearly-written advice on how to resolve (or avoid) the most common problems they are likely to run into.
4. Teachers need clear, numbered procedures on what to do and who to see if they feel they have been wronged and there is no other resolution
I believe a useful organization can be made… but it must be done from the bottom up… helping teacher be better teachers and better people through a simple website that gives clear and concise information.
With a larger pool of professionalized teachers, many of the problems requiring political activism will solve themselves.
On another note, if someone where to write all this up and put it into a book (think Keys to the Kingdom) it could probably sell well to the teacher/prospective teacher crowd.