Get Off Your Ass and Do Something

So god damn frustrated. I now end my school week on Fridays with the worst of all my classes. Granted, the time that I teach them is one of the worst in terms of energy level (2 periods after lunch). But the ones that aren't unabashedly sleeping are disruptive and misbehaved. To make matters worse, I KNOW my lesson is a good one this week. Every one of my classes has enjoyed it and it's been a blast to teach. My spirit was soaring until just now.

But that's not really why I'm frustrated. It's because of the co-teacher, of course.

With all the incessant bitching I did last semester about my co-teachers being incompetent, every single one of them seems like an angel descended from heaven to watch over me now. I now have 9 different co-teachers, as opposed to 5 previously, and almost none of the new ones speak English. It's absurd! Can you ever imagine anyone in the States being HIRED for a foreign language teaching position, much less applying, and barely being able to speak a word of it? Would the interview go something like this?

"So you're applying for the French teaching position at our school?"
"Yes, sir."
"Can you speak French?"
"No. Not really."
"Well, I guess if you can't speak it then you probably can't write all that well either. What can you do?"
"I can read and do exercises out of the placement exam textbook."
"Welcome aboard!"

Okay, so whatever. Even if I think there's a major problem in principle there, it's a cultural difference. My co-teachers can't speak English, but that's not their prerogative here so it's fine. What I don't get is this: you're assigned to be a "co-teacher" with a foreigner who doesn't entirely know how to deal with the Korean style of misbehavior, and thus you sit at the back of the room observing a class that might be reminiscent of Braveheart and Night of the Living Dead happening at the same time and you decide that nothing is wrong. Furthermore, you've zoned out so intensely that it takes the teacher saying your name 3 times for you to even realize you're being addressed, at which point you stand up, mutter "Everyone be quiet" at about -200 decibels, look around at the entirely unchanged situation, smile and nod at the teacher and sit back down.

This is actually rather new, because as negligent as most co-teachers are about what I'm teaching, they know how to handle a class going apeshit. But what pushed me over the boiling point was after the class ended, when he came up to me and said, "Jon, lesson very good. All student very interested in your topic. Good job."

Well, now that the fact that he's an utter idiot has been revealed, I can't decide whether this absolves him in some part for being fucking worthless in class or whether it makes it worse that he's there as some sort of authority figure or role model at all.

Oh, by the way, teachers in Korea can't be fired. That's why it's one of the most sought after professions. 100% job security. Once you get the job, you can basically sit in the classroom and pick your nose for an hour, you're still going to get paid the same amount and you're still going to have a job tomorrow.

GAH! I hear 300 is opening in Korean cinemas today... maybe watching that and imagining this guy's bespectacled, wrinkly, Yoda-like face on every Persian that dies will take some of this edge off. Peace.