You may recall that I wrote an article discussing common misconceptions about teaching English in Korea. Now, I’d like to turn my focus to coworker miscommunication – fostering effective communication at your school can make or break your experience. I have spoken with many teachers (Korean and foreign) and some administrators about the issues they’ve faced and I’d like to take a moment to share some of their stories. This post focuses on issues faced by Native English Teachers (NETs), but I hope to follow-up with some feedback from Korean teachers and administrators.
My first 3 (out of 4) coteachers – miss these ladies!!
I told my students to open their books to page f@!k you. I meant to say page 18, but I was obviously wrong.Â
To those of you NOT living and / or teaching in Korea, you may not know, but those two words sound almost exactly alike. If you ever have the need to say #18 (ì‹íŒ”), make sure you pronounce it correctly–or, just avoid it ^^
6 months after starting at my first school I was told by my main coteacher that two others were unhappy with my classes. They never mentioned anything to me and pushed it all on my main coteachers, who felt ultra awkward about it all.
This is an all-too-likely situation. Saving face is a HUGE deal in Korea (and plenty of other places) and direct confrontation is not common. Many coworkers may feel uncomfortable bringing any issues to you and may put off speaking with you until it is too late for you to do anything about it. Be aware that this may happen. I DO recommend you sit down with each of your coworkers and explain that you really want to grow as a teacher and that you welcome any and all feedback, but DON’T expect it to happen, especially as some people may view asking for help as a weakness.
My second year there, I had a different main coteacher who was so afraid of talking to the foreigner for more than 2 minutes that he/she would often just say yes to whatever I asked from him/her.
This happened to me too! Keep in mind that teachers (at least in elementary schools) did NOT major in English. Many of them have not had any specialized training in English and it may be their first time teaching the subject at all (much less with a native speaker). This is a very delicate time and you must approach this situation with the utmost sensitivity. You may get extremely frustrated (especially if they teach the entire English class in Korean), but you want to help them get more comfortable with you, not scare them away from any future interactions.
My first day with one of my classes when I first arrived in Korea, I had students write down questions they wanted to ask me. One of my students wrote down a handful of scribbles. When I showed the paper to my students sitting near the front and asked who wrote it, they pointed to the student. It turned out she had a mental disability. I didn’t learn this until after my class when my coteacher came up to me and said she’s retarded. Two things wrong with this, the continued use of this word over the years when I’ve corrected a number of teachers and not being told in advance of students that have mental or learning disabilities.
Another time I had a student that refused to do anything in my class. My coteacher told me to just ignore him for the entire year and let him sleep in my class. He often let the student wander the halls during my class just to avoid it. This was when the student was in 1st grade (middle school). We had many conversations about this. I worked really hard trying to get the student to work in my class. I finally cracked him by 3rd grade, and he was actually able to do the majority of the work. Too bad that teacher wasn’t there for me to show him not to give up on students.
This is also a very common occurrence with all age groups. I can say that teachers are getting more specialized training to work with students who are differently-abled, but there is still an atmosphere of ignore what you don’t understand or what is too difficult to manage. There isn’t a lot you can do about this other than to prepare yourself to work with students on the autism spectrum, who have ADHD, learning disabilities and psychological issues – you may not get any help from your coteacher. You won’t be an expert, but it may help you understand some of the basics.
Started off as the English Coordinator, moved on to be my coteacher, and became a good friend in the process!
All I can keep thinking of is when I told my coteachers that I had ordered a phone sim card and was waiting for it to be delivered – what I needed help with was connecting my internet – he wouldn’t stop talking about getting me a new phone and literally took me to the phone store, had them bring out a contract for a used iphone 5 and a 2 year contract (when I had been telling him for 2 weeks that I didn’t need or want a new phone or contract) and I had to tell the clerk (who didn’t really speak English) that I had a sim card coming that afternoon and I didn’t need a contract and he told my coteacher that I had ordered a phone plan from somewhere else.
This was a very frustrating situation for one of my friends. Coteachers usually help you obtain a phone, set up your internet for your apartment, get a bank account, etc. Some coteachers may not listen to you and try to push you in to what they think is best / what you need. Be prepared to hold firm and not cave in.
My vacation, at the end of my contract; they told me what days my vacation were and I asked for permission to buy my tickets and they said yes. I bought them and then the next week, and up until I left for vacation, they tried to get me to cancel my international, (11 hour) very expensive flight, so that I could teach more classes, and didn’t understand why I wouldn’t want to pay to cancel not only my flight but also my parents’ flights (because I was meeting them in Hawaii) and it would have cost thousands of dollars. They offered me 1 more day of vacation and didn’t understand why I wouldn’t give up thousands of dollars and the chance to go to Hawaii for that 1 extra day.
You should always get approval for vacation days in writing, but even then, they may try to change the dates. This has happened to a few teachers I know and can be very challenging to work through. The only advice I have is to get your approvals in writing before you buy tickets and stick to your guns!
From my brief (18mos) experience, here are the three biggest pieces of advice I can offer:
- Meet with your co-teachers EARLY (discuss roles, responsibilities, strengths, weaknesses, classroom management, etc)
- If you have any questions or issues, make time to speak with your coteacher or main coteacher. When you have the talk, be courteous and respectful and work together to find a resolution. I had some issues with one of my coteachers and was very thankful that we took a walk together, discussed what happened (and what went wrong), and made plans to avoid any issues in the future
- BE FLEXIBLE – Korean workplaces do NOT function like they do in your home country. Also, your coteachers are NOT native speakers. It will take some time to get used to the work culture and to figure out the best way to communicate with your coworkers. It will happen, you just need to be open to the experience and not let the frustrations bog you down.
Please keep in mind that there is no way to completely avoid miscommunication at the workplace (at home OR abroad), but it is important to do your very best to communicate honestly and respectfully.
I hope to write Part 2 of this series, where I showcase some of the common communication issues, as experienced by Korean teachers and administrators. Stay tuned!
I enjoyed reading this post!
Thanks! It was fun writing it 🙂
Wow, some of these situations are really frustrating to even read! We don’t have experience with co-teachers as we have only worked at hagwons. But, a few of these situations I have been able to relate to at my old hagwon job. Luckily, our new hagwon owner is very westernized and able to make life comfortable here for the foreign teachers since he spent part of his life in Australia. My old hagwon had some weird issues, the foreign teachers weren’t allowed to LOOK or SPEAK at the hagwon owner. If there was something she didn’t like about your class, you wouldn’t know until the day you were fired. This happened to a guy on my first week, so I was really nervous about starting. (luckily this hagwon owner liked me for some reason and I stayed off her radar) There was a lack of communication everywhere and major changes that always happened last minute for no real logical reason…this made the place seem like a real unorganized zoo and was really frustrating when it started affecting your plans on the weekend or holidays. Getting situated when you first move to Korea is scary and frustrating if you don’t have the right kind of help when you get here. It’s nice that your co-teachers help you get settled, but frustrating if they are stubborn and think they know what’s best for you all the time. Anyways! Thanks for the interesting read!
Hi Megan – Thanks for reading my post! Yeah, it didn’t take me long to get TONS of feedback from just a few people. I’m really glad your new owner is actually foreigner-friendly. Always surprises me when someone chooses to work in an intercultural setting, but then is intolerant of people from other countries!
Miscommunication can really make the workplace miserable-very glad to hear that things are better for you now!
I really hate how my coteachers don’t tell me if the kids have learning disabilities. I’ve made that mistake while in Japan and I felt AWFUL about it after they told me the truth. I think the Korean English teachers should definitely tell the NETs if students have learning disabilities. It’s our job to help, not hurt.
I was very lucky that ‘most’ of my coteachers were up-front about some of the issues my students faced… in other cases, I only found out after I got confused and frustrated! At least at my last school, they seem to be making a concerted effort to improve their own education and acceptance… a breath of fresh air!!
As a teacher in Korea as well, I find it so interesting that learning and mental disabilities are not recognized. Some of my students will get overwhelmed with the work, or have random temper tantrums and I would put the blame on myself. But, later I realized, after months of dealing with the same scenarios and students, that they MAY have an issue that no one really tries to diagnose. I change my teaching methods and pay more attention to those students, now. It was very difficult at first, but I feel like I can deal with those cases better now. Thank you for sharing!
Great post! I wish I’d read this before I came here. My recent coteacher was a total nightmare. She was defensive about anything and everything and not helpful in any way, shape or form. There were lots of communication errors because she was unwilling to…communicate. My first coteacher was wonderful, but there were still instances where I’d get a Korean surprise and get a bit thrown off by the last minute pace of everything. Miscommunication and last minute is just the way of life here, though. Glad to read some things could be changing. Thanks for sharing!
Oh I see that. My Korean co-teacher’s English is pretty poor but it luckily has gotten better. When I first started I asked her “How long… you …. here … teacher” and she answered “On Monday.” Now, our communication is a lot better. However, cultural issues are another barrier on top of the language barrier. Very hard sometimes!
The student who got your attention and dedication was very lucky. Teachers should really have more compassion these days so they will be able to see through each student. Good thing you didn’t listen and follow how the others who ignored the student with special needs.