Life After Korea

I'm applying for some part time jobs.  I haven't updated (haven't had to update) my resume and materials for over a decade, so I give myself a little credit for taking some serious time to work on these things over the past few weeks.

In lieu of a longer post on how tough it is to find a job after coming back from South Korea, something that so many people droned on about when I lived in Daegu, I just have to say that, well, you get back what you put in.  For starters, yes, not having a network sucks but then again, I'm living in a place where I literally know nobody except my Dad and his immediate neighbors.  A good network probably wouldn't be that much help to me right now due to simple geography.  Next, and this was my feeling back in Korea, you're going to develop as much or as little as a professional as you want to no matter where you live.  Believe me, I'm not a diligent self-starter by any means, but during my 12 years abroad I managed to learn some of the language, co-publish a scholarly article, edited an ESL text by a professor at my college, and let my boss know that I'd be happy to help him edit (or write) things for the school as needed.  I also developed, or created from nothing, a decent set of teaching materials that I might end up using again.

The point being, I'm not sure why teaching English abroad is seen as a professional black hole by so many folks.  It certainly doesn't qualify me for doing brain surgery, but over the years I feel like I did a reasonable job at self-improvement and, more bluntly, getting worthwhile stuff onto my resume.  And it seems like my secondary cultural experiences don't hurt -- if anything, maybe I stand out a bit.

It's a process of course, and we'll see how it goes.  I've applied for both classroom teaching jobs and more education-adjacent positions.  Putting my cover letter together I never felt weakened or at a loss for explaining why a decade in Korea makes me a stronger candidate than I was before I left.

I should have worked harder on my Korean, definitely.  But it was nice to hear from some of my former bosses that they'd be more than happy to give me positive recommendations.  My resume has a larger "narrative" that I can handle teaching ESL or English composition, and that I had a fairly productive last decade.  I'm not sure what more ESL folks are expecting from work history, either in Korea or in some mythical "perfect" job back here in America.

Work is work.

"standards to be set that are more realistic for the missions expected"

A long, in-depth, and very interesting article on how the U.S. military approaches language training, especially for elite troops who might go into areas where a base-level of language and cultural skills are a must:

"A Green Beret trained in Modern Standard Arabic and deployed to Iraq isn’t going to have many fluent conversations with his counterparts who speak an Iraqi dialect. But he can exchange simple pleasantries, ask about his counterpart’s family, and understand basic military terminology — all while getting a laugh out his new Iraqi friends who might describe his school-taught Modern Standard dialect as 'fancy Arabic.'

Once it’s accepted that in most cases the purpose of language training isn’t to achieve fluency, it allows standards to be set that are more realistic for the missions expected from today’s Green Berets. The Interagency Language Roundtable scoring scale notes that at a 1+ rating, speakers '[c]an initiate and maintain predictable face-to-face conversations and satisfy limited social demands.' Meanwhile, listeners demonstrate '[s]ufficient comprehension to understand short conversations about all survival needs and limited social demands.' This level of speaking and listening is more than enough for Green Berets to converse with a partner force that speaks the same language, get across basic ideas, and potentially work around a situation where an interpreter or English-speaking member of the partner force isn’t available."

There's a lot more going on in the article that's worth looking at.

I also appreciate an educational model where perfection isn't the goal, but basic communication is.  Maybe it's the military's version of "ELF," or "English as Lingua Franca."

So Long For Now

Dynamic Duo, "Chul-Chek"

I never did take to K-pop.  Korean hip-hop, however, is the balls.  The good stuff, at least.

I'm in my office at lovely Daegu Health College for the last time today, taking care of some stuff.  It's actually freezing outside, but it's supposed to warm up a bit this weekend.  I'm going home to do some more cleaning and packing (haven't started the latter, to be honest), and tomorrow morning I'll get a COVID test (i.e., the "brain Q-tip").  I'll head up to Incheon Airport on Monday.

This is easily the best job I've ever had, and I realize I was very lucky in finding a boss in Korea who was for the most part both supportive and flexible, and willing to let me do my thing as long as the students (both college and adult) were happy.  For the most part, they were.

I'll get to Bellingham Monday and enter a new world of caring full-time for my dad.  I wouldn't say I'm either optimistic or pessimistic about it -- just ready to make sure his needs (at almost 92) are being met.  He's stubborn and fiercely independent though, so what will be tough is walking the line between taking care of him as needed, but not babying him or taking away his sense of power or volition.  His house, his rules, as they say.

I'm looking forward to the mild weather, the beautiful mountain and forest views, and air that is as fresh as fresh gets.  As I close out my to-do list here, I've got a new one for Bellingham as well, but it's not nearly as extensive.  The goal is to adjust and continue from there.  I'll be taking a long walk every morning after coffee with my dad, and probably one in the afternoon as well when he takes a nap.

My dad is scheduled for a vaccine, but not until late March (this is where I mention he's a die-hard Trump supporter).  I'm guessing at best I'll get mine in summer at earliest.  Hell, that could be optimistic.

And from there?  Nobody knows what happens next, other than I'll be living in a nice house in the quietest of neighborhoods five minutes from the border of Canada.

I'm pretty sure I'll read a lot of books.

As for Daegu, I hope this wretched virus gets handled as soon as it's possible.  I want people wandering around eating and drinking and laughing downtown again.  I want the undergraduates back, in person of course, studying hard and goofing off all at the same time.  I want my local movie theater to stay in business if it can.  I want the local restaurants and coffee shops of Chilgok / Northern Daegu to make as much money as possible.  I want to see Samsung Lions Park filled with people cheering and drinking beer and eating fried chicken at yet another spring or summer ballgame.

Samsung usually loses.  I don't care.  True fans know winning is only ever a part of it all.

That's The Spirit

 

Covid Squirrel says -- "Mask on!  Talking off!"

As seen on the classroom doors of my college, where some-but-not-all students have returned for classes.

"I stood in line and ate my Twinkies"

Galaxie 500, "Strange" live

At the end of every semester our students do mandatory teacher performance surveys.

My boss came in today before our weekly lunch and asked me, how is it possible that my scores were so high?  (In absolute terms, and definitely in comparison to his scores and my foreigner co-worker's.)

What I actually said -- "I put a lot of effort into our first semester of online teaching."

What I wanted to say -- "Unlike you and foreigner co, I didn't half-ass this stuff.  I supplemented videos with plenty of study materials, including very detailed midterm and final guides.  I encouraged students to call or e-mail if they had questions.  I tried to make students feel as comfortable as possible in very strange and new circumstances."

I'm unexpectedly salty about all of this today.  We're being told to re-record videos on exactly the same material.  Even though I spent hours scripting and planning mine, unlike two other people I know.

No good deed goes unpunished I guess.  As lazy as I can be sometimes, when I do commit to something I try to make sure I've got it right the first time.

This is Korea though, and the country would simply fall apart without mandatory levels of meaningless busy-work.

It Never Ends

My adult classes just got pushed back two weeks into mid-September.

Daegu has been thankfully, relatively, quiet on the corona front.  But Seoul is seeing a boost and we get the knock-on cautionary effect down here.

As a side note, I think what I'm craving more than anything these days in the face of open fascism in America, a pandemic, Bible-level hurricanes, and the continued destruction of black bodies by the police state, is just some damn normalcy.  A day, just a single day where I wake up and go to bed with no unpleasant surprises, no violence or disruption unto anything or anybody.

That's That

So no surprise here -- English courses, being non-major selections, will be online again for this fall semester.  Half of my school's major courses are planning on coming back for in-person teaching.

You may have heard of a "second wave" of coronavirus hitting Korea, but this has mostly been limited to the Seoul and greater Seoul area, so fingers crossed, maybe this is the semester where we start the slow trudge back to normality.

Then again, flu season is now only a few months away.  (Nelson Muntz laugh.)

Celebrated Summer

Albert Ayler, "Sun Watcher"

I just taught my last adult class of the semester and handed in my final (hardcopy) grades for my college classes.

I have no right to complain.  I went from teaching five college classes to one, basically, via video recording.  In my defense, I did have to learn two new programs from scratch (one for distance learning, one for distance evaluation) with little to no help from my boss.  I think I also mentioned some drama over the "we won't have a grading curve this semester but then again we will" situation.

But it's over.  And it's strange to think I'll be in Korea for a full August for the first time in over a decade.

I just got some new books though, so I guess vacation is off to a decent enough start.

Maybe I need another Project Herzog in my life.

Twiddling My Thumbs

I'm in my office for the next few days basically waiting for students to call me if they have a complaint about their final grade.  (Those were entered into the school computer system last week.)

It's a strange custom, no doubt, and it doesn't help that with distance learning we basically went up to August with our semester schedule.

It's hot and humid, grossly so.

I'm reading articles about how America probably won't go "back to normal" until 2022 due to Cheeto Hitler's utter incompetence.

In a best-case scenario where Joe Biden wins with enough down-ticket momentum in the House and Senate to make it impossible for Trump to start a literal coup headed by Barr, he still inherits a pandemic and a historically shitty economy.

There's your little hint of sunshine for today.

Because Korea

To recap, my five sections were done entirely online this past semester.  And from the beginning my boss has stressed that our (online) quizzes, midterm, and final should be relatively easy.  This is in no small part because across Korea, students and parents are complaining about paying full tuition for largely online courses.

So I came in to the office Thursday, only for my boss to complain that I was about to give too many As.

He's usually a good egg, but I'm spending a happy weekend not thinking about him at all.

As for next semester, it's 50-50 whether or not students return.  I'm guessing we'll have some come back, but continue online for non-essential things like, oh I don't know, English.  (There is no English major available at my school, and I'm fine with that.)

Suffice it to say, if Korea isn't going back to 100% this September there's no way the US or UK should.  They will of course due to politics, and within a week major classroom outbreaks will ensue.

Some Inside Pedagogy

While my college classes have been put off for the entirely of the spring semester (first semester in South Korea) tonight I'm teaching a handful of adult students.  I haven't done any in-classroom teaching since last January.  Anyhow, we're doing coronavirus vocabulary.  Fascinating!  Here's my list:

Coronavirus Vocabulary

Virus
Coronavirus (crown virus)
Quarantine
Symptom (n)
Symptomatic / Asymptomatic (adj)
Lockdown
Social Distancing
Epidemic
"Flattening the curve"
Fever / Take temperature
Immunity / Herd Immunity
Patient Zero
"Work from Home"
Super-spreader

Other than "Eating whole pints of Ben and Jerry's in my boxer shorts at 3 a.m." what did I miss?

One Step Forward...

I'm in my office on a beautiful Monday afternoon completing my online midterm.  It's frustrating writing tests for students you have literally never met or taught.  My boss said keep is as simple as possible and that's fine, but also kind of underlines the point that online teaching of a foreign language just isn't ideal.

Anyhow, the big news here in South Korea is that over the weekend a huge Covid outbreak took place up in Seoul centered around Itaweon, a known foreigner / nightlife hotspot.  Apparently one of the vectors is centered around a gay club, giving just enough ammunition to the usual suspects to blame gay / foreign sybarites for all of this mess.

I mean, it is a shame.  South Korea was within weeks of shutting this thing down in my opinion, and now we start over.  It could have been the gayest of gay bath-houses, or the most holy of Christian churches.

Stay the fuck home, people.

No In Person Teaching This Semester

As of last week my boss was pretty confident that my college would open up for in-person classes next Monday, May 11th.

Well, no.  English classes for this semester will now be fully online, continuing as we have before.  English is not a major concentration here, but some students will be coming back for their major-specific practicum.

That's that.

A whole semester without teaching.  Not real teaching anyway.

Almost May, Brain Thinks It's Still February

It seems like my college is on track for a May 11th in-person start.

I have no idea how we'll handle the midterm.  I can't in good conscience test them on grammar stuff that I haven't been able to explain to them fully in person.

Honestly, everything feels like it's been in a weird time-stasis event since as early as February.

Nationally, lots of students (and parents) are calling for partial tuition refunds due to a perceived low-quality in distance learning materials so far.

Don't tell my boss, but I agree.  (Especially for language courses but then again English is an elective for my students, not a major, so I might dodge a bit of heat on this one.)

The "Korean way" would be for the students / parents to suck this up as a one-time deal and assume that with good governance and health-care it won't happen again.  Optimistically speaking I think that's the way to go, but who knows what happens come next fall / winter and the possible pre-vaccine "second wave."

Since I've finished all my video recording required so far (basically, half a semester's worth of material, along with quizzes and grammar supplements) I think tonight I'll enjoy some red wine and download Disco Elysium.

The spring weather here in Daegu is absolutely gorgeous as always, but then I get all sad-like wishing I could attend an actual Samsung Lions ball game or even an FC Daegu soccer match.

Buying a stationary bike is probably one of the smarter things I've done since moving to Korea, despite my boss thinking me a crazy person for exercising at home instead of at the school gym.  (Which raised its "faculty discount" prices recently, not to mention is currently shut down, so even better.)

So ends this highly detailed but fairly incoherent update.  Things could be better.  Things could also be a whole hell of a lot worse.

Also, Tiger King was actually kind of shit wasn't it?

Fifth Time's The Charm

Word now is that my school will re-open, meatspace-wise, on May 11th.  Over Facebook and Twitter it sounds like Korean colleges and universities are all doing things their own way.  Some are shooting to open in May, others have already cancelled the entire semester.

In terms of "feel," I think there's a cautious confidence that if new cases flare up the structures are in place to contain as necessary.

We shall see.

Thinking Out Loud

Word on Facebook (I know, I know, but it's a more reputable South Korea group than most) is that South Korea will cancel in-person college classes for this semester.

I'm supposed to have a lunch meeting with my boss this Monday.

Do I have a job next week?  (I'm a pessimist by nature.)

I'm actually surprised I haven't been asked to take a pay-cut yet.

FWIW, I'm fine savings-wise.  I just really don't want to go back to America right now.

Tele-Teaching

It's been a day.

Me and foreign co-worker got a crash course in distance learning.  My college has gotten what seems to be a pretty stable and decent on-line program going, and for the next few weeks (at least two) we'll be voice recording our lectures and putting them up with small quizzes for the students to, ahem, enjoy.

I have my doubts, especially for a beginner level language course.  I always do.  But it's nice to feel a little bit useful after an unexpected month off.

I'm just trying to stay positive about everything.  I found out that a church choir about 20 minutes south from where my Dad lives got rocked with the coronavirus, including multiple deaths.

Stay home as much as possible.  Wash those hands.  No trips to make-out city for you.

I'm strangely exhausted, considering I didn't do that much other than listen to my boss.  But being taken out of my teaching comfort-zone probably has something to do with it.

"If the dead just go on living / Well there's nothing left to fear"

Waxahatchee, "St. Cloud"

A beautiful song no doubt, but that album cover is also lit.

The start of the semester has been pushed back to six weeks now, April 13.  I'm not the only one thinking we might just have to scrap the whole semester at this point.  My boss is having a meeting with us foreigner teachers Monday to discuss "distance learning" options.  Thing is, we're totally not equipped for that sort of thing.

If there's an upside, it's that my school focuses on health sciences.  English is not a major, but only an elective.  (A mandatory elective.  It's Korea.  It's complicated.)

Anyhow I'm wondering if we might expand out "Global Zone" program in lieu of actual classes.  This is something we've been doing for about five years.  At a desk in the library students can drop in for "free talking," to basically practice their spoken English.  We have a computer opened up to Google translate to facilitate things.

Who knows.  I guess I'll find out Monday.

What's a weekend mean, anyways?

Better Safe Than Sorry

No surprise here, but my college is joining almost every other college and university in South Korea by delaying our opening by two weeks due to coronavirus.

There will be some definite scheduling headaches but it sounds like we can mostly get by just going an extra week into June.

FYI, the Korean spring semester is when the school year starts in Korea, as opposed to September.

Various Food Comas

It's the last week of adult / continuing education classes at my college, and in Korean style I'm being treated to multiple free lunches and dinners by my students.

I mean, free is good but at times I definitely feel like I'm a calf being fattened for the slaughter.