Every damn native speaker English teacher breaks contract and leaves job early, reports Ministry of Education.

Well, just about. A few hours ago I wrote, based on a Korea Times article, that 5% of native speaker English teachers in Korean public schools were leaving before their one-year contracts ended. From the Times:

According to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the number of foreign teachers who failed to complete their working contracts last year rose to 425 from 283 a year ago. This year as well, 252 native English speakers have already left schools as of July, according to Rep. Kim Se-yeon of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) who asked the ministry to submit the statistics to the National Assembly.

. . .

Particularly, nearly 30 percent of the foreign teachers who ended their contract worked for less than six months. Some 22 percent of them quit to study or transferred to other jobs, while about 15 percent left without prior notice and others for various reasons including difficulties in adapting to their schools, illness, and being involved in crimes.

The contents of the report were, um, reported elsewhere, but while the Times put the number at roughly 5%, other sources have it as much as 13 times higher. From Yonhap, the Korean wire service:

More than a third of the native-speaking English teachers in South Korea quit after six months or so on the job, challenging the effectiveness of language immersion programs installed nationwide, a report said Wednesday.

The report submitted by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to the parliament showed 42.4 percent of native instructors ended their contract after six months last year, up from 34 percent in 2008. The rate again fell to 34 percent as of the end of July of this year.

From the Korea Herald, which has different figures than the Times:

Some 950 teachers, or 4.7 percent, cancelled their employment contract in mid-semester within the first year and 34 percent among them (as of this July) quit during their first six months, according to the survey.

From the JoongAng Daily on the "English teacher dropout rates" on October 1st:

More than a third of native-speaking English teachers in South Korea quit after six months or so on the job, challenging the effectiveness of language immersion programs installed nationwide, a report said Wednesday.

The report submitted to the National Assembly by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology showed 42.4 percent of native instructors last year ended their contract after six months, up from 34 percent in 2008.

And now the Hankyoreh, which reports in an article "Over half of native English teachers quit job after six months" that the number is over 66%:

The Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology(MEST) has claimed that around two thirds of native-speaking English teachers in South Korea quit after six months on the job because of employment or studies, through a report on Sept. 29.

The report submitted by the MEST to the ruling Grand National Party lawmakers showed that as of July 2010, 66.1 percent of native English teachers ended their contract in six months, without completing their one-year contract period. The number of teachers leaving their job halfway through a contract has increased rapidly from 46 percent in 2008 and 57.6 percent in 2009. The average rate over last three years is 56.4 percent, which means one of two native teachers left school before the contract’s expiration.

The JoongAng Daily goes on to give another unfathomable number, that

The dropout rate was highest in the southern industrial city of Ulsan at 90 percent[.]

Given Kang Shin-who's track record of distortion over the past two years I'm wary of trusting his figures, but we might want to look at a crucial part of his Times piece to help make sense of the numbers, particularly the misinformation on the messageboards that one-third of NSETs are quitting before the six-month mark:

Particularly, nearly 30 percent of the foreign teachers who ended their contract worked for less than six months.

The crucial information seems to be, to reiterate a point made a few hours ago, that it's nearly one-third of the NSETs who ended their contracts early did so before the six-month mark.

The JoongAng Daily also includes a quotation from an official at the Ministry of Education,:

“The government will more thoroughly examine English teacher candidates’ vocational enthusiasm and intention for long-term service."

an item that goes into the topic of an earlier post today about NSET evaluations and that schools not only don't know what to do with teachers with "intention for long-term service" but that schools---and their recruiters---aren't hiring older, experieced teachers because they don't want to pay them.

NSETs in Busan to be evaluated by local office of education; rewarded for good performance, fired for bad.

In a profile of the superintendent of the Busan Metropolitan City of Education, Kang Shin-who writes in the Korea Times on the latest evaluation plans for Native Speaker English Teachers:

Schools in this southeastern port city will begin full-blown evaluations of foreign teachers for their teaching skills and working attitude next year, the city’s top educator said.

Lim Hea-kyung, superintendent of the Busan Metropolitan City of Education, said, “The comprehensive appraisals will ultimately upgrade the quality of English education, with those teachers who rate poorly being kicked out of schools.”

It is the first time that a major city in the country will evaluate foreign teachers.

Under the plan, the city education authorities will assess assistant teachers for English conversation classes in teaching ability, working attitude and manners.

Their classes will be observed by an evaluation team three times a year and teachers who get lower than 70 or 80 points on the full scale of 100 will no longer be allowed to teach and lose their jobs.

Instead, the top 10 percent in the evaluation will receive a financial incentive reward of 100,000 won ($87) per month.

“We should strengthen our training program to help improve the teaching methodology of native English teachers,” said Lim. “We will also evaluate how well the foreign assistant teachers cooperate with their Korean teacher counterparts.”

An earlier long look I took at NSET evaluations came in December, after Kang Shin-who reported on a plan concocted in tandem with English Program in Korea [EPIK]. While few would argue against attempts to make better use of NSETs in South Korea, the chief problems with evaluating foreign English teachers is that schools and districts spend little to no time planning on how to use them, and that few administrators and coteachers are qualified to judge what an effective conversation class is. To quote from last December:

As I've written nearly every time NSETs come up, no planning or support goes into using native speaker English teachers in school. If there is no plan in place for using these teachers, there can also not be a system for evaluating them. You can't evaluate teachers on certain standards when they were not held to them throughout the contract.

Furthermore, when schools aren't prepared to use native speaker English teachers, it's also likely that schools and teachers aren't familiar with the teaching styles used by them (and, vice versa, native speaker English teachers aren't familiar with the methods used among Koreans). Will a teacher get marked down for having students move around and talk to one another? Those are certainly foreign techniques to the Korean classroom, but ones that might fit in well when teaching how to communicate in English. I anticipate a lot of evaluations that say "Brian is good teacher. He is handsom guy^^" or "mr. Brian is not good. He is not smile and his class is not funny." Do Korean teachers and administrators, most of whom learned English from other Koreans with even worse English then them, really have the faintest idea how to evaluate native speaker English teachers?

An additional drawback to NSET evaluations insofar as they're meant to improve English education in schools is, to quote from a July 1st post on the topic, that

[N]ative speaker English teachers aren't given the same opportunities to evaluate their Korean co-teachers.

This is a point raised by poster "Yoda" on an ExpatKorea thread on September 30th:

Korean teachers classes should be monitored by three foreigners three times a year and if they score less than 70 or 80 they too should lose their job.

To continue to quote fro my July 1st post,

I grant that Korean teachers, with stronger ties to the school and obviously to the country, will be given authority and a voice to help shape the English program. But when you have Korean English co-teachers who don't come to class, who don't attend the mandatory workshops, who don't participate in lesson planning, who don't have an adequate knowledge of English for instruction or communication, who behave violently toward students, who falsify attendance records for workshops and afterschool classes, and who fail their students and co-teachers in other ways, the complete lack of accountability is unacceptable. It is unfair and inaccurate to suggest that all Korean English teachers possess those unpleasant characteristics. But considering the attention paid to "unqualified" and "incompetent" foreign English teachers, it is proper to look inadequate Korean English teachers, who after all do most of the instruction in the English education business. It is troubling that Korean English teachers have the power to dismiss, and potentially "blacklist" a foreign teacher they for whatever reason don't like, while that NSET's comments on punctuality, professionalism, proficiency, and other p-words aren't taken into consideration. There is ultimately no accountability for what does and doesn't go on in Korea's English classrooms.

When the end of our one-year contracts approach, we are given a short questionnaire about our experiences at the school and in the country. The open-ended questions include:

+ What has been your greatest challenge in Korea and what kind of impact did it have on your stay in Korea?
+ Do you believe that your apartment was adequate? Was there anything missing that you feel you needed?
+ Have you ever had a confrontation or argument with your co-teacher or other members of your school?
+ What have you liked best about Korea?
+ What have you liked least of Korea?

It is of course completed in English, is given to our primary co-teacher for perusal, and may be seen by our other coworkers with no hint of anonymity.

On the other hand, Korean co-teachers and administrators are given a lengthy questionnaire in Korean with

DO NOT SHOW OR DISCUSS THIS MATERIAL WITH YOUR NATIVE SPEAKER.

on top, to be completed in Korean, on a number of points that given their often infrequent participation in classes and workshops, they are unable to answer.

Doing further damage to the pursuit of skilled native speaker English teachers is that many school districts, and in turn their recruiters, aren't hiring older, experienced teachers because schools don't want to pay them. When an article writes, as the Korea Herald did yesterday, about North Gyeongsang province that "only 30 percent of [NSETs] were professionally qualified to teach the language," it behooves observers to take into account why: schools don't require professional qualifications, and schools don't hire or retain teachers that have them.

The solution isn't to not have some form of evaluation, to throw up hands and say "well this will probably never work," but to have a plan in place when importing thousands of these native speaker English teachers, and hold accountable both the NSETs and the administrators responsible for them.

5% of NSETs in public schools break their contracts.

In the Korea Times, Kang Shin-who writes "More native English teachers quit," and that

More native English teachers are breaching agreed working terms in contracts made with public schools and are leaving Korea.

According to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the number of foreign teachers who failed to complete their working contracts last year rose to 425 from 283 a year ago. This year as well, 252 native English speakers have already left schools as of July, according to Rep. Kim Se-yeon of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) who asked the ministry to submit the statistics to the National Assembly.

According to numbers provided by the article, those 425 account for 5.01% of native speaker English teachers in South Korean elementary and secondary schools, up from a 3.7% rate a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the Korean wire service reported that roughly one-third of NSETs quit within the first six months, a percentage that will take into account hagwon and post-secondary teachers as well:

More than a third of the native-speaking English teachers in South Korea quit after six months or so on the job, challenging the effectiveness of language immersion programs installed nationwide, a report said Wednesday.

The report submitted by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to the parliament showed 42.4 percent of native instructors ended their contract after six months last year, up from 34 percent in 2008. The rate again fell to 34 percent as of the end of July of this year.
About 22 percent of them quit to study or because they find other jobs, while an average of 15.4 percent left without prior notice, the report said.

The Korea Herald has more, while posters on Dave's ESL question the veracity of those numbers. Interestingly, looking back at the Korea Times article it appears they're talking about roughly one-third of teachers who broke their contracts did so within the first six months, not that one-third of all teachers left halfway through:

Particularly, nearly 30 percent of the foreign teachers who ended their contract worked for less than six months. Some 22 percent of them quit to study or transferred to other jobs, while about 15 percent left without prior notice and others for various reasons including difficulties in adapting to their schools, illness, and being involved in crimes.

There are no doubt teachers whose immaturity and lack of cultural sensitivity lead them to "breach agreed working terms" and leave their contracts early. But for a more effective, complete study of the 5% of teachers leaving contracts early---a fairly small number, actually---it'd be healthy to find out why exactly those teachers have left. Did they leave because of professional dissatisfaction? Did they leave because of personal issues with coworkers? Did they leave because the schools themselves didn't uphold terms of their contract? Those issues and complaints are common enough on blogs, message boards, and dinner tables to anecdotally account for a good number of those 5%, and need to be taken into account when looking at retention rate of NSETs.

But when thinking about retention rate of NSETs, I always have to go back to a Kang Shin-who article from 2008 titled "Half of Native English Instructors Quit After a Year":

According to Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, Tuesday, 144 of 273 foreign English teachers who were eligible for a renewal of their contract have signed to stay on another year.

Lee Young-chan, an education Ministry official in charge of native teachers said it was not necessary to renew every contract. ``They are neither regular teachers nor lecturers who can conduct classes independently. They are `assistant teachers,' hence their teaching experience doesn't matter much,'' he said. ``Rather, it's better for students to have more new teachers so that they can meet various kinds of foreigners,'' he added.

GREAT!



* Here's an update a few hours later.

Collecting donations for children's center in Jangheung.

A teacher in Jeollanam-do's Jangheung county has passed along information about a fundraising effort for this coming holiday season. John Wurth emails about the Jangheung Area Children's Center:

We provide education for children from low income families that can't afford hagwons and tutors for their children.

We also run a group home. The children who stay in our group home have either lost one or both parents. They have no family able to take care of them for a multitude of reasons. We have 6 children- 4 boys and 2 girls- who stay in our group home.

Given their situation you might imagine that these children do not have much in life. We are only able to provide them with what our donors give us for them.

My request to you is this. Christmas is coming soon. I want to do something nice for these kids.

My thinking is to give each one a gift certificate for one of the internet clothing stores like GMarket. Things here in JangHeung are too expensive. I would also like to get them a game console and some games (XBox, Playstation, whatever).

I am requesting your help to make this happen. You know what's next! I need to get some money for this. I am hoping to ask everyone to give 20,000w-40,000w each for the effort. Anything would of course be appreciated!!!

Donations can be wired to a bank account set up with NongHyup Bank:

JangHeung TamJin Group Home (장흥탐진그룹홈)
Nonghyup Bank / 농협은행
657-01-075935

More information can be found on the Jangheung Area Children's Center (장흥지역아동센터) Korean-language homepage or the new English-language Facebook group.

Yeongam track behind schedule, on Korean time; F1 chief worried.

The story out of Yeongam county Sunday and Monday is that the Formula One head is concerned over the future of the Korean Grand Prix---scheduled for Yeongam county on October 24th---because of the heretofore inability to get the track done and meet deadlines. From the BBC:

Formula 1 chief Bernie Ecclestone has expressed doubts over whether October's Korean Grand Prix will go ahead.

Ecclestone hopes the race will happen but says concerns will remain until the Yeongam track passes an FIA inspection.

"It's not good. It should have been inspected six weeks ago," he told BBC Sport at Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix.

. . .

"We will have no problem in hosting the race on October 24 as we have almost completed work," revealed Korea Auto Valley Operation (KAVO) spokesman Kim Jae-Ho.

The Korean International Circuit, which has still to be completed, was initially scheduled for an inspection on 21 September, but that was a public holiday in Korea.

FIA press officer Alexandra Schieren said the new inspection, by FIA race director Charlie Whiting, would take place on 11 October.

"We will rush to complete work and FIA officials will see a complete circuit when they conduct a final inspection in two weeks," said Kim.

. . .

Ecclestone had expressed doubts that the race would go ahead.

"We normally have a 90-day check before a race and now we are sort of putting this off," he stated.

"What we've done is quite dangerous. It's a question of do we cancel the race or not? They say everything will be OK - we have to hope they're right."

The Korea Herald, though, optimistically writes "No worries about Korean Grand Prix: F1 boss".

However, the F1 boss insists that he has no doubts the Yeongam circuit will be ready in time for the inaugural race on Oct. 24.

“We’re happy with the circuit at the moment,” Formula One commercial-rights holder Bernie Ecclestone told The Korea Herald in a telephone interview.

When asked if he was concerned about the rumors, Ecclestone replied, “I don’t take a lot of notice of rumors.”

The Telegraph wrote on the 3rd that Formula One "could break its own rules" to make sure Korea's inaugural race is ready bbali bbali:

Formula One's governing body admitted on Thursday that "a lot of work remains to be completed" at the 120,000-capacity circuit being built in Yeongam, 400km south of Seoul, but told Telegraph Sport it had given organisers until Sept 21 before its final inspection.

Appendix O of the International Sporting Code clearly states that "for permanent circuits, the final inspection should be made not later than 60 days (or 90 days for FIA Formula One World Championship events) before the first international event to be held, at which inspection of all work relating to the track surface, permanent features and safety installations should be completed to the FIA's satisfaction".

The Korean International Circuit is part permanent, part temporary, which means the final inspection for the Oct 24 race ought to have taken place by July 26.

News that Yeongam county would host Formula One racing came in October 2006.

A few links from my inbox and Favorites folders:

+ Grrrl Traveler made a recent trip to Boseong county, and has several good posts about getting there, visiting the tea fields, enjoying local green tea, and being productive in the toilet stall.

+ Steve of Steve and Sandy's Journey emailed today to say they also recently took a trip to Jeollanam-do. And from their site comes a few examples of excessively-difficult English from a recent exam. He comments:

Most kids struggle with saying anything past, "How are you?" and "What's your name?", but they are expected to understand ridiculously complex written questions that most native English speakers would have to read a few times (like I did) to understand.

I took a look at the college entrance exams last year and the large gap between the test items and students' practical English proficiency.

+ The Chronicle of Higher Education has written on South Korean colleges and their ambitions in the online education market.

[. . .]Hanyang has begun a new strategy: to look beyond its borders to attract more students from around the globe. The country exports flat-screen TVs and cars, so why not export high-tech education as well?

"Our market will be in Southeast Asia, maybe Africa, maybe the United States," said Byung Tae Yoo, the university's vice president. The university has even changed its motto, painted with a world map on a wall of Mr. Yoo's office: "To the world, for the future."

+ The informative and prolific Gwangjublog is looking for contributors from Gwangju and Jeollanam-do.

+ Good news: K-blogger Mike McStay's doctor says he's 100% cancer-free.

Fall festivals in and around Jeollanam-do, 2010 edition.

Here is a list of major and minor festivals in and around Jeollanam-do this October and November, a supplement to the list for September a couple weeks ago. I've focused on South Jeolla province because I always have, and because it's more readable to focus on one particular area than to try to be everything to everybody, but it's worth remembering that there are tons of festivals each fall all over the country worth seeing. A few of the big ones not profiled here are the Andong International Mask Dance Festival, the Busan World Fireworks Festival, and the Ulsan World Music Festival. Last year hundreds of festivals, including those three and many listed below, were cancelled ostensibly because of swine flu, and will be making a welcome comeback this fall.

The profiles are shorter than in years past as I had to squeeze in research between loads of visa paperwork, far too much time behind the wheel, and a wedding. My apologies to the Shinan Salted Shrimp Festival, I'm sure it deserves more of my attention than it got. *cough* Nonetheless by browsing some of the links below you'll have enough information on the area's numerous attractions to get you to explore your "home" province more, or to finally spend a weekend in Jeollanam-do if you've never been.


Gwangju Biennale (광주비엔날레), September 3rd - November 7th
The huge art exhibition Gwangju Biennale (광주비엔날레) continues through November 7th, and for a week in October will be next door to the Kimchi Festival.


Gokseong Simcheong Festival (곡성심청축제), October 1st - October 3rd
The Gokseong Simcheong Festival (곡성심청축제) is held annually in and around Gokseong county's Train Village.


Jeonju International Sori Festival (전주세계소리축제), October 1st - October 5th
The Jeonju International Sori Festival (전주세계소리축제) is one of several traditional music festivals in the country this fall, and one of several large festivals in Jeonju this month.


Jinju Lantern Festival (진주남강유등축제), October 1st - October 12th
The Jinju Lantern Festival (진주남강유등축제) is one of the best and brightest in the country, a must-visit for anyone in southern South Korea. In 2008 a million people went in one weekend to dozens of illuminated lanterns floating along the river and thousands more on its shores. Posts from earlier years have pictures and more information, though last year it was one of many cancelled because of swine flu. Held a couple hours' bus ride from Gwangju or Suncheon in Jinju, Gyeongsangnam-do, in and along the Namgang.


Source.


Source.


Source.

There are two other festivals in Jinju at the same time at basically the same place: the Jinju Silk Fair (진주실크박람회) and the Gaecheon Art Festival (개천예술제), both from October 3rd through the 10th.


Gwangju Chungjangro Festival (추억의 7080 충장축제), October 5th - October 10th
The Gwangju Chungjangno Festival (추억의 7080 충장축제) takes place in downtown Gwangju from October 5th through the 10th, and is held in celebration, sort of, of Gwangju's history a few decades ago. Attractions include concerts, performances, parades, and street vendors, about which you can find times and information on the Korean-language event pages and schedule. By "sort of" a celebration I mean that unlike our fondness for the "good old days," little of South Korea's and Gwangju's history the past few generations is considered "good." The festival will take place on the large road Chungjangno in front of the Old Provincial Hall and in the eponymous pedestrian shopping area near the Geumnamno 4-ga and Culture Complex subway stations.


Gwangju International Food Show (광주국제식품전), October 7th - October 10th
The Gwangju International Food Show (광주국제식품전) is a trade show held at the Kim Daejung Convention Center. Though Gwangju and Jeollanam-do have made big improvements over the past year in the variety and availability of international foods, my experience in 2008 tells me you'd be better off choosing a different festival this busy weekend.


Gwangyang Bulgogi Festival (광양전통숯불구이축제) , October 7th - October 10th
The annual Gwangyang Bulgogi Festival (광양전통숯불구이축제) is one that perenially has little to no useful information online in English or even advance warning.


The Great Battle of Myeongryang Festival (명량대첩축제), October 8th - October 10th
The Great Battle of Myeongryang Festival (명량대첩축제) is held each fall between Haenam and Jindo counties. The large recreation of the famous 1597 battle between Japan and Admiral Yi Sun-Shin's forces has prompted earlier posts to call it the "Rejoice at the Slaughter of Thousands Festival. You can keep up with festival information by following it on twitter @myeongryang.


Gwangju International Community Day (광주국제교류의 날), October 9th


The 16th annual Gwangju International Community [GIC] Day (광주국제교류의 날) is put on by the Gwangju International Center. There's a GIC Day Facebook group and a Gwangju Blog post with a little more information.


Naro Seafood Festival (나로도수산물축제), October 9th - October 10th
The Naro Seafood Festival (나로도수산물축제) is held in Goheung county on the island best known for being the launch site for South Korea's rockets.


Seopyeonje Boseong Sound Festival, October 16th - October 17th
The Seopyeonje Boseong Sound Festival (서편제보성소리축제) is an awkward translation for a festival held in honor of the county's connection to pansori music.


Suncheon Bay Reeds Festival (순천만갈대축제), October 9th - October 24th
The Suncheon Bay Reeds Festival (순천만갈대축제) is held, of course, at the attractive Suncheon Bay. I've never been during the festival, but it was worth a visit one September, and looks worth one all year round.


Korea Grand Prix (2010 포뮬러1 월드 챔피언십 코리아 그랑프리), October 22nd - October 24th
Not a festival, really, but worth mentioning that South Korea's first Formula One race will be coming to Yeongam county this October.


Jeonju Bibimbap Festival (전주비빔밥축제), October 21st - October 24th
The Jeonju Bibimbap Festival (전주비빔밥축제) is held in celebration of the city's signature dish. Held at the regionally-famous Hanok Village, where I spent a good bit of a pleasant Saturday last October.


Korea Food Tourism Festival (한국음식관광축제), October 21st - October 24th
The Korea Food Tourism Festival (한국음식관광축제) is held in Jeonju the same weekend as the Bibimbap Festival, um, either to draw off it or compete with it.


Naju Yeongsan River Culture Festival (나주영산강문화축제), October 22nd - October 24th
Little information available about the Yeongsan River Culture Festival (나주영산강문화축제) held in Naju each fall. It looks like it celebrates history and folk culture, and Naju is a pretty underrated place for points of historical interest.


Gwangju Kimchi Culture Festival (광주김치문화축제), October 23rd - October 27th
The Gwangju Kimchi Culture Festival (광주김치문화축제) is a celebration of the national dish, and cultural phenomenon, that makes Gwangju proud. I visited the Gwangju Kimchi Festival in 2009 and had a pleasant time, especially viewing the kimchi pop art. This year it's back at the park between the Folk Museum and Biennale Hall, accessible by a number of city buses.


Namdo Food Culture Festival, October 23rd - October 31st

Finally, a website that makes its promotional poster easy to find and share.

The Namdo Food Culture Festival (남도음식문화큰잔치) is held each year in Suncheon at Nagan Folk Village to celebrate the region as the self-proclaimed and widely-acknowledged home of hte best food in the country. The variety of food available to visitors---key word being available---is admittedly underwhelming, but Nagan Fortress and Folk Village is well worth the visit, and is one of my favorite places in Korea (blogged here and here).


Korea Chrysanthemum Festival (대한민국 국향대전), October 29 - November 14
Hampyeong county's second-biggest annual festival, the Korea Chrysanthemum Festival (대한민국 국향대전) is one of several such flower festivals throughout the country each fall. Browse posts from earlier years for a few pictures.


2010 Green Gwangju and Jeonnam Bike Festival (2010 Green 광주&전남 자전거 축제 대회) , October 31st
The 2010 Green Gwangju and Jeonnam Bike Festival (2010 Green 광주&전남 자전거 축제 대회) is a 46-km road race held around Gwangju, from Honam University counter-clockwise to City Hall.


From the official site.

More taxes for Native Speaker English Teachers coming.

On Waygook.org several posters were recently informed by their Korean public schools that they will be taxed on housing allowances and reimbursed airfare. From pippo11:

I have just been informed that the tax office has recently told all schools to include bonus payments, settlement allowances and airplane fees in their tax calculations from now on.

This means that as well as paying tax on our earnings (no problem with that of course) we will also be paying tax on money we dont earn. eg. the round trip airplane tickets that we are reimbursed for at the start and end of our contracts.

On tax forms in the US we are also asked to account for housing allowances, travel expenses, and other items, but in the case of airfare reimbursement for foreign teachers in South Korea it is of course teachers' own money being fronted at the beginning and end of contracts and isn't "earned" income. Poster eunny continues:

I just got notification from my school that they want to start taxing housing stipends, flight reimbursements, settlement allowances, and overtime pay. This is strange to me because I currently pay 5% of salary to the health insurance organization. I called the health insurance organization and they told me that this tax has always been in effect. There policy has always been that salary is inclusive of housing stipends, flight reimbursements, settlement allowances, and overtime pay. Supposedly, this had not been enforced for some time. They want to start enforcing it again. So, all those people that came before us were not taxed in this way. Another problem that I have is making retroactive payments.

. . .

According to my co-teacher, every foreign teacher in Gyeonggi province will be notified sooner or later. I have tried to talk to the gepik coordinator Dain Bae but she is honestly useless [...]

. . .

My chief complaint with this whole taxation law is that I have to make retroactive payments. I have told my school that I am willing abide by the new taxation law as long as I don't have to make any retroactive payments. However, my school isn't willing to negotiate. I want to dispute this matter through the proper channels but don't know where to go about doing this.

The issue of retroactive payments and other costly amendments was first discussed on the forums and this site in October 2009 regarding vacation time when schools started retroactively fining teachers who took time greater than contractually allowed. As poster Gillian wrote on Dave's ESL Cafe at the time from Naju:

This actually happened to me and the othe foreign teacher at my school. Our pay for the month of September was reduced by the amount of time we had spent "Out of Korea beyond our 2 weeks" for summer vacation AND they went back to last WINTER vacation and did the same! All of this was deducted in one lump sum from September's pay.

Apparently the school received the memo stating this change in enforcement policy, but my "Co-teacher" neglected to read the dang thing, so the other foreign teacher and I went our merry way none-the-wiser.

Michael Simning benefit concert, September 18th.

From Gwangju's GFN 98.7 FM comes news of a concert to benefit Michael Simning, the GFN host and prominent member of the local expatriate community fighting leukemia. A limited amount of information provided on the poster below:



with a GFN producer writing me that events will include a Korean singer, a video message from Mike's friends, a real-time message from Mike, and free beer. The concert will be held at the GFN building, at the entrance to Sajik Park (사직공원). More updates to come on "The Official Michael Simning Fan Club" Facebook page, no doubt.

Dick Stick, by popular demand.

A digression from the conversation about the recent MBC piece on awkward English in Seoul's public places focused on "Dick Sticks" (딕스틱), an arguably worse name for a snack product than "Ricetard." From commenter Mark:

I was shopping in a corner store with my wife once when I spotted a small ramyeon sized container of pepero sticks. What caught my attention was the name of the product: Dick Sticks. :| At least they got the English right though. I figured those would be a collectors item so I bought a batch.

Fortunately a Naver blog entry from July provides pictures and a taste test: