What Goes Up Must Come Down

When I first started at JLS, my intention was to stay for at least five years because I wanted to find out how far up the ladder I could go by staying in one place. After about three years, it seemed like I could actually go pretty far at JLS. Baker indicated that JLS might be hiring at least one foreign teacher as a CEO (which was a rather extravagant title). As many of the teachers who had worked at JLS prior to my arrival began to move on, it appeared that my star was rising. Even Mr. Huh himself seemed to say that such a position -- and the accompanying salary increase -- was inevitable.

To increase my chances of such an opportunity coming true, I took a few steps of my own. In March 2003, I began my graduate studies in Education by doing a master's degree by distance learning through the University of Phoenix. For a brief time, I also contributed some of my time to the new JLS online venture CyberJLS. In addition, I made proposals directly to Mr. Huh concerning ideas for improving employee morale, all with the objective of showing management that I was interested in staying at the school for the long term.

Around 2004, things at JLS began to change. Baker was reassigned to the new Vancouver branch of JLS, and almost immediately the attention that had been paid to the native teacher staff during my first three years began to dissipate. At the same time, other language academies opened up in our neighbourhood. With the extra competition, school enrollment began to drop.

For the first time, when foreign teachers left, they were not being replaced. Our Bundang staff, which had reached a high of 11 teachers in 2003, dropped... to ten, then nine, and so on. The funny thing is, though, that our schedules didn't increase all that much. The school was losing students. Whereas we typically had classes of 30 or more kids in 2003, they were now more likely comprised of 15-20. This was also the period when the school opted to take most of the middle school classes out of our hands. So, really, the native teacher roster was now going through attrition.

The reasons for this attrition have never been explained, but it is my opinion that we have simply been deemed expendable. JLS, like any English academy, benefits from the reputation that students receive lessons from native English speakers. However, the school's primary mission is to help students' test scores because this is what concerns the majority of parents. The Korean teachers are better suited to this task, in my opinion. Consequently, here we are in 2007, and the native teacher staff at Bundang stands at five. Even as student enrollment has recovered somewhat, the number of foreign teachers has remained at five since the end of 2004.

Five years ago, it seemed like the sky was the limit for us at JLS. Apparently, however, the good times were simply too good to be true. Don't get me wrong -- JLS is still one of the best places for which to work. But at this point, it is obvious that there is not much hope of moving up any longer at JLS. Most of us have reached the salary ceiling. We are no longer being considered for upper-level positions within the company. And the overall work environment is not what I would have hoped for. The students increasingly make excuses for not doing homework, and they have become bolder than ever in their insults towards native teachers.

And that, frankly, is why I made the decision that 2007 would be the year that I end my career as an ESL teacher.

My Good Buddies

I once heard a joke on TV that went something like, If you ask someone how many close friends they have, and they say more than ten, you know they're counting co-workers.

In spite of the joke, I would definitely count a number of my co-workers in the ESL/EFL profession among my closest friends. The work environment in EFL (overseas teaching) is totally different from the experience back in your home country because your co-workers are usually the only people with whom you share cultural interests. When I worked in Toronto, it was very difficult not only to be close friends with co-workers (because we all scattered to our other interests and friends after work), but it was also difficult to meet my actual close friends, all of whom had their own lives and jobs.

But when you teach English overseas, you share the experience with your foreign co-workers. We are living in a different culture, and we are sharing the same types of experiences. We see each other everyday. Of course we are going to become friends.

Not everyone you work with becomes your close friend, but when you realize that you share certain fundamental qualities and points of view with people, you inevitably become close. And you begin to learn about yourself at the same time because these people are, in many respects, your mirror image.

In my seven years at JLS, I would count among my close friends Daniel, Ryan, Patrick, Travis, and Jeremy. I will devote this post to these five individuals -- my good buddies.

Daniel

Daniel was one of the teachers who was already here when I began at JLS in May 2000. As I mentioned once before in this blog, Daniel was just about the most likable guy you could ever meet. Perhaps to a fault, he took this quality into the classroom, where his students would sometimes not show him the kind of respect he deserved. However, I never knew Daniel to blow up at anybody; he just seemed to enjoy what he was doing, all the time.

Interestingly, it was this quality that made some people question Daniel's sincerity, as if he were deliberately hiding something. For instance, during a short time when my wife worked at JLS, one of the Korean teachers told her, in comparing Daniel to me, that with Daniel you couldn't always tell if he were hiding something. (The implication being, of course, that I wear my heart on my sleeve and hide nothing... which is basically true). However, Daniel did have an interesting side to him. He told us that he had done some sky-diving, and he had worked in the Peace Corps in Africa.

While at JLS, Daniel got married to his Korean sweetie, Hyun-ji, who was also remarkably likable -- what a perfect couple. Hyun-ji and my wife, Heather, became good friends. As a result, we often went to dinner together. Daniel and Hyun-ji live in Atlanta now, but we still keep in touch. I hope we get the chance to see them in North America in the not-too-distant future.

Ryan

Ryan arrived in Korea in the fall of 2000. He and his wife Grace seemed like a good bet for Heather and I to hang out with, and sure enough we spent time at their apartment playing euchre and eating chicken.

Okay, so the story starts out a little slow. However, Ryan's life was about to get interesting. I'm sure he wouldn't want me to go into details about what happened, so I'll just say that he and Grace ran into some difficulties and soon separated. Eventually, she went back to Canada, and they ended up getting a divorce. In the meantime, I began to learn that Ryan was multi-dimensional.

First, he was a dedicated teacher. He cared about his students, and he often developed his own 'manipulatives' (classroom materials such as flash cards) to help the kids understand whatever lesson he was trying to teach. Also, while many of us were complaining about student discipline, he was trying to maintain the positive approach of rewarding good behaviour rather than punishing bad behaviour. I respected that about him.

On the other hand, Ryan could be as sarcastic as anybody I've ever known. He wasn't afraid to take a verbal shot at any of the rest of us -- all good-natured, of course. He also seemed to enjoy flicking his groin sweat at us just for fun. Yes, you read that correctly. Re-read it a few times if you need to. Recall, also, that Ryan was the one who vomited in the hallway radiator after a Christmas party, plus he had to stop a taxi on a freeway once in order to throw up. Had a hard time holding his booze sometimes.

The other aspect of his character that seemed so contradictory was his interest in yoga and in the Conversations with God books. This latter fact intrigued me because I had read them also and found them quite meaningful in a personal way. On occasion, Ryan and I found ourselves suddenly talking about the ideas in the books in a serious manner. It felt kind of strange to me, almost uncomfortable, but part of me wishes we had spent more time discussing spiritual issues.

A couple years ago, Ryan got re-married to his new Korean sweetheart, Young-ju. During the wedding, Ryan did something very few guys would have the nerve to do: he sang a love song to Young-ju. To me, that moment summed up what Ryan was all about -- a man so passionate about what he wanted to experience in life that he had to express it in his own way, even though his heart must have been pounding hard enough to provide an unintended back beat for the song. I think those of us who were there were stunned by it, and it made my admiration for him grow.

Ryan seems to be much happier with his life now as he has met a woman who shares many of his dreams and ambitions. They currently live in Ukraine, where they both work at an international school. I hope they continue living overseas for years to come because Heather and I hope to visit them and get the chance to see those parts of the world. I wonder if Ryan will sing a song for us when we get there.

Patrick

Patrick arrived on the JLS scene while I was out of the country, on vacation in Malaysia in May 2001. When I finally met Patrick, I'm not sure what I thought about him. Maybe I simply didn't develop an immediate impression of him in the way I had someone like Joseph. In any event, it took a few weeks to get to know the guy.

What I did learn about Patrick fairly early on was that he had spent a year (I think) in Turkey teaching English. He had also lived in New York City for about six months. He had studied drama at university, earned a CELTA certificate for teaching English, and was currently trying to write a novel. In other words, he had an interesting background. Why he came to Korea only became obvious a little bit later: he was here for the money. Hey, no harm in that... that's what a lot of us were here for. But Patrick would be very open about this fact, going so far as to describe his experience of working in Korea as going to the bank before heading to the shopping mall (which, I guess, referred to seeing the rest of the world).

Whatever he was doing in the classroom, the boss seemed to like it, because he received at least three (maybe four) first place awards in our semi-annual teacher evaluations. Not that Patrick really cared about the recognition, I don't think, but I'm positive he appreciated the cash prize that came with it.

The two of us eventually developed a closer working relationship when we collaborated on the curriculum development committees throughout the year 2002. We created year-long lesson objectives and materials for the TOEFL writing program for middle and high school students. I remember this period as a time when we got to know each other pretty well, and I came to realize that we had similar visions of our futures. Specifically, neither one of us saw this English-teaching gig as the end, but rather a means to an end. And we both greatly appreciated the money we were making at JLS because it was possible that we could get somewhere else sooner rather than later.

In the spring of 2004, Patrick asked me if I had given any thought to investing my money. Frankly, with a wife and two kids, I hadn't really saved up as much money as I would have liked, so the answer was no. He, however, had been investing his money in overseas markets, and now was the time to consider doing something else with his life. Then he mentioned Panama. I, probably like the vast majority of people, only thought of Panama as the place the United States had invaded back in the late 1980's. Patrick had been studying world markets for real estate and banking options, and found that Panama was "it." So I started to think about Panama, too, and so did a few other people at JLS who were tired of teaching English for no more satisfaction than a good paycheck.

By the end of 2004, Patrick had just about lost his sanity with teaching the kids at JLS. He resigned, but with the plan of going to Panama with another JLS teacher (Andrew) to pursue a dream. Before heading to Central America, however, he was going to visit Thailand once more over the Christmas holiday. Heather and I decided to take a vacation at the same time in Phuket, so we agreed to meet up with Patrick, likely in Koh Samui. Well, an earthquake and subsequent tsunami changed everything. While Heather and I were lucky to be on an airplane on the way to Thailand -- and, thus, not on the ground -- when the waves hit the shores, Patrick was just rising from his sleep. Seeing the water rushing towards him, Patrick made a break for high ground in a bid to escape the danger.

The days after the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia saw many reports of death and destruction, and we had no idea what Patrick's fate had been. Finally, I received an email from Patrick -- a huge sigh of relief upon hearing he was alive. He shared with us his rather amazing story of survival amongst a group of travellers from around the world. It sounded to me like they had formed some kind of special support group (a cynic might use the word 'cult'). And I think this experience must have had a profound impact on what Patrick was going to try to do about his dream in Panama.

Patrick and Andrew eventually moved to Panama City and began to scout the country in order to find the right location to start up a backpacker's resort. For the benefit of his friends and fellow travellers, Patrick (well, Andrew too) documented their search with a blog entitled The Panama Project. They ultimately settled on a mountain property in the west of Panama, near the town of Boquete, bought the land, and began building their dream. And now, the Panama Project has turned into The Lost and Found Panama.

I admire my buddy Patrick for going all out to make his dream come true. I am truly looking forward to the day when I can lounge around on one of the Lost and Found's hammocks, sipping a cool drink, and listening to the quetzals singing in the surrounding rain forest.

But for now, back to reality.

Travis

What's the best way to characterize Travis?

A skirt chaser? Not so much anymore, as he is now madly in love with Mi Hee.

A shit disturber? Although he has made his fair share of enemies in his time, this isn't really a fair characterization. He's actually a very good guy. Just don't take much of anything he says seriously.

Fuckface? Well, that's my term of endearment for him, mostly born out of years of fantasy football trash-talking. But I don't mean that in any serious way.

Travis is a bit of an enigma (no, not enema -- wait, maybe). When he started teaching at JLS in early 2001, he made an immediate impression on our 50-something head teacher Leslie by mentioning masturbation in the office. On the other hand, he tended to dress, well, like a teacher should dress, I suppose -- dress shirt and tie, fully-tailored suits. So, he didn't seem like the typical expat I might have expected to meet at this point in my ESL career.

Travis is an American, and for most of his time at JLS, he's been the lone American in an office full of Canadians (not to mention all the Koreans). In many ways, he has been a flash point for some of the not-so-unusual Canadian vs. American sentiment that pervades many language schools. On the one hand, he is about as easy-going as anybody can be, and I see him as virtually no different from myself in a cultural respect. Yet, he has been criticized by at least one fellow American as being too close to the Canadians, and at least one Canadian teacher has been known to take potshots at him for being American.

Of course, Travis likes to fan the flames on occasion. He knows how to get under people's skin, either by being sarcastic, telling bad jokes, or by being incredibly blunt about anything related to sex or other bodily functions. He is definitely less afraid than most people of saying whatever happens to be on his mind. Nothing is sacred, as near as I can tell.

Travis loves sports, which brings us together. We can talk about sports for any length of time. But he also likes to talk about politics, philosophy, or just about any other intellectual pursuit. The problem is that he tends to give the impression that he's just full of shit when he talks about some of these topics. Often is the time I've found myself discussing something with Travis (usually over beers), and we'll get into a bit of a friendly argument only to realize we are saying the same thing. Or he'll insist that that was what he meant to say all the time when, in fact, he was arguing the opposite. It can be frustrating.

But, overall, Travis is a fun guy to hang out with. And I would also add that he is actually a pretty loyal friend. He has been kind enough to say good things about me as a teacher, even though I don't feel worthy of such praise. I know Travis is the more popular teacher because he has a certain way with students (and usually puts more effort into teaching than I do). One aspect of our job that we both agree with is this: little kids are buggers!

I believe Travis' legacy at JLS is primarily the way in which belching, farting and swearing in the staff room have become commonplace. I'm not judging, mind you. I think the term lowest common denominator has some relevance in the way our expat teaching staff relate to each other. Thank you, T.

Jeremy

Jeremy is my little brother. That's kind of the way I feel about him. I am slightly older than he is, and he began working at JLS exactly one year after I did.

Jeremy has many endearing qualities, in a curmudgeonly kind of way. In fact, I've always thought of Jeremy as a real-life George Costanza. He looks a bit like George, and he sometimes worries excessively about his job. But Jeremy's my boy, and here's why.

He's about as down to earth as anybody I've ever known. There is no pretension where Jeremy is concerned. He never claims to be anything more than he is, but I will say he is a dedicated teacher. Even though he (like Travis and I) doesn't care much for the shitty aspects of the job -- in particular rude children and meddlesome management -- he still takes the time to do his job. He will let his emotions get the better of him at times, but you know he's honest. That really counts for something when you look at someone as a friend.

Many is the time when Jeremy and I have gone for a beer (okay, beers) after work and laid out our gripes about the job. But just as often, we evolve the discussion to say that we both feel very lucky to have found JLS because our lives have actually turned out pretty well as a result of having worked here. Then we discuss non-work-related issues, such as what we hope to do in the future, family life, and so on. While I have made the decision to return to Canada this spring, Jeremy sees himself likely staying in Korea for the foreseeable future.

When Jeremy first started at JLS in May 2001, he had a girlfriend who turned out to be a bit of a loser. She broke up with him not long afterwards, and Jeremy remained kind of bitter about the experience for quite some time. Then, when he met Young-kyung in 2004, I felt happy for him. He is crazy for Young-kyung... totally P-whipped. It's really the perfect Jeremy situation.

Jeremy and I, along with Travis and Ryan, have been playing fantasy sports together for years, and our many staff room conversations about players have surely turned off the non-sports fans like Rachel and Kristine. But we live for this stuff, it seems, and the really cool thing is that even as we begin to go our separate ways in the world, we are able to maintain the friendships by way of playing fantasy sports online. This has been the case with Ryan in Ukraine and another JLS buddy of ours, Colin, who is back in Canada.

The running joke at JLS is that, when I come back to Korea in ten years for a visit, I should stop by JLS to see Jeremy. After all, he might still be there. No matter what, though, just as long as he remains sufficiently grumpy and cynical, he'll always be my little brother.

JLS Buddies

JLS Students (The Good)

In an earlier post, I talked about one student named Charles who was the best student I taught at JLS. However, there have been thousands of other kids throughout my seven years here. I would like to take this time to write about a few of the cool kids.

I have taught all grades at JLS, from grade one elementary kids to high school students. About two years ago, the decision was made by JLS to assign middle school and high school classes to Korean teachers only, which meant that we native teachers were placed in the elementary school classes. In one respect, I disliked this decision because I felt that I related better to older kids. Indeed, when I worked for the curriculum committees in 2002, I created lessons for middle school and high school TOEFL classes. Other teachers such as Travis and Patrick also preferred the older students for the most part. On the other hand, I couldn't help but notice that elementary school students were more enthusiastic about English than were the middle school kids (and, as for the high school kids... well, they really couldn't have cared less about studying).

So, most of my memories of students are connected to the younger ones over the years. The following pictures show just a tiny fraction of the number of kids I have met at JLS.

JLS Students

One of the pictures shows a student named Hong Su-na. Her English name was Sue. She was a bright little girl who loved to laugh. She went with her family to England for one year, and she came back a more confident English speaker. Later, she participated in the JLS speech contest, and on April Fool's Day 2004, she wrote a letter to me because I said I was leaving JLS to go back to Canada -- it was my April Fool's prank. Here is her letter (click on letter to view larger file).






















In early summer 2005, Hong Su-na was on her way to her class at JLS when she was struck by a car. My knowledge of the details is sketchy, but as I understand it, she was either walking or riding her bike when the car hit her. Her injuries sent her to the hospital. Tragically, Sue died a short while later, and this happy little girl was no longer with us. When I heard the news, I was utterly shocked. I am thankful that I have these photos and mementos to remember her. The following video clip shows students in Sue's class doing speeches.



My interest in technology led me to do a team project with two of my Korean colleagues. We videotaped four of our classes doing a role-play activity to demonstrate their language skills. The video was included on a CD along with examples of the students' writing, and each student was given a copy of this CD, which I called a digital portfolio. One class in particular had a lot of fun doing this role-play, in which I played the master of ceremonies.


When the students had the opportunity to view their video, their first reaction was embarrassment. However, they soon became fascinated with seeing themselves on the screen speaking English. When students were then asked to write a self-evaluation of their video, almost all said that it was a great experience that they would like to do again. I was thrilled with the students' responses.

There have been lots of really cool kids at JLS. For me, the 'cool' kids are the ones who actually give a damn about being there, who try to learn English and speak it effectively. I would include students like Bella, whom I first met three years ago in the summer intensive classes. Bella would always try to do the best project and would expect to read from the textbook. Like a number of good kids at JLS, though, Bella has been the victim of resentment by other kids who don't share her passion. These days, as Bella prepares to enter grade six, she is suffering from stress. She is not my student now, but her current teacher says she has been pulling out her hair. Yikes!

Two students from the past year who I practically adore (if that feeling is possible for me) are Jonah and Kate. They always do great presentations, and their energy level lifts my spirits. Funny story about Kate: she came to class semi-drunk one day because her grandmother mistakenly gave her wine instead of grape juice. She spent the class nursing an upset stomach and a headache.

Two of my current students, John and Charlotte, are very similar personalities. They both add a lot of spirit to their presentations by using exaggerated intonation and facial gestures. They participate regularly by volunteering to read and answer questions. They are fun to have in class.

I also have a fondness for students who have unique abilities. For instance, one student named Alex was a contortionist. In class, he would sometimes wrap his legs behind his head or twist his arms in a pretzel, seemingly dislocating his shoulders. Another student, Maria, recently demonstrated her flexibility by doing the splits and a ballet-style leg raise above her head, to the applause of her classmates and teacher.

If I had to vote for one kid at JLS as most unusual, I'd have to vote for Deon. The first time I met Deon, I made the same mistake virtually everyone at JLS made when they met him -- they thought he was a she. Deon had long, shoulder-length hair and a rather high voice for grade six. His physical mannerisms (such as the way he held his hands or covered his face when laughing) totally resembled those of a girl. He even seemed to prefer talking to the girls in the class. When I referred to Deon as 'she' in that first class, the other students told me Deon was a boy. I didn't believe them. When Deon himself told me he was a boy, my face went red with embarrassment. I was still unconvinced that Deon was a boy, however, and I asked the Korean teacher to confirm this fact. She did, but only after admitting that she, too, thought Deon was a girl. Anyway, it didn't matter. Deon was pretty cool. He was just effeminate.

So, yeah, there have been some memorable students at JLS. I wish there had been more because many were far from cool. In any event, I choose to remember the above students, and the ones I didn't like will be left to fade from memory.

2002: The Most Exciting Year Yet

The year 2002 covered the end of my second year and start of my third year at JLS. By now, I was feeling right at home with the firm. Daniel was still the senior teacher until mid-year, when he moved on to a university position, but I began to take on more responsibilities that I had hoped would eventually lead to a promotion within JLS.

First of all, I was continuing to work Saturdays for overtime pay. Around this time, Mr. Huh had decided to dramatically increase the weekend overtime rate to 50 000 won/hour (roughly $60/hour). Second, I joined a curriculum development committee, where I was to work with Patrick developing course materials for our middle school TOEFL classes. I spent the entire year working on this committee, which not only produced some good materials for us to use, but also contributed to my ever-growing salary. Speaking of which, my third year salary was 3 million won per month. I literally felt like I had fallen into a pot of gold.

Of course, in addition to making money, one of my objectives while living in Korea was to travel, and the year 2002 saw us making three overseas trips. In February, during the Lunar New Year holiday, Heather and I took our baby Renee to Guam. Although we were there for just three days, and the weather was somewhat rainy, we had a grand time experiencing the tropics in the middle of winter.

In August, the three of us once again travelled -- this time to Singapore and Bintan Island in Indonesia. Being located almost exactly at the equator, we experienced intense sun and heat like never before. It was fantastic!

In the fall, Heather and I managed to escape on our own for a visit to Tokyo. We found Tokyo to be extremely enjoyable -- so energetic, yet easy-going in the sense that you could see people being comfortable as themselves. For anyone who has taught in Korea, visiting Tokyo makes for an interesting comparison.

When Baker was with JLS as our supervisor, he was very generous with the teacher get-togethers. Basically, if anyone wanted an excuse for the teachers from the various branches to get together, he was willing to pay for the drinks. In 2002, we had many such parties because the school was getting bigger as a whole (the native teachers at Bundang increased from five to eleven, for example). As I look back through my photo albums, I can see that I took a lot of pictures from these events. For instance, here we are in March and April.

The grandest event of 2002, though, was the FIFA World Cup, which was co-hosted by Korea and Japan. I've never been a big soccer fan, but I can tell you that this was the greatest party I have ever witnessed. At this time, I purchased my new camcorder, and the first event I recorded was the World Cup match between Denmark and Senegal, which I attended with Ryan and Jeremy.


But the real World Cup excitement only began to make itself known as the tournament progressed, with Team Korea winning match after match against top soccer powers such as Portugal, Italy, and Spain. The match against Italy was one of the most amazing spectacles of the tournament, and a number of us joined with a crowd of Koreans at a local restaurant to enjoy the evening.


Towards the end of this action-packed year, our second child was born. It was a fitting way to finish a year that was exciting from beginning to end.

As I think back to the year 2002, this appears to be the zenith of my time at JLS. The school had reached its height in terms of class size; we were partying on a regular basis, and the money just kept coming. And this was also the year that more teachers came to our school, including Rachel, Colin, Kaylene, Tim, Mike, Steve, and probably more whom I have forgotten. In retrospect, I think JLS got too big, and within the next year or two the school would begin to contract.

But it was a great year while it lasted!