i hadn’t seen ms. seo since late august of last year, when she helped me move apartments. she was my co-teacher for two years at a private middle school on the east side of town (that’s the good side of daegu, in case you were wondering), and she was very helpful in and outside of school. i was sorry to leave the middle school because i did like the students and my co-workers and the school itself. however, i was seriously bothered by the lack of support in my co-teaching classes and i was fed up with the middle school curriculum. and quite frankly, i got a gig that suited me better.

yesterday, i met her in downtown in front of daegu department store. as my phone plan was under her name, i needed ms. seo’s signature in order to be released from KTF’s annoying grasps (so much spam!). subsequently, i was able to sign up with another cell phone carrier under my significant other’s name. for most of the hour we spent together, we talked about work.

a redheaded aussie, oh, let’s call him ‘drake,’ took my place at the middle school last fall. too often i hear horror stories about native english-speaking teachers who don’t prepare for class, and are lazy, and come to school hung over, and call in sick all the time and whatnot. i’ve never met ‘drake,’ but what ms. seo told me about him leaves me to think that he’s one of those native english-speaking teachers. here are the bits and pieces of our conversation:

‘drake’ doesn’t prepare for class. he stands in front of the classroom and reads the textbook out loud. in a period, he’ll stand there and read, out loud, two whole units of the book (there are only 12 units in the entire textbook). furthermore, he doesn’t explain the contents in detail or provide examples. sometimes the students will do a word find for the entire 45 minutes of class. when ‘drake’ is done ‘teaching,’ he gives the students free-talking time. “in english”? i asked. “no,” ms. seo answered, “the students speak in korean. we have many free-talking sessions.”

i shook my head in disbelief. it unsettles me to hear that such a person is ‘teaching’ at such a good school. well, it’s not entirely his fault. i know the english teachers at that school; they don’t fully participate in the art of ‘co-teaching.’ they could make the lesson plans and use ‘drake’ only as a human phonograph. they could take the initiative and be the lead teachers. they could force him to co-teach in class. but they don’t. it’s not all his fault, i know that.

the crazy thing is, i saw him at the re-signing meeting friday afternoon, which indicates the education center’s decision to renew his contract. “did you guys give him a good review?” i asked ms. seo. “no, we told the education center that we don’t want him to be at our school. we said that even if we don’t have a native english teacher next semester, we don’t want him. the principal and vice-principal agreed to that,” she answered.

amazing, i thought. most principals will do anything to get a native english teacher at their schools; it gives the school more clout. schools that have mediocre foreign teachers will still most likely allow the teachers to stay…it’s not very common to hear schools not wanting a foreign teacher (only the really bad ones get bad evaluations).

“but i saw him at the re-signing meeting,” i mentioned to her. “because of the lowered value of the korean won to the US dollar, not many americans want to come to korea at the moment. there are fewer native english teachers coming into korea from the US this year. so, the education center decided to renew his contract,” she explained. “and he doesn’t know that we don’t want him. he doesn’t know that he might be re-assigned to another school.” i nodded.

not the nicest thing to do to ‘drake,’ i think. but i can see why no one bothered to tell him about the negative evaluation. suppose he is assigned to the same middle school again…there might be awful tension between him and the english teachers if he knows that they gave him a bad evaluation. but it does anger me (a little) that the sole reason for his renewal was so that he could fulfill a quota. this allows him to continue being dead weight, a waste of time, a waste of money. it’s gross.

“and he wants to move into an apartment next year. because he wants to buy an LCD screen tv and there’s no room to put it on the wall of his studio right now. and he has a korean girlfriend.”

during the hour i spent with ms. seo in the cell phone shop, numerous tiny explosions went off in my brain. i know that i’m not a licensed educator with a teaching certificate or a masters degree or anything, but gosh darn it, i know i do a decent job at my school. i show up. i work hard. i learn. i teach. i’m not lazy. i don’t settle for mediocrity.

i’m not saying it’s any one party’s fault. it’s the aussie’s fault for being crappy (it’s not his fault for being hired). it’s the middle school’s fault for not being more proactive about co-teaching. it’s the education center’s fault for not upping the criteria for hiring native english teachers (sure, i’d be out of a job, but i’d leave willingly, knowing that i’d be leaving on fair conditions). it’s the korean education system’s fault for many many many things.

i didn’t really know how to reply to ms. seo’s matter-of-fact narration of the events at my old school. i just said, “i’m sorry.”