The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Good:My holidays at the end of January have been approved and because the principal was nice and loves me, he threw in 6 extra days off between Christmas and New Year's.

The Bad:I'm getting a new partner teacher who instead of being it in title only, they will be co-teaching every class with me in the new school year (March). I'm nervous, I like running the class. I like being able to choose what to teach, what to skip and picking the right activity to help teach the lesson. There are a lot of laughs in class and I make sure the kids have fun but I also demand students are respectful to me and others and that no matter their English abilities students have to try. If our teaching styles don't mesh it could be a long half a year. I've already voiced my unease about this and the principal has told me I'm the main teacher and the co-teacher will just help out. I'm sceptical.

The Ugly:The Korean government is finally trying to clamp down on "undesirables" (their word not mine) who are teaching in Korea. New applicants will have to have a university degree, pass a physical,a drug test (coming straight out of University, thank god that wasn't in place when I came here), get a criminal background check and have an interview at a Korean consulate in their home country before coming over. Working for the public system I've already done all this (minus the gov't interview which is totally unfeasible)but it has led to a huge panic for those working in Hogwon's (private academies). I do like most of the new rules and they are a good start to weed out the bad ones but I think they need to do more. What I think needs to change is:

1: Stop paying for people's airfare over here. Make them pay and reimbursed them at the end of the contract.
2: Stop hiring people based on their appearance and actually read resumes. Hogwon owners insist mom's want young good looking white teachers but I think what their money should be demanding are for good teachers.
3: Stop handing out 6 month tourist visa's, nobody is here to travel for six months.