ATEK is Dead; let's Bury it: What Next

This is part two of a two-post series about the demise of ATEK. Please read Part One first.

What next:


First thing:
I'm informed that all ATEK's e-mail addresses except the two still being used by the two active officers, have been deleted, so all e-mail records are deleted with them. If ATEK is to be retired, I think a fair thing to ask is that the ATEK website forums be closed, and all the website forum member data stored in the member IDs be deleted, so that I know the information I entered into ATEK's website or sent to the membership officer when I joined, won't appear elsewhere. I don't want to get random e-mails from god-knows-who saying "hey. You signed up for ATEK, so now I'm here to tell you about OUR English teacher thing." I'll sign up for THAT one if I'm interested. I haven't received any e-mails from ATEK in about a year, so it might be that the e-mail addresses have already been deleted. I'd be happy to have confirmation of this. The person who has been in charge of membership in ATEK over the last year and some is the single person involved with ATEK whom I respect the most for being honorable, honest, and ethical in the way he's carried out his ATEK duties, and his duty has, all this time, been to protect the private information of those who signed up for ATEK. If he confirms that ATEK has officially erased the member data he has, frankly, I trust him.

If another group wants to get started, I think it's best that they start with a blank slate anyway: I'd hate for them to inherit anything else along with ATEK's member data, but I fear that's exactly what would happen if a group decided to revive the idea of ATEK while using ATEK's member data. There's no need to keep that around anymore.

Second thing:
ATEK has to go. The name is toxic. The next organization needs a new name and a fresh start. Let's have no illusions about that.

Third thing:
As I wrote in 2009, in my "On Ugly English Teachers and Racist Korean Journalists"series, the English teaching community is fractured, disconnected, and a whole splayed out web of different needs, according to region, time in country, connection with Korea, type of school, nation of origin, and more. We are far, far less than the sum of our parts right now.

Yes, there are facebook groups, meetups and other informal organizations, and that's good; however, when some politician or journalist chooses the (still) politically easy road of scapegoating English teachers, there (still) isn't any group who can form an articulate, coherent response, and that hurts the English teachers ATEK was trying to represent... and all of us. I have very different ideas about expat community now than I did when I was writing about it so much in 2008 and 2009, but as long as there's no Korean language pushback when the Anti-English Spectrum, or any old Korean journalist or politician runs our name down, the situation won't change all that much. So, unless you like invasive drug and blood tests...

Something is needed.


Fourth thing: 

In the piece I linked just above, I wrote about how long-term expats seem to often go native, to stick to their own, perhaps tired of dealing with the turnover, which means the expats who have the time in country, understanding of the culture, and most of all, language skill, to really lead the charge, often end up looking out for their own instead.

And I'm sorry to say that with a wife and a kid, I now fall into that category. I wish well to anyone who wants to start something, I'll give you some advice on Skype or over the phone, but I won't be at the next KOTESOL conference signing people up for whatever somebody forms. I'm tired, and I already gave it a shot, and somebody has more energy and enthusiasm for it than I do. Somebody without a kid.

I've got a kid and grad school on the pipeline, and many of the friends of mine who were E-visa English teachers, whom I thought of while doing ATEK work, have repatriated, to be replaced by people I don't know, who are way younger than I am, with whom I don't always feel a great deal of connection, and frankly, toward whom I don't feel much obligation, when my baby's smiling at me from across the room. I've become one of the "gone native" expats I wrote about in 2009, and I don't identify myself as an English teacher anymore. The expats I connect with now are usually connections because of their blogs or their long-term status, not because of shared English-teacher status.

So... send me the e-mail, I'll link to the website and the press release, I'll even chat from time to time if you want to ask about how ATEK handled/mishandled a situation that's occurring in the new organization (if you ask nicely), and I'll send anybody who inquires along to you, but don't expect much more from me than that this time. I jumped with both feet, twice, for ATEK - once with Equal Checks, and then again as Communications Officer, and those stand as the two most stressful times in my whole life in Korea, so... I've paid my pound of flesh, and now I've got a family to look out for.



The English Teacher's organization that will succeed:


In looking at the nature of the native English teacher scene in Korea, and the ways ATEK failed and/or almost/could have succeeded, here are some features of the organization English teachers need, that will be able to successfully help English teachers:

1. It will not be one monolithic organization, but a series of affiliated organizations.
Public school teachers.
Elementary school teachers.
University teachers.
Teachers in Jeollado.
Teachers in Seoul.
Teachers from USA.
Teachers from Ireland.
Hagwon teachers in general.
Adult hagwon teachers.
Native English speaking teachers.
Long-term expats.
F-visa holders.
Non-native English teachers in public schools.
Non-native English teachers in hagwons.

and so forth.

People will be members of more than one of these groups (obviously) some may contribute to only one of them, some energetic, optimistic people, will probably help make decisions, or advise, for numerous groups. All groups should look with suspicion on anyone who tries to become an influential part of all of them.

A series of less rigid organizations will be better able to serve the information needs of the different subsets of teachers in Korea, it won't put too much pressure on one person, it will make it harder for English teacher-hate groups to target the leaders, it will make it harder for someone with ulterior motives to try and exploit too many people at once, there won't be any list of all the members in one place, and it will make it easier for each group to articulate the particular needs and concerns of those different subsets.

These affiliated organizations should be loosely enough linked enough that they can each act independently, but closely enough linked that when one group has a pressing need, the other groups can speak in support and solidarity, and keep members abreast of what's happening in other parts of the landscape. Also... closely enough linked to spot someone trying to exert too much influence in too many groups. Because that happens when volunteer groups are concerned.

2. Built for ease and speed of communication.
It might be as simple as a series of twitter accounts that all English teachers in Korea can follow: that would be enough to inform people about changes and concerns, to send people to the links and articles that might interest them, to alert people about petitions or changes in law, or to muster a few people with the Korean skill to translate a document or part of a document, in order to keep everyone informed.

3. Information exchange, not mobilization or representation, will be its main stock in trade
Let's be honest. There have been so many groups trying to create an "all-in-one Expat Korea source" that there's no need to create another. Except perhaps for this one, which is all you need. There are so many blogs and forums discussing English info, and the scene changes so frequently -- a blogger moves to a new host and all his old links go dead (I'm talking about you, Chris in South Korea); the laws change and a formerly dead-reliable page goes outdated; a recruiter closes his/her website; the laws change again, the most informative blogger repatriates -- that there's not really much point in trying to pull it all together in one place, because three months later everything's changed.

But the main thing these groups will do is get vital or useful information, tailored to the specific group, out to that group.

It will get information out proactively: "how to make sure you're covered by health insurance" is a much more important message to send out, than "raise funds for this guy who got hurt and doesn't have health insurance" -- we're responsible for ourselves.

4. But representation will be a limited part of it, and mobilization might be a VERY limited part of it
What kind of representation? Not the "ATEK is the only organization representing over 20 000 Native English teachers in South Korea" overstatement-type... but, for example, a set of Twitter accounts and blog connections, leading to a survey monkey survey that can help add a line like "80% of the 3000 English teachers surveyed strongly oppose this new law..." in a press release... that kind of representation, and the resources to GET that kind of representation, would be fantastic, and if it's links to surveys rather than all-in-one groups with membership lists, presuming to represent, the risk of vainglory goes WAY down.

5. Long-term Expats, F-Visa Holders and Koreans will Provide Much of Its Stability and Continuity, While Short-Term Expats will Provide (Either Some Or a Lot Of) Its Energy
Because it was easiest to verify membership with E-visa holders, ATEK put its main stock in the most transient of visa-holders. This led to a lack of institutional continuity that hurt ATEK a lot: loads of half-finished or barely-begun projects, tons of great ideas with no follow-through. Meanwhile, a few jobsworths (or maybe just one or two) made it unreasonably hard even for very willing non E-2 visa holders to get involved in meaningful ways. This was one of the biggest mistakes ATEK made. A successful expat organization will have long-term expats as the engine of its strength, and the long-term connections, both formal and informal, between them, will create a frame on which those with good ideas can hang their efforts.

6. It will not duplicate what other groups and websites already do, but send people to the places already providing information and services for English teachers, expats, and anyone.
'Nuff said.

So, if you have ideas about what an English teacher group needs or should be, weigh in in the comments. I can't think of much more boring than beating the dead ATEK horse, because that boat has sailed, but if people are interested in new organizations, in forming something more useful, feel free to put a link or an e-mail address in the comments, where people can reach you.

ATEK is Dead; Let's Bury it: A Eulogy

Status:

Since 3WM published its "Atek, the Great White Hoax" series, starting almost exactly a year ago, ATEK has gone silent. I've reached out to those who are keeping the website online, and the outlook ain't hot. The bad press has made it pretty much impossible to recruit officers, and without officers, it is impossible for ATEK to help English teachers in the way the organization hoped to in the beginning. ATEK has been without a president since last spring, and its other officers have slowly moved on, or shifted the networks they initially formed through ATEK, along other lines, under other names. ATEK's Facebook groups are mostly spam-catchers, the ATEK name has become radioactive, and whichever English teacher's organization comes next will have to answer some tough questions about why they're different from ATEK, and how they plan to do differently, or better. The ATEK website is basically defunct, though still operating, the English teacher help forums there are silent (except somebody who wants you to buy some video games), and all the ATEK e-mail accounts have been closed but two.

ATEK the organization, and the people involved in it, with a few exceptions, did want to help English teachers, for the most part. Yeah, some were in it for the resume padding or the networking or the ego-gratification, or to try to get a little extra buzz surrounding some other cause or gig they were involved with... but when is that untrue of any volunteer organization, and how does that preclude an organization from helping people, if people can set those agendas aside and focus on the goals of the organization?

It's a shame this group of people couldn't work that out, that for too many of the people involved in the organizational breakdowns, being right became more important than being pragmatic. I suppose that's the drawback of new organizations like this, though: they attract idealists, when they need pragmatists, and the pragmatists get frustrated with the drama, and seek out venues to get stuff done, where they don't have to deal with hissy fits.


Why it failed:


Problem 1:
ATEK talked a bigger game than it actually walked for pretty much all of its existence, promised a little more than it could deliver, and got started on the wrong foot with some of the groups and people it most needed to have supporting it: some of the people who would have provided the leadership, continuity and competency it lacked, and then was too inflexible to find a way to work with some of those people, even when they gave it numerous (probably undeserved) second and fifth chances. And a few people put too much of their personalities into ATEK, in the wrong way, for it to ever quite get completely clean of the stain. While I have well-publicized issues with the 3WM ATEK series, it is more or less accurate in its picture of the ways ATEK got in its own way, and hobbled itself from becoming a more useful organization.

Problem 2:
While some involved in ATEK might still maintain that the online peanut gallery, unwilling to contribute positively, but quick to loudly recount past flaws and wrongs, was mostly responsible for ATEK's demise, I disagree. While they ensured ATEK had a hard time living down its failings, if ATEK had had more successes, those criticisms would have sounded hollow.

Problem 3:
ATEK was brought down by a toxic mix of personalities, pretty much all of whom meant well, at least when they started in, but too many of whom couldn't work together, too many of whom couldn't set aside their egos agendas and vendettas, because of the way they were trying to portray themselves, or their beliefs about the role they had, or personal issues they had with other players, or their desire to please too many people with conflicting views, or their desire to be vindicated taking precedence over the greater good for English teachers. These ugly personality blends submarined the organization just when it was approaching the critical mass it needed to become a useful institution.  A few of the very best people involved in ATEK were too quiet during times when their voices of reason could have provided much-needed calm and leadership, or had already left in frustration, or got booted on technicalities, and so weren't around when their points of view were badly needed.

Problem 4:
ATEK became far too organizationally bloated, far too quickly, and that hampered people who wanted to help out, from finding places where they could help out with the talents they had.

Problem 5:
ATEK depended too much on the part of the foreign English teaching population that is least reliable in the long-term: the E-2 visa, one-year, high-turnover teachers. Some -probably most- of the people in Korea on E-2 visas are amazing people, with great ideas and awesome energy... but when 60-80% of an organization's membership repatriates every twelve months (the average officer served somewhere around six months while I was there, despite officer terms being one year), when nary an officer carries out their full term as an officer because they're changing jobs and countries, it's hard to generate organizational continuity and coherence.

Problem 6:
There had to be a way for people who weren't strictly, rigidly English teachers, even who did have something they wanted out of ATEK (people selling textbooks looking for buyers, recruiters or school HR people looking for recruits, labor law firms looking for commissions, whatever) to contribute to ATEK meaningfully, while remaining honest about what they were in it for. ATEK started working on a disclosure policy far too late.

Problem 7:
ATEK simply bit off way more than it could chew. University teachers, public high school, middle school and elementary school teachers, after-school hagwon teachers, preschool hagwon teachers and adult hagwon teachers each have their own unique needs. F-visa holders and E-visa holders have different concerns and needs, and by trying to address all the various needs of so many overlapping groups, ATEK couldn't do a good job of representing any of them.



Why We Still Need Something Like ATEK:


A year ago, when I wrote about ATEK, I mentioned that with all the back-and-forth over ATEK, we were forgetting this very, very important point:

Anti-English Spectrum is still out there, organized, and active. Anti-English Spectrum members continue putting bugs in the ears of Korean policy makers, and going through foreign English teachers' trash, and "following" them. And English teachers (and various non-English teacher expats) continue cannibalizing their own, rather than mounting/supporting/contributing to an organized response to it.

This remains true. And as long as they exist, and there is no organization representing native English teachers, the Anti English Spectrum will continue to set the terms for how foreign English teachers are portrayed in Korean media, and we don't want that. Unless you like invasive drug and disease tests, and constant resubmission of documents, and being scapegoated.

coming soon:
What next... (read part 2)

ATEK 4: Power to the Members

Update: ATEK's President is Resigning.
UPDATE II: ATEK's Official Statement Regarding Conflict of Interest Explanation of Disciplinary Procedures History of Removal of officers and members


Don't like something ATEK did recently? Think ATEK needs to improve something? Have some ideas about how to improve the organization?

Ultimately, ATEK answers to its general members, not to anybody else (as noisy as they may be). Every ATEK communication should include that fact, until the people who don't listen stop screeching that ATEK is claiming to represent them.  ATEK is a communication network of (number of associate members), and represents (number of general members) English teachers in Korea.

If you're not a general member, ATEK doesn't represent you.  It also doesn't answer to you, no matter how important you think you are, or how smart you are, or how loud you are.

If you ARE a general member, here's how to get involved, because if ATEK's general members get involved, and start exerting their will, that's a powerful thing... and if ATEK's general members can't be bothered, then maybe it is time for the organization to disband, and for its officers to find other venues to contribute to Korean society and the English teacher community.  They're out there.

Fact: ATEK's bylaws, as they are written now, say that a General Member petition must be heard by the National Council, if only 2% of ATEK's general members submit it.  If 4% are on board, you can demand a national vote/referendum.  Given ATEK's current number of General Members, that's about six people, so if you're a general member, you DO have the power. Tons of it.

Here's the section of ATEK's bylaws (their constitution) that gives you the power:

ARTICLE 14 Part 6
6 General Members may by way of submitting a petition to the National Council call for a referendum or general vote. Petitions must comply with the following requirements:
(a) The petition must be supported by a minimum of 4% of the total of all General Members of the Association.
(b) The petition must be an electronic petition in the form of an email.
(c) The email must contain the names and email addresses of the petitioning General Members.
(d)The email must be sent by a General Member to the National Membership Officer. The name and email details of the petitioning General Members must match the details on the National Membership list held by the National Membership Officer.

In article 7 of the bylaws, only 2% of ATEK's general members (about 3 people) need to submit the petition, for it to be required to go to the floor of the national council, at their next meeting, and voted on by them.

The general members hold the power in ATEK, and you need to know that.  And you need to use it.

Heres' how:

1. Get together a few ATEK members who want to shake some things up.
2. Go to the website (atek.or.kr)
3. Find the sidebar that says "GM Resources" - ATEK's new Webmaster has been moving things around (looks great so far), so it might move to the left or right side, etc..
4. Find the button that says "NC Petition Form" click it.
5. Follow the instructions.  Write out your petition. Be clear and specific.  If you want multiple things to happen, maybe even submit multiple submissions.
6. Upload it, as per the directions.  If you have trouble uploading it, email it to president@atek.or.kr, media@atek.or.kr webmaster@atek.or.kr members@atek.or.kr and ethics@atek.or.kr ... that should make sure it reaches the eyeballs that need to see it. If I missed anyone important, sorry.

And if you want to get something going, send me an e-mail (roboseyo, gmail) or contact me on facebook, and I'll put you in touch with others who are interested in moving and shaking as well.

Demand new membership bylaws, or meeting minutes to be posted on the website, or for the membership list to have personal information about teachers removed, or for bureaucracy to be streamlined, or for the NGO goal to be put off until the organization's figured out how to function smoothly. Call for ATEK's Ombudsperson to conduct an investigation into the things reported by 3WM if you're not satisfied with the investigation Tom Rainey-Smith did.  Demand that one be released to the public, or at least to General Members. Demand that the former officers involved in saying mean things about the organization be banned from membership for life. Or that they be made into the new ethics committee. Or anything else I recommended in my last post. Whatever.

Go for it! You have the power! You really, really do.



Comments will be open on this post, to have a discussion about what you'd like to see from an organization purporting to represent English teachers.  I'd like the comments here to be a place where people can discuss that.... so please place your comments allocating blame for the meltdown, and making, or challenging allegations, elsewhere.  He-said, she-said is playing out in other places so it's kind of unnecessary to re-state it all here.

If you wish to direct my readers to those discussions, you may put links in the comments to my site: I won't delete any links (once I find them: sometimes blogger's spam filter blocks things).

And don't worry: I'll read your comment: I keep tabs on those places, too.  You can even go on there and call me a poopypants for deleting your comments, or suppressing that kind of discussion at my site.

In other "good for English teachers" news, some of the people who've been waiting for ATEK to pull its act together, got tired of waiting, and are expanding the services that can be found on the AFEK website. There is now an open discussion forum there, in which anybody can participate.  If the forum there turns out to be anywhere near as useful as the F-visa only discussion forums on that site, it'll be an awesome resource once it's up and running.  http://www.afek.info/

Comments open. Moderation on. Please observe the terms of engagement.

ATEK 3: Why Bother, and What's the Way Forward for ATEK? Is there One?

So Why Bother with ATEK? Why doesn't ATEK just pack it in?

Let's not lose sight of these facts:

1. ATEK is a good idea.  It's a good idea for English teachers to have an organization that can, hopefully, provide a legitimate voice for them.  A good idea badly executed?  Perhaps.  A good idea executed as well as its officers could manage, given their experiences, skill-sets, and personalities?  Maybe.  A bad organization that deserves to be executed?  Not unless there's another representative organization doing a better job of giving English teachers a voice.

If that other organization comes along, and does a better job... well, awesome, and ATEK's officers should quit and move there, and hand over access to the ATEK facebook groups and such.  On the other hand... ATEK already has a massive communication network, and it would be stupid if the organization disbanded and that went fallow.

2. Any new volunteer organization that tries to develop a democratic process for representing English teachers, will have to go through its own growing pains, and will end up subject to similar criticisms, and going through similar personality issues, and pitfalls.  That ATEK has survived this long speaks well of it, and every time it goes through another rough patch, it comes out a better-built, more useful organization.  The problem? Every time ATEK goes through a rough patch, the other thing that happens is more of the long-term people who should be driving an organization like this and providing it with stability, continuity, and support, instead decide they've heard enough and get out their ten foot poles.

Any organization that doesn't try to have a democratic process for selecting its leaders, and some kind of procedure, wouldn't be able to claim to be representative. Any that does is going to end up with personality conflicts and people jockeying for influence in the organization.  Catch-22. And when somebody catches the short end of a power-struggle... hell hath no fury, you know.

3. ATEK has been having a constant discussion, at all kinds of levels, about what an English teacher organization should, can, and needs to do, and how the best way is to go about that.  They haven't arrived at a final answer and smoothed out every wrinkle (probably never will), yet, but every miss is closer to the mark than the miss before it.

4. There are still English teachers who need help with stuff, because shit still happens.

5. The Anti-English Spectrum remains intact, and active.

6. At its best, ATEK's communication network can be a really effective way to help English teachers pool and spread information.

7. ATEK is by NO means the only organization to have embarrassing public fallouts.  I've spoken with people who play/played parts in a number of other volunteer or expat organizations who have found their organizations similarly paralyzed by "titanic battles of ego" to borrow my own phrase.

8. The great idea of ATEK is that when somebody knows a lot about Korea, or teaching, or getting help in specific situations, they can (through passing their knowledge to other officers, developing resources and training materials and documents), ensure that their knowledge, experience, and contacts remain in Korea, even after they leave. The idea of keeping people's knowledge and experience in the country, perpetuating the learning (rather than reinventing the wheel time and time again) is a good one, and it's why I believe an organization like ATEK needs to exist.  If ATEK is/becomes an organization that facilitates people pooling, improving, and perpetuating their knowledge and experience of Korea, then the English teaching community is richer for it.

Is ATEK doing that?  Discuss amongst yourselves.  We've read lots of words already about how the organization has been getting in its own way at times.

Some of this stuff refers to things said on other forums or in communications with ATEK officers, some of these ideas are borrowed from other commenters in other discussions.

Rob's Prescription for ATEK to get back to being a relevant/effective organization.  Take it or leave it.

Shiva the destroyer (source): destroys, to make room for creation.

So... let's get destroying.

Some of this come from inside information, and some of it's based on comments I've read in other places.  I apologize to anyone whom I accidentally quote without attribution. Tomorrow's post will have comments open, and you're invited to take credit for as many of these as you like.  Meanwhile, I don't think any of the inside information is too scandalous, or contrary to the goals of ATEK.

Apologies for repeats:

1. Shakeup.  Again.

The remaining characters who were key players in the meltdown from last autumn need to vacate decision-making/influential positions in the organization.  Most of them already have.  For the most part, I like and respect my former colleagues as people, but pragmatically, as long as the events of last October can be thrown in the face of any of the people involved in ATEK's efforts and plans, not many people are going to take the organization seriously, at least in any endeavor where that person's role comes into play. Hopefully they'll be given enough time to find their replacements, and hopefully their replacements will be given the benefit of the doubt.

And who's going to run for president now, when the job description reads like this: "Wanted: punching bag.  Requirements: rhino-thick skin; ability to motivate people, make idealists compromise, and sniff out ulterior motives in the space of a five minute phone call.  Compensation: The people you help the most will send you an email "thanks" on their way to the airport with their severance bonus in hand.  That's it, but your name may be google-bombed if certain online personalities, or certain officers decide you do too much, or too little, of something.  They won't tell you what until you've already done it, though.  Tenure: one year, renewable."

Who's going to answer that bell?  Given the amount of punishment ATEK's president needs to be ready to take on the chin, I'd be surprised if any sensible person would go for it.  That leaves people who are in it for some other motivation... and that introduces a whole other set of problems.

And that's how it comes to be that... to riff on a line from The Dark Knight

this is not batman. this is spider-man. don't be stupid.

ATEK is the organization English teachers deserve, but not the one they need.

What else?


2. Streamline.

There are too many PMAs and too many officer roles. Combine some PMAs so that there aren't so many one-officer PMAs. Rearrange the officer role descriptions to allow more flexibility and play.  ATEK is operating on too wide a bandwidth to effectively accomplish EVERYTHING it sets out to do.  It's time to simplify its goals, and set targets according to what it can do, instead of what it wants to do, and take some of those goals, and either outsource them to other organizations, or put them aside until the organization's big enough to achieve them.  (for example, the conference)


3. Make it easier for people to become, and stay members: require less personal information for membership.  Maybe require it for an officer position, or at least some of them, because we need to know who's occupying these positions, but make it easier to become a member.

If people want to contribute to ATEK, rules shouldn't stop them. Too many people have had more to offer, and been turned away or forced-resigned, because of clumsy rules.

Ways to do this:

• more effective use of committees (one doesn't need to be a full member to be part of a committee)
• a third type of membership where people can contribute without NEEDING to be English teachers. ATEK has developed disclosure protocols, in order to sniff out conflicts of interest where they exist. I'm OK with people working certain jobs being ineligible for certain officer roles - for example, a recruiter should never have access to any of ATEK's membership lists - but if a recruiter wants to design and organize professional development materials, why shouldn't s/he?
• relaxed membership policies
• Membership, at the very least, should expire when their officer role does.  The lost opportunities coming out of forced resignations mentioned in 3WM part 2 are one of the worst things ATEK did to itself.

4. This one might be hard to swallow for some people: Back away from the NGO goal for now and focus on utility

Take an organization people don't understand, and don't totally trust, which hasn't provided many tangible benefits for the people it's trying to reach, and hasn't done a great job of communicating what it has, is, and will do, and make it an NGO, and you have an NGO which people don't understand, and don't totally trust, which hasn't provided many tangible benefits for the people it's trying to reach, and hasn't done a great job of communicating what it has, is, and will do.  Becoming an NGO won't magically make ATEK a useful organization and automatically overhaul its reputation, any more than joining a religion automatically means I can stop taking my antidepressants and seeing my counsellor.

But if ATEK, after retooling, proves itself an effective tool for helping people to maximize their wish to help English teachers, then it'll be even more useful as an NGO.

ATEK's best moves lately have been things like opening the blood-type registry and compiling a list of mental health services in Korea, and getting Hankyoreh to publish a retraction for an article about English teachers breaking contract.  Nobody was talking shit about ATEK when it did those things, because they were tangible.  Why not focus on those kinds of goals for a while, until the organization's name is tied to efforts like that, instead of saddled to a reputation for having a big, ugly, public scandal every 8 months?

These next three might be repeating.  Sorry.

5. Get better at forming and maintaining contacts with outside bodies and people -- DON'T reinvent the wheel.  Instead, coordinating the efforts of stuff that's already out there is more effective.  As an example: why bother creating an events forum on ATEK's website, when people check for events at 10 Magazine?

If someone's helping English teachers already, or enabling English teachers to contribute to their communities, do they need to be recruited as an ATEK officer, before ATEK can form a connection with them, and help them spread the word about whatever they're doing?

Why not let them stay where they are, and use ATEK's communication network give them a bigger stage to keep doing what they're already doing anyway?  Or give them access to parts of ATEK's communication network, and then let them go to keep at what they were up to anyway? As one example: why not have a quick tutorial on the ATEK site on joining forums for other pages, posting event notices on other sites, etc., which anybody can access, instead of forcing it to go through an officer (when one is filling the position), and requiring officers to go through an approval procedure before communications can go out?  Then, ATEK's network is helping to connect people with the community that's already out there instead of duplicating work and/or bogging it down with procedure.

6. Be facilitators

One of the biggest ways ATEK was getting in its own way was all the different ways people were being told not to do things, and given constraints on their actions.  For ATEK to become an organization where people want to contribute, it needs to earn a reputation for helping people do what they're already doing faster, or more easily, or to a larger audience.  Then, people will be flocking to the organization, instead of dithering about joining, or quitting out of frustration.

7. Kill the stuff that isn't working, or that's duplicating what others are doing.

The forums? Aren't working. Kill them. It's a good idea to have some discussion forums which are more positive and productive than... that discussion forum, but Hi Expat and Waygook.org and AFEK have open discussion forums now, and people who are already putting time and work into developing, moderating, and improving them. Why not use ATEK officer time and talent in other areas, and send ATEK members to those places, with ready-made communities, instead of trying to become the all-hub-of-everything, all at once?  KOTESOL has conferences that are quite well-attended and successful.  They have experience and know-how. Why not support them instead of putting together ATEK's own?

The Employment and Legal Issues role? Isn't working: there hasn't been a labor officer in months. Kill it. ATEK.or.kr/legal has a list of legal services expats can call. Add to that a flow chart of "have you tried...X, X, or X?" and maybe some downloadable examples of letters that have been written to employers for certain situations, and a checklist of pertinent cultural points to remember for conflict resolution in Korean workplaces.  Then, when somebody comes along with talents to improve the system, let them.  Until then, promising labor help that can't be given is leading to disappointment.

How many of the things ATEK promises to do, has it been unable to do, because it's understaffed? How many of those vacant officer roles could be replaced with links to other places where people are already doing those things?

8. Focus on the local

Busan and Gyeonggi PMAs are doing quite well.  This would be a good time for ATEK's leadership to work on finding ways to facilitate and empower the local organizations to develop themselves.  Maybe Busan and Gyeonggi can make it their goals to work on building PMAs adjacent to theirs, and let it go from there.

9. Stop claiming to represent...

Add the line "ATEK represents X general members" to all promotional materials press releases and info kits.  One of the most common gripes from the screeching complainers is "You don't represent me, and I never asked you to."  So keep hammering home the point that ATEK only represents its general members.  Yeah, I know the screechers don't listen... but that's their problem.  ATEK's job is to make sure it's because they weren't listening, not because ATEK was talking too big.

10. Close that chapter for good

The first edition of the English Teacher's Guide To Korea (Sparkling) was recently removed from the website.  The organization name and the logo need to change too, to erase the legacy of that one former communications officer who pissed off a lot of people who should have been ATEK's allies from the start, and whose name comes up every time somebody who doesn't like ATEK needs to throw something in ATEK's face.  The name ATEK's been bogged down with too much crap as well, at this point.  I was the PR guy for half a year and even I tense up when I hear or read "ATEK."

11. Expectation management - let's be reasonable here.

ATEK should be talking, and setting goals, according to the number of active general members and/or officers it has, not according to the number of associate members it has, or the number of contacts in its mailing list.

12. Get all private information about members off the ATEK website, so that it's easier to give people moderator or administrator access, without people worrying about them getting access to information they shouldn't have.

13. Transparency and news:

ATEK should be making its successes known.  English teacher avoided getting ripped off because an officer brainstormed some coping strategies?  Take out personal info and put that up on ATEK's twitter account, or in a little window on the front of the webpage.  English teacher decides not to do a midnight run?  Put that up on twitter, or the webpage.  English teacher found a much-needed counseling service? Remove the slightest hint of personal information, and let the world know on twitter.  That stuff happens.  People get helped.  Let people know about the little victories as well as the big ones.  Get pictures from all the volunteer events happening down in Busan, or in Gyeonggi (another of ATEK's most active PMAs), and let's see them on the website!

ATEK's organizational bodies/decision making bodies should have regularly scheduled meetings, and those meeting minutes should be available at least to general members, and maybe also to associate members. A version of them should be available for the general public.

14. A rhetoric tip:

It's a fallacy, or at least a false dichotomy, to assert that those who don't join ATEK aren't helping English teachers, as if ATEK is the only way to contribute to the expat community. So let's never again hear anything along the lines of "at least ATEK is helping people.  What have YOU done?"  I think "If you know how to do it better, please join and show us" is fair game, but speaking as if ATEK is the only legitimate outlet for supporting the English teaching community sounds smug.  It's off-putting.

If people who like to help English teachers, and do it a lot, are not finding ATEK a good venue to do what they do, then ATEK needs to look at why.

After part 4 tomorrow, when comments come open, you're invited to add your input to the comments.

ATEK 2: My farewell letter to ATEK Officers

Dear ATEK Officers,

While I have had a great time working with ATEK, it is time to inform you that I am now resigning from my role as ATEK’s National External Communications Officer. It has been an exciting but challenging experience, and I have learned a lot. I believe that another officer will be able to do a better job of promoting ATEK to the media than I have been, and I believe ATEK will benefit from new blood. Where I have failed, or proven inadequate to the job, I apologize. Where I have done well, I thank you for your support in giving me the opportunity to do so.

I will remain a supporter of ATEK, even after I am no longer an officer.

Before I go, I would like to say a few words about what ATEK is, and what it can become, and ask you all to consider this as you promote and recruit for ATEK, and plan events.

One:
While I believe that ATEK will grow stronger as more teachers volunteer and contribute, I ask you to consider that there are some people, in some positions, who will better serve English teachers from outside the organization. A journalist who supports ATEK will do a better job of helping ATEK as a friendly press connection than by becoming an officer, at which time, for the sake of journalistic objectivity, he/she would not ethically be able to write about ATEK.

This becomes especially true in two cases: (1) where there is money to be made (for example, if I am the publisher of a book about teaching) and (2) where ATEK’s goals and purposes could impede me from acting freely because, as an officer, my actions would reflect on the organization at large (for example, a human rights lawyer: where their work might help English teachers, a too-close affiliation with ATEK could lead to the appearance that ATEK plans to engage in human-rights agitation). There are organizations and groups that are developing services for English teachers and, while ATEK would benefit from having members of some of them, there are others that work best as allies or friends of ATEK. ATEK must be judicious in choosing when, and how, to form relationships and affiliations, in order to guard the organization’s image, both now and for the future. It is important to support ATEK’s President and Ethics Committee as they help make decisions about forming such relationships.

Two:
As a writer, writing guides often urge me to consider my audience. As members of an organization that can do a lot of good for English teachers, I ask all of you to consider the different audiences that are watching and passing judgment on ATEK. In particular: many of ATEK’s officers are foreign English teachers; however, foreign English teachers are not the only ones watching ATEK, and initiatives that read well among English teachers don’t always play well to other audiences.

Consider this:
Developing labor services looks great to foreign English teachers and having a record of helping English teachers, Korean and foreign, get fair treatment will look very good on ATEK’s record.

However, if the perception develops that this is the only thing ATEK does, this will damage ATEK’s ability to perform other goals that will, in the long run, serve English teachers. If labor is ATEK’s main strength, and the area where ATEK expends most of its energy, the hagwon owners’ association, and anybody else who employs English teachers, will look on ATEK as an enemy. This will ultimately hurt English teachers, as the ideal outcome for English teachers and, for English education in Korea, is for ATEK to have strong ties with such an association in order to work together and develop concrete steps for improving the resources and training available to English teachers, steps which can be developed by the talent contained in ATEK, and then implemented by the administrators and decision-makers who have final say.

This is why professional development initiatives MUST play a larger role in ATEK’s future. This is why community contribution: volunteering, social events, clothing drives, and other philanthropic efforts MUST NOT be scoffed at. ATEK is not only concerned with teachers getting their severance pay, as dishonest treatment from employers is only symptomatic of the bigger problem that foreign English teachers are being used as scapegoats for the problems in Korea’s English education system. In order to deal with the larger problem of scapegoating, building goodwill with community action is of VITAL importance to ATEK’s long-term goals.

Foreign English teachers are not the only group with whom ATEK must build credibility. Parents’ groups, school boards, school administrators, and others concerned with Education in Korea must also see something in ATEK that they consider positive, and the perception that ATEK is a pseudo-union will not be the thing that wins their hearts and minds. For these audiences, ATEK must project the image that we are reliable, that we are professional, that we are actively and concretely helping teachers improve as teachers, that we are actively and concretely helping teachers contribute to our communities, and that we are actively and concretely helping teachers transition more smoothly into life in Korea and work in Korean schools.

Our audiences are as follows, and we ignore any of these audiences, as an organization, at our peril.

Education administrators in the Korean government school owners and administrators in all kinds of English programs and departments short-term foreign English teachers long-term expat English teachers (including those with F-visas) Korean national English teachers, parents of children in school, adult English students, other NGOs and NPOs dealing with education issues, other NGOs and NPOs dealing with expat and migrant worker issues, the Korean media (English language and especially Korean language), and – through them – the Korean public in general.

Some of these groups might be impressed by short-term actions; for most of them, establishing credibility and building good-will will be a long-term project.

Three:
While this is a common issue in volunteer organizations, many of us know that a lot of stress and turmoil has come through ATEK lately. This came from numerous sources, but ultimately, it boils down to this simple issue: ego. A few very smart and capable people decided that their opinion, and their vision for ATEK, was better than that of others, and a few other very smart and capable people insisted likewise.

I’d like to remind all the officers in ATEK that none of us owns ATEK. ATEK does not belong to any of us, nor to any one body of the association. ATEK is an idea bigger than one or another of our conceptions of it, and the only way ATEK will grow to be as big and as exciting an organization as it CAN be is if people acknowledge and respect other points of view, other opinions, and look for ways to collaborate and compromise, rather than seeking ways for their view or vision to win primacy over others.

Those who have been with ATEK a long time must be mindful that, as more talent joins the organization, their level of sway over the organization will decrease, and THIS IS A GOOD THING, because it indicates that ATEK’s resources are expanding. Those who are new in the organization should be mindful that the ATEK has been around for a while. It is built the way it was built for a very good reason, and they should seek the insights and counsel of those who have been involved for longer.

Everyone should remember that, in everything they do, they are not just acting now but also creating an organization they will pass on to others when their time in Korea or time with ATEK expires. And, when there is a difference of opinion, the need to listen and respect others’ views is more important and serves the organization better in the long run than the need to say one’s piece.

Four:
One of the most practically useful things ATEK did in its opening months was to publish the English Teachers’ Guide to Korea.
Some officers are working on developing the second edition, the online edition of this guide. This is a practical, hands-on, lasting contribution ATEK can make for the English teaching community in Korea, and the scope of information an online guide can provide is inexhaustible, if we find and coordinate the people to help with this. This is also a project where many people outside ATEK, but sympathetic to ATEK’s goals, would be happy to help out. I strongly urge every officer in ATEK to consider how they can help with this project, and to do so.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please support the President, and the officers around you, as we try to build a better organization. Please support the next National External Communications Officer, and please continue working to support and improve life for English teachers in Korea.

Your (former) National External Communications Officer, Rob Ouwehand

ATEK 1

Been lots of talk about ATEK lately.

You can hear Greg Dolezal talk about it on the Seoul Podcast.

I'm going to write about this one time. (in a few parts, though)

First: Ground rules.

I won't be making any comment on specific personalities. Comments about specific personalities on my blog will be deleted.  If you wish to participate in character assassination of either side, here's your link.  Comments will be closed on this post: only the fourth of my four will have commenting. Keep it in one place. It's tiring moderating comment discussions, and ATEK has already gotten as many fifteen hour weeks of unpaid effort and time as I'm willing to offer up for now. And I've got midterms.

I have lots of thoughts about some of the specific people... but they'll stay between me, myself, and maybe people I know who have zero chance of publishing communications between me and them on the internet.

Because if I let a little out, I have to let it all out... and nobody really needs to know which former or current ATEK officer hates puppies, which one can't hold his/her soju, which one eats babies, which one has a habit of "adjusting" in public, which one once accidentally killed a tranny in a Cambodian bar fight and which can quote season and episode for the entire run of Dr. Who, and will punch you if you think "Firefly" sucked.

I made all those up.

But here are the points I'd like to make:


1. If 3WM's traffic works like my blog does, a controversy, and a lively comment discussion means lots of hits.  

A whole year ago, 3WM stumbled onto the fact that picking on well-meaning people DOES stir up lots of comments.  If their site is anything like mine, a good lively comment discussion is also a web traffic bonanza.

Screenshot taken last week.

Screenshot taken last week

Let's also note this: (from their right-hand sidebar)

Had to be said.

[Update: after a polite email from one of the Three Wise Monkeys, it's only fair to inform my readers that the advertisements on the side of the 3WM page are unpaid, and the site is, for now, non-profit.  So add that to whatever you've already put in your pipe, and smoke it, too.]

So... 3WM is doing well on this. Do they give a damn about the plight of English teachers? Who knows? The series didn't offer a single productive suggestion except "disband" (which is destructive, not productive)... but they got the eyeballs. So congratufuckinglations.

Equivocation:

Also to be noted: 3WM isn't just the editor or the three main writers. In the comments after posts, you'll notice that the 3WM community is pretty tight, too: they seem to look out for each other and back each other up. Good for them... when they're not bullying people like Chris Backe, with even site admin joining the mean-spirited pile-up. Etcetera.

And some of the articles on there have been very interesting and well-written, and some have been done by writers whom I respect a lot. That's not to say I have any respect at all for the way THIS story was investigated or presented... but if The Korea Times gets Michael Breen AND Kang Shin-Who, I can be impressed by some of the writers at 3WM while this article and the apparent intentions behind it can still make me want to punch through a wall.

Next thing:

2. Critical thinking 101: Don't trust a one-sided story

When a narrative makes one side sound completely virtuous, and as if s/he and s/he alone was the one wronged, and the other side is always and invariably the one in the wrong, either through ineptitude or malice... 

That's not a narrative you should trust, folks.

Are ATEK's leaders, and the organization in general, all the bad things presented in the 3WM article?  Is the former Seoul Chair the well-meaning hero (presumably on a white horse, and maybe even with a crown of thorns,) out to save all English teachers, only to be foiled by the cackling ATEK executive wearing black hats and rubbing their hands together?

No.

Are ATEK's leaders totally guiltless little hippies, who were on their way to a utopian English education atmosphere, only to have their kumbaya-singing circle spoiled by a big bully who joined the organization in order to launch a pipe-bomb into it, and may or may not have been wearing a mecha suit?

No.

3WM will tell you that the stories they gathered corroborated... but folks, if you go down to rural Georgia, find a house with a confederate flag in the second story window, and ask the six good ol' boys sitting on the porch to tell you the story of the US civil war, you'll get a story that corroborates... corroboration doesn't always mean a lot.  Even my research design class highlights the fact a high rate of non-respondents undermines reliability.

Ask six Koreans about colonial Japan. Then ask six Japanese about it.  Bet the Koreans' stories corroborate, and so do the Japanese's.  But I also bet their stories are so different you'd barely know they were talking about the same region, and the same time period.

The truth is somewhere between the narratives you've been presented in the 3WM article, and the view you get from commenters like Oh Really in the 3WM piece, or the view you get from Greg in the Seoul Podcast, or whatever ATEK's official statement will be, when it comes out.  I have my own ideas about how blame should be divvied up... most people involved acted not in malice so much as over-certainty of their own perspective, or simply on bad advice, and some of them are bad listeners, or bad communicators, and some of them lost perspective, and a few people simply had lapses in judgement or vigilance at crucial points... but I'm keeping the specifics to myself, because finger-pointing and he-said she-said distracts from the thing that's actually important: What's good for English teachers in Korea?

So go back to the other narratives, and decide for yourselves where the truth lies.  Be suspicious of anyone whose story is too well-told or juicy, because good storytelling requires a massaging of facts, and don't forget these events happened, mostly, last October and November, meaning there's been a good five months for people's memories to color what actually happened.  Having witnessed the whole thing myself, and been party to even more of the e-mails than our dear former Seoul officer, here's what you're getting from me:

3. A titanic battle of egos it was.

But for a titanic battle of egos to occur, requires titanic egos on both sides.  Both sides, folks, despite what 3WM would have you believe.

There were people on all sides (not just two people, not just two sides) who refused to budge, who were bullying, who were disrespectful, who were rude or petty, who dismissed and scorned the other side, who sulked, who stomped their feet, and who did things that seemed to demonstrate that to them, being right had become more important than helping ATEK help English teachers. Everybody looked bad at some point or another, from where I stood, myself included. And anybody who looks back, and finds a way to hold themselves blameless, is missing something.  Any narrator who makes themselves sound blameless, is being dishonest with their audience, and themselves. 

It was a perfect storm of incompatible personalities, communication styles, and visions of what ATEK could/should do/be. It was ugly, and I hated being witness to it. I'd meant to take my last months with ATEK and use them to get the second edition of the English Teacher's Guide to Korea on its feet.  Instead, I spent them writing e-mails, talking various people off various ledges, sorting through bullshit and ego and accusations and threats and distortions and personal issues made into ATEK issues.  The Teacher's Guide project remains in limbo, and I'm fucking choked.  

At EVERYBODY involved.  I want my fucking three months back.

That said, there were a lot of smart (not always mature, and not always polite, but very smart) people trying to come up with the fairest way they could, for dealing with a situation the organization hadn't encountered before, trying to implement it at the same time as developing it.  And dealing with it this time it was ugly. Really ugly, but the things the organization has learned from this, mean that next time, similar issues will be dealt with much more quickly and efficiently.

4. The full dish on the former Seoul Chair. 

Nah. You're not getting anything from me. I'm not a muckraker.

I have, before, during, and since the ATEK blowup, recommended the services of that firm to English teachers. Because I'm on the side of English teachers, and that's a service for English teachers. And that's all you're getting from me.

5. Change of Focus:

Here's what has been forgotten in this mess:

Anti-English Spectrum is still out there, organized, and active.  Anti-English Spectrum members continue putting bugs in the ears of Korean policy makers, and going through foreign English teachers' trash, and "following" them. And English teachers (and various non-English teacher expats) continue cannibalizing their own, rather than mounting/supporting/contributing to an organized response to it.  

(yeah, go ahead and tell me ATEK has gotten in its own way in letting people help mount/support/contribute to that response.  I know. I'll cover that in a future post)

And that's a fucking shame, because that's the bigger picture here.

Look for a few more posts on this, and then I'm done with this topic until ATEK, or another organization, is showing results worth reporting.  The first time I threw down on ATEK's behalf, I ended up looking stupid, and moderating the discussions about ATEK back in 2009 at Roboseyo and the Hub Of Sparkle (did you forget about that, 3WM, the part where I gave ATEK's critics an equal voice in discussions even then, or did it just not fit your narrative, so you ignored it?) was so time-consuming and stressful it very nearly cost me the most important friendship of my adult life.  I still volunteered as communications officer, because I think ATEK is a good idea, and no other organization was trying to do what ATEK wanted to do.

And now I'm tired of the histrionics, frankly, and I'm tired of having my good intentions thrown in my face by a muckraker pretending to be a journalist who never even approached me for a fucking comment.  I'm not an English teacher anymore, I gave it the best shot I was able, given the circumstances, because I believe in the idea that English teachers should be empowered to help themselves, and ATEK, supposedly, and painstakingly, is moving towards that.  But if this is the atmosphere that's going to perpetuate itself, if the axe-grinders, naysayers and dart-throwers carry the discourse, and the ones who want a more rational and mature way of dealing with issues stay silent, and people who have the knowledge and qualifications and energy to help English teachers get intimidated or bullied away from an organization that can (ideally) give them an opportunity to do so... then maybe English teachers in Korea deserve to drown in their own piss and vinegar. Fuck it. 

Posts to come:

1. The farewell letter I wrote when I left office as communications officer. 

2. My personal set of prescriptions for what I think ATEK needs to do next, to rebuild its reputation, and moreover its usefulness.

3. How ATEK's members, whom ATEK's leadership ultimately answers to, can take control of the organization that purports to represent them.

The final post in my ATEK series will be open for comments. Until then, go talk about ATEK on another discussion board where somebody else can moderate the fireworks.  

ATEK Officer No Longer

Well, readers, it's time to let everybody know.

Since about May last year, I was a ATEK's National Communications Officer, but I'm no longer an ATEK officer.

You see, this December, I was accepted into a local Graduate School of International Studies, so I'll be a full-time student instead, doing Korean Cultural Studies. The way the rules work now, no longer being an English Teacher disqualifies me from being an ATEK officer as well. I'll continue to be an associate member (anyone can be an associate member), and I'll continue to support ATEK however I can, but I've made way for a lady from Busan named Rachel, who will be taking over as ATEK's press liaison, and the like. Rachel's an excellent lady, and you can reach her at media@atek.or.kr

I'll write some of my personal opinions about what ATEK needs heading into the future in another post, soon, lest this one reach TL/DNR territory.  However, and I don't think I can state this strongly enough...

I remain convinced that ATEK is the group with the best chance of effecting real change, and a real improvement in the lives of English teachers in Korea, and there are just tons of opportunities for you to get involved in ATEK if you're an English teacher:

1. there are sixteen regional areas in ATEK (PMAs) - this means that you can focus on local issues, and local activities. That's really cool.
2. there are twenty different types of officer positions in ATEK, which means that there's an officer position that fits your area of interest, knowledge, and expertise.
3. there are ATEK positions that run the gamut from "as needed" to "I'm really getting into it," as time commitments go.
4. Some of these officer positions are very much still being developed, which means you get a blank slate in some ways, to adapt the role to suit your interests, and the needs of your local organization.

What does ATEK need right now? All across the regional organizations...

1. Volunteer and Social Officers
What is it... Volunteer officers find, and spread the word about opportunities for English teachers to give back to their communities. There are organizations all around Korea that would love some English teachers to donate some time, and you can help connect teachers who want to help, with organizations who'd love to have their help.

Social officers plan events where English teachers can meet and network with other English teachers. Clubs, special interest groups, and the like: sometimes this position includes event planning, and other times, it just means letting ATEK members know about events that are already being planned by others.

What's so great about... These positions help push against the stereotype that English teachers are morally unqualified, or that they don't care about Korea, Koreans, or Korean culture, or that they don't do anything but drink on the weekend.

Volunteer and Social officers are super-important to ATEK, because the best kind of recruiting happens at these events, both for members, and for potential officers to fill out other positions in the local organizations. Do you want to know why Busan PMA is flourishing? Because they plan events, and attract good people to ATEK through these events.

Time commitment: self-determined.
A good officer is... social, good at meeting people and organizing events, a team player, flexible, organized, either good at taking care of details, or delegating them, and hopefully fun.

2. Ethics Officers
What is it: Ethics is a separate part of ATEK: Ethics operates as the conscience of the organization. An Ethics officer's job is to understand the organization, and the principles it's founded on, well, and to help other officers understand the organization through that lens.

The ethics committee may sometimes need to investigate cases of behavior that is of questionable ethics, or to make recommendations for how to carry out a task in the way that is most ethical, and most harmonious with ATEK's bylaws (the organization's constitution).

What's so great about... ethics is the conscience of the association, and a well-functioning ethics committee is absolutely vital to helping ATEK build its credibility and moral authority as a trustworthy organization helping English teachers.

Time commitment: as needed. High during times of crisis, low when everything's running smoothly.
A good officer is: principled and aware of the effects events and actions have on the image of the organization, and the integrity of the organization. A good ethics officer has often studied law, philosophy, or ethics in school, and will need to become familiar with ATEK's bylaws, in order to test ideas and issues, and plan the course of action that is most harmonious with ATEK's bylaws.

3. Membership Officer
What is it: A membership officer takes care of the membership list for ATEK: because they are dealing with people's private information, membership officers must be responsible to handle this sensitive information in ethical ways. Membership officers also help oversee ATEK's elections (until the elections committee is fully functioning) by making sure that those who are voting have proper registration and legitimate voting privileges within the organization. Because they are the only ones with access to members' information, membership officers are also responsible for e-mailing communications to members, and communicating with members.

What's so great about... maintaining accurate membership records and keeping the organization well organized will help ATEK with its NGO application. Accurate and up-to-date records represents the legitimacy and professionalism of the organization.

Time commitment: if the organization is growing, membership officers are busy making sure everyone is properly registered.  Frankly, it can be quite a time commitment, especially during training and learning the ropes, and during periods of growth.

A good officer is: detail-oriented. Good at handling information databases (spreadsheets etc.) Computer-literate and well-organized. Sensitive to ethical concerns about private information. This is a great job for someone who wants to quietly play a vital supporting role, but does not want to be highly public and visible in their role.  Uses a PC (because the membership database spreadsheets run on PC programs for now.)

4. Communications Officer
What is it: Communications is the PR arm of ATEK.  Not only does the communications committee write press releases and keep in touch with the media and ATEK members, the communications committee also helps work on improving content on ATEK's website, and developing a new edition of the English Teacher's Guide to Korea.  Important updates and information packages for English teachers and other education-interested people is all in the Communication Committee's sphere of influence.

What's so great about... you can help get the word out about ATEK.  ATEK has an important message, and a lot to offer English teachers, but teachers don't join if they don't hear about it.  In the course of representing ATEK, you get your name out to newspaper and magazine editors and other media professionals.

Time commitment: medium to substantial, depending on how much time you put into ongoing projects: there are a ton of ongoing projects, so if you have the time, the communications team will have something for you to do.

A good officer is: media and computer literate (both new and old media are good) maybe with training in writing or journalism.  Creative, articulate in writing and well spoken.  Sensitive to public perception issues for ATEK.  Good at compiling information (for the guidebook), and good at expressing the goals and concerns of ATEK's members.

5. PMA Chair
What is it: A PMA stands for "Provincial or Metropolitan Association" - these are ATEK's local chapters.  A PMA chair is like the moderator of a discussion: the PMA chair's job is to understand ATEK's national goals and aims, and to help the PMA's local officers to develop a local identity for ATEK, that works in their own community, while being in harmony with the national association.  PMA chairs recruit officers, and motivate them perform their role the best they can; they represent their PMA's concerns and local issues in the National Council.  It's like ATEK's version of a middle manager, helping the relationship between the local and the national association to be functional and productive.

What's so great about... it can be a flexible position, because of the different ways different officers need support and encouragement, and the different officers a PMA might have, or lack.  While a PMA chair can help delegate and coordinate tasks, so that those vacant officer roles aren't missed, a chair can also devote a lot of energy to recruiting people for those vacant officer positions.

Time commitment: can be high in an active PMA... but seeing an active PMA is really satisfying.


A good officer is... a great team-player, good at working with people and coordinating and motivating people.  Adaptable, willing to flex their vision to fit with the goals of the organization at large, and the interests and talents of the other PMA officers.  A good networker and communicator, able to see the big picture, and a good judge of talent, to identify potential recruits for other local officer positions.

6. Webmaster
What is it: The national webmaster is in charge of ATEK's website and runs the technical side; other members of the webmaster committee answer to the national webmaster, and the webmaster collaborates with the communications committee to help the website best convey the information the communications committee needs to share with the public.  Most of ATEK's officer materials are also digital (training manuals etc.); the webmaster (unless I am mistaken) also makes sure that these digital information resources are operating the way they should: accessible to those who need it, and secure from those who don't need it.

What's so great about... ATEK's website is often the group's first point of contact with press, educators, and English teachers.  Making the website run more smoothly and look nicer, making the information there more accessible, and keeping the back end clean, while helping less computer-literate officers learn how to use the forums and website effectively, is an important part of presenting ATEK to the public.

Time commitment: as with Communications, the tasks here are ongoing, so whatever time you're willing to give, ATEK would be happy to have.  Could be high, if you have a lot of ideas and energy.


A good officer is... highly computer literate, knows about website design.  Familiar with joomla, the program that powers the website.  A creative team player who can help generate ideas on how to best communicate with the public, through ATEK's website.

7. Employment "Labor" Issues Officer
What is it One of the most important roles in ATEK.  The employment issues officer is not a lawyer, but has been trained in educating people about their workplace rights according to Korean law.  This is the officer who helps people understand their contract, understand when their boss is doing something illegal, and develop a strategy to ensure fair treatment under Korean law.  This person is not a lawyer, a representative, or a legal counsel, but this person knows a thing or two about problem solving, including when to call a legal counsel.

What's so great about... you get to help people.  Literally every week, somebody comes to ATEK with an issue about unpaid wages, or severance, or other work and contract issues.  The Employment Issues Officer hears these people out, and helps them deal with their frustrating situation.

Time commitment: high.  Do it because you really love to help people.  It's rewarding as anything, but the training, and dealing with teachers' issues, is a time commitment.

A good officer is... possibly trained in, or knowledgeable about law.  A problem solver who is task-oriented, and loves helping people, and dealing with people.  A good listener and communicator, who has a knack for getting to the heart of a problem.  Organized and good at following through.

These are not the only areas where ATEK is looking for officers, but it's a pretty good start.  This list skews to the practical: there area also officer positions that focus on cultural understanding issues, human rights issues, other emergency needs, as well as professional development.  You can go to ATEK.or.kr/officers to learn more.

Google "Is Chungdahm a Good School to Work At?"

This is very interesting.

Chungdahm recruiters are going to regret their school operators are allegedly trying to stiff the English teachers working for them: from now on, every time a recruitee thinking about coming overseas to teach googles "Is Chungdahm a good school?" this article will show up.

Kudos to Kangnam Labor Law Firm for taking up their case, and kudos to The Korea Times for helping the teachers find a voice.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/02/117_81897.html

And anybody who's getting stiffed by their school:

There ARE options. Don't walk away from a situation where you're getting screwed, because that just empowers a dishonest employer to try to screw the NEXT teacher who replaces you, even worse.

Seoul Global Center's Support Page
Kangnam Labor Law Firm (associated with the case linked above)

Embassy Conference... Smashing!

The Embassy Conference happened today; I'd like to report back in detail, but that will probably be over several posts that discuss different aspects of the topics.  If the video taken by the Canadian Embassy turns out well, I'll be posting video as well.

The turnout was very, very good for such a beautiful day, the presentations were awesome - I felt a bit out of my league, sitting next to Popular Gusts, Metropolitician, and Prof. Ben Wagner, but I got a lot of positive feedback, and best of all, the three organizations I discussed: ATEK, KOTESOL, and AFEK, all showed up in style, to represent their groups.

Great day, thanks to everyone who came, and especially thanks to the Canadian Embassy for putting on the event.  I hope there will be many more like it.

More later.

Merry Christmas

It's Christmas, so here's are three bits:

1. Durkee in Busan has a Youtube clip that amused me and my Korean teacher:

The Twelve Days of Christmas in Korea


2. ATEK got mentioned in Time Magazine, folks, in an article about HIV testing for E2 Teachers.

3.  If you really want to make Christmas mean something for somebody, you need to learn about Kiva.org... maybe you've heard about microfinance before -- mini-loans for people who need just a little kick to get themselves going.  Kiva is a place where you can choose who you sponsor, you can loan small increments toward the goals people need, and you can take the money that gets paid back once the loans are paid back, and put it back into the microfinance system, and sponsor someone else.

Check it out.

My Man Ban Ki-Moon, He Got My Back.

Ban Ki-Moon has gone on record saying that Korea should scrap the mandatory HIV test for E-2 Visa English Teachers.

Yeah.

G20 In Gwanghwamun

F  rom the Nanoomi Party: I liked the bathroom.

There's a lot happening because of the G20.  I haven't been down to COEX, but my favorite iteration of the G20 so far is this one:

The cute older folks holding up signs are cute...

 but I LOVED the stuffed creatures:

Finally, I don't know what this guy's deal was, but I'm sure glad he drove by while I had my camera out.

In other news: ATEK sent out an e-mail recently:

Recently, some of you have received messages from your countries’ embassies regarding the approaching G20 Seoul Summit (November 11-12). These bulletins have cautioned that often, G20 meetings are accompanied by demonstrations, and extra police security, in different parts of the city. Previous G20 Summits have been met with demonstrations in their host cities, including outbreaks of violence.

To begin with, in Seoul, please be prepared for restrictions on pedestrian and driving traffic around the COEX complex around the time of the summit, from November 11-12, and before and after. Also, prepare for transportation delays if you live or work in that area.

Also, at the last major demonstrations in Seoul, the 2008 U.S. Beef/FTA protests, an English teacher was injured during a demonstration, not for provoking the police, but for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, during an outbreak of violence. ATEK would like to alert English teachers in Seoul to use common sense in the COEX area, where the conference will be held, as well as around City Hall and downtown Seoul. Please exercise caution and around large gatherings, or areas of increased police presence.

ATEK has sent communications to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency expressing our confidence that police officers will do their utmost to ensure the safety of English teachers caught up in protest sites, whether out of curiosity or intent to demonstrate.

However, we would also like to inform ATEK’s non-Korean members of parts 2 and 3 of Article 17 in The Immigration Control Act (see source here) which states,

(2) No foreigner sojourning in the Republic of Korea shall engage in any political activity with the exception of cases as provided by this Act or other statutes[1]

(3) If a foreigner sojourning in the Republic of Korea is engaged in any political activity, the Minister of Justice may order him in writing to suspend such activity or may take other necessary measures.

Please exercise prudence in the type and level of involvement you choose, if you attend demonstrations. Do this for your own physical safety, and also because the Immigration Control Act indicates the possibility of consequences for political action: this could put your working visa in jeopardy. Please make informed decisions about participating in demonstrations, and be aware of the situation at demonstrations, even if you are only there out of curiosity, to observe or take pictures.

For more information about your rights, and how to act during an assembly or demonstration, the NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) MINBYUN, or “Lawyers for a Democratic Society,” has published two document, titled the “G20 Summit Manuals for Foreign Activists,” and "Demonstrating the G20 in Seoul this November?" which provides information about Korean laws and codes regarding assemblies and demonstrations. If you plan on attending demonstrations, either for observation or participation, we recommend looking through these two documents. First point: do not participate in violence.

If you are not a Korean, please also consider registering with your embassy, to be updated on important news or alerts concerning citizens of your country.

Following are some embassy websites (if your embassy is not listed below, you will likely find it here:

Australia: http://www.southkorea.embassy.gov.au/seol/home.html

Canada: http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/korea-coree/index.aspx

Ireland: http://www.dfa.ie/home/index.aspx?id=44447

India: http://www.indembassy.or.kr/

Indonesia: http://www.indonesiaseoul.org/indexs.php

Nepal: http://www.nepembseoul.gov.np/en/

New Zealand: http://www.nzembassy.com/korea

Philippines: http://www.philembassy-seoul.com/

South Africa: http://www.southafrica-embassy.or.kr/eng/index_eng.php

United Kingdom: http://ukinrok.fco.gov.uk/en/

USA: http://seoul.usembassy.gov/

Other embassy websites: http://korea4expats.com/Embassies-service.html

Finally, just in case you were wondering:

Wifeoseyo's dogs like me.  And I like them.