Just like I thought, many people are ringing me to try and get language exchange from me even though I clearly state in my ad that I will not teach English.
I have to keep it professional as possible, treat it like a business which it is, because I really need to learn Korean conversation. It is not a hobby as it is for some Korean people, it is more than that.
So I have had to turn away a few people. Typically, the ones I knew wouldn't work out are the ones who already know much English. One of them was an English teacher. I said specifically in the ad that I need someone who doesn't speak much English. She spoke 100% of the time in English on the phone. When I asked her to speak in Korean to try her out she couldn't. So that kind of person isn't going to be of much use to me.
This is what I have found from doing language exchange. The ones who were interested spoke a lot of English and they didn't want to speak in Korean to me so it was lopsided the deal that was happening there.
Because I am paying (not much admittedly), I have to demand what I need from the conversation teacher. I have to choose well because I can't afford to put up the ads again. They cost 30.000 won. This is the price of three lessons. If the person lasts three days and either stops coming or I have to fire them because they aren't doing the job then I have to pay for another ad.
If this happens, I will contact Zeal and ask her to arrange something through her cafe. I realize she has to make a profit so I will ask for fewer hours than 5 x a week. I think something like 4x a week for one hour is reasonable. I can pay 13.000 won per class or something like that. That will be 52.000 won per week or around 210.000 won per month. She makes a little profit and she can more easily find a suitable person than I can.
So I will see how it goes.
It's just annoying when I put down clearly what I want in my ad and the wrong people answer. Clearly, they are out to learn English from this situation. I will have to be firm about that. If I find that it's turning into an English lesson and not a Korean lesson, I will terminate that person. I don't PAY someone for them to learn English from me.
I can't really afford more than this. I might have to find people on my own, poor people who are really desperate for the money.
Because this is the sort of person I need. Someone who regards it as a job. I really resent the idea that people see it as an opportunity to learn English. There was one person who rang me and she was already trying to pick up English while I was talking to her on the phone. She hardly spoke any Korean.
That's why I think this Mr Lee might turn out OK. I am not sure. I think he knows a lot more English than he lets on. For example, he said, "I majored in architecture," in fluent English. But he did speak to me in Korean off the bat and spent most of the time speaking in Korean. I could understand his Korean too. It wasn't too difficult. I think he's more intelligent than some of the callers who didn't understand what I wanted. Still, I wonder why he wants this job. I don't think he needs the money. Probably wants to practice English with a foreigner. I will see how I go. If I am not picking up Korean at a moderately fast speed with immersion then I will let him go and either pick some poor person off the street or ask Zeal to find someone through her cafe.
I mean the people have to be realistic. It's a job and it's not going to be enjoyable. I hope he doesn't stop coming because he realizes he's not going to learn English from me and picks up very little English from me.
I think I have to be prepared for that. I think 99% of the people will have ulterior motives when they apply for the job. But I will have to be professional about it. I will test him out and honestly ask him whether he can do it or not. If he realizes it's going to be tough and I will be speaking in Korean and not in English most of the time, he might give up. I will have to stop speaking in English myself. I don't want to turn it into an English lesson. It has to be immersion. I will keep quiet and see whether the person can initiate conversation in Korean. I want to see whether they can dumb it down for me to without my having to remind them to do so.
I am tired of mucking around. I didn't get anything out of the homestay ad (that turned into a language exchange ad), and I wasted 30.000 won. I got a lot of selfish people who weren't willing to give but were taking only, and not only that they treated it as a frivolous activity, not a real commitment. I am treating it as a matter of survival. I am very determined. I am tired of mucking around. And that's why I am putting the money up.
If I offer more, I might get a better-quality person so I have to consider that.
I think I need someone intelligent. I don't want one of these stupid people who don't get what they need to do.
An hour with someone who is an effective conversation teacher is worth more than three hours with someone who doesn't take their duties seriously and doesn't bother to give me what I want.
It's a business contract and if they are not willing to do what I ask then they shouldn't take my money - they shouldn't accept the job.
I don't want to TRY OUT a lot of people either. If I meet everyone who calls, I will be spending all my time meeting people. I will try and weed them out over the phone. At the end, when I have assessed that the person will not make a good conversation teacher, I will politely and firmly tell them that I have already hired someone and ask their permission to keep their number and call them back later if I need their help at a future date. I think this is the best way.
It's best to be business-like about it. I have to keep in my mind that I have paid a lot of money for these ads.
I will make a promise not to speak ANY English for the first three lessons and I will mostly LISTEN. If the person isn't a good talker and can't initiate conversation, I will soon find that out. I will ask leading questions in Korean and get the person to talk about themselves. People love talking about themselves so if I keep my mouth shut then the person will keep talking.
I have to curb my natural tendency to talk a lot and dominate the conversation.
I will keep the meetings professional as possible and keep the personal stuff out as much as possible. We are not friends, and I have to learn to keep a distance from people in this situation. The same as if I was a student in a hagwon. I will be wary of people trying to make things too personal. Just stick with conversation surrounding work, travel, hobbies, movies, current affairs, entertainment, history. Also, do not get into politics too much.
I will have to have my monitor turned on during these lessons so that things remain professional and I derive MAXIMUM benefit from it. I will see whether the person realizes that I am not speaking in English at all.
Too bad if they get tired of my poor Korean -- that's the nature of the job. If they don't like it they shouldn't have applied for the job.
I think it's better too if we meet outside the apartment. I feel kind of claustrophobic in the apartment all the time. We can meet at a cheap coffee shop, or buy coffees from a convenience store and sit outside or just sit on a bench outside the apartment. My place isn't really ready for having guests anyway.
I might ask the person to help me get a driver's license and so on. I won't do this straight away. I will try not to get PRACTICAL help if I can - not for a while at least.
I don't think I should become FRIENDS with these people. I think some of these people have ulterior motives.
I will try and turn off a lot of these applicants by talking in Korean all the time. I will also stay quiet and see whether they initiate conversation or not.
