day two in boseong, we found what we were looking for at boseong’s green tea theme park, where they are so dedicated to their namesake that they don’t even sell plain water — it’s all infused with green tea. we climbed the mountain and tried to find interesting ways to capture the scene.

the trail leading up to the park.

we thought these steps to the bamboo forest were killer until we saw the trail up the green tea mountain.

i didn’t know bamboo got this big.

on our way up the mountain.

why can’t all agricultural endeavors also double as enormous public art works a la the spiral jetty?


after a while, it got to feeling like the whole thing could just swallow you up if you didn’t watch your step.

seriously, jeju-do as a contender for the modern 7 wonders of the world when you’ve got this?

…ing (아이엔지)  is a 2003 film about the life of young girl who has become defensive and apathetic to the world as a result of her chronic illness and deformed hand. The film quietly portrays the unconventional, yet heart-warming relationship between mother and daughter Min-ah (Im Su-jeong) and Mi-sook (Lee Mi-Sook) as well as the development of Min-ah as she is begrudgingly befriends the high spirited and carefree photographer Young-jae (Kim Rae-won) who moves into their apartment complex.

Chris in South Korea note: this is a guest post from Chris D., whose biography is part of the story. Since we happen to share the same first name, please kindly address your comments to Chris D. (the author of this guest post), or Chris B. (yours truly) to avoid confusion. A post written by myself on the same topic is scheduled for later today.

This piece is about the oft discussed and hotly debated issue of ATEK. My goal here is to discuss one issue that is often left by the wayside in the stampede that is nearly always generated by any discussion on ATEK. That issue, in clear language is: What do Foreign English Teachers in Korea need?

A bit about myself before diving into this shark tank of a debate…

I worked in Korea from 1997 to 2008. I married a Korean woman in 1998 and that meant I moved from an E2 visa to a F-series visa a few years after our marriage. I have been an observer of ATEK since it was just an idea being debated online by one of its eventual founders. I also contributed to the ATEK debate on the now gone Hub of Sparkle site. I wrote the undediced position piece in that debate. I also commented on this issue on several blogs and on Daves ESL.I had my reservations when it came to ATEK from the beginning but always thought NETs did need something to help them in Korea. Now, after nearly 3 years and so many controversies that I lost track, ATEK seems to be very near to being a toxic brand when it comes to NETs and what they need.

I will not go into a detailed history of ATEK as that has been done many times and most recently on 3WM as well as on Roboseyo’s blog. The broad lines are that ATEK started out with too many goals and jumped into arenas it had no business jumping into (advocacy) as it had no mandate to do what it did initially. The association in trying to be everything to everyone became nothing to nearly no one. A quick glance at what ATEK has claimed or tried to be in its short 3 years is confusing, startling, depressing and shocking.

Now, what do FETs need?

Foreign English Teachers in Korea need INFORMATION and a CENTRAL place to get that information. Just doing this would be a huge boon for new teachers and experienced teachers alike. I would say that FETs also need a chance to network with others if they want to and that a centralized information network would achieve this. This centralized network could also link with other established organisations to further centralize information. That type of organisation would be well suited to being run by volunteers who donate their time on a part-time basis. It would not required a heavy organisational structure, a substantial budget or a heavy bureaucratic structure.

Going beyond that was ATEK’s first and it now appears most critical mistake. ATEK started off by challenging Korean government on a human rights issue and claimed to represent all foreign teachers when they in fact represented no one. Over their short history they have claimed to want to represent foreign teachers, defend their rights help then, offer them professional development, assist teachers in need and so on. This brief recapitulation shows an organisation that wants to be far bigger than it can be. A look at ATEK’s structure shows a myriad of officers, heavy bylaws, duplicated bureacratic positions and a list of initiatives and goals that are quite substantial for an organisation that currently has 1200-1400 members.

My position from the beginning on this has been that to achieve even half of the goals stated by ATEK, it would need a substantial budget, full time paid staff with a vast array of expertise and qualifications. This seems highly improbable considering that it is currently staffed mostly by teachers who donate their time.

Lets go back to what I said earlier, teachers need INFORMATION and a central place to get it. An association or organisation that tries to be more than that too fast will hit a very stiff wall. This will happen for one very evident reason: the make up of the foreign teaching community in Korea. This is another issue that is also left by the side of the road in the ATEK debates.

This basically boils down to the following: the foreign teaching population in Korea is TRANSIENT in nature and made up in majority of younger new graduates. This of course is the result of how Korea selects teachers and is not a slam on these teachers. They have a job opportunity and they take it. It does however have profound meaning for what an organisation for teachers should be doing.

Furthermore, in my experience, most foreign teachers come to Korea for the following reasons (in no particular order):

1- To travel

2- To experience a new culture

3- To pay off student loans

4- To experience a new culture

5- Because they cannot find satisfying employment at home

Note the absence of wanting to teach. Again, this is not a slam on foreign teachers, people can go to Korea for their own reasons. This does have implications for what an organisation should be doing if it wishes to help foreign teachers in Korea.

Finally, the vast majority of foreign teachers stay in Korea 1-3 years (with the bulk staying 2 years or less).

Considering all this, why would they invest themselves in an organisation that wants to challenge the Korean government on human rights issues and that sounds more like a union than anything else?

When that is considered, ask yourself whom does ATEK represent? It seems to represent itself and the interests of its officers.

So again, if foreign teachers need information and a central network and are a transient mostly short term community, what sense does it make to create an association with a heavy bureacratic structure, complex bylaws and a list of goals that would make the UN human rights commission blush?

Considering all the controversy ATEK has generated and gone through since its launch, it seems to me that the ATEK brand has become toxic and will corrupt and pollute whatever it gets involved with when it comes to foreign teachers in Korea.

The time has come for that association to disband, for its leadership to leave and for something new and far more on scale with what teachers need to be created.

I offer up AFEK as an example of a smart, lean and efficient organisation that can be mirrored.

AFEK has a simple website, a light structure and has quickly become a superb source of centralized information for F-series visa holders. It does not dive into advocacy issues, make loud statements, have a nearly interminable list of officers and bylaws. It just works.

This is PRECISELY what Foreign Teachers need!

Once ATEK has been put out of its misery, a new organisation could be put together. that organisation would need a simple intuitive website that teachers could easily access (ALL TEACHERS not just members). This could serve as a centralized information network. This site would have information, and linkage with other organisations that can provide services to teachers (ex: KOTESOL).

It would not need a heavy bureaucracy, a heavy budget, or many full-time workers. It could be run by teachers who donate their time. I would also look at galbijim’s site for examples of things that work.

This new organisation would be lean, flexible and efficient and would attract far more teachers that a formal association with rigid rules. In doing so, it would also generate a lot more buy in from even short term teachers and could become a very effective networking nexus for teachers.

Why can’t ATEK do this?

Its past (recent and distant) has shown that it is unable or unwilling to limit itself to that mandate. Its structure shows a tendency for resume padding through many impressive sounding yet action light officer positions. Its dismally low membership numbers and its byzantine rules for access cut it off from most teachers. Finally, the near constant bickering between its leadership, the numerous dropped initiatives, the mind bogglingly high turnover rate in personenl and the farce that elections have been over the years (often 1 candidate for one open position and as few as 10 votes to get elected). All of these things have rendered ATEK a toxic name.

Its time to do something else.

Chris in South Korea again – comments are open, play nice, and let’s focus on the future.

© Chris Backe – 2011
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

This post was originally published on my blog, Chris in South Korea. If you are reading this on another website and there is no linkback or credit given, you are reading an UNAUTHORIZED FEED.

green tea.
green tea-flavored hard tack biscuits.
green tea-fed pork.
green tea ice cream.
green tea-infused water.
green tea noodle jajangmyeon.
green tea noodle mul-nangmyeon.
green tea rice bibimbap.
green tea bath at the sauna.

and lots of pictures of mid-air jumps in, of course,

green tea fields.

i don’t think it’s really appropriate to call the cascades of boseong’s green tea “fields,” as they’re actually entire mountainsides of green tea hedgerows.

but let’s back up. it all started with a little dwenjang-jigae down by the bus terminal.

then off to the pension on top of a very steep hill, where the owner grew every kind of flower you can think of and there were actually bugs and animals and the smell of something that isn’t ramyan or sewage.

the first day took us just over the mountain from the real green tea action, and we were kind of afriad we’d missed all the fun, what with all the bushes being cropped.

but this fella was weeding the place.

and he was generous enough to let me take his portrait.

plus, we got to tromp disrespectfully around some graves.

then, to the bus! — which was green by the way — down to the beach, where either the tide was way out or the apocalypse was descending a little ahead of schedule.

abandoned ships and barnacle-encrusted things abounded.


basically, the whole place looked like the inspiration for the closing scenes of cormac mccarthy’s the road. plus, then it rained. but exploring was a blast. all the verdant richness of the actual green tea slopes will have to wait, though, as i’m late for a check-up on the new tattoo — photos forthcoming when it’s all touched up and finished.