Motivational letter from the boss

"Although we have many great teachers that have done very well in their classes, I regret to inform you that some classes have fallen short of my expectations..."

Last night all teachers got a letter from the company owner. Due to the move, things not being ready, hassle on the first day of the session and a very cold building the mood wasn't great. Then we got the letter. I was going to type it all out and post it here but it doesn't read as bad as it first did, though it was not as 'good' as the one we got over two years ago.

I am guessing some classes not meeting expectations are from other branches and not necessarily ours because he hardly ever comes to our branch though perhaps this will change now. There are no threats, no warnings and no consequences for not doing what they want. The letter adds that the owner will push branch managers harder which basically means that we will be observed more and more often. Here is my favourite part of the letter.

"When you teach an awesome class, you can see the satisfaction in your students' eyes and know that you have done well. If you have seen beaming pleasure in your students' eyes, then you know what it means to have taught an awesome class."

I don't have any problem with the owner and he is entitled to do whatever he does because it's his business. He has been generous a few times with things like my Christmas bonus. Teachers at my academy are on a good wage for an ESL teacher in Korea and the job is secure. Also, the structure of classes and preparation for us foreign teachers means that we prepare little and the classes are relatively easy to teach once you know the format and have some experience. We got a lot out of the job considering what we have to put in.

It would be told we're doing a decent job for change but I won't hold my breath. The letter adds that prizes for teachers winning best teachers at the end of the year (December 2011) will go up. Perhaps it would have been better to say, OK, if standards go up, everyone gets a slice of that cake instead of a select few hogging all. In fact there are many ways to give teachers beaming eyes of pleasure.

As I am leaving in a matter of months it does not concern me. It's too late in the game to be changing things around for me. That sounds good, leaving soon if five months away is soon. In fact it sounds awesome.