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Korean International School in Beijing (KISB) Information

 
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teacherwholoveschina



Joined: 04 Jul 2015
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 12:17 pm    Post subject: Korean International School in Beijing (KISB) Information Reply with quote

I am a former teacher at the Korean International School in Beijing (KISB) starting in 2010 and stayed on for three contracts. I have decided to share some of my experiences, both positive and negative, with the teaching community and curious if other teachers had the same experiences and observations.

Positives of working at KISB:
1. Students
a. The students are great, but do suffer from the rote teaching style of the Korean education system. Even though they tended to struggle with critical thinking, they did try and were happy to be asked to do something “different” for a change.
2. Money
a. The school pays well for a low-tier international (Korean school out of Korea) school.
3. Workload
a. Many teachers got by with doing very little by keeping under the radar and ensuring students were happy. Happy students meant happy parents. Happy parents meant happy adminstration.
b. This can also be a negative if you’re looking to grow as a professional.
4. Location
a. Quiet area of the large foreign district in Beijing with easy access to foreign restaurants and shopping centers.
b. Huge Korean community with hundreds of tasty Korean restaurants.
5. Community
a. Being a large Korean community in a foreign country, there was a very strong bond among students and between teachers and students.
b. The school had a strong sense of community that Korean teachers repeatedly said was much different from teaching back in Korea.
c. The students all got along well and were always willing to help one another. I witnessed very little, if any, bullying while I was there.

Advice for those considering working at KISB:

1. Visa
a. The visa process is involved regardless of the institution you work for in China. However, the HR department will ask that you translate your own documents into Chinese. Coming from the US and with no experience with China or the Chinese language, I had to look for help but ultimately resorted to Google translate. I always assumed that it worked because I never heard any more about the translations.
b. You may be allowed to see an employment contract before arriving but you will not be able to sign it until the start of term (March 1st for spring and August 20th for fall). Don’t be alarmed. This was standard for all new hires.
2. Employment Contract
a. You may be allowed to see an employment contract before arriving but you will not be able to sign it until the first of March.
b. Note, that your signing of the employment contract is after you have likely signed a long term housing contract and paid a deposit.
c. The contract includes a three month probationary clause for such infractions as not respecting Korean culture. However, culture is not defined and may include comments by a teacher during a literary analysis that are considered to be un-Christian like.
3. Arrival
a. Ensure that you have transport and hotels lined up before you arrive. The school does not offer airport pickup, only an address to the school. You will need the hotel because the school does not offer an apartment. See below for housing situation.
b. It would be best if you have experience in China or have friends that can help you when you arrive.
4. Housing
a. Even though the school offers a housing stipend, you are required to first rent an apartment through a Chinese real estate company. Then you must provide several documents to the school (lease, copy of deed, and scan of the landlord’s ID) before they will provide the housing stipend.
b. In order to achieve the above, most real estate companies require 3 months rent up front plus 1 month as a deposit. In Beijing that amounts to about 19,000rmb (~$4,800) for a modest home in the area of the school.
5. Sick leave
a. The school provides NO sick leave. If you are absent you have to pay the teacher that took your class 200rmb per class. If you were sick on a day that had 4 or 5 classes, then the money could be substantial.
6. Curriculum
a. The school provides books but they are either too difficult or too easy for the students.
b. Be prepared to supplement or find your own materials.
c. Typical goals of Chinese schools, improve student oral and written English.
d. Often, implementing new or challenging lesson plans can be seen a a negative.
e. Do not be surprised if you decide to leave the school and are pressured to turn over your personal lesson plans and other classroom materials that you designed.
7. Assessment
a. No clear grading policy.
b. Teachers mostly did what they wanted to and graded by how they “felt” about the students’ work.
c. The school could benefit from clear learning objectives and grading criteria for each grade and class level.
d. Teachers often feel pressure to curve grades to a certain overall average rather than assessing based strictly on merit.
8. Work environment
a. When I worked there, everyone in the office got along well. However, if you have trouble getting along with others, then I’d stay away. Almost the entire English department shares one office. That’s about 12 people in one office with other teachers scattered in other large offices.
b. The Korean teachers would always know about problems and gossip about them before the native English teachers would know. This also included any possible issues where there may have been parent or student comments to Korean teachers that was kept private and then suddenly revealed at the end of a semester or even a year to a foreign teacher.
c. Part of the reason for working at a school abroad is the chance to learn and appreciate other cultures. However, it was somewhat clear that Korean faculty really did not have any interest in making much of a professional or personal connection with the foreign staff.
d. Professionally, the Korean staff had no interest in working together with their foreign teacher counterpart. Granted, the style of the teaching was different, but on some level, coordination would help the students better make connections.
e. In the office, for the most part, it was Korean chatter and English chatter without much crossover. This can estrange the foreign staff and be even more disconnecting to new teacher.
f. With the exception of school dinners, there were no real social gatherings planned or attempted. Even at the school dinners, the foreign teachers often formed their own islands of staff.
g. If a foreign teacher was going to be fired, the Korean staff ALL knew first and would talk clandestinely in Korean as foreign staff would pick up key words used in English or limited Korean vocabulary.
9. Foreign Teacher Diversity
a. While I was there, I overheard the Korean liaison to native teachers discuss hiring. He explicitly said: “no blacks, no Asians (native English speaking)”.
b. While I worked there a gay native teacher was asked to transfer from high school to primary school. It was later revealed to our office this was because “his personality was more suited for children”.


Last edited by teacherwholoveschina on Wed Jul 15, 2015 10:01 pm; edited 1 time in total
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JRJohn



Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Posts: 175

PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 1:27 pm    Post subject: I Applied For That Job Reply with quote

Well, I applied for that job. I didn't get it. I was in Beijing at the time, a month or two ago. I wonder why I did not get it? I don't know, but I might have mentioned housing. The Korean International school is rich enough, and prestigious enough to provide rent-free housing to its teachers, Beijing or not Beijing. Last year I had to pay 4 months rent up front, when previous jobs in China were rent free, and I am trying to save money. Please remember that in South Korea itself, the majority of teaching jobs STILL offer rent-FREE accommodation and a paid flight.

I am rather relieved I didn't get this job!

In 2008, I taught all summer in Oxford. This meant sharing an office with 25 teachers, but I found that to plan lessons efficiently, I needed to withdraw and sit at a side table, away from the others. Occasionally I would go outside for 2 minutes. I take it that would be impossible in KISB?

I'm so glad they didn't hire me!

And the office sounds
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CHINOISE



Joined: 09 Dec 2012
Posts: 62

PostPosted: Sat Dec 09, 2017 3:49 pm    Post subject: Re: I Applied For That Job Reply with quote

JRJohn wrote:
I'm so glad they didn't hire me!

And the office sounds


LOL. I worked there a couple years but left cause I was starting to hate it.

It is remarkably uncomfortable sitting in an office with so many unharmonious personalities. Don't get me wrong, it's a dream job outside of the office hours. But working around so many unhappy people from different backgrounds in a stinky, dirty cell is no holiday.

Why are the people there so unhappy? It's not the job. In my opinion, it is the circumstances. Beijing is a great place to study and make money. But it's not a very good place to live because of the terrible pollution, insane traffic, ugly nationalism and lackluster entertainment options.

What makes KISB unique from other schools in Beijing is the Korean culture there. All the students there are Korean, so the majority of the staff are Korean, too. The building's staff are Chinese and then there are a dozen or so foreign teachers from the UK, US and Canada. So there is some cultural friction and a lot of lost in translation moments that make the job challenging.

As a result, the management there is very hands off regarding the foreign teachers. There is not much oversight, but the students are very conscientious and would inform the Korean teachers if the foreign teachers missed a class or gave a lesson or assignment that was confusing or inappropriate.

I worked at the high school and the head of their English department was pretty miserable and probably resentful of the well paid, unqualified, native speaking English teachers who often disrespected her. It was obvious that she didn't want the position but was clearly the most qualified, so I'm sure it wasn't a choice. The Korean teachers there have few choices. In fact, they make very little money working there and usually only do it for 3 year assignments just to get out of Korea.

I think that when people are really bored, displaced and culturally isolated, they become unpleasant and frustrated. I could see that in myself and especially the other people I worked with in China and Korea. Those are conservative, insular countries that are interesting to explore but not a "good fit" for outgoing westerners to try to settle into for more than a few years.

Anyway, that's how I've come to reconcile working with so many awful people abroad and there are certainly some at KISB. Having said that, I would still recommend KISB over most teaching jobs in Beijing. But like any job, I would say,"Do your research and have reasonable expectations."
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Foo_Fighters_Dave



Joined: 09 Dec 2016
Posts: 162

PostPosted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 12:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Do you think your summary would be similar to other Korean Schools in China? I liked my time in Korea when I taught there and think it would be the best of both worlds teaching Koreans in China.
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enterthedragon



Joined: 11 Nov 2017
Posts: 45

PostPosted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 10:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

No international health insurance? Any international school should be offering international health insurance so you can go and see a western Doctor at a clinic when you need to. You don't want to have to go to a Chinese hospital believe me.
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