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Is Avalon a good wagwon to go with for a newbie?
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DaeguNL



Joined: 08 Sep 2009

PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 12:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

different wrote:
Quote:
-Consultation Calls - You will have to call up to 150 kids a month, which is incredibly time consuming. This will take priority over class prep. I never had that many (again depends on dept.) and we always got an extension to call when we could not make the deadline.

Consultation calling sounds like it would suck and is total marketing b.s. Calling 150 kids a month is like 7 per day. How long do you have to call the kids for?


Elementary will call between 70-100 kids (2 weeks to complete)
Middle School 125-150 (one month to complete)

You are expected to speak to them for 3-5 minutes, but on the plus side you get to practice your Korean when the kids parents/grandparents/siblings answer Smile
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defaultusername



Joined: 15 Apr 2009

PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 1:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have heard good things about Pyeongchon Avalon in Anyang City.
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Scruffey



Joined: 08 Feb 2010

PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 8:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

defaultusername wrote:
I have heard good things about Pyeongchon Avalon in Anyang City.



Hey there Default. I don't have the required number of posts to send you a pm yet but I'm working on it.

Would love to hear about the Avalon branch in Anyang
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RotOpAlles



Joined: 31 May 2009

PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 5:47 am    Post subject: Avalon Reply with quote

I worked at Avalon at the campus in Jeongja (Bundang), which also happens to be housed in the same building as their HQ. It's not a bad company to work for. Like others have probably mentioned, you don't have to worry about getting your pay on time, or not having insurance or severance, etc etc.

The work wasn't difficult from day to day. Prepping generally took me no more than 3 or 4 hours for the entire week. The only thing I resented at my location was the amount of deskwarming we had to do and the amount of busy work we had to do.... which wasn't a huge issue--I just brought my laptop in and did other stuff to pass the time.

The only major problem I had with Avalon was a dispute over overtime pay. Keep track of your hours and if they spring an 'extra program' on you, get the terms of the program and the pay in writing if you can, so that both sides are clear.

In comparison to other hagwons... it's probably middle of the road. You can do better in terms of pay, and you can easily do much worse, but the teaching hours to pay ratio is pretty good, I think. It's a good place for a newbie, and overall I had a great working environment with awesome foreign AND Korean teaching staff.
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nicolescully80



Joined: 23 Nov 2008

PostPosted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 4:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Does anyone have any information about Avalon in Andong? I have an interview there soon.
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carleverson



Joined: 04 Dec 2009

PostPosted: Sun Jan 16, 2011 3:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

turkishlover25 wrote:
I just moved to Seoul to work for Bundang-branch of Avalon, in the R&D. Can anybody on here speak to how the points raised in this post are true or untrue for this particular spot? Thanks.


LOL at hogwons claiming they have "R&D Departments". Laughing
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dkteachlife



Joined: 24 Dec 2010

PostPosted: Sun Jan 16, 2011 4:45 pm    Post subject: Christianity Reply with quote

Sorry to hijack the thread, but it seems the OP has made his decision.

Do you find people of faith get flack? I mean unless they are very pushy, judgmental, mean spirited about their faith.

I mean from management/directors?

Colleagues?

Is ones faith something to be avoided in interviews as it is in the US?

I know Christianity is strong in South Korea in a different way than it is in the US.

Naive
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DaeguNL



Joined: 08 Sep 2009

PostPosted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 2:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

carleverson wrote:
turkishlover25 wrote:
I just moved to Seoul to work for Bundang-branch of Avalon, in the R&D. Can anybody on here speak to how the points raised in this post are true or untrue for this particular spot? Thanks.


LOL at hogwons claiming they have "R&D Departments". Laughing



To be fair Avalon is different. They dump a tonne of money on marketing, to become the 'elite school', and having a R&D Department is just icing on the cake.
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SimonPark



Joined: 18 May 2009
Location: Saving Korea from Bad Teachers

PostPosted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 8:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

WAGWON?????????????????????????

HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAA!!!!
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ESL Milk "Everyday



Joined: 12 Sep 2007

PostPosted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 8:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

SimonPark wrote:
WAGWON?????????????????????????

HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAA!!!!


Yeah, it's pretty jilarious.
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bobbybigfoot



Joined: 05 May 2007
Location: Seoul

PostPosted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 6:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

carleverson wrote:


LOL at hogwons claiming they have "R&D Departments". Laughing


I second this. It's laughable some of the crap that gets pumped out by these R&D departments. For some reason they think that if you are 85% fluent in the language and have no idea what you are doing that you should be writing "how to learn English" books.

Mind blowing. Especially when you think some of these companies are worth MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of dollars.
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sanityorlove



Joined: 11 Apr 2011
Location: Massachusetts, USA

PostPosted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 6:50 pm    Post subject: Re: Gwangju Reply with quote

SCAshley wrote:
emlowe12 wrote:
Has anyone worked at the avalon gwangju branch? I have received an offer but this board has put me off them

Did you end up taking the position? They want to interview me, but like you, am put off by this board. I would appreciate any input you could offer! I can't PM yet...thanks!


I am now in this same boat! Really want to work in Gwangju but am anxious about Avalon thanks to reading posts online. What did you two end up doing?
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kvonnegut



Joined: 16 Aug 2011
Location: United Kingdom

PostPosted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 7:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm at an Avalon school right now, have been for a few months. It's not a bad place to start off really, but it's not great either. It kinda seems like the luck of the draw when choosing places to work in Korea.

Positives
-Curriculum is all set out for you, no lesson planning is needed at all, and you still get 2 hours lesson planning every morning anyway.
-As long as children don't leave, you tend to get left alone and it feels very laidback. If they leave however, then prepare for a telling off, or a bitchy comment.

Negatives
-Disorganized (isn't every Hagwon by the sound of it?)
you often get told to do something at the last minute, and those spur of the moment lessons don't have a curriculum, they feel more like babysitting some unwanted Korean children for 50 minutes.
-Massive turnaround by the teachers, both Korean and Foreign teachers. Since I've been here there has been 5 teachers leave.
-Make sure to check whether it's an actual Avalon school or simply a franchisee. The actual Avalon schools are meant to be better, but I have no idea really.

This probably doesn't help much, but at least you now have a slightly better understanding of Avalon
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Modernist



Joined: 23 Mar 2011
Location: The 90s

PostPosted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 7:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A useful thing to remember about this forum is, when you dig up a thread that hasn't had any posts in 10+ months--this is called a 'zombie thread'--with the goal of hearing what happened with posters who themselves haven't posted anything for at least 6 months, it is unlikely you will get the answers you seek.

There are many 'fire and forget' types who post here in a frenzy for a while, and then vanish. Most likely they never even got to Korea and they rarely offer insights such as 'I ended up working at Avalon and here's what happened.'

My advice would be to avoid Avalon or any chain hagwon when you are just starting out. Public schools have many issues, absolutely, but they are GENERALLY less likely to take advantage of you and overwork you to death compared to what big hagwons will often try to get away with doing.
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nero



Joined: 11 Mar 2009

PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 12:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Modernist wrote:
A useful thing to remember about this forum is, when you dig up a thread that hasn't had any posts in 10+ months--this is called a 'zombie thread'--with the goal of hearing what happened with posters who themselves haven't posted anything for at least 6 months, it is unlikely you will get the answers you seek.

There are many 'fire and forget' types who post here in a frenzy for a while, and then vanish. Most likely they never even got to Korea and they rarely offer insights such as 'I ended up working at Avalon and here's what happened.'

My advice would be to avoid Avalon or any chain hagwon when you are just starting out. Public schools have many issues, absolutely, but they are GENERALLY less likely to take advantage of you and overwork you to death compared to what big hagwons will often try to get away with doing.


The main problem with Avalon is that the students evaluate you, so if you have shitty classes, you will get a low score.
If you are a serious teacher trying to actually teach, you will get a low score. If you like to give candy and choco pies and dance around playing games you will get a high score. If you get a low score, you get fired. Your employment is based on the whims of 8-15 year olds.
Never again.
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