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magicmajenta
Joined: 03 Feb 2007
Location: Saint Paul Minnesota
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 Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 4:39 am Post subject: Korea Poly School? |
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| Anyone know anything about them? Has anyone worked for them? Good school to work for? I'd appreciate any info. |
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butlerian
Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 4:44 am Post subject: Re: Korea Poly School? |
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| magicmajenta wrote: |
| Anyone know anything about them? Has anyone worked for them? Good school to work for? I'd appreciate any info. |
How's Poland? |
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magicmajenta
Joined: 03 Feb 2007
Location: Saint Paul Minnesota
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| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 6:31 am Post subject: |
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| It's fine although the pay is still best in Korea. Here you get nothing compared to what you get in Korea like free airfare, single housing accomodation, medical benefits, severance pay. If you want all that here forget it. Although the pay is still good to live here, it definitely doesn't have the saving potential of Korea. I intend to stick it out here at the moment but want to go to Korea in the future so I am asking questions about schools now so come time I'm going there I have a feel for what schools to work for. I wanted to go here for the work experience value as this is my first job and being able to live and work in Europe but in the future when I am thinking about my savings I'm going for Korea. |
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rothkowitz
Joined: 27 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 6:42 am Post subject: |
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| They only take NAmericans for whatever reason. |
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butlerian
Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 6:51 am Post subject: |
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| rothkowitz wrote: |
| They only take NAmericans for whatever reason. |
Ignore this anti-soju guy, you'll be fine. Come over. |
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chachee99
Joined: 20 Oct 2004
Location: Seoul Korea
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| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 7:04 am Post subject: |
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Ok ignore these clowns. They are just playing with you. There are good Korea Poly Schools and their are bad ones. They offer huge salaries, sometimes upto 2.8 million / month. However, expect to work long hours, sometimes 12 hour days. Poly schools may pay well, but you earn every won.
I was offered a contract with Korea Poly School, but turned it down because the work hours were way too much. Plus, most of the classes were teaching kindergarten. Even though the pay was really nice, I probably would have been spending lots of money on booze trying to cope with the pain of working another long day with kids.
Check out the contract. If you want to work many hours then take it into consideration. However, don't sign anything until you talk to one or two teachers at the school and view the accomodations beforehand. |
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magicmajenta
Joined: 03 Feb 2007
Location: Saint Paul Minnesota
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| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 7:11 am Post subject: |
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| chachee99 wrote: |
Ok ignore these clowns. They are just playing with you. There are good Korea Poly Schools and their are bad ones. They offer huge salaries, sometimes upto 2.8 million / month. However, expect to work long hours, sometimes 12 hour days. Poly schools may pay well, but you earn every won.
I was offered a contract with Korea Poly School, but turned it down because the work hours were way too much. Plus, most of the classes were teaching kindergarten. Even though the pay was really nice, I probably would have been spending lots of money on booze trying to cope with the pain of working another long day with kids.
Check out the contract. If you want to work many hours then take it into consideration. However, don't sign anything until you talk to one or two teachers at the school and view the accomodations beforehand. |
Yes, the pay was what allured me to them. But they do provide everything that Korean schools provide for right like free airfare, free accomodations, severance package, 50% health insurance etc. right? I just wanted to make sure because with their salaries, the employees might have to be the ones paying their accomodations etc. so I just wanted to make sure. |
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rothkowitz
Joined: 27 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 7:15 am Post subject: |
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| butlerian wrote: |
| rothkowitz wrote: |
| They only take NAmericans for whatever reason. |
Ignore this anti-soju guy, you'll be fine. Come over. |
I'm not anti-soju,I just find most brands add too much sugar to it.
Anyhow,I know that they explicitly only want NAmericans,so,if you're not then they won't look at your cv(Thought it was perhaps more likely you're a Brit or Irish if you're in Europe)
Incidentally,if I could find a suitable hagwon I'd think about leaving the public school system in future.
Poly are,I guess,one of the better ones in general. |
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butlerian
Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 7:26 am Post subject: |
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| Get a good public school job with proper vacation times. That's the key until you find a good Uni job. |
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butlerian
Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 7:26 am Post subject: |
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| rothkowitz wrote: |
| butlerian wrote: |
| rothkowitz wrote: |
| They only take NAmericans for whatever reason. |
Ignore this anti-soju guy, you'll be fine. Come over. |
I'm not anti-soju,I just find most brands add too much sugar to it.
Anyhow,I know that they explicitly only want NAmericans,so,if you're not then they won't look at your cv(Thought it was perhaps more likely you're a Brit or Irish if you're in Europe)
Incidentally,if I could find a suitable hagwon I'd think about leaving the public school system in future.
Poly are,I guess,one of the better ones in general. |
I'd stick to proper Pyongyang soju (25%) if I were you. |
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rothkowitz
Joined: 27 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 7:39 am Post subject: |
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| butlerian wrote: |
| rothkowitz wrote: |
| butlerian wrote: |
| rothkowitz wrote: |
| They only take NAmericans for whatever reason. |
Ignore this anti-soju guy, you'll be fine. Come over. |
I'm not anti-soju,I just find most brands add too much sugar to it.
Anyhow,I know that they explicitly only want NAmericans,so,if you're not then they won't look at your cv(Thought it was perhaps more likely you're a Brit or Irish if you're in Europe)
Incidentally,if I could find a suitable hagwon I'd think about leaving the public school system in future.
Poly are,I guess,one of the better ones in general. |
I'd stick to proper Pyongyang soju (25%) if I were you. |
Thanks coach |
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magicmajenta
Joined: 03 Feb 2007
Location: Saint Paul Minnesota
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| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 9:15 am Post subject: |
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| So would people agree that Korea Poly School would be good to work for other than the long hours. |
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xCustomx
Joined: 06 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 4:34 pm Post subject: |
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| magicmajenta wrote: |
| So would people agree that Korea Poly School would be good to work for other than the long hours. |
Other than long hours? Not only are you at work for about 10 hours a day, which includes 2-3 hours of prep, you also have to take work home with you. My friend explained that he usually has another 2 hours of work at home grading essays and homework. You will make more money than the average hagwon job, and that's why he re-signed for another year, but he did not sound very happy with his job or his social life, only because there isn't enough time for him to do anything he enjoys without feeling burnt out. It comes down to a personal choice and what you value more, free time or money. |
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faster
Joined: 03 Sep 2006
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| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 6:50 pm Post subject: |
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| I've talked to a guy who's been at the Mok-dong Poly for a while (I used to work nearby) and he liked it quite a bit, but it is a lot of hours. He said the students are great, but he also did a lot of kindy. |
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midgic
Joined: 14 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 7:44 pm Post subject: |
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So would people agree that Korea Poly School would be good to work for other than the long hours.
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I think the following post (from a former Poly teacher) sums up the Poly experience accurately.
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I worked at POLY Mokdong 1 from February 2005 to February 2006. I have very strong and ambivalent feelings about the overall experience, as I do about Korea and Koreans in general. I have thought for a long time about what, if anything, is worth saying about POLY, and what is not. North American teachers who are unable to separate personal feelings from professional misgivings, and who pollute the collective consciousness with a lot of unnecessary complaining, whining, and griping, are a dime a dozen, and in no way do I wish to contribute unnecessarily to this phenomenon.
The first thing I can say about POLY Mokdong 1 is that the vast majority of its students were absolutely wonderful. The younger students were bright and adorable. The older kids were thoughtful, hard-working, genuine, good-natured, and impossible to forget. I consider myself blessed to have taught such a fantastic bunch of kids. If my own children are even half as incredible as any of my returnee grade sevens, I will be a happy man.
Similar praise is due for Mokdong 1�s teaching staff (between Feb. �05 and Feb. �06) , many of whom have gone off to their respective home countries, or on to different schools. Working in a hakwan is not easy, but getting out of bed in the morning is much more pleasant when you love the people you work with. I have had my differences at times with several of my coworkers, but now that it is all over, I can say with confidence that I would give any of them the shirt off my back. I learned a great deal from them about teaching and about life, and any of them would be welcome in my home at any time.
I will begin my comments about POLY�s management by saying that I was paid everything I was owed, and that I was treated a lot better than many foreign teachers in Korea were and are. Horror stories about legal problems, teachers being cheated and abused, six day work weeks, etc. are common in Korea because they happen all the time. POLY Mokdong 1 has a reputation as a working environment of above-average quality (by hakwan standards), and it deserves it.
That being said, I have several problems, ranging from minor to serious, in the time I spent at POLY Mokdong 1. When I got to Korea, it was the lunar new year, and I spent four days sitting in my apartment twiddling my thumbs (to their credit, two of the POLY teachers dropped by to greet me and ask if I needed anything). I was not paid for this time, and at the end of my contract I was sent home four days short of a full paycheque. This was not serious, but I consider it to have been unprofessional and discourteous. Other teachers have had similar experiences, having been they would be met by people who didn�t show up, or made to sit through a whole day�s worth of observation a few hours after de-boarding their aircraft. One�s first few days in a new place tend to set the tone for the rest of one�s experience there. Mokdong POLY is notorious for starting off on the wrong foot.
Many of POLY�s problems can be explained by, and blamed on, their managerial practices. To call their management (from the suits at KPS down to the then-director of the school) ham-fisted, insensitive, and perversely negative in their dealings with their teachers and each other would be overly generous, but to characterize them as disorganized, bungling and incompetent would perhaps be too strong. At POLY, and, unfortunately, in many other places in Korea, the emperor truly has no clothes. Teachers were (and probably still are) treated rudely, subjected to overwhelmingly negative and arbitrary criticism (particularly damaging when paired with a no-news-is-good-news attitude towards positive feedback), ignored when they had questions, concerns or problems, and routinely given extra last minute work that was often menial in nature, such as stuffing hundreds of envelopes, filling out stacks of computer punch-cards, etc. Teachers have to be good at multitasking, and ready to get their hands dirty, but POLY teachers were shown the least possible amount of respect or appreciation. The year I was there, everyone�s vacations were changed from nine days to seven so that KPS would be able to charge the parents for an extra week. This would have been understandable if the management had at least attempted to explain it, which they didn�t, or if they said �sorry,� which they never do. �Sorry,� and �thank you,� do not exist in POLY�s managerial vocabulary. They are all �stick� and no �carrot,� and teachers really have very little incentive to do anything better than an adequate job. People occasionally brought this up at staff meetings, etc., where our director was of the opinion that because she bought us meals on some days and gave us ten minutes to eat once a day instead of the five that teachers get at every other POLY school, we should have been grateful rather than critical. Right.
If the teachers come last on POLY�s list of priorities (feces rolls downhill, to be sure), it is fair to say that the students come second-last. One time KPS got the students to write formative assessments to provide data for their R&D department, but this had be kept secret because the kids were writing them on POLY time, paid for by the parents. So the teachers were told to tell the children that they were �writing a test to see if they are capable of doing the work at their current level.� Surprise, kids! You were having an average-to-good day, for a Korean student who is worked nearly to death each day for twelve to seventeen hours, but now you have to contend with a surprise test to see if you are �capable of doing the work at your current level.� Perhaps this is sentimental or even a bit �new age,� but it is my opinion that the student teacher relationship is sacred, and based on trust. I have a very difficult time looking my students in the eye and lying to them, especially about unnecessarily terrifying chimeras dreamed up by a callous KPS staff who are too lazy to even think of a good lie to tell the kids about how their time and their parents� money is being wasted.
While I am on the subject of POLY R&D, I would like to add that the POLY curriculum is, for the most part, light-years ahead of the curricula of their competitors. They take most of their cues from the California language arts curriculum, and it works well, despite slight problems with scheduling and a predominantly �coverage�-based approach to teaching. I say �for the most part,� because the work done by the part of POLY�s R&D department that is physically based in Korea tends to be of much lower quality than the California materials. Kids get books full of boring, mindless filler questions (Daily HW, Reading Coach, Writing Channel), amateurish spelling, grammatical and formatting errors (every book made by POLY that I have ever used) , activities that confuse phrasal verbs with prepositional phrases (Speak-a-way 2), and factually incorrect claims such as that �People in Shakespeare�s time spoke Old English�--they in fact spoke Modern English, albeit an earlier form of it than we use today (Winter Special returnee 5), as anyone with the internet, google and 5 free minutes can discover for his or herself. I am not sure what R&D does in terms of �development,� but it must keep them extremely busy, because evidence abounds that they do very little research. One gets the odd book of outstanding quality, but this is usually a credit to the individual employee and not to the department as a whole, whose work is often embarrassment to themselves and their company, and to the teachers who have to answer to the students for books full of errors that seven year olds can (and do) identify. It is my opinion that English is a beautiful and venerable language, and POLY-produced textbooks frequently treat it with ignorance and disrespect.
Last on the list are the problems I had getting paid when my contract was up. We had been working 12 hour days for winter special classes, and the management was being characteristically evasive about how much we were to be paid for these classes. I tried to discuss this and the details of closing my bank account, transferring money, etc. with my director, who brushed me off upwards of five times in the course of two weeks. On my last night at POLY, she left early and said nothing to me about it (nor did she say �thanks for giving us a year of your life,� or even �have a safe trip�). This was a Friday, and my plane was leaving Sunday night. I was unable to reach her on her cell phone, although I tried about forty times. The transaction eventually had to be handled by my fiancee the following week. Not a big deal, except that no one asked either of us if it was OK to do things this way, or, indeed, said anything to us at all. Friends of mine have had similar problems getting their money, their pensions, etc. The recurring theme here is a grave lack of communication between teachers and a management that doesn�t care about anything except money.
The bottom line, for me, is that my position at POLY Mokdong 1 was one of the worst jobs I have ever had. I loved my students, I loved my coworkers, and I hated every minute I spent at that place. I have never felt so unappreciated and used in my entire life, and I have spent years doing things like washing dishes, bagging groceries, mopping floors, packing lettuce at the peat bog, etc. A little bit of goodwill goes a long way towards making a dreary or difficult task bearable, or even pleasant. I have heard that current research suggests that happy workers are more productive, and that a company stands to profit in the long run by making its employees feel respected, and like they are members of a team (At POLY, this team is more like a chain-gang). I can�t even say that I hope POLY figures this out, because I would be just as happy if the whole operation went belly-up tomorrow. I will conclude this by saying that KPS and Mokdong POLY�s management, as of February 2006, had a lot to learn about how to treat teachers and students like human beings. I must stress again that I can only comment on POLY up to February of this year, and there is a chance, however dubious, that things have improved. I welcome feedback (an attitude that POLY�s management, in my experience, does not share), and anyone with comments about this post or questions about my time there can also feel free to contact me at [email protected]. |
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